This story is a real bummer. I can only imagine what a drag it would be to have your much anticipated pots arrive and cause you so much displeasure.
I feel for you.
I want to first say that I don't doubt any of your claims. I see the pictures, they don't look good.
But I did want to add, Yixing pots are not wheel thrown, if they are hand built, they are slab constructed. There will be a seam where the slab is joined. But it shouldn't be visible.
And I just wanted to say that I too ordered a pot from Chen. I had to wait an extra week or two because she said her father was still working on that batch. My email exchanges with her were very pleasant.
My pot arrived when she said it would. I think it is flawless and it makes great tea. It is a little bigger than advertised, but I am still very happy with it.
I am sorry your experience with her wasn't the same.
Re: As promised here are the picture of the pots
Bagua, I don't have problems with sending back the order either but as I explained before, the vendor threatened me by saying that if the stuff broke on its way it was my loss. And how things were she clearly could've told me that the stuff broke when it arrived. It was my word against hers. IPersonally, if I am not happy with my order I send it back to the vendor. I have no problems with packing well the order either, it is easily done and it won't break unless you drop it from an aircraft during flight, lol.
I was the only one loosing that way and she knew it...
Re: As promised here are the picture of the pots
Hmm. I know what you mean. Sorry I can't help you then. 
Re: As promised here are the picture of the pots
Many people don't get here, is the simplest shape is actually hardest shape to make. Like lixing(pear-shape), shipiao and duoqiu.
When Gu Jing-zhou received the students, he first asked them to master Daheng-style Duoqiu, over and over, day and night. He once said, "after mastering Daheng-style Duoqiu you can move to next, and meanwhile your skills would be improved unbelievably"
Myself has been searching for good hand-made li-xing for 4 years and hasn't found as they would make in Qing dynasty. And the ones who make near that perfection are already well-known and prices a bit high
(Xu Jin-gen or Wang Qiang).
Whether they make themselves or borrowing asst. potter, it's not available to know unless you bring a camera with it..but serious Yixing collectors (not me) have a idea with it (no problem cos they already know) and the truth is even Grand Masters use asst. potters sometimes..
When Gu Jing-zhou received the students, he first asked them to master Daheng-style Duoqiu, over and over, day and night. He once said, "after mastering Daheng-style Duoqiu you can move to next, and meanwhile your skills would be improved unbelievably"
Myself has been searching for good hand-made li-xing for 4 years and hasn't found as they would make in Qing dynasty. And the ones who make near that perfection are already well-known and prices a bit high
(Xu Jin-gen or Wang Qiang). Whether they make themselves or borrowing asst. potter, it's not available to know unless you bring a camera with it..but serious Yixing collectors (not me) have a idea with it (no problem cos they already know) and the truth is even Grand Masters use asst. potters sometimes..
Re: As promised here are the picture of the pots
id suggest that you try talking to chen again.
my experience with them is good and i think it wont hurt to bargain with her for an exchange. after all if they are confident of the product, they should be able to sell that again... or maybe use the pots to show their students of what not to do in a pot
i do think that their clay is of good quality, and to me thats the most important thing i look for in a pot... but based on what you wrote above, it seems like you dont know what to believe in or have trust in them anymore.
i did have some custom pots made by them, but those were fang gu and duo qio which is their "star products" and although i specified a size, it came out larger... which is totally fine by me.
so i think your left with 2 options... write this off as a really expensive tuition fee, or go back and try harder to bargain for an exchange with them
my experience with them is good and i think it wont hurt to bargain with her for an exchange. after all if they are confident of the product, they should be able to sell that again... or maybe use the pots to show their students of what not to do in a pot
i do think that their clay is of good quality, and to me thats the most important thing i look for in a pot... but based on what you wrote above, it seems like you dont know what to believe in or have trust in them anymore.
i did have some custom pots made by them, but those were fang gu and duo qio which is their "star products" and although i specified a size, it came out larger... which is totally fine by me.
so i think your left with 2 options... write this off as a really expensive tuition fee, or go back and try harder to bargain for an exchange with them
Last edited by odarwin on Apr 25th, '12, 04:25, edited 1 time in total.
Re: As promised here are the picture of the pots
About the sizing issue, this phenomenon is not only a Shouzhen issue, it happens to other vendors I have ordered pots from. For example:
http://www.jingteashop.com/pd-jing-tea- ... -lnxgl.cfm
Advertised as 110mL but it is really 90mL. I am even happier with the reduced size since it suits perfectly my need for brewing high-end high-fired TGY.
