Ulta Beauty — Local services in Newport

Buyer beware! Coupon offers through email are not what they seem. As a platinum member with an Ulta credit card, I thought I was safe to trust that offers received would be honored. Not the case. Even though, I met the criteria given and did not receive notification otherwise.

I opted to have my order shipped to my house, since there was not stock to pick it up at my store; and I also used my points previously acquired, for the first time, towards this order. When I picked up a different order, I inquired about the free item offered with one of the products coming to me in my mail order. I was told to bring in my paperwork, once received, to choose the free product.

I received my mail order the next day; but the item needed to receive the free product was not the correct shade. I wanted to trade it out for another; but the correct shade was not in stock. I even tried a different type of that same product, which counted toward the promotion previously offered, and that one also was out of stock. I finally decided to go with a shade lighter in the other type.

I gave my paperwork, which did not include pricing, and gave my member information to find the order in the system, to assist with the trade. The item I was trading out showed up less than I paid on the original order for some reason. Yet, the "free" product was still registering as free, without being overridden by management.

I asked if I could have my promotional item and bring back the product needed to receive it, later, too trade it out for the correct shade not currently in stock at the time. I was informed I could trade it out and pay the difference for the traded, incorrect shade product, to receive the already earned "free" item; but I could not have the already earned "free" product, if I chose to keep the incorrect shade to trade out for the correct shade, once restocked. The reason given, by the manager on the floor, was it was an in store only offer, and the product had to be bought in store to receive the offer.

I didn't want to pay more and this was contradictory to what I was told the last time I stopped in; so I chose to return the incorrect shade for a portion, I discovered later, than what it cost me. I was bothered by this and after reviewing my original receipt in my email, I discovered I had used earned points to purchase the entire order and that was why it showed in the system as less than the product I would have had to pay $20 more to receive the "free" $27 product.

Once I returned with this new information, I thought I'd be offered the opportunity to have back the product I returned for less and maybe still offered the "free" item, as well, or at least be able to exchange the product for the exact same amount it was priced at in my order for the one Iwas told Iwould need to pay the difference on to receive. Instead, I was informed the points for the return would also be returned; but they do not transfer back exactly.

After years of loyalty, on time payments on the store credit card, and a platinum standing based upon the amount spent within the past year, Ulta decided I was not worth a $27 product, that I was both led to believe through my online order and reinforced in person, that I met the criteria on to receive. In the end, I feel I was both lied to about a promotion offered by Ulta and penalized for using my earned points...

I had an appointment today for a facial with Kelly. I had gotten my eyebrows waxed on Monday with her and scheduled the appointment then I asked for anytime during the week, but Kelly works only Monday and Friday. I explained that I had to come in between meetings at work so I would need to fit within that time frame and we agreed on a time that worked best for her.

On Thursday Diana, the spa manager, called me and asked if I wanted to move the appointment to Thursday since Kelly had picked up shifts on Thursday night. I was not available to change the appointment and confirmed my original appointment and time.

Today, I got to the appointment 5 minutes early and checked in with Diana, and she said she would let Kelly know. I waited for 15 min (so 10 after my scheduled time) and asked Diane how much longer the wait would be since I was in a time crunch. Turns out, Kelly wasn't even there. So I told Diane that it wasn't okay that I had been waiting and Diane started talking about how Kelly was in a car accident right after a different worker said that she had just gotten a hold of Kelly and she thought she was not working today.

I found the entire experience to be incredible unprofessional. There is no reason that my appointment came as a surprise. Kelly made the appointment earlier this week and Diane confirmed it just the day before. I suggested they offer some kind of service recovery to make up for the time I wasted but Diane, despite being the manager, said she couldn't do that. Ultimately the Clinique sales representative gave me some sample products.

If I could give less than one star I would. This situation has been my worst interaction with any...

To start my cashier ALAINA WAS FANTASTISC! Super professional, kind, great communication and assisted with making my return hassle free. Date of visit 2.12.24 8:01pm I always have mixed feelings about this Ulta. Sometimes my experience is phenomenal and other times very uncomfortable. I do notice that I am followed by certain individuals when in the store but spend 100.00 or more every visit. If I need to return an item, I always call ahead and let them know what I am returning so, I can’t be accused of stealing the item I’m returning. I also go straight to the register with the return so I can’t be accused of stealing it. I do the same at Target and Michael’s because it’s happened before and I was completely innocent. Many times the employees are extremely rude and dismissive and will pawn you off on the kinder employees. It’s wild to observe honestly 😳😅 You have cameras, use them instead of making loyal patrons feel uncomfortable and like criminals for shopping with you. I understand that thefts are rampant across the USA right now, I have no control over that personally. Regardless, that’s no excuse to profile people of any nationality, gender or race. Next time I will go back to asking an associate to shop with me so I don’t have to worry about being followed into every aisle. Or I will make sure my camera is active and just sit in different aisles and capture how many times the associates find their way into that aisle. God help this...