The Art Room — Attraction in West Reading

Overall experience was below average. It was quite expensive, even for just a cup. Other pottery painting places would have much more interaction from the staff. We picked our pottery and paint, and left alone til we had to find the person working there to tell them we're done. There was little to no instructions of what to do. As a result, one of our pieces looked half unpainted. Also... don't trip over the dog bones. The dog there will be aggressive at times as well.

We went there March 1st, there was two of us. We were told we'd be able to pick them up in two weeks but "we tell people three weeks just incase something happens". Without any information being given to us, one of us stopped in the 23rd of March (3 weeks later) to check if they were done yet. One was done, the other would take another half a week to finish. (This is sunday) He said we could pick it up "any time wednesday" as its in the kiln and its too hot to open.

The first one we got back had chips on the top, a random purple spot, and a bunch of other defects that were clearly obtained after we had painted them.

Wednesday rolls around, my girlfriend goes to pick it up. She gets there, the male staff member gets a female staff member to come over to talk to my girlfriend (the guy never comes back). The lady said she didn't know which pottery was hers and that she would text her when its done. Assuming they would figure it out by the afternoon, and since it shouldve already been out of the kiln by now, she stopped in again... NOPE, still not done!

Their hours are extremely weird (varying between google maps & their website) and close an hour before their normal time if nobody will be painting. I finally make it down the 4th of April. I get there and me and two others (these ladies have been trying to get their pottery since february 14th, valentines day) try to enter at the normal time only to find out its still closed. After trying to call them from their multiple phone numbers, I get to their facebook and find out they open 2 hours after regular opening time because of an event the day prior.

With all that being said, I did get the final piece of pottery April 4th. Neither of us ever got a call or text back in the month following our paintings to let us know the progress of them and when we can pick them up.

Not really pleased with the whole thing to be completely honest, would recommend somewhere else.

To the owner, after reading through the reviews, I don't expect a very nice response. I'm not here to bash your business but I think it needs some structure and organization. There will be people that have amazing experiences, but I have to be honest and share mine. I don't wish anything bad on you or your business, and I hope to see it prevail unlike other small businesses. Maybe at some point I'll come back and have a better experience... Have an amazing day, god bless.

Update: Regardless of how many painters you had, you should have ensured there was more communication than there was. It felt as though we were jumping through hoops just to figure out when our pottery would be finished. I would like the mention, the day I got my pottery there were two others trying to figure out when they could pick theirs up... This is what initially pushed me to following up with a Google review, seeing that I wasn't the only one having bad luck / communication with your company.

I don't take anything personal, but I wouldn't say I expected schooling on how to paint pottery... though a short 1-2 minute explanation would have been appreciated, being that we were the only people in the studio for quite some time. After all, you never know if someone can't read. Maybe we didn't look close enough but we never noticed an instructional sign at our table. I wouldn't say I left this review for no reason, I left it to tell you areas that you could improve (assuming you are Mr. Adams). If you take criticism personal, there's absolutely no way you'll stop seeing 1-star reviews...

In store vibe was cute, a little chaotic but seemingly okay. My boyfriend and I originally visited The Art Room to celebrate a milestone but to be completely honest… we were left with a confusing experience. Before leaving the shop, we clarified with the owner when our pieces would be done. We over heard an estimated timeframe of 2 weeks and the front door sign said 1 week… the owner clarified that our pieces were to be done within 2 weeks and wrote down our number so we can be contacted when our pieces were ready. Fast forward A MONTH had gone by and we heard nothing… we were out of town and had tried contacting the shop (just to get a status and confirm the pieces were ready for pick up) so a friend could grab our finished pieces for us but no answer… After being sent to voicemail, dismissed on the phone, when someone picked up the phone no one had a definitive answer….We finally were able to get in contact with the owner who then says one of our pieces did not make it in the kiln.

After trying to get in contact with someone, just to get a solid answer, for 2-3 weeks… we were told a refund would be disbursed back to our card we have yet to receive that. The whole experience was weird and frustrating in my opinion. Again the night we went to paint our pieces was cute but the overall experience was a headache.

Just some feedback for the owner, I am not sure who the woman was answering our phone calls (when someone actually picked up the phone) but she seemed out of the loop and just couldn’t provide answers… maybe staying on the same page would be good so customers can get answers about their pieces. Also, bashing other customers, clients, local businesses, etc. in front of customers is extremely unprofessional in my opinion. Everyone has their off days, however, dismissing another customers phone call (answering and immediately hanging up or sending them right to voicemail and saying the customer has been a pain to us in person) is distasteful. And to only receive the same treatment… odd… We had been very kind throughout the entire process but at this point it’s a bit frustrating knowing we ended our experience with dishonesty, mixed emotions, and a broken art piece. Please do better and use this experience to better your future customers experiences.

Update: spoke with owner on the phone and received an update through Google - we were also told our one piece was broken not cracked

Below is quoted from the owner and my responses -

I apologized, offered a store credit for double the amount and a refund. (Owner did apologize, however only offered a partial refund for the broken piece. When I asked about a full refund, I was told I could receive one if I took down my review on Google. Which is strange to come up with an ultimatum with a customer)

The moment I only agreed to refunding the broken item, she got upset again and started complaining about things that didn’t pertain to this situation. (I think there was a misunderstanding as I was not complaining rather than explaining my experience and explaining my timeline. Usually business owners need to assess the situation before reacting and taking action.)

Moral of story: we tried to fix this confusing negative experience, but the young girl seemed to have an agenda (as a woman, I don’t necessarily have an agenda, but just want things to be made right for a situation that should not...

Overpriced. The lady working there didn't seem to know anything about her job, and answered "Honestly, I don't know" to everything... Including what colors looked like when fired in the kiln, questions about inventory, and if mugs could be microwaved. She gave the excuses that she only worked two days a week - but it was clear she didn't take time to familiarize herself with the fundamental requirements of the job. Items were priced "incorrectly" so we were told one price and then told we had to pay more. We were given one mason jar 1/4 full of water for a large table with 4 painters. I couldn't even reach it. When we asked for napkins, the lady said she didn't know if they had any... And then never checked. It boasts being BYOB, and yet she didn't know if they had a corkscrew; and again, didn't look for one. All the gem paints were either mislabeled or missing a label completely. You didn't know what colors they were! There were no samples of the regular paint colors to look at. We had no idea what paints to chose and what our projects would look like... And there was maybe 20 colors in total - all almost empty. All the brushes were a frayed mess. Need I go on? Okay, I will. We asked if "the owner" who apparently had all the answers and knew how to solve the mystery of which colors were which, could come and answer some questions, because we knew he was there... And she said, again, "I don't know, I think he's upstairs in his apartment", and again, checked no further. That is until he popped in to tell us we needed to pay more to complete "a set"... The pieces of this "set" were priced separately and did not indicate they were a set. Are shoe prices marked per shoe? Is the price total for both? We had 4 painters, one piece each, and we were looking at a bill of at least $130. They were all very small items. A couple little mushrooms, a toothpick holder, a small star shaped plate, and a small bear. Crazy. This is a very poorly managed and poorly staffed business. I hope they learned something from our visit, because we actually got up and left. They were making us sit there and discuss the incorrect pricing, before we could begin... Killed the mood of the evening. So we didn't paint. We went and got drinks and dinner for a fraction...