A different story would be ordering a 50mL shui ping and receiving a 100mL one. That wouldn't be much fun with me.
Shouzhen uses quality clay, which is not readily available to online customers from a non-Chinese background, for this simple reason I still recommend this vendor knowing the "junk" that is floating out there, lol.
http://www.jingteashop.com/pd-jing-tea- ... -lnxgl.cfm
Advertised as 110mL but it is really 90mL. I am even happier with the reduced size since it suits perfectly my need for brewing high-end high-fired TGY.
A different story would be ordering a 50mL shui ping and receiving a 100mL one. That wouldn't be much fun with me.
Shouzhen uses quality clay, which is not readily available to online customers from a non-Chinese background, for this simple reason I still recommend this vendor knowing the "junk" that is floating out there, lol.
Re: As promised here are the picture of the pots
Chrl42, thank you for your reply. It is an interesting story. I didn´t know that good lixing was so hard to find . It's very unfortunate, since I really like this shape in a pot.
Now that i have seen many pictures of different lixing pots I don´t even know what to call my pot!!! It doesn´t deserve to be called lixing.
Odarwin, I really not sure if I will try to bargain with her again. But thanks for ecouraging me to do so
G., It is true that their clay work ok, but there are plenty of fish in the sea. I am sharing my problem so that this doesn´t happen to other members. Luckily you and Odarwin here, didn´t receive crappy pots. But I certainly wouldn´t advice anyone to buy from this vendor. Unless they are willing to receive a pot with such flaws. This is not the first time it happens!
Some knowledgeable users told me that for the price I paid this flaws are
unacceptable. They are very expensive.
As Marshal said, the weird proportions of my pot is a serious defect . I mean my pot is not even a lixing (handle and spout flaws aside)!!! Where is the pear shape???!!!
I guess no one would pay 259 USD for a custom pot like mine.
If we do, we are paying the learning process of apprentices making pots, which is ok, if they do the job correctly, if not the pots have to be priced accordingly, or at least they should let you know in advance of the defects after firing and offer you a discount if you accept the item!!!
For the same price, or even less, we can buy in JTS or Houde, to mention some.
If I buy 10 custom crappy pots from Shouzhen I can even buy a 2 way ticket to China, go to Maliandao and get tired of searching for pots.Not easy either but why not...
Now that i have seen many pictures of different lixing pots I don´t even know what to call my pot!!! It doesn´t deserve to be called lixing.
Odarwin, I really not sure if I will try to bargain with her again. But thanks for ecouraging me to do so
G., It is true that their clay work ok, but there are plenty of fish in the sea. I am sharing my problem so that this doesn´t happen to other members. Luckily you and Odarwin here, didn´t receive crappy pots. But I certainly wouldn´t advice anyone to buy from this vendor. Unless they are willing to receive a pot with such flaws. This is not the first time it happens!
Some knowledgeable users told me that for the price I paid this flaws are
unacceptable. They are very expensive.
As Marshal said, the weird proportions of my pot is a serious defect . I mean my pot is not even a lixing (handle and spout flaws aside)!!! Where is the pear shape???!!!
I guess no one would pay 259 USD for a custom pot like mine.
If we do, we are paying the learning process of apprentices making pots, which is ok, if they do the job correctly, if not the pots have to be priced accordingly, or at least they should let you know in advance of the defects after firing and offer you a discount if you accept the item!!!
For the same price, or even less, we can buy in JTS or Houde, to mention some.
If I buy 10 custom crappy pots from Shouzhen I can even buy a 2 way ticket to China, go to Maliandao and get tired of searching for pots.Not easy either but why not...
Re: As promised here are the picture of the pots
Maxwell, I'm sorry to hear your experience with chen.
The condition of the pots was obvious but he still sent it out to the customer.
It's strange that they chose to ruin the founder's life long reputation over some substandard pots. I start to doubt if chen really does blood relatives / descendant of chen shou zhen... or he's just another "middle man"?
Or perhaps this is again another example of "trust and business ruined when handed over to the second or third generation"?
In any case, when one can't keep their own words, then there's nothing we can expect in terms of business.
The condition of the pots was obvious but he still sent it out to the customer.
It's strange that they chose to ruin the founder's life long reputation over some substandard pots. I start to doubt if chen really does blood relatives / descendant of chen shou zhen... or he's just another "middle man"?
Or perhaps this is again another example of "trust and business ruined when handed over to the second or third generation"?
In any case, when one can't keep their own words, then there's nothing we can expect in terms of business.
Re: As promised here are the picture of the pots
Hey!
