Why I won't go back to MAC

I don't usually like to use this blog to have random rants but something happened that annoyed and frustrated me so much that I am indeed, going to have a random rant!

About a month ago I was out shopping with Caleb and went to the MAC concession in House of Fraser to have a look at some of the make up. I have been using various MAC products for around 10 years now and while I'm not a die-hard fan, I do really like some of their things. I had heard a lot of good things about their eye pigments so I went to have a look at them.

Now, to set the scene, we went on a weekday. Caleb was really well behaved and not making any fuss or any noise. A couple of the MAC girls were with customers but about three of them weren't with anyone. I didn't ask for any help at first as I was just looking at that time and from my experience of going to other make up counters, they're always pretty quick to approach you, so I thought I would just browse and wait until someone approached me.

Nothing. On a couple of occasions, one or two of the girls would see me and look like they were about to come over and then - I kid you not - they looked down at Caleb in the pram and walked away again! I was pretty annoyed and at first I thought that I had just imagined it. A few minutes later, exactly the same thing happened again. Another customer approached the counter and stood close to me. Within a couple of minutes, one of the MAC girls came over, all happy and smiley and asked if she needed any help. Um, am I invisible?! Then one of the girls looked like she was about to approach me. She did and she even spoke to me! She said "excuse me", while she reached past me to get an eye shadow. Then she walked over to a mirror and started putting it on herself. It got to the stage where it was really so shocking and so obvious that they were ignoring me that it was almost laughable and I refused to leave as I wanted to see how long it would take for someone to finally approach me.

Ten minutes later a girl came over to me. She looked down at Caleb then back to me and asked if I needed any help. The conversation more or less went like this:
MAC girl: "Can I help you?"
Me: "yes, I have heard a lot of good things about the eye pigments and was wondering what they're like and how they're different to normal eyeshadows".
MAC girl: "yeah, they're really good, you just put them on your eyes and they last well".

And that was the end of the conversation  - she turned and walked off because another customer had approached, even though there were a couple of other MAC girls who could have helped that customer. I couldn't believe how rude and unprofessional she was! I have been to other make up counters before, including MAC (not that one) and when I have asked about a product, they have offered to try it on me, found out which shades I was interested in, etc. But this girl literally did nothing. Is it just me or do you think that something is wrong with that? I have worked in retail for around 4 years part time while I was at university and never have I treated any customer that way. It was interesting to note that the women they were all helping perhaps fitted their "image" of what someone wearing their make up might look like - basically models who didn't have a child in tow! It was obvious that they didn't think that a mother should be looking at MAC make up let alone wearing it and that maybe they should go elsewhere.

The story doesn't end there. When I got home, I emailed the MAC head office to let them know about my experience. I had to do it through their website as it was one of those where there is no actual email address and you have to fill in the form and send it to them that way, so I don't have a copy of it in my sent items or the date that I sent it. I really wish I had made a note of that because as I said, it's been about a month and I haven't had any response from them.

Am I just overreacting for being annoyed about this? In my view, I think it's appalling customer service and blatant prejudice. I'd like to say that I'll make a stand and never buy anything from them again but I really like one particular item of theirs and so maybe I'll get it again when I run out but I definitely won't be going back to that same make up counter.

Are you still there? If you've made it to the end, well done. Rant over!