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