Vandermark Merritt Glass Studios

The folks at Vandermark Merritt Glass Studio are rude, nasty, and disrespectful. Do not go here.

DO NOT go to this place. The people are rude, and refuse to work with you. Go somewhere else — you WILL regret it

I was very disappointed by this experience. One, my instructor was very rude to his staff and even to other customers. Two, there was very little real involvement — most of the time you’re either holding a metal bar in place or rotating the bar in your hands while the instructor does the real work. The process isn’t explained to you; I walked away with little knowledge of how glassblowing actually works. Most of all, I didn’t feel safe. The workshop is in someone’s converted garage; customers weren’t told where to safely stand, furnaces were left carelessly open, and I didn’t see or hear of any first aid kits or any sort of plan in case someone did get injured.
It’s a shame I had to spend $ 75 to find this all out myself. Avoid making the same mistake.

We just left after making a ornament, bowl and mug and had a great experience! It was fun and educational. Happy to support local craftsmen. Everyone was friendly and we would definitely recommend. Thanks especially to Doug and Steve!

So much fun! Had a living social coupon. Made a mug. I will definitely be back with the kids! Nice people don’t cool experience!

Skip the Living Social deal– go to Wheaton Arts
If you have nothing to compare the experience to — or you are doing this for a child — maybe this is the place for you. If you are looking for an amazing glass experience — and actually want to do 90% of the tasks hands on — then head to Wheaton
At vandermark you stand next to someone making a glass object using colors you picked out — so I guess you can say you are involved — but nothing compared to Wheaton. We also experienced the same service issues as the other 1 star reviewers cited and as a result — even if it was free — we would not go back.

I have never written a review but am so annoyed at how rude and unprofessional this business was! I went in the beginning of the summer (Via livingsocial deal) and made a bud vase. I did not know I was going to have to go back in 2 weeks to pick it up but guess what they were then closed for the summer. I wrote emails back and forth that I wanted to come pick it up and they were not very accommodating for this. I went to go pick up the bud vase when they were finally open and was told they no longer had it. The owner was rude, told me he wasn’t a warehouse… in return I asked why would you not tell me this over email when I told you I was going to come pick it up. He proceeded to tell me that he was not going to argue back and forth because he had a roomful of people. I made a simple request for me to make another since I was told I could come pick it up and they threw it out and he told me that I could pay to make another. TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE! I would not recommend them to anyone and will report them to LivingSocial and BBB.

I had my first glassblowing experience here and it was so much fun! The instructor was very thorough in explaining the process and I did a fair amount of participation. The finished product is picked up a week later. I can’t wait to see what my pumpkin looks like! I will definitely be back to make a Xmas ornament.

Brought a Groupon for to make a glass ornament– such a great experience!!! The owner, his son and other instructors walked us through step by step how we were going to make glass and what it consist of. Overall it was such a great experience, was there for about an hour. We made a pumpkin. Will deff go back to pick our ornament and take another class!

What. A. Hassle.
Myself and two friends bought Living Social vouchers for this class, and even with those vouchers, it cost us quite a bit for all three of us. Well, the day we had scheduled to get up there it snowed… a lot. The roads were crazy and two of the three of us have physical disabiltiies (multiple sclerosis — cane users). So we called while still in the car to ask if we could reschedule. We were worried about our balance on the ice and snow, the drive up, the walk in, our ability to get back out on our canes, etc. We got a lot of hemming and hawing about how it wasn’t «all that bad» up where they were and how it would «probably be fine» once we got up there because the snow would stop soon, but we were nervous, what with the mobility equipment and the crappy nervous systems and all. So we said again that we would need to reschedule. We knew the vouchers were close to expiring, and told them that, but they finally said yes we could reschedule.
After trying a few times to get a hold of them (email and phone), we finally get a response: sorry, no. We need to pay an extra $ 35 each if we want to reschedule now.
???
Why? «That’s our policy.»
A policy they decided not to tell us about when we originally couldn’t come, I guess. And which is a win-​win for them — because if we don’t show up, they keep our $ 47 each for absolutely NOTHING. And if we pay — they get full-​price customers instead of half-​price ones.
So we called Living Social… «sorry, you’ll have to deal with the vendor.»
We email them one more time. «Please can’t we just come?»
Their response? «No. And sorry you didn’t understand our policy.»
No, ma’am. I’m sorry you don’t understand how to a) maintain customers, b) empathize with others, and c) get a good review on Unilocal.
Vandermark Merritt Glass Studios has been nothing but dismissive, difficult, and unhelpful, and I will also make sure that every app, website and friend I have that is related to disabiltiies or who has disabilities understands that they should NOT patronize this place, because apparently, their policies are more important than your health and safety.

