Ulta Beauty in Madison, WI

The service is very good and the employees are always willing to help. It feels like they enjoy working there.

I have noticed such a big improvement in the service here over the past several months!

It's my third terrible experience at this place, so I decided to write a review. The store is very clean and well organized, but the staff is incredibly rude. I understand that nobody can know absolutely everything about every product in stock, but even the most basic questions are answered with a shrug and "I'm not sure, you should check". I complimented a manager on her makeup and asked if she could tell me which blush she used, she just said "it's a mix of several actually" and walked away. At checkout, not a hello, please, or thank you. They just announce the total and wait for your card to process. I made quite a large purchase this week, and several of my items were part of Free Gift offers. When I asked, the cashier didn't answer at all. I asked again, not grabbing my bag, and she didn't answer again, so I took a few steps and asked the 3 employees standing in the corner chatting. Two stared at me, the third one just blurted out "No." I repeated my question, and I managed to get "it's only while supplies last, unfortunately." The fact that the gifts have run out is not an issue at all, but I wish I was simply told that without having to ask four employees. Same thing with out of stock items, or if they don't know something very specific about a product, but everybody being so incredibly rude every single time puts me at my wit's end.

I had my hair done on my birthday at Ulta Salon because my original hair stylist had to cancel last minute. it was great to get in the salon on only a few hours notice but I wasn't super happy about the experience. I've also gotten my hair cut at Ulta a few times & have never had a bad experience. I have the left side of my head shaved, for reference. I showed a photo of a braided updo with the braid of the left side of the head. I said to the stylist, I was thinking about something like this- boho, hippy, birthday inspo. She said in a snarky tone "you don't have any hair on the left side, so i cant braid that side of your head." I'm aware that I have my head shaved and I said okay, I know that, this is just the inspo picture. After I told her it was my birthday, she lightened up a bit. She also kept calling me cute which felt kinda as if she was talking to me like I'm a child. Also, when I said I'm turning 25, she said she was old enough to be my mother and also laughing about it with other women in the salon, saying their kids are older than me. Maybe it was in good fun but I felt kinda like I was being laughed it. Also, my hair did look nice but it felt rushed a bit and my hair was kinda frizzy/messy after like she was in a rush. It was great for short notice but I paid 100 dollars and felt the work didn't reflect that. I usually love ulta salon but this trip was not the best. I will keep coming back for haircuts though but may be hesitant about getting my hair styled here again. Also, photos were taken right after I walked out of the salon.

I called the corporate customer service number to complain, and they just had the specific store give me a call. I missed it and called back this morning, but they said to call back later, which was super rude. After I hung up I was like "actually I shouldn't have to wait, someone should help me right now" and tried calling them back but my cell service was being spotty so it didn't go through. I called them again just now and Mackenzie (the one who originally told me it was free) was super rude and said she didn't like to be accused of lying while basically accusing me of lying in the same sentence. She literally used gaslighting techniques to try to convince me that she didn't say what she did, or that i was making it up, when she should have said "I'm so sorry, we had a miscommunication, let me refund you!" or something along those lines. Maybe she didn't intentionally lie to me, maybe it really was a miscommunication! But either way I shouldn't have been treated the way I was and I should've gotten a full refund/gift card/something. In the end she said she could give me $23 of the total back but I have to go into the store again for it to be processed. At least it's something, but I shouldn't have had to deal with this at all, especially considering how rude everyone was! Hope no one else ever has the misfortune of dealing with the people at this store, especially Mackenzie. 0 stars.