Terrible experience at All Fired Up

[etta166]

Hi all,

I'm posting here to share my appalling experience at All Fired Up. I am seriously disappointed and will never be going there again.

First time I went there, I painted a tea pot but was only told afterwards, and after I had paid, that the kiln was broken. It took 3 weeks to get the tea pot fired. Despite that, I thought that I would give them the benefit of the doubt and try a second time.

My saga started about 6 weeks ago, when my Grandmother was coming visit. I thought it would be nice to take all her great-grandchildren to make her a present. The staff initially were confident that they could fire anything that we painted so that it would be ready a week later for her visit - so off we went to do our painting. While we were there, the staff were really helpful in getting the footprints and hand prints onto the plate, cup and bowl for my Grandmother.

In total, we painted a large plate, a cup, a bowl and a T-Rex. Although the painting part was fun, everything else has been a nightmare. Only the T-rex was ready on the day they said it would be, but as I had called in advance of going to collect, I was promised that the remaining items would be fired the next day. They were not. So, the plate, cup and bowl for my Grandmother were not ready for her visit.

The problems did not stop there. The cup got lost. The bowl was splattered with someone else's paint.

The staff offered to remove the spatters from the bowl, but the tool they needed to do that was not available. When it finally arrived, they removed about half the splatters of paint, but there are still lots left on the white background of the bowl. The cup was found, but it also has flaws in the glaze and splatters of other paint on it.

I have never received any kind of apology. The manager refused to give me a refund, but offered a gift voucher of the whole value of my items. I spoke to the head office, who then over-ruled the manager and only offered a 50% gift voucher.

This is my second trip to All Fired Up, and both times there have been serious delays and problems. I will never go there again. So, PM me if you want a 29 pound gift voucher and want to take the risk of going there to paint some pottery.

[red devil]

Are you giving the gift voucher away for free? :)

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