Another horrible Ulta customer service story.

Hello! First time poster, long time lurker here. I've finally been motivated enough to post given the terrible customer service I experienced from Ulta recently.

My mom and I drove to the mall to go to our local Ulta on Thanksgiving evening, because we both worked on Black Friday and couldn't shop then. When we got there, however, the whole mall was closed, even though online our local Ulta was listed as being open. Okay, not really their fault. Just a bad start to everything.

So, we went home, and placed a $90 order with a bunch of the deals - things half off, things buy one get one free, things buy one get one half off, etc. When I got the shipping email, it said it should be here by the next Wednesday (11/28). So, when I still hadn't received it by the next weekend, I decided to check the tracking information. It said that the package has been damaged in transit, and was being returned to shipper. Great. I never received an email from Ulta that this had happened, and only knew about it because I checked the tracking.

It finally arrived at the warehouse the next Tuesday morning (12/4), again which I only knew because I was checking the tracking. By Wednesday afternoon, I still had not heard anything from Ulta, so I emailed customer service. The rep told me that the warehouse would process the return and would refund me, and I could replace the order if I wanted to.

Okay. Except then I wouldn't be getting any of the Black Friday deals, the whole reason I placed my order. I responded with this and she said sorry, there was nothing they could do, but if I wanted to place a new order with the same products, after it had shipped they could refund me so that it was the same amount as my original order.

I thought this was a little odd and wasn't really satisfied so I called their customer service. The lady on the phone looked up my emails with the other rep and told me everything that she said was correct. I asked why they couldn't send me a new order, since it was an error on their end (or maybe UPS/FedEx) that lead to the package being damaged, and she told me it just wasn't possible in the system. I then asked how it would work if I wanted to place the order and get it partially refunded to the original amount I paid, like the first rep over email said I could do. At first the rep on the phone acted like I was misunderstanding her, saying, "no, you don't understand, you'd be refunded the original amount and then you'd place a new order." I quoted the response I got in the email about being able to place a new order and be refunded and she said no, that doesn't work, I'd have to pay full price. She told me, "sorry, guess you can chalk it up to bad luck." Really?

So what, if I had placed a new order, and contacted customer service to partially refund me, they wouldn't have been able to do it? I REALLY would have been mad then. Luckily I clarified first. I then started expressing my disappointment and frustration with their customer service. She began to talk over me, saying "thank you have a good evening" and hung up.

It's Wednesday night now and I'm pretty upset about how the situation was handled. I still haven't received an official email from Ulta about my package being damaged or getting a refund. I may call tomorrow and ask to speak to a supervisor, but I'm not sure it's even worth it at this point. I do want to mention that I was very polite (at first) on the phone, as I realize it's not the customer service rep's fault directly. It was only when she started speaking to me like I was dumb that I got a little upset, but I still didn't yell or shout and was still talked over by her.

I understand having a certain store policy but I also understand having good customer service. I've seen stories of people receiving damaged items in their order and being sent a new one of whatever was damaged free of charge, so I'm not sure what they mean when they say they can't resend me my items. I'd love to hear other stories about their terrible customer service (I've already been reading them all on the subreddit too), or maybe even how some people had similar issues resolved (if that's ever happened).

UPDATE: Thanks for the responses everyone! My mother called today while I was at work (some of the items in the order were hers so she was also upset). She was fully expecting to have to ask to speak to a manager to get the situation resolved, however the very first customer service rep she talked to apologized, reshipped our items free of charge, and refunded us for the items that were out of stock. So, not sure if the first two reps I talked to were just unwilling to help or not properly trained, but my advice for anyone in a similar situation in the future would be (like several commenters suggested as well) to keep calling until you get someone that can actually help, even if you need to speak to a manager. Happy everything ultimately worked out, but still, the situation could have been avoided with proper customer service training I think.