Ulta GWPs

[itscarin]

This thread will be for Ulta GWPs only.  Share ulta promos here.  

Please do NOT post requests for the spreadsheet in this thread.  Please post requests for the Ulta GWP google spread sheet in this thread: http://community.sephora.com/t5/Off-Topic/Ulta-GWP-Google-Spreadsheet-Request-Thread/m-p/2753063#M11...

A list of in store coupons is here: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Savvy-Shoppers/Ulta-GWP-Coupons-no-chatter/td-p/3866521

Let's keep this thread on topic!

Ulta points refresher (because yes, it is that complicated):

Spoiler

Item #1 - $53.50

Item #3 - $108.50 (and is eligible for a certain item/brand 5x multiplier)

* There is also a 5x all purchase multiplier and you are platinum so you get 1.25x

Total Spent - $162

Base Points Earned - 162

Platinum .25x Earned - 41 (162 * .25 = 40.5, and rounding up)

5x All Purchases Earned - 648 (it ends up being 4x because you don't count the base points)

5x Item/Brand Earned - 434

Total Points Earned - 1285

Links are not allowed.  In lieu of links, please read this:

Spoiler

Please add product id numbers and sku numbers so people can find items on ulta.  

Just to clarify, there is an item number that Ulta lists on the website, right under the picture of the item.

The product id is the number given to the item in the URL.  So Ulta's site follows this formula of having the url and then the very last part of the url is "productId=xlsImpprod" followed by an 8 digit number.  If you use that "productId" number you can get to the page of any item on ulta. 

It's not a search, but the direct url to the page. 

Click on any product, and then view the url in the address bar.  It will look like this: ulta's website (not using the actual domain because BT admins don't like that) /prep-prime-fix?productId=xlsImpprod15921204  Replace the 8 digit product id of the item you want to see with the id of the product you're looking for.

My very unofficial Ulta point multiplier to approximate percent discount chart:

(This is a number where I use the multiplier to divide by 2000 to see how many dollars I would have to spend in order to redeem a $125 reward.  E.g. 2000 points divided by 1 point multiplier means I have to spend $2000 to get the $125 reward.  Adding how much I had to spend ($2000) + the reward ($125), and then using the reward ($125) to divide the total purchase ($2125), I get a discount of approximately 6% based on the total purchase.  Note: the total purchase is based on the concept that you are spending just enough to reach the next $125 reward and combines the reward value with how much money you had to spend to get that reward.

Spoiler

Multiplier	1	1.25	1.5	2	2.25	2.5	3	3.25	3.5	4	4.25	4.5	5	7.25	7.5	8	8.25	8.5	9	9.25	9.5	10	10.25	10.5
Spend	2000	1600	1333	1000	889	800	667	615	571	500	471	444	400	276	267	250	242	235	222	216	211	200	195	190
Points	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000
Redeem	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125	125
Total Purchase	2125	1725	1458	1125	1014	925	792	740	696	625	596	569	525	401	392	375	367	360	347	341	336	325	320	315
Discount	6%	7%	9%	11%	12%	14%	16%	17%	18%	20%	21%	22%	24%	31%	32%	33%	34%	35%	36%	37%	37%	38%	39%	40%

[amy0205]

Does anyone know when the next 20% prestige coupon comes out?

[ohheyitscindyk]

@amy0205 Looking at last year's spreadsheet, should be around the middle of next month 🙂

[RGbrown]

New multiplier! And holy mackerel, that's an impressive assortment!

Skinfatuation is oos 

[StTropezBarbie]

When did that multiplier come out? I’m only getting the Too Faced one.

[socalsunflower]

I got the email about it this morning. You can also check/activate it on your account. This could be a targeted offer though, so not everyone gets it. 

[treestar86]

I got it, and the redken one, but not the too faced one.

[Alexmarya]

Dear ladies. Any time you don't get GWP or have missing points please think twice before calling CS! This is my story: 

Ulta has just banned me for life. When I called to ask the reason they said I violated terms and conditions. It took several weeks to determine what they mean by that. I started asking more questions and tried to talk to different representatives of guest services, and one representative confessed its because I had a high number of incidents? I had over 300 orders in past 4 years (over $3000 in spending) and only 6-7 incidents (is it considered high?) One time they didnt ship GWP, another time the MAC powder came broken, and minor things like that...

