Ulta: Codes, Deals, Sales, and Discussion

[Kelli]

My email came at like 2pm on my birthday and I haven't made a purchase since....Nov 14 in store and Aug 22 online. So that isn't entirely accurate lol.

I could see if it was a new account that has NO purchase history at all, them requiring a prior purchase of sorts, but I had never heard of needing a purchase in your bday month before.

My last purchase was exactly two months prior to getting my birthday coupon.

 

[onelilspark]

Cross posting-ish from Enablers thread.  If you want the Ulta birthday coupon to be emailed to you, you need to make a previous purchase your birthday month.  I was hoping to make zero purchases in January outside of my box subscriptions, and then pick up my Ulta gift as a little bday freebie.  Sad face.  Maybe I should email them and tell them they are going to get lots of cash from me later in the year and beg for my coupon.  The colors look like they may be good with my red hair in the fall /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

If I were you, I would respond and say how you are "really disappointed" in this new policy because you are a platinum member whose birthday just happens to fall early in the year. And mention that you would need to drive an hour to get to a store.  And that you expect more from a store you've been loyal to. I wouldn't ask for it specifically, just let them know you're really disappointed and see how they handle it. 

It's an incredibly stupid policy. I could see if it needed to be within the previous 3 months, but based on what they told you, it's calendar year. So someone could have a birthday in November and prior to that only have purchased something in February and still get a birthday gift. But someone who has a birthday on 1/1 wouldn't get anything even if the last time they shopped was 12/31.  

 

[roxymama]

If I were you, I would respond and say how you are "really disappointed" in this new policy because you are a platinum member whose birthday just happens to fall early in the year. And mention that you would need to drive an hour to get to a store.  And that you expect more from a store you've been loyal to. I wouldn't ask for it specifically, just let them know you're really disappointed and see how they handle it. 

It's an incredibly stupid policy. I could see if it needed to be within the previous 3 months, but based on what they told you, it's calendar year. So someone could have a birthday in November and prior to that only have purchased something in February and still get a birthday gift. But someone who has a birthday on 1/1 wouldn't get anything even if the last time they shopped was 12/31.  

Thank you ladies.  I emailed them back with my copied and pasted order history from last 3 months and used pretty much what onelilspark said above more or less.  Let's see what comes of it.  I know a little free pallette is silly to get upset over, but I love birthday freebies so so much.

 

[Brandy Roberts]

Sooooo my response to my novel to Ulta:

Dear xxx

 
Thank you for your email regarding your recent order. I apologize that you were charged for the $5.00 coupon that you were trying to use.  We have refunded the charges. You should see the refund in 3 to 5 business days.
 
Again, I apologize for the inconvenience; Thank you for being a valued ULTA customer. We truly appreciate your decision to shop with us and we hope that in the future your shopping experiences will be much better.
xxx
ULTA Guest Services
 
Well I'm happy to see they picked up on one of the issues, as we all know sometimes the response doesn't answer ANY questions/issues...so you know...getting one out of a bazillion is like winning the Ulta lottery! LOL!

 

[roxymama]

Guess who just got her birthday coupon magically in her inbox?  Yep.   Glad I emailed them back!  Totally going to pick this up and ONLY this on Saturday while out and about.  

 

[wadedl]

Cross posting-ish from Enablers thread.  If you want the Ulta birthday coupon to be emailed to you, you need to make a previous purchase your birthday month.  I was hoping to make zero purchases in January outside of my box subscriptions, and then pick up my Ulta gift as a little bday freebie.  Sad face.  Maybe I should email them and tell them they are going to get lots of cash from me later in the year and beg for my coupon.  The colors look like they may be good with my red hair in the fall /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

Dear Bridget

 

Thank you for contacting ULTA Beauty! We are sorry to hear that you have yet to receive your in-store coupon via email for a free birthday gift. In order to receive this special gift a previous purchase does need to be made within your reward account prior to your birthday. If you wish to make a purchase in our store or online and reply to this email we would be happy to still supply this gift.

