Ulta Beauty — Local services in Ross Township

Disappointing Experience with Manager – Ulta Beauty, Merrillville, IN

I visited Ulta Beauty in Merrillville, Indiana, on Friday, August 15, 2025. I was shopping for a foundation to help cover a henna tattoo stain on my mom’s face. I approached two employees to ask for assistance and explained my mom’s situation, showing them her current Ulta foundation and shade so they could help find the closest match in another brand.

The first employee, who later turned out to be the store manager, initially showed me two possible products but then told me she could not help match a shade and suggested I “look online” instead. She made no attempt to assist further, which I found surprising and disappointing.

Not feeling satisfied with her response, I sought help from another employee (light-skinned with blonde hair, possibly from Clinique), who was incredibly kind and helpful. She listened, understood the situation, and quickly found the right shade without hesitation or excuses. Her professionalism turned the interaction into a positive one.

At checkout, I asked to speak with the manager to share my concern about the first interaction. To my surprise, the manager was the same employee who had refused to help earlier. When I explained my discomfort with how she handled the situation, she made excuses, claiming she couldn’t match a shade without my mom present—even though I had clearly provided my mom’s exact foundation shade for comparison. Her attitude felt dismissive and unprofessional.

I’m unsure of her exact name (possibly Jasmine), but she was light-skinned with black hair. This experience left me disappointed, as I expect a store manager to set the standard for great customer service—not make a paying customer feel unwelcome. I hope Ulta addresses this issue so future customers are treated with the same respect and care as the second...

Dear Ulta Beauty Team, I recently had to cancel two salon appointments—one scheduled for July 26 and another for July 30—at the Merrillville Ulta location due to medical reasons. Today, I received a call from a stylist named Ash R (I believe she was the one scheduled for my services), who informed me that because of these cancellations, she would no longer accept future bookings from me. She also canceled my upcoming appointment for August 9 and stated that if I still wanted services, I would need to walk in and wait to see if I could be accommodated. I find this response extremely disappointing and would like to understand where in Ulta’s policies or standard operating procedures it states that a customer can be denied future appointments due to cancellations—especially when those cancellations are for legitimate medical reasons. As a loyal Ulta customer, I expected more understanding and professionalism. Additionally, the fact that no one answers the phone at the store only adds to the frustration. If calls are not returned or answered, what is the purpose of providing a contact number? Given this experience, I am seriously reconsidering my decision to continue using both the salon and retail services...

Just left. Had a rough experience with cashier Rachel. Upon showing her an online coupon w/o even looking she screamed " unfortunately, you can't use that coupon with this purchase." That's fine, but normally the employee would wait until the customer asked the question before screaming out "coupon coupon". Then, we were told that the free gift promised along with purchase is not available to us. Rachel "said "unfortunately, that's not showing up on my end." It took another employee to go to the area and check to confirm that we were indeed legit free gift earning customers and not coupon clipping liars. UNFORTUNATELY, Rachel did not provide us a pleasant experience at all. Update: because of the poor customer service I’ve decided to return this item. Recalling the intentional lack of professionalism & disrespectful acts ( intentionally making eye contact with only my husband as if I the actual customer was invisible. Leaving my purchase on the counter for me to grab & go. No thank you for your purchase, have a nice day, etc.) just very intentional disregard of a paying customer. The product I’m in need of is sold at other stores. I’ll shop where...