Yeah I've run into that same thing on a few older walls around here, guys just butter the face and call it good because it looks fine from the street. The giveaway for me is usually a hollow sound when you tap it, or you'll see a hairline crack running along the mortar line where it's already starting to let go. I had one last spring where the whole bottom course was basically floating on a bed of crumbled mortar, pulled four bricks out by hand. With homeowners I just show them the loose stuff once I've got it opened up and let the wall do the talking, they get it real quick when they can wiggle a brick themselves. Telling them it's a patch now or a rebuild later usually lands better than any sales pitch I could come up with.

My buddy did the same thing with a bowl his mom made and the epoxy turned this nasty brownish color that stood out way more than the chip ever did. He tried sanding it, picking at it with a knife, even soaking it, and nothing worked so he just uses it as a pen holder now. Maybe it's just me but those kits seem to cause more harm than the chip ever did, and a little chip on something your kid made is honestly just part of the story.