 

Thank you for being a devoted and valued ULTA Guest, please let us know if you need any further assistance by responding directly to this email. We look forward to hearing from you, and seeing you in-store or online!

 

Sincerely,

I have not purchased from ULTA in several months and I got the coupon.

 

[normajean2008]

Well, Ulta sucked me into a purchase tonight.  Let's see if it arrives all in tact, lol.  

I got the email for the 5x points on Dermadoctor products.  I love the kp body scrub (worth it at even full price..loves it!) and then another of the new purple face mask, and a travel size of the kp lotion.  

I just got the face mask from Sephora, and it is really nice.  I was an avid glam glow user, but it seems to dry my skin out too much now.  This purple mask really cleared out the gunk and didn't dry out my skin.  

Anywho, for 5x the points I gotta give some love to Ulta this time.  

 

[Brandy Roberts]

Well I received the nicest apology letter from Ulta!  Honestly, that would have been enough, but they also gave me an egift card on top of it.  They said the card was to cover the difference in price for the scrub, plus a little extra....well no, they COVERED THE WHOLE SCRUB COST, plus some!

Updated issue resolutions in spoiler!

Spoiler

So for my issues the resolutions have been:

ETA:  The letter (computer issues...UGH comcast!)

Dear xxx
 
Thank you for your email regarding the recent issues you've experienced. We truly sorry to hear of these issues and want you to be assured that we take your feedback extremely seriously. We will be thoroughly investigating your comments and concerns in an effort to avoid such issues moving forward. Regarding order number xxx, we have confirmed that the $5 coupon was applied to the order. We apologize for the misinformation regarding it reflecting the coupon upon confirmation. Ulta.com will show the discounted amount on the same screen that the coupon code is entered if the coupon was applied correctly.
 
Regarding product availability, unfortunately, some items are so popular that is is difficult keeping them in stock. Although we do our best, there are times where we sell out. Unfortunately, we cannot extend the sale prices due to items being out of stock during the promotional period, however, as a sincere apology, we've emailed you an E-gift card to cover the difference in price for the Dermadoctor Scrub as well as a little more as our sincere apology for the numerous issues you've encountered. We hope that you accept our apology and we truly appreciate you providing us with your feedback as well as an attempt to make this right for you.
 
 Thank you for being a devoted and valued ULTA Guest, please let us know if you need any further assistance by responding directly to this email.
Sincerely,
 
xxx
ULTA Guest Services
 
1. Very nice apology letter (roommate says it is because they looked up my spending and decided I was a keeper)

2. $5 refund to my debit card for coupon that I was not allowed to add/use due to Ulta's website issues

3. $30 gift card (mailed, apparently) for skin care sample bags that Ulta valued at $33.50 ea but actual value was only $10.22 ea

4. $65 egift card for DD scrub that magically came in stock as soon as it was full price again

5. Shipment of samples mailed separately (not to be combined with any other offer, value of samples vary...greatly; cost to re-ship taken from your thousands of hard earned dollars already spent with us; cannot be returned for credit or refund; complaints must cease upon receipt; complaints must cease whether you actually receive promised samples or not; do not use any of the samples if you are expecting or are currently taking viagra as there may be risky consequences; check with your doctor before mentally accepting sample offer as the anticipation and subsequent let down may have adverse health risks; always read the fine print before accepting any offer from this retailer)

I am very happy with their response, #5 of the above list aside.  /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 

[Brandy Roberts]

Oh damn.  I responded too fast.  The order they referenced where they say I did get the $5 coupon credit??  yeah, that was last year.  I give.  UNCLE.  ULTA YOU WIN.  I DON'T HAVE TIME TO CORRECT YOU OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN! 

I'm sure you all are just as tired of my rants as I am.  Ulta too, I'm sure.

But, for anyone who cares to read it...my last FB post in spoiler.

