Hi there,
As requested I am emailing you regarding the fact that I tried to place an order for the referenced product twice, once Monday on the main website and once yesterday afternoon on your app from my iPhone, and both times the item was out of stock when it was on sale for $23. Early this morning, less than 12 hours after my last attempt to order, the item was back to full price, and in stock. I even asked on your FB page if I could get a raincheck because I routinely find your stellar sales items out of stock and I have truly wanted this scrub for months - ever since Sephora sent me a few sample packs of it back in July of 2014!
That same thing happened with your L'Oreal Colour Riche lipsticks. I was curious after finding the scrub available immediately after the sale ended, and was so frustrated at the end of December when I could not get a single color that I wanted during the B1G1 50% off sale with the lipstick. Last night I was able to put 14 colors that were out of stock during the sale, in my basket. NOTE for the lipstick I did order one regular price after the sale ended, and also that is quite a bit of time difference so I acknowledge your supply could have replenished, but if you look at it from a consumer's perspective...it really looks shady.
One of things I am trying to do more of is comparison shop as I am an impulse buyer, quick to purchase what I want. But in an effort to pay more attention to what I'm buying and from where, and track my spending better, I am finding all sorts of questionable advertised offerings vs availability from your company.
I want you to know that after Sephora changed their website (late last year) to display the amount of dollars spent with them, and I realized the xxx I gave them last year, and then compared their rewards system to yours, I immediately switched to make Ulta my primary go-to beauty retailer, but as I mentioned I am also paying closer attention to sales etc so I don't spend over xxx this year too in beauty/skin care products, but in taking a closer look and paying closer attention, I'm unsettled with what I'm finding.
All this being said, I am human and I make mistakes too, so if there anything I've pointed out that is an error, please let me know and I will of course accept it and apologize.
Also, I have posted a few times on your FaceBook page and also emailed and called your customer service recently over various issues. At the bottom of this email is a list of the issues I have experienced with Ulta that I've contacted you about. I thought you might appreciate a list of my issues all in one place, and also I don't want you thinking I am trying to get something for nothing by going through different avenues of communicating my frustration.
I sincerely appreciate your time and attention to my feedback. I am in customer service myself with over 20 years experience, specializing in escalations with my customers and their personal finances/investments, so I know the importance of customer feedback. If anything, I hope this information gets passed on to your management for consideration and review for future events/advertised promotions/service issues.
Thank you,
xxx
Rewards #xxx
NOTE the below incident numbers and responses were a little hard for me to follow as the incident numbers changed for the same issue that I followed up on with customer service, but you can probably follow it better on your side than I can, and I summarized to keep it as short as I could:
12/1/14 xxx Order xxx
Did not get the 3x bonus points I should have (I have since researched further and found that the website was updating as I was trying to place my order and that the 3x promo was being removed at that time - at no point was that mentioned to me, I discovered that much later on my own). At some point during the several weeks following up on this issue I was informed that when I apply a coupon or e
gift card - which I did for this order - it does not show in the total price. As this was the first time ever using a
gift card on your website, I had no idea and that is why I kept changing and updating my order screen because I was frustrated that the
gift card said it had been accepted, but my cart total did not change or update. It was during this website (perceived) issue that the 3x promo was being removed and why my initial points that the screen displayed (I want to say it was like 397) was reduced to the normal 1.25 points per dollar. This, again, was information I didn't know until much later.
12/15/14
Follow up email regarding xxx-xxx
12/21/14 xxx-xxx Order xxx
Butter London polish in Chancer arrived broken
12/23/14 xxx-xxx
Follow up to xxx-xxx and added request to update an order where I made a mistake (change color ordered that was my mistake) I still have to exchange the incorrect color but again that was all my fault.
12/27/14 xxx-xxx
Responded to $8 e
gift card for broken polish and asked rather than the $8 I get a different polish. Was denied as the price was no longer valid since it was in a promo period. I could have only received the same color (which was out of stock) or the $8. No other options available.
12/27/14 xxx-xxx
Informed of several packages arriving with missing samples - note I didn't mention the orders where there were only 2 samples, just the many times I have not received any samples.
1/1/15 xxx-xxx
Response that I will get a shipment of samples only*
1/4/15 xxx-xxx
Inquiry as to value of promotional skin care bag available in store only.
1/7/15
Response that if I want a $10
gift card for the skin care sample bag that is less than $33.50, to email and ask for it
1/8/15
My response was to decline the $10 that I had to ask for, but also inform of missing Kenra shampoo and sample baggie with order #xxx
1/10/15 xxx-xxx**
Called customer service as online would not accept my $5 off a $10 Ulta brand purchase. Was told to call back after I received the shipping notice if the coupon still wasn't applied. While on the phone with Maria she ordered me the missing shampoo and samples for order #xxx
1/10/15 xxx-xxx** Orders xxx and xxx
More issues with two more $5 off $10 Ulta purchases where online said the coupon was not added as my purchase didn't qualify, but did actually qualify for, then when I cleared the screen and tried a second time the computer said I already redeemed the coupon (so this makes 3 total $5 off coupons I have not been able to get ulta.com to accept). NOTE I tried two different coupons on one order so only am due $10, I am just telling you that I tried 3 different coupon codes and none of them work, though all three coupon codes still show as redeemed so have one coupon code I won't be able to get credit for, or use. I now have shipping confirms for those two orders and the coupons were NOT redeemed. I'll need to email again asking for the price correction.
1/11/15 xxx-xxx
Offered $30
gift card for skin care sample bag false advertised value; also explained in the written complaint that for both in store purchases where I qualified for the skin care bag, I had to tell two different managers that I did not have to buy two Philosophy products, that the Algenist gift with purchase was not the only promotion my purchase qualified for, that yes they were in stock because I was looking right at them, and in one instance, had to go over 4 times that 3500 minus 1500 equals 2000. This was a big deal because I didn't want to go under 2000 points and she kept telling me I would only have 1500 points left after my purchase.
1/10/15 to current
FaceBook posts regarding the skin care bag value issue as well as the DermaDoctor Scrub sale price/out of stock issue (including my request for a raincheck)
*While I have received orders placed after 1/1/15, I have yet to receive the order of just samples that I was promised
** I also was not able to apply my $3.50 coupons as online can only use one coupon per order, even though the coupon was not applied. I didn't know the coupon was not going to be applied because with my call to Maria, it was implied the coupon would only show as applied upon shipping confirmation.
/emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />
