I visited The Painting Panda Pottery Studio many years ago when we were in Tacoma but didn’t have time to paint. I had always wanted to go back and paint someday, but we never found ourselves returning to Tacoma as it is many hours away. We had gone to other studios within the past few years but decided to drive back to The Painting Panda Pottery Studio for my birthday this year.
It was a nice painting experience and they had cute pieces to paint. I was hoping they had the half sun, half moon piece that I saw that first time I came to the studio but understand that that was many years ago. This time, I painted a mushroom and a fairy on a mushroom and my boyfriend painted a chicken. They were ready within just a few days but we went to pick them up about two weeks later. We were so excited to pick up our pieces but upon arrival were notified that the chicken was damaged during firing.
The paint had chipped off during firing and they used tape to tape it back on. They offered us 15% off our next visit, which if we returned to paint the chicken, would have been $3.75 off another $25.00. We let them know that we lived far and the probability of us coming back was very slim; especially after our piece was ruined on our first visit. I understand that there can be issues during firing, but I think under most circumstances that is more of the store’s responsibility not the customer’s. The employee then called his manager and let us know that the best they could do was give us store credit equivalent to the price of the piece. We then told them again that we will not be coming back to the studio as this was a special trip. He said there was nothing that he could do. We then asked if we could at least take home a chicken to paint ourselves even though that would not offer the same glazed appearance. He told us yes, if it is in stock, and that since we will not be using their paint that the piece is half the price. Because of this, we were able to choose a second piece to take home and paint. The damage still ruined the entire experience and all of the hours we were there painting felt like a waste, especially since it was my birthday.
Long story short they do absolutely EVERYTHING possible not to refund you even if the damage is caused by them and their kiln during firing.