Here are my incidents:

( i googled "ulta incident in my email")

1)2017 - asked to cancel one order (was a mistake there)

2)2017 - wrong amount of points added

3)2017 - asked to cancel the order (GWP did not add)

4)2017 - a powder came broken

5) 2017 - GWP didnt arrive

6) 2018 - GWP didnt arrive

7)2018 - 20% code expired prematurely (there was a glitch on the website and ulta told us we can call their CS to extend the coupon).

as you see I didnt have any "incidents" in 2019. I understand they may be upset I called around 6-7 times, but lets be honest, I made over 300 orders! Isn't it considered normal that sometimes GWP doesnt apply or points are missing?

seeking your advice ladies, as I am not sure what to do.

[MelBeez]

@Alexmarya no advice just wanted to offer my condolences......too soon? Sorry I think the situation is just ridiculous and I am wondering WTH is going on with Ulta right now. I had a situation a few weeks ago when the multiplier was out on a multibrand thing. I knew Boscia and Pacifica were on there and I even went to the link and looked them up that way before I bought those items. Well guess what? They didn't qualify. I emailed and asked why. The email, which usually they are very nice and helpful, was short, not sweet and said basically that I was wrong. Well bcs of everyone else's issues I didnt pursue it But I knew I was right. I just pulled an Elsa and said "Let it go!": I hope you can get to someone that is a decision maker. A phone call might be better in a situation like this. it would be harder to lie or make up stuff on the cuff. also more difficult to turn someone down live than electronically. Good luck my sister in beauty!!! #DiamondStrong still too soon? #sorryIBsilly

[Alexmarya]

Thank you for your support ) I will keep you guys posted

[crystalcake]

oh no, what a terrible thing to have happened! I don't understand Ulta's logic AT ALL. Broken items or order mistakes are THEIR fault, not the customers'. Now I'm really nervous because I've had about 6-7 incidents over the years as well 😮 

[yuline]

I am SHOCKED by Ulta and I’m afraid to shop too much. I mean Sephora does have a small percentage of cases on social media that seemed crazy and unreasonable where people reported they hardly returned or did anything outside the norm and yet got banned (not referring to the excessive returns ban cases by TRE).  None of the situations I’m reading on this thread seem like they warranted being banned at all.  Never thought I’d say this but Ulta is now looking worse than Sephora?!  None of this makes  sense and how are they deciding which accounts to flag?  I haven’t been keeping track but I’m thinking I easily must have called CS just as many times and returned just as many if not more than what some of you reported over the years but I haven’t been flagged yet. I don’t place a great number of online orders so maybe that’s what triggers monitoring versus in store purchases? Therefore I rarely get the GWPs so maybe something to do with GWPs? But don’t Ulta get the GWPs super cheap/free from manufacturers?   Admittedly I rarely return opened product (my weakness is I overstock on backups during a good sale) so most got put back on the shelf (I noticed they have a way to designate in their computer if item returned was resellable or not which is a nice feature that Sephora does not have). Wonder if that makes a difference. Although I hardly return anything really pricy (I have before like a sealed shrink wrapped new perfume that I decided after trying out the tester like 5 x on different occasions...first couple tries I liked enough to buy, then last couple tries decided I didn’t like it enough after all).  I’m sure all the many cheaper odds and ends that I return add up.  Also I started getting my haircuts at Ulta though I’ve been underwhelmed by them.  When I don’t have time to travel far to see my favorite stylist that I been with 15 years, a basic boring haircut will have to do. I use their credit card so maybe that also causes them to be more lenient? Maybe I haven’t been diamond long enough to get treated more strictly by them and they’re more lenient toward platinum because they want to convert them to diamond. So disappointing. How can they treat valued customers who are the foundation of their business like that? Don’t they know us beauty product addicts are the ones willing to spend, spend, spend on things that are not always necessities 😞

[greeneyedgirl107]

@crystalcake Yes, this makes me nervous as well.  I only reported about one or two broken or missing items from online orders over the years.  But I don't online shop there that much; I tend to do large orders from them a couple times a year, and then small purchases from the store.

