Just Kiln' Time — Local services in Marietta

Summary: Cute shop, friendly employees, but terrible at communication

Full Review: I reserved my Christmas tree in August and didn’t receive any updates as to the status of my purchase, when I could come by to paint, etc until a month and a half later. During that period of waiting, I had called and left messages on Facebook Messenger, but I would continually be told that someone would get back with me... and they never did. I was considering requesting a refund, but I made one last attempt to get an update on my tree and the woman who answered made it seem as if the trees had been there for a while and was shocked when no one had reached out to me... which was frustrating because I had been waiting for such a long time.

My experience painting the tree was fine. The employees were all friendly, helpful and courteous. The shop is not huge, but has a nice selection of paints and ceramic pieces.

My communication problems resumed once it was time to pick up my tree once it had been fired. Originally I was told that I would get a call back in one to two weeks. Given that I had such a bad experience with no one calling me to let me know the tree was available to paint, I didn’t trust them to follow through this time around. I stopped in on two different occasions, both times were after an employee had told me my tree would be ready, only to find there was some issue with the firing of my tree or the delivery of the light kits. I understand that running a small business is a challenge during COVID, and we had just had a bad storm so they had gone a few days without power. I want to support local businesses and I am sympathetic to issues that arise, however, I do think that I deserved a phone call letting me know there was a delay. The customers shouldn’t have to pull information from the business owners. Altogether, I think it was closer to 4 weeks of waiting for my tree after i had finished painting it. Again, I am a patient person, and want to support small businesses, but it just shouldn’t be this hard to get clear communication...

Terrible communication. I went recently for one of the vintage Christmas tree classes. I signed up in August along with 2 friends for a class on October 15. When we showed up, only two of us were on the list for the class even though we had all prepaid. After a lot of discussion, our friend was given a refund and had to uber home since she rode with us... there were extra seats, but "no extra trees" for her to be able to paint. We were told that an employee who worked there in August was making reservations and accepting payment without writing down the names. ?! I received a phone call on November 15 asking what color lights I would like on my tree and saying that only red and multicolor were available. I immediately returned the call with no answer and it wouldn't go to voicemail. I sent a facebook message the next day with no response to date (8 days later). I have also left 3 voicemails over the last two weeks asking for a return call with no call. I showed up today to pick up my tree and was asked if I was told it was ready. I explained that yes I received a call asking about what lights I wanted and have attempted to call several times with no return call. I just got a sigh and an eyeroll with no apology. After a while of searching, my tree was found. No red stars available for the top, white lights still unavailable. I was told they were ordering more red stars, but didn't know when they would be available. I just cut my losses. I won't be going back. There are plenty of other pottery places with great communication that offer the...

The communication from this place is none existent. My husband and I painted here with our children back in February. We had a good experience and enjoyed ourselves. After we finished painting they told us that we would be getting a call when our pieces were ready to be picked up. It’s June and I had not received a call from them regarding pickup. I live far away from this place and did not want to make the drive over without confirmation of my piece’s completion. I found their number online last weekend and called. I was told that my pieces would be held until this week but I could not pick up on that particular day because there was a private party until after a certain hour. Because of my work schedule I am not able to make it there on the week days before closing. Hopefully I will be able to pick it up Saturday, if not that would be a waste of over $100 all due to lack of...