Spoiler

I received a lovely apology letter for my recent issues, which I very much appreciated. Unfortunately, one of your comments was that for an order I claimed not to have been able to apply a $5 coupon, that I actually was credited. Yes, in my order history you are bound to find an order where I used a $5 coupon. Sadly, that was last year, and not an order I referenced that had the issue. I responded, AGAIN, but I don't have the kind of time it is taking me to resolve the numerous issues with you lately. With every response, there is yet another error on your part. Customer service is just not 'a thing' anymore. I also stated I have not received the samples promised and those were to be mailed separate. Based on my order history and when the promised samples were to have shipped, I should have received them last week. This was not addressed.You will see my purchases decline, simply because I do not have the kind of time it requires to follow up on your errors.

 

[Laura Etchison]

Oh Ulta..

I just emailed them b/c an item was missing from my GWP bag.  Not a huge deal and I probably won't miss it, but I thought I'd let them know.  (It was the Hada Labo hydrator if anyone was curious.)  

I still haven't received the promised samples, so I mentioned that too.  

I still love you Ulta.  Don't quit me now.

 

[Shalott]

:couch:   I feel so ashamed... I made a purchase at Ulta. *sigh* I am why these business know they can treat people like crap - I think they longest time I have managed to swear off a company and then actually NOT shop there is my continuing ban on Forever21 (going on seven years now).

Anyway, I picked up some Shea Moisture that only those jerks are carrying (it was BOGO 50%) then saw they had a NYX Transylvania Matte Lipcream, so got that and another Wicked Lippie (color - can't remember. The gold). Also got some Zoya polishes on clearance, so.

Ugh. *hangs head in shame* :laughing:

 

[Brandy Roberts]

@@Shalott I broke up with Sephora for almost 3 weeks last year...I was on a roll until the EYEMINI promo.  That one and GENIUSC are both out of stock, (great news for my pocketbook!) and there was only a couple of items out of the NEWBEAUTY promo I wanted, but I have only one or two boxes of the Lancome promo RENERGIE and after talking with the Lancome rep at Ulta tonight, will prob use that one one or two more times as I make purchases of things I need through 1/19 for the 2x points on skin care- on a Mustella kick for my grandson LOL!

That being said, I have not and will not ever set foot in the SiJCP I told you about last summer where they made me feel so bad for returning some purchases. It was horrible.  Which reminds me...I don't know if I ever posted an update to that from a few months ago...but anyway back to ULTA hahaha

Ulta carries a brand owned and created by L'Occitane called Le Couvent de Minimes and their 8.4 oz body lotion is $22 regularly.  They had it on sale for $9.99 and I love the scent to grabbed 3 of them, hoping they were included in the current ad for that brand of B2G1 Free.  They had 2 of the spray fragrance mists with one a little used the other full for sale for $18.99 so since I wanted one and those were orig $44 (I think) grabbed one of those.  The only other items I picked up were a ton of Vichy free foil samples. /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

I get up to the register with 4 items to purchase, and she rings me up, and they come up as $0.01 each.  Yes, that is ONE CENT EACH!  I said oh that can't be right and so did the girl, but the manager was on the register next to her and she got a very sour look on her face and said - kinda mean like - well someone was supposed to pull those but since she has them go ahead and give them to her.  The girl said ok but at what price, and the manager said, again kinda mean, for a penny!  She said that is why they were being pulled because they were reduced to only ONE CENT!

Soooooooo...I said, is it too tacky or rude for me to ask if I can get the other two items back there?  One mist and one more lotion?  The girl just kept talking about the deal, rang up one more lotion and mist and said my total was $0.06!  So she held my bag and let me go get the other two items!

$176.00 of product for $0.06!  Thank you Ulta!  I'm not going to complain about the free samples you never sent, or the package today that had missing samples.  I'm good!  LOLOLOL!!!

