Thursday 23 February 2012

MAC Counters & My Experience

I've just read this post on Hollie's blog and felt compelled to write my own. 

Now, I really like MAC products. I have a lot of them in my collection and I use them regularly. However, I rarely shop in their stores/at counters because I've never had a pleasant experience. 


It was a friend's birthday this week and I wanted to get her a lipstick. Her colouring is totally different to mine so I'd asked around on Twitter for shade suggestions. I decided I'd pick up Hue as it seems to be a popular shade and I thought it would be a great everyday lipstick for my friend. I was also planning on picking up Blankety for myself. I left it too late to order online so I popped into my local store. 

Every time I've been in there over the past couple of years, I get completely ignored and end up walking out. There were a few girl having their make up done but there were loads of sales assistants walking around so I loitered around the lipsticks, swatching a few, waiting for someone to come along to ask if they could get me anything. I waited for as long as I could and still no one had come over so I went to the till where there were three assistants sitting around. I asked if I could have Hue and Blankety and was told Hue was out of stock.

Great.

So I politely asked the assistant if she could recommend an alternative shade for my friend. She just kept telling me that my friend could return the lipstick if she didn't like it, even though I was now unsure of which shade to get. Then she ordered another assistant to help me. They were so patronizing. This assistant tried to sell me several things that were nothing like what I asked for. I'm familiar with a lot of MAC lipstick shades so I immediately knew whether the shade she was suggesting was what I was looking for. By this point I was feeling super frustrated and I picked up Lovelorn. It looked like something my friend would like so I asked for that.

When I was at the till it took three assistants to scan in two lipsticks and process my payment. Three! They were all much friendlier now that I was going to hand over some cash, though.

So, that was my experience. I've never, ever had that sort of experience at any other counter. Even from brands in a similar price range to MAC such as Clinique, Urban Decay and Illamasqua I've always had really good experiences. I know it can be a bit frustrating when sales assistants follow you around the counter asking if you need any help but that is preferable to being completely ignored. I feel that a lot of MAC staff don't know a great deal about their products when compared with assistants on other counters. 

Buying cosmetics should be an enjoyable experience and I'm willing to pay more for my make up when the counter staff let me test different shades and tell me about their products.

Has anyone else had negative experiences at MAC counters? Or am I in the minority?

Stace xx

11 comments:

  1. I've found the girls at my local MAC store to be lovely, one of them who I handed Back 2 MAC's to couldn't have been friendlier. However, I remember when I used to go to Selfridges before that store was around, the girls at the counter were so snooty! One of them serving me looked at me like I was something the cat dragged in and acted like the fact that I had just brought her a lipstick to scan was an absolute effort. Not cool, MAC!

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    1. That's sort of what I experienced. It's so strange because there were really young girls in there who were obviously just looking and they were helping them and ignoring me even though I would have bought several things if they'd actually bothered to speak to me...oh well! Debenhams it is!xx

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  2. This was so interesting to read! I almost feel blessed that the girls at my local mac are so lovely, they are always friendly and welcoming and helpful, although shouldn't this be the way anyway?! MADNESS. xx

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    1. You are lucky! I keep hoping each time I go in that there'll be at least one nice assistant but I always leave feeling very let down. Boo!xx

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  3. I am with you on this. I am always so intimidated by counter staff, MAC especially. And as for the returns policy, they told my friend the exact same when she bought me Russian Red for my birthday. I went to exchange it, having not taken it out of the box even (I already have 2 Russian Reds...) and it took 10 minutes of "but I haven't even touched it" and "I didn't buy this, it was a gift" over and over to even convince the sales assistant to let me exchange for another lippie. She was adamant that it's MAC's policy not to exchange things, for hygiene reasons, even though it was absolutely pristine. Luckily she did exchange it for me "just this once!"

    Think I'll be buying online from now on: it was so tiring!

    www.bdpworld.blogspot.com

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    1. God! I'm glad I didn't tell my friend she could return it then! Such a hassle. Why say it can be returned and then cause a fuss?xx

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  4. I've had problems at MAC no end of times! I just order online or go straight to the till with a list. I hate the attitude and lack of knowledge many of them possess. I worked for MAC as a temp many years ago and believe me, not all are actual make up artists. One lady that worked with me was a dressmaker by trade. It also really annoys me when I ask for a product and the "MUA" doesn't even know what it is. I asked for Impassioned lipstick and MUA said they don't make one with that name. The last time I went into to buy a foundation, the MUA gave me really evil looks when I asked for NC 30 and told me thats far too light for me because she wears NC30 and shes wayyyy lighter than me. Yet to my eyes and the eyes of normal people, she looked ORANGE! Then when I let her swatch it on me, she said "oh you know what, actually it looks okay, maybe even a bit too warm. thats funny i didnt think pakistani people can be NC30" I'm not even pakistani!!!! Don't even get me started on Illamasqua! If they read my blog post from last week, they are going to blacklist me! An MUA spilt purple glitter on my Mulberry Alexa and wiped it off with a wet wipe without telling me! and totally damaged the bag (as its not supposed to get wet) and embedded purple pigment into the leather! DIDNT EVEN APOLOGISE AND TOLD ME "DON'T WORRY YOU CAN GET ANOTHER ONE, I SAW PLENTY IN RIVER ISLAND"! Rant over.

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    1. Haha! I love this rant. Bless you. I've always had good experiences at Illamasqua tbh.xx

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  5. I'm so glad it's not just me. I went to a Estee Lauder counter today, just to get a sample, and the woman couldn't of been more helpful, out of all the Lauder owned companies I think it is just MAC!
    Thanks for linking to my post!
    Hollie
    x

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    1. Yeah, I was at Clinique last week and it was a really nice experience - she gave me loads of freebies too!xx

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  6. Was this in house of Fraser by any chance? I always find them to be really nice when they know you're handing over cash but until then, you're left to fend for yourself. You'll catch me a few counters along at benefit any day in there!
    xxx

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