A mum was devastated after she paid £250 for a tattoo of her nan that ended up looking 'more like Rod Stewart'.
Sarah Jackson, 38, wanted a permanent reminder of her nan Thelma Jackson, who died in November 2019, so she paid for a giant portrait to be tattooed on her upper arm. When Sarah, from Warrington, was shown a photo of the finished product, she "burst into tears" and has since been too embarrassed to wear any clothes that would reveal it.
She wanted the portrait inked by her regular tattooist but he was on a break when she booked it. A family recommendation and impressive Facebook photos made her choose Creative Tattoo Warrington, where she paid a £160 deposit and £90 on the appointment date in March.
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Sarah thought the design looked great so wasn't worried when she left the tattoo parlour, but five weeks later a friend's tattooist said they'd "never seen anything so shocking in their life". An image that was posted on Facebook showed the original photo of Thelma smiling, which was taken on Sarah's wedding day. Next to it is the 22cm-long and 13cm-wide tattoo.
Sarah saved for six months to afford the body art but people were quick to mock it. In the tattoo, Thelma's grey hair is shaded black and she is wearing glasses Sarah said it "look like goggles" that stand out from a "manly" nose and chin.
Her Facebook post, captioned 'does not look like my nan, gutted', attracted more than 100 comments until she deleted it within 48 hours of posting. One user commented: "I thought it was Rod Stewart at first glance."
Another said: "This is absolutely awful. I feel for you so much." A third added: "Is this legit or what, because that is BAD?"
Sarah said her son "thought it was a portrait of his grandad" and added the artist at Creative Tattoo Warrington should "stick to stencilling". Though she said the tattoo artist "could have done things differently", Sarah has now agreed a £550 refund and compensation package with Creative Tattoo Warrington.
She said: "When people were saying it looks like a man I just sat there crying my eyes out. I saw people say it looks like Rod Stewart.
"I was looking forward to having that permanent reminder of her, it's the way I express myself. I'm heartbroken all over again. It's a photo that means a lot to me and it was on her funeral card.
"Her lips, her chin, her eyes, they all look wrong. She's not even got an eye on the left-hand side and she had white hair not black hair."
Sarah continued: "Even my little boy asked if it was his grandad. I'm upset that I've been left with this horrible portrait on my arm. I asked my friend's tattoo artist and asked if there's any way we can fix it, and he said 'no way. You can't fix that'."
"When I went in there I apologised in case I cried because of how much it means to me, but I didn't even cry at that point. I think that's a bad reaction to have, I must have known."
She had planned to make the portrait part of a sleeve, but she now wants a full tattoo to cover the portrait. Disappointed, Sarah said: "It's ironic because my grandma hated tattoos, so she definitely wouldn't have liked this one. She'd have gone mad."
Sarah has been told she could need around five £70 laser treatments to remove the tattoo, the first of which she had last week. Even then she could still be "scarred for life".
Creative Tattoo Warrington has been contacted for comment.
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