I've returned some things over the years as we all have, but now I'm wondering if Ulta will turn into a TRE sort of thing.

I had sent e-mails to essentially complain about this or that (like if the in-store ordering for store to do wasn't working) so I hope they aren't getting mad with me.  I have tried to e-mail them when I've been pleased with a store experience, SA, etc.  I hope that counts for something...

[iwantitfree]

Personally, I think each person who is affected by this should write to the CEO detailing what has happened, why and the fact that they are alienating their best customers over something that is Ulta's fault.  Additionally, I think Twitter and FB should be lit up about the issue so that it is made known far and wide that Ulta is penalizing/alienating good customers over issues that Ulta created.  

[sarahshter]

@Alexmarya I'm right there with you because of a broken foundation bottle. Ulta is so dumb to turn away their best customers, I've probably (sadly) spent 4_5 Grand over three years...

[maxima]

@sarahshter Were you banned too? If so, do you mind sharing the circumstances of what happened? 

[maxima]

@Alexmarya I'm so sorry this happened to you. Just a couple of weeks ago, I received an email that indicated that I was also banned for similar reasons to yours. 

I'm really curious as to what prompted them to "review" certain customer accounts? 

I saw your screenshot where they began cancelling your orders. So they're glitch filled system actually has the capability to block orders from designated accounts?    

[sarahshter]

Well, @maxima when Ulta had the Smashbox foundation GWP it arrived broken, so I emailed them and they ended up refunding the entire order. I’ve never received any communications from them (emails, promos, and on the app I never get any multipliers ). During my birthday month (March) I emailed them asking for the code for the birthday gift and the response was basically that they will only sell me products in the store since I had a high incidence rate. 🤨. I think up to that I might have returned an eyeshadow or two, maybe exchanged a foundation color. Nothing excessive by any means. I’ve also heard that this tends to happen more in certain zip codes throughout the country. Ulta packages things so badly, dump it in the box with some paper and hope nothing breaks. It’s ridiculous.

[maxima]

@sarahshter I am so sorry this happened to you. Have you tried ordering anything online since March? Did you try to get this resolved with Ulta Corp? 

I don't understand why Ulta is doing this and to some of their best customers. I had never heard about people being banned unless it was obvious resellers who tried to buy a dozen palettes at a time. But suddenly more and more customers are coming forward. I'm really curious as to what caused certain accounts to get flagged and who flagged them? And more importantly, why didn't Ulta have enough consideration for their customers to warn us that they we were overstepping? 

[sarahshter]

@maxima I did try to put an order in during the 21 days of beauty but it got canceled right away.  After reading some of these posts I’m definitely going to contact corporate.  It’s a little odd to be in a situation where I’m begging a company to take my money!?!? It’s annoying though because there are some brands and  products that Ulta carries but they are hard to find anywhere else. 

[StTropezBarbie]

Do you think they take into consideration the dollar amount of specific returns? For example, I’ve returned two items this year but they were each less than $4. I’ve read reviews and see some saying they are returning a $50 to $60 palette. That’s a much more significant loss for any store than $4 here and there. Not like returning expensive clothes that at least can be resold. Just wonder what factors into their decisions to blacklist folks.

[maxima]

@StTropezBarbie They're definitely looking at the dollar amount. Though not all returns are a loss for them and that's not being taken into consideration. I recently returned a $140 order that included IT Cosmetics and stuff from NYX. The very next day there was 5x points for Platinum/Diamond, NYX and IT Cosmetics. So I repurchased everything and took the previous order back without opening a thing. 

Retailers know that cosmetic purchases are often impulse buys, yet Ulta doesn't have the ability to cancel orders. CS is mad quick to tell customers to either return an order or refuse the package delivery. They make it seem like it's no big deal and customers are taking cues from them, only to be penalized later.