4Cats Steveston Art Studio

Things started off well with this little studio. I attended a pottery class with my husband. The work booth was tight and we had very little interaction with the staff but were ok to watch a video on a tablet guiding us through the process. We then had to leave our pieces to air dry before we could book a the glazing appointment. This is where it fell apart.This follow up booking is required to partially dip the pieces then put them in line to enter the kiln. (5 mins tops). So I booked this follow up time but was unable to make my booking (as I had an emergency). The staff told me I had to book another appointment and pay again. Fine, I did so. Then 'life happened' and was unable to attend that booking. They said I needed to book and pay yet another time! I asked if surely they could work with as this would be the third time I had paid. They coldly said no. Rather than work with a business this cold to it's customers I told them to throw my work out.I will not be returning to this location and will take my eager and regular art $ elsewhere and recommend you do too!

I have been trying to book a workshop for myself since September 2022 and have yet to attend a class.The first time I scheduled a workshop, they cancelled because they decided to close on the day of my workshop for the rest of the Fall season, unfortunate, but whatever, I will get a spot next time (or so I thought). I was unable to schedule the rest of the year so I asked if I could save the credit for Spring 2023, they said yes. Mind you, the price for these workshops kept increasing to about $10-15 in March 2023, so it's like $44 now. They have also stopped replying through email because they are using this chat feature on the website to help with customer inquiries. Chat staff were all nice and I booked through them once for Spring 2023. However, the Steveston location emailed me asking if it was for the Garden City location when in my email confirmation, it says Steveston. I could not email them or call them as they do not reply so I went ahead with the chat feature, which said I do not have a booking under my email. So at this point I'm confused and a little annoyed by the fact that I have been trying to take a pottery course for the past 6 months and have been unfruitful. Now there are no workshops in April and I have to wait until May. Also they do not do refunds so thats about $36 down the drain. I have given up on trying to book a workshop because I do not want to pay more for nothing in return.Not really mad at the staff, just how this whole system is organized:- little to no contact with store location- barely any open spots and short open hours- inconsistency with price- also not appreciating the no refund policy

Steveston Richmond Location: my wife booked a class while we were in Vancouver for Christmas and when she along with her group arrived to a chaotic and disorganized situation without the supplies to complete the project—a gold foiled art piece. They offered alternative projects but refused to return the money after failure to meet an advertised project at the time and afterwards when the reality of the situation was realized. The customer service is dismissive, rude and unprofessional and hides behind policies it does not even understand. A no refund policy does not abdicate responsibility for failure to meet the terms of a sold product. Anyways, this is definitely not worth the headache. For a small business in a small town to have any negative reviews or one stars, it is saying something… be warned! They could sell you on a project and if you are okay showing up to do some random other project because they do not have supplies and choose not to communicate that to you. It has happened and it unfortunately has been a very negative experience. What was going to be a fun girls night between a girl, her best friend, mother and grandmother (in town from France for Christmas) turned into a big headacheAfter phone calls, emails from two different people and no accountability structure to be found, mentioning a Visa dispute resulted in a refund. IT was at least two calls, four emails and two in person meetings with different individuals. Each person spoken to had no communication or loyalty to the other co-workers and were quite rude to their co-workers, but they did refund the entire amount, so that is worth stating, however that was only after this review and a notice of calling to Visa were made.It bears noting that if you are going for a art night and are going for the experience only it might be alright, and might even be a 5 star experience, but expectations should be kept low.

For pottery, this is fine for a casual time and to create some thing you don’t intend to keep. For anyone with a modicum of pottery experience, prepare to frustrated! The pottery wheels don’t allow you to use proper form and they set them up at a weird angle. Otherwise, the space is nice and fun for activities with kids. It also very reasonably priced.

This is my favourite 4Cats studio, with a chill atmosphere and happy, creative vibe. Manager Carolyn and her team of Maia and Sylvie are awesome and gently guide you without being as over the top as some of the other studios. Love it.

We had a play date gathering and the staff was great. Our instructor Emily was attentive and tried to talk to every child to ease them in. The kids did a clay project and the staff gave encouraging comments and the kids had a lot of fun. We will be back for other projects.

We had 2 classes left when covid began and shut everything down. There was very little communication about what would happen with our remaining classes. I have been patiently waiting but they do not respond promptly to emails and they do not answer the phone. I received an email asking if I would like to schedule a make up class to which I replied yes. But then I never heard from them until they sent a message asking me to pick up my unfinished artwork. I am quite frustrated as 7 months have now passed and I see that they are offering classes every week but they have still not scheduled any make up sessions. I would stay away from this location. I wanted to be patient and give them some time to get organized during covid but now it just seems that they don't care much for you if they already have your money. I probably would have signed up for more classes had they been more organized and had better customer service. I am so disappointed since I have had really good experiences with the previous 4cats that was in Steveston.

My partner and I received a gift certificate to 4cats and I was excited to try a workshop. We were helped by “smiley Sam” and they were so friendly and patient with all our questions despite having such a full class of workshops and being the last session of the day!

Staff was passing snide comments. This was directed at my young daughter. This particular staff also seemed disinterested in her job and was not at all helpful to the participants in the class. Quite surprised at the quality of service. We were really looking forward to the class to make the autumn house. There are other 4catsart studios and we are trying to move our half finished projects to the other location. I was also billed for an extra hour by email later that day when we left right on time.

I signed up me and my friend for a workshop making clay figurines as a fun way to reconnect with our inner child. At the beginning, we were told that we could add whatever details and make whatever creative liberties we wanted, just not to make a “whole playground” by the end of it. It all sounded good, and initially my friend and I had a great time and I left feeling satisfied.When I came back to pick up the final product, it turns out they’d taken apart my friends figurine and PICKED OFF parts that were “too much”?? My friend was left with very little of what he handed in and it was just so unprofessional and left us feeling disrespected.What place that advertises being creative takes apart your project once you leave? I would’ve appreciated it if while we were still working we were told that we were doing something wrong, but we weren’t and we just unfortunately had to come back to disassembled pieces. I can’t imagine what they would do to your children’s art if you brought them here. Just be warned that if you somehow “break” their rules (which we weren’t even told about) they may end up taking apart your child’s art behind your back. So glad I didn’t bring my little sister here!