Thanks for your reply.
It is a real pity, I told her that on different mails ! If she would've been honest with me, she would've earned a loyal customer...
In terms of running a business it doesn't make sense either, since selling items in this condition guarantees loosing customers and there is no turning back!
Thanks for your reply.
It is a real pity, I told her that on different mails ! If she would've been honest with me, she would've earned a loyal customer...
In terms of running a business it doesn't make sense either, since selling items in this condition guarantees loosing customers and there is no turning back!
Re: As promised here are the picture of the pots
I got the two pots I ordered from them in the mail today. Luckily, no problems like the ones described (maybe they're reading this thread!).
I got a small 'niu gai' (cow-nose lid) pot and a smallish 'fang gu' pot from them - just standard ones off the site, presumably half-hand-made. I see two tiny marks (presumably tool-marks) on the handle and spout of the fang gu, and the hole under the lid of the niu gai pot is slightly raised (this latter may be intentional -- I'm not sure, but I'll look under my other one when I get home to see if this is a normal thing). The clay quality seems good for a modern pot, the lid fit is tight, and I can't see any glaring errors in terms of proportions / alignment at first glance. Haven't measured the capacity, but I suspect that the pots are slightly larger than stated size, which is the experience of most people I've talked to with pots from here.
I'll try and take some pictures when I get a chance.
The thing that's most concerning to me is that it sounds like they are not standing behind their pots -- at the prices they're charging (definitely on the high side for what you get), they should be sending you replacements at no charge, and without requiring you to send anything back.
I got a small 'niu gai' (cow-nose lid) pot and a smallish 'fang gu' pot from them - just standard ones off the site, presumably half-hand-made. I see two tiny marks (presumably tool-marks) on the handle and spout of the fang gu, and the hole under the lid of the niu gai pot is slightly raised (this latter may be intentional -- I'm not sure, but I'll look under my other one when I get home to see if this is a normal thing). The clay quality seems good for a modern pot, the lid fit is tight, and I can't see any glaring errors in terms of proportions / alignment at first glance. Haven't measured the capacity, but I suspect that the pots are slightly larger than stated size, which is the experience of most people I've talked to with pots from here.
I'll try and take some pictures when I get a chance.
The thing that's most concerning to me is that it sounds like they are not standing behind their pots -- at the prices they're charging (definitely on the high side for what you get), they should be sending you replacements at no charge, and without requiring you to send anything back.
Re: As promised here are the picture of the pots
Wyardley, is nice to hear that your pots are all right.
I really like the niu gai pot. I would like to get one (but from other vendor)
I finally took a few pictures of the "Jianming Cheng's" pot's seal.
Here is a link: http://img715.imageshack.us/slideshow/w ... 60650s.jpg
I think the inner seal can be clearly seen in just one picture. If you or anyone who reads mandarin could please translate what it says (even though it's obvious J. C. didn't make any of these pots) it would be great!!
I totally agree with that!The thing that's most concerning to me is that it sounds like they are not standing behind their pots -- at the prices they're charging (definitely on the high side for what you get), they should be sending you replacements at no charge, and without requiring you to send anything back
I really like the niu gai pot. I would like to get one (but from other vendor)
I finally took a few pictures of the "Jianming Cheng's" pot's seal.
Here is a link: http://img715.imageshack.us/slideshow/w ... 60650s.jpg
I think the inner seal can be clearly seen in just one picture. If you or anyone who reads mandarin could please translate what it says (even though it's obvious J. C. didn't make any of these pots) it would be great!!
May 2nd, '12, 20:52
Posts: 852
Joined: Mar 4th, '10, 22:07
Location: somewhere over the rainbow
Re: As promised here are the picture of the pots
Unless I am mistaken (and I very well could be, chops can be difficult to read), the chop simply says 程建明製 "Made by Cheng Jianming"
Re: As promised here are the picture of the pots
As others have mentioned, their pots are bigger than the stated size, unless they're basing it on approximate volume of brewed tea.
I measure the 80 ml pot as 95 ml, and the 120 ml as 170-175 ml (based on weight).
I measure the 80 ml pot as 95 ml, and the 120 ml as 170-175 ml (based on weight).
Re: As promised here are the picture of the pots
Consider yourself lucky, you could´ve done much worse, just look at my potsAs others have mentioned, their pots are bigger than the stated size, unless they're basing it on approximate volume of brewed tea.
I measure the 80 ml pot as 95 ml, and the 120 ml as 170-175 ml (based on weight).
The size of one my custom made pots are not what I was expecting either!
Take care.