The Pottery Place, Inc — Local services in Town of Guilderland

Point: rude, poor customer relations, expensive I give a 2 Star rating now as I noticed they lost their customer relations behavior & prices increased considerably.

Annually, since 2009,my grand kids, son & I ,to create a personalized ceremic, always enjoyed , previously rated , 5 star, The Pottery Place on Western Ave, annual earnings rated at 456,000.00 per year.

I shared my recent’ Bad experience' w/my family & with their comments, I decided to write a negative review.

Last week, A few of the Christmas trees being painted & one of the staff was using a tool to clear the Holes in the tree to accommodate the lights.

I painted a tree last year and Holes were clogged.

I quietly asked the Clerk if I Could bring my last years tree in to have these clogged holes cleared. She checked who came over, said yes, but encouraged me to call Ahead.

I called ahead. First to find out when our pieces were ready for pkup, as well as asking about the time to clear the holes in the tree. She checked & said yes but to encourage to call ahead to find out the best time.

On Friday am, day to pick up the other items, I called to find the best time. The girl again put me on hold, checked.

After an especially long day, this was to be one of my last stops. At the door, After checking my name, went to alert the gal who was to do the cleaning while she retrieved the items we completed the week prior. Last week the staff spoke to us as if we were in a Tobacco auction, spelled out the rules in a split second, escorted us to our table, name, logged in time , etc. was the same person to clear the holes.

Last week, We learned upon leaving 2 hrs each person x 4 people @$8.00 = $64.00 along w/ price of the items . We thought she was not clear on her points embedded in that quick overview., but, let theBuyer be Aware.

The tree from last year was still wrapped in The Pottery Place Bag, all original paper, receipts, etc in the bag. I Had Inquired three times prior to arriving there.

This person, began pulling the tree out of the bag and before the completion, began saying w/a disturbing voice, this tree did not look one of theirs. ?? She asked where did I get this one. I turned the bag around & pointed to the label on their brown bag. pulling out the paper wrap, She continued to say it didn't look like their product. For all she knew, Maybe I picked it up at Walmart & want them to repair other companies products. She asked me again where did I get this product.

Soo Rude and unnecessary scruitney.

At the same time, the owner Amy stepped up and informed me I was rude and they get folks all the time to fix 'other places' mistakes and they do not repair.

She was vehement in her staunch support of her staff's scruitny and told me I was rude again. I informed Amy I had called and saw the staff clearing the holes . That process was not done last year. As she contined w/a strong voice. I told her I thought she was veing rude. Amy indicated she was the owner, in Charge, also added they are barely breaking even, etc.

Point: rude, poor customer relations, expensive.

Other point: if several times, folks come in to have repairs, Amy may wish to add this feature to improve her barely breaking even business.

My grand daughter found another place Sparkle Pottery Place in Saratoga we can go on a day off from school. She knows we'll never Spend time or money at The Pottery...

In early December, we visited to create four mugs. The following weekend, I returned with my child so he could make another piece, and I picked up the mugs at the same time. Upon bringing the mugs home, I discovered that one was not fully glazed, with three areas of exposed raw material, including a large section inside the mug. Two of the other mugs had visible glaze drips running down them.

I called the studio and was advised to bring the improperly glazed mug back to be refinished, though I was warned it might crack. Since this was a one-of-a-kind piece, I was understandably upset. However, when I dropped it off, I was reassured that it should not crack. At the same time, I picked up the piece my child had made the previous weekend, only to find a large, sharp piece of material stuck to it that was not there before. When I asked for it to be fixed, I was told that the person responsible for glazing would have to remove it and that I needed to leave the piece again.

Regarding the mugs with glaze drips, I was told there was nothing that could be done to fix them. This entire experience has been extremely disappointing. I have visited this pottery studio at least twice before without any issues, but on these two recent visits, every piece—five in total—has had significant quality problems.

Considering that this location is nearly an hour from my home, making three trips in three weeks only to receive subpar pieces is unacceptable. No refunds, discounts, or meaningful resolutions were offered—just repeated apologies. I won’t be returning, nor would I recommend this location unless they address their glazing process (employee) and improve their quality control.

UPDATE: two months later and the glaze is now crackling all over two of the mugs (they were hand washed according to instructions) and are no...

Very helpful staff person assisted us in picking a piece, and doing handprints with my two small children. The pieces are priced moderately for smaller items, but get somewhat pricey for larger pieces. It was a nice experience, but not really suited for small children.

Upon going to pick up our piece, which is a Mother’s Day gift, we arrive 5 minutes past closing. Seeing staff inside, my son knocked on the door. A woman came to the door and very rudely pointed to the door, where there’s a small sign stating once closed, the door will not open for ANY reason. She was extremely rude and said we’d have to come back the following day, on Mother’s Day, to pick up our gift.

I understand the reasoning behind the policy, however, I think certain situations warrant exceptions to rules or policies. Being a single parent with two small children and driving 45 minutes to pick up a piece, it’s extremely inconvenient to be told I now have to drive back on Mother’s Day. Especially when done in an impolite and rude fashion. We will...