My Experience with Ulta Beauty’s New Lasership Shipping Service

Ulta Beauty now uses Lasership to ship our orders. LaserShip has been around a while but I’ve never heard of it before.

I shop a lot online. Most of my packages arrive via UPS, FedEx, or USPS. I’ve never received anything from Lasership until now.

I know a lot of you have experienced some issues with LaserShip and so many people on social media have complained about it as well.

I also had an extremely disappointing experience with Ulta Beauty’s new LaserShip shipping and customer service.

Don’t get me wrong. I have a membership in the Ultimate Rewards program that Ulta Beauty offers to customers. My membership status is Diamond. I love shopping at Ulta Beauty, so this is NOT an offensive article.

I’m sharing my experience because I want Ulta Beauty and LaserShip to improve their services.

And also, this issue is strongly related to anyone planning to shop at Ulta Beauty Online. The next victim can be you, be aware!

What’s happened?

I placed an order at Ulta Beauty on 8/26/2020.

The delivery status became “delivered” on 8/28/2020, but I didn’t receive the package. At this point, there was no proof of delivery. I sent an email to Ulta Beauty and they said “sometimes an order will be marked as delivered before it arrives! If your order has not arrived in three business days, please reach out and we would be happy to reship to the address used to place your order.”

Ulta Beauty promised reshipment if the package will not be delivered after 3 business days.

On 9/1/2020, I still didn’t get my package.

I sent an email to Ultra Beauty and explain my situation. On the same day, Ultra Beauty immediately responded to my email and said “After further investigations, our records indicate that the package was delivered successfully to the address provided. We are so sorry to inform you that we are currently unable to further assist as your order is showing delivered.”

5 days ago, Ulta Beauty customer service promised reshipment if the package will not be delivered. Now, they said “unable to further assist.”

I’m 100% sure, on that delivered day nobody came to my front door. I requested to escalate this case.

Ultra Beauty immediately responded to my email and refused my request. “We do apologize and truly wish there was more we could do in this situation. At this time Ulta Beauty deems this incident with the (order number), resolved. We recommend you contact the carrier to file a claim for the order.“

Ok, fine. Ulta Beauty shipped my package via LaserShip, so I checked their website.

When I checked the LaserShip tracking system, I was shocked.

It looks like someone else signed for my package and LaserShip provides this signature as proof of delivery. On the delivered date, there was no proof of delivery. And now, there is proof of delivery. Something is wrong.

My package from Ulta Beauty did not require a signature.

I assume that LaserShip created a fake proof of delivery after the delivery date. Forgery signature is a federal crime. I filed a claim to Lasership on 9/1/2020.

LaserShip responded to me on 9/5/2020 and says “Please contact your seller at this time.”

In general, shipping responsibility is clear between senders and carriers. But between Ulta Beauty and LaserShip, it looks like a gray. Nobody is going to take responsibility for misdelivered if you shop at Ulta Beauty Online.

In conclusion, Ulta Beauty refused to reshipment and refund. They failed to deliver the services they promised. It was pretty shocking that customer satisfaction is not that important to Ulta Beauty.

What does it mean to you? You may lose your money by shopping at Ulta Beauty Online.

I investigated this issue and found out that so many people are victimized by Ulta Beauty’s New LaserShip shipping service.

On the other hand, some businesses put customer satisfaction first.

If LaserShip lost your packages, companies like Sephora and Gap will make reshipment or refund. I heard that Bath & Body Works also take this shipping problem seriously and take very good care of customers.

So, don’t get panic even though your packages are shipped via LaserShip. It’s really up to where you shop.

Why so many problems with Lasership?

According to Raven J. James, LaserShip’s business model relies on independent contractors to serve as couriers for the deliveries. These independent contractors are expected to drive their own cars and pay for their own gas or vehicle repairs. The drivers are paid per package delivered, so they want to make many deliveries possible in a very short window of time.

It looks like there is not much detailed screening process for independent drivers. The main qualifiers are owning a vehicle, having auto insurance, having a driver’s license, and having a smartphone. That’s all.

In 2015, a former LaserShip driver gave a lot of insight through a Reddit Ask Me Anything thread.

The driver addresses some of the most common complaints and concerns include drivers stealing packages. While there’s no way to prove the level of truth to this (I want to believe it is not common), but my package was signed by a stranger and stolen.

Misdelivered can happen. Of course, people make mistakes. I totally understand that. But if misdelivered happen too often… it is not an accident anymore. It’s a problem.

I also investigated delivery issues with LaserShip and found out that so many people are victimized by this company:

In addition, there are 651 complaints on Lasership and marked as “CURRENT ALERTS FOR THIS BUSINESS” by Better Business Bureau.

How is this company still in business?

Despite so many people complaining about LaserShip, this company primarily handles the most demanding aspects of delivery. I don’t know why, but many companies have high hope for LaserShip.

Amazon is LaserShip’s dominant partner. Amazon recorded a billion dollars in net income every year (still growing) by providing low prices, free shipping, and convenience. According to Dan Nosowitz, it would cost as much as $50 on Amazon’s side to have a package delivered via FedEx rather than a cheaper carrier like LaserShip.

If a powerhouse like Amazon is willing to cut shipping costs and sacrifice customer satisfaction by using a less reliable delivery service but still making a billion dollars in net income, it is no question that all businesses want to do the same.

I really hope LaserShip will improve their services because companies won’t just stop working with them.

Wrapping Up

The holiday season is around the corner. A lot of people will shop online. Even well-established companies like FedEx and UPS struggle to deliver the packages to customers on time during the holiday season.

During the holiday season, people might experience receiving damaged items or losing packages more than usual.

I just can’t imagine how LaserShip will handle that crazy busy holiday season. “Forgery signature” is the proof of delivery to LaserShip. This is not normal behavior as a shipping company.

I hope these two businesses, Ulta Beauty and LaserShip will improve their services. This was the worst experience of shopping online.

Update: I finally received my package after a month. Thank you so much LaserShip!