Pop Craft Studio & Tufting in Chicago — Local services in West Chicago Township

I would like to write about how upset and disappointed I am in this place and my experience. My birthday was Feb 1st. My friends made the reservation for the feb 1st lipstick making class on Jan 27th. The deposit of $135 was paid. The reservation clearly was made in advance and was made for 4 people. One of my friends also called AGAIN on Jan 28th to just confirm the reservation and it was no problem. Our reservation time on Feb 1st was 1:30pm. On the day of our reservation, my friend receive a phone call at 1pm from POP craft stressing that they would not be able to accommodate us because a bridal party of 9 people was scheduled for that day and that they had made a mistake with scheduling. Mind you, we reserved on Jan 27th and called again Jan 28th to confirm again and not once was it told to us that there was a larger party already scheduled. My friend was informed that the bridal group made their deposit of $900. Why that was told to us is beyond me because we didn't ask for that information and we didn't need to know that. We were told that if we wanted to stay we could use the back room. The back room was a small supply closet set up with a table, chairs and supplies for the lipsticks. smdh. We asked for our money back which initially they did not want to do. They said they would keep the money and we could come back for another session. We informed them that we would never come back. We told them that as 4 black women we did not appreciate being placed in the back of the store in a supply closet while the other group was able to enjoy the front more spacious part of the store. We also did not appreciate the unprofessionalism of being told that we could not be accommodated even though all people in our group arrived on time and we were informed 30 minutes prior to our scheduled time for the class. You all really should be ashamed of yourselves for treating people in that manner. You all prioritized another group instead of the one who went through the proper channels, paid and arrived on time. You all also did not give the courtesy of calling a day or 2 in advance. You called us the day of 30 minutes before our session which makes me believe that you all did not want us to be there and cared more for the other group than you did us. Also my friends were not disrespectful in asking for the money back. They did so in a respectful manner so as not to ruin the experience of the bridal party. We did get the deposit back. I would give this experience 0 stars but I had to give it 1 to post. Regardless, my friends and I will never return to this place due to the enormous lack of...

The crafts were fun & interesting but the staff & service was very poor. First walked in and couldn't tell who was staff and who was a customer(nothing wrong with a loose dress code or anything but not even a lanyard or sticker to say that they worked here) which was no big deal, but then when we said what we were there for(phone case deco design, gave them four day warning advance & everything) they looked in the back and didn't have our cases, which they checked their group chats and ordering system that said it was delivered and handled so they should be there, and that was okay accidents happen but my group was just left standing awkwardly with no real updates or directions of what to do. after over an hour over my start time & 45 mins over my friend's, they finally offer a different activity & a 15% off discount, so I'm like okay, no worries, thank you. what do you suggest instead? I get a blank stare & that I just have to look at their site and pick something. So my friend & I finally pick something similar/price range and head to their pick out station while our staff member quietly/choppily explain the directions/rules/pricing/etc.(she was very nice just hard to hear & she seem like the most experience gal there because she kept getting pull away to help with other things so I can understand not able to explain everything perfectly for us)We picked out and started or projects and only able to get half through/half rush due to not a lot of time to work out a plan for our new projects. Which I could deal with until the final straw was seeing a mom & her daughter come in and was handed all the material for their project but no instructions how to do it at all! they did ask for help/what to do but they were either ignored/unnoticed or given short/not really helpful answers. Which at that point of them not knowing what to do and all the workers I did recognize were either busy or not paying attention and I ended up taking them to the station and showing them what to do, that's when the staff finally started paying them more attention after I was done helping. So yea would've been fun with better staff...

My friends and I did not have a pleasant experience. Two of my friends in my group wanted to do the acrylic fluid art so we were told we had to book at the new location in Uptown.

The first problem was when we went tried to book online it was charging more than what it was supposed to so my friend had to call and book instead.

The day we arrived to the location no one is there and the lights are off. We had to call about 5 times until someone finally answered. She had no explanation as to why the worker wasn’t there all she said was “she’s supposed to be there”. After about 20 minutes of waiting outside we call back to ask for refunds. Then a lady walks past us and unlocks the door. The lady on the phone says oh she’s there great and I’ll give you all a discount. We get inside she gets my friends started first with the acrylic art and then me last with tufting. She offers us drinks. One of friends started mentioning she wanted to go a nearby gas station that’s when the worker mentioned we could bring our own food and drinks. That would have been great to know before coming!

When it was time to check out we mentioned how the lady at the main location said she’d give us a discount and we could call her. Our worker said alright no need to call her. Once she rings us up individually she says “oh I’m just gonna give you free shipping and that’ll be better than a discount” just fast talking us like a salesperson would. At this point I was exhausted she already had us waiting then my tufting part was long so we just paid. Mine actually came out to be more than what the website said. She told us our acrylic art and rug should arrive on July 21st… today is July 28th. It shouldn’t take over three weeks to mail something. Two of my friends have been calling including myself and we get no answer.

This was not the way I expected to spend my birthday in Chicago. I will not return to this studio it was very...