BTW - the scent was Verbena Lemon...SUPER NICE SCENT and they also had the lavender one but I can't use lavendar so I hope someone else can get that deal with those!

ETA:  This is the Ulta on Iron Point in Folsom, if anyone local wants to try to grab them!

 

[Brandy Roberts]

Oh Ulta..

I just emailed them b/c an item was missing from my GWP bag.  Not a huge deal and I probably won't miss it, but I thought I'd let them know.  (It was the Hada Labo hydrator if anyone was curious.)  

I still haven't received the promised samples, so I mentioned that too.  

I still love you Ulta.  Don't quit me now.

Which GWP bag?  Was it the one that came in the Mario B what's his name bag?  I got that one today, but haven't gone through it and I'm not sure I would know anything is missing...here's what happened.

We hired movers to help us, and get out to the house, and it isn't clean (long story) but my cleaning supplies are here, and remember I am moving to a house on someone's property, they call it the apartment but it is a sparate 2Bed 1Bath house.  Anyway they removed their fridge because my roommate has a subzero awesome one we were going to use and theirs didn't keep the right temp...anyway...long story short the lady and her adult daughter came over to clean, movers were handling my stuff, so here I was with the granddaughter, who's 13, and DYING for me to open the 6 boxes on the cabinet that were delivered the day before for me.

So...I ask if she wants to open them with me and she was so excited!  So we open the first one, and that has the big GWP with many different samples, AND the philosophy GWP (I bought their foundations to dry - powder and liquid) and then the free samples.  She was in AWE of how much of it was free!  She said at one point...did you have to pay for any of these boxes??  LOL!

But the cutest part, was when she pulled out the Algenist sample and I **** you not she exclaimed THIS IS MY FAVORITE!!!  LMAO!!!  I laughed and said oh really?  More than anything else?  She said OH YEAH, I LOVE ANIT-AGING STUFF!!  OMWORD it was the cutest damned thing you've ever seen!  My roommate was cracking up about it on the drive back to this place this afternoon.  And then at another point she said the same thing and it was for a hair oil, but in a package like it might be a perfume (if you didn't know better)...well she didn't know better and before she even had it to her nose said I LOVE THIS SMELL!  HAHAHAHA!!

She couldn't smell a damn thing through the packaging but it was so cute to watch her!  And she kept trying to read the names of them and butchering them horribly, but would always say how much she loved it.  So I told her after I get settled, we'd sit and go through my stash and find some things that would be suitable for her as long as her mom and grandma said it would be ok (which they did and I daresay may even have been a little envious I didn't invite them!).  They did overhear me with saying "oh that was free" or 'that came with that as a bonus..yes the bag too' and so asked how I get so much for free.  I told them when I was settled I would explain the points, Sephora's status and free shipping etc.  But it was such a funny few minutes with the granddaughter today!  She was there because the house her mom was renting had a pipe burst, so they are there for a few weeks until they get another place.  I'm sure I'll see a lot of her starting tomorrow when I'm there full time.  I don't mind - she was just so damn cute!

ETA: I should say I haven't fully gone through the GWP yet...the granddaughter went through everything like 5 times though! LOL!!  Plus, I'm not entirely sure since I tossed everything in the Mario B bag, what came with what! Oops!

 

[Shalott]

@ Oh yeah. I completely understand what you mean - I got treated like utter $h!t in a restaurant once, it was absolutely horrible, one of the employees was even making inappropriate comments and I basically had a screaming meltdown and proceeded to file complaints with every possible organization I could.

I didn't go back there for years and it was only after my hubby told me that he heard through the grape vine that the manager on duty and all the employees from that time were either fired or quit (it was actually the manager who had been the worst offender - she got fired) that I was able to go back, and even then I only went because it is literally a block from my house.