I came across this place from a Livingsocial ad. I’ve always loved glass/​glassblowing and it peaked my interest. After reading the first review below, I was really skeptical, but I decided to go for it anyway, and I’m so glad I did. It was a great experience and the guys working there were also really great. They all knew what they were doing, and considering we have no experience with molten glass, we were actually able to do a fair amount of the process our selves, which was really cool. I made a paperweight with flowers and it came out better than I expected. I would definitely recommend this place if this is something you’re interested in. They even have group rates and you can also apparently go during the week.
As the reviewer mentioned below, it is in a residential neighborhood, but it’s a corner house with a sign out front that says «glass blowing classes». We parked on the side and walked around to the garage where everything was taking place.
Sometimes they’re a little hard to reach by phone when they’re busy, but you can also e-​mail them from their website. They responded to my e-​mail pretty quickly. But if you keep calling, you’ll eventually reach someone.
Really great! Definitely do it!

My first time ever experiencing anything with glass making. and it was great! I honestly had no idea what I’d be getting myself into… but I certainly was not expecting actually getting to make the glass ornament myself! I was surprised to find that it was a smaller house in a residential neighborhood, but make no mistake… these people know exactly what they are doing! The employees are extremely friendly, helpful, and informative. Today was one of their open houses, and it was great being able to see some of their beautifully unique glass pieces after I made my own. I couldn’t have imagined a better way to have my first glass-​making experience than with these guys, and I will definitely be coming back next time LivingSocial has a deal.

This review was a long time coming. Although I did not have a good experience with this business, this is not related at all to their glass products which seemed decent. However, from the unprofessional and just plain rude comments that were directed at me while there and most recently, I would not recommend this place. I was here at an open house and I kind of knew beforehand that I probably would not get any real experience or educational value from this. I believe my total experience consisted of watching other people do what I would be doing and a total of about 5 minutes hands on to make the glass design. Just know that if you make something at their open house you really are paying money to say you made something that looks nice but that’s about it. If holding a rod, dabbing it in some glass chips, rotating it in a kiln & tapping the rod at the end makes you happy, then knock yourself out.
The reason I finally wrote this review is because of the following: first while we were there, the owner (I believe) interjected himself into a conversation I was having with the group of people I went with. I was wondering if we could still avoid a lecture and save ourselves $ 10 — the owner overheard me and commented that he didn’t care if I stayed or left, but I still had to pay the $ 10 because he invited someone to come here to speak already. Uh, excuse me? Was I speaking with him?! Then at the end of the evening after this lecture, he basically told us it was getting late, that he was tired or hungry and that it was their dinner time and basically told us to leave. Well, sorry but we were there for the lecture that we all just paid for and the lecturer was doing a Q&A — it was not like we were there sipping tea and just chatting amongst ourselves instead of continuing at a café. I did not want to review them when this first happened as I did not want our organizer (who did a terrific job) to be offended but what happened most recently really should be brought to people’s attention. To be fair, some of the other employees there seemed affable.
I had a couple of questions about my experience there and called several times. Except the 1 time I called, no one but a voicemail picked up & I hate leaving messages as this could lead to phone tag. I even emailed my query but there was no reply. The one time someone did pick up, she did not know the answer and told me the owner would get back to me. Well, that’s fine but his answer still left me with a question. I called again to leave a message with my number and told them I was at an open house of theirs along with my question. When he returned my call, he first told me he thought it was strange I did not leave my name. I explained that we were not introduced so I did not think a name was important. He then went on to give me a tirade about how if I want his help that a name was important. So I gave it to him. I just didn’t think it mattered for my voicemail. I did leave it initially with the woman I spoke with who wrote down my number. I guess since he was extremely testy with me and I thought his comments were unprofessional I mentioned that I thought it odd that a business almost never picks up their phone no matter what time of day it is. He clearly got angry with my opinion (some can call it a «tip») and said, «Well, I can’t help you!» And hung up on me. Pretty sure his not helping me had nothing to do with my query. I was appalled because I don’t think anyone has hung up on me intentionally since uh 5^th grade? Basically I cannot recall when that last happened let alone with a business establishment.
I really cannot recommend a place that treats its clientele in this manner.