So I know what you mean when it is the employees in a specific location that are terrible - My cousin used to be the GM for an Ulta, so then it was acceptable to shop there. Now she's left the company, so I don't need to feel any guilt! :lol:

Getting anything for a penny is a great deal, though, man. I'm super jealous! /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 

[meganbernadette]

It's slightly frustrating to see the disparity in customer service responses. My four most recent orders failed to include the free 3 piece samplers, which isn't a huge deal because they're usually foils anyway, but my order with the skincare MD bag was missing five of the skin care samples. I wrote an extremely nice email, and came across as thankful rather than condescending, and they awarded me a $10 gift card. While I'm thankful for that, it seems people who adopt a harsher approach are rewarded with ULTA. Ulta's customer service is starting to remind me of Birchbox... Lol

 

[Laura Etchison]

It's slightly frustrating to see the disparity in customer service responses. My four most recent orders failed to include the free 3 piece samplers, which isn't a huge deal because they're usually foils anyway, but my order with the skincare MD bag was missing five of the skin care samples. I wrote an extremely nice email, and came across as thankful rather than condescending, and they awarded me a $10 gift card. While I'm thankful for that, it seems people who adopt a harsher approach are rewarded with ULTA. Ulta's customer service is starting to remind me of Birchbox... Lol

Same, same, same.

I just heard back from them about their two broken promises to send out a selection of samples.  I asked if I should just stop stalking my mail since it's becoming obvious that the samples are not getting shipped.  I even referenced my most recent skin care sampler, which contained two tiny foils, as a hint that maybe stock was low and that's why they haven't been sent.  

I also let them know that I was missing an item in my MB bag.

I ended up with a $10 gift card and a third promise of samples.  I even asked them to confirm my address b/c of the two missing sample shipments.  All was well, so we'll see.

The email I rec'd didn't exactly jive with what I complained about, but it was close enough.

Yes Ulta -- the new BB.

 

[roxymama]

Putting this pic here for those curious about actual color of Ulta birthday gift.  It's much more wear-able colors than what the promo email pic shows.   The bottom left color may be a dupe for dark shade in Naked 3.

 

[Wida]

I got a 20% off of almost anything coupon in the mail. Did anyone else?

 

[lynni98]

What was the date range of this coupon?

I'm on a no buy but I need some hair products, at least I've convinced myself I do. 

I got a 20% off of almost anything coupon in the mail. Did anyone else?

 

[Brandy Roberts]

Any time I have complained has always started with 'I'm a sephora convert and love Ulta, but it getting hard to stay loyal when I have so many issues, would you be able to check my xxx and assist me? I really like xxx and yyy and zzz and want to be your loyal customer, and appreciate whatever you can do.'

Or something like that. The only time they've ever given me a gift card rather than an 'I'm sorry' was when my tone changed. Sad but the squeaky wheel gets the oil.

Like with Hautelook, and the Algenist fiasco I mentioned before, I had just posted to nordstroms FB page a thanks for their help, that I was going to just request my money back and return the samples (on principle) then went to my email where I had responses that Algenist was actually sending me add'l product.

So, I waited then contacted algenist about a tracking number where they said they were not sending me any thing and that hautelook wasn't auth to deal their products and they also confirmed the sizes were deluxe samples. THAT IS WHEN I GOT ANGRY because I was walking away but they made it worse and got my hopes up.

End result (after some more banter with an employee who played dumb to all my chats, emails, FB messages, to which I stated he was either truly not looking into my issue or purposely antagonizing me) was a call from a guy at their head quarters who couldn't apologize enough. He said he read everything from start to finish, noted the many contradictions, said those employees will be coached on how to properly research an account/issues, and gave me a full refund, told me to keep the products, keep what he was STILL ordering from Algenist on my behalf, and gave me a $50 credit to hautelook!!! I tried to refuse but he said it was the very least he could do and didn't want any one lied to (which I was on a few occasions).

He also gave me his dirext number and asked me to keep it in case I have any future issues. We ended up having a great chat, he's from Portland OR and I'm also from OR (visit Portland all the time) so he was even nicer because of that, in my mind I'm sure hahaha.