Definitely get photos of the cake as it was being cut, they always take them then so they have to exist. Also call the venue to find out what happened.
If the color was supposed to be purple and it wasn't then you should give them money back. If the cake was supposed to look like the ones with the bigger petals that stick out farther from the cake you should give them money back. I suspect that they expected the cake to look like that photo with the white petals that was all over pinterest last year, and the petals on that were larger and stuck out from the cake. The flower on yours is pretty but ti does look like the petals are closer to the cake, so I can see someone describing it as "melting" even if it didn't melt. That would explain the cake that was the same but wasn't complained about, too. Although I would add that I wouldn't put a cake in a commercial fridge either, and I deliver about two or 1 1/2 hours ahead of the reception start time too.
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Original message sent by cakeisom
If she wasn't satisfied with it and wanted a refund, she shouldn't have cut and served it. She ate it, she should pay for it. Just my opinion.
That would have made bride and cake decorator look real terrible to all the wedding guests. I'm sure the baker prefers she complain privately than publicly to all her guests and smear the decorators name. Put yourself in the clients shoes for Pete's sake, she was supposed to tell everyone they can't have cake at a wedding? Yeah, right. Just because the color was wrong does not mean the bride has to also not have cake on her wedding day. She deserves a partial refund and eat her cake too. Not considering the client is a terrible way to run a business.
If she wasn't satisfied with it and wanted a refund, she shouldn't have cut and served it. She ate it, she should pay for it. Just my opinion.
That's not the way it works.The cake gets delivered while lots of other things are going on. The customer expects a cake at their event. Guests expect to eat a piece of cake. So unless the cake is a massive failure, the customer serves cake. S/he doesn't analyze/evaluate while guests are waiting. If we want happy, satisfied customers and a growing business, feedback is necessary when a client is not happy.
That's not the way it works.The cake gets delivered while lots of other things are going on. The customer expects a cake at their event. Guests expect to eat a piece of cake. So unless the cake is a massive failure, the customer serves cake. S/he doesn't analyze/evaluate while guests are waiting. If we want happy, satisfied customers and a growing business, feedback is necessary when a client is not happy.
Edited to add: **This is not picking on whoever is being referenced here, it's an observation in general, of the things heard often when a custom complains. Sometimes the complaint is definitely invalid, sometimes it is.**
Absolutely. This righteous attitude is becoming a disease among this business. How dare they say my pricing is too high (while it's really super low and undercutting the established businesses and forcing some to close). How dare they not like the cake, I copied the picture they sent! (When it's really lumpy, leaning over, decorations are sloppy, and the board is covered in ugly tinfoil.) How dare they ask for a refund if fell apart in the car! (When in reality it was doweled with crooked sticks, and sent out at room temperature and the before picture was already leaning over).
This "righteous attitude" is an extension of a contributing problem - that far too many ill-equipped people are entering the already over-saturated cake market. In many cases these new business people don't recognize they are in business and therefore have no professional standards. They (and like-minded cakers) are only capable of seeing cakes from a personal viewpoint and become outraged when customers expect a professional level product. This issue has had a serious impact on established, professional cake businesses.
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This "righteous attitude" is an extension of a contributing problem - that far too many ill-equipped people are entering the already over-saturated cake market. In many cases these new business people don't recognize they are in business and therefore have no professional standards. They (and like-minded cakers) are only capable of seeing cakes from a personal viewpoint and become outraged when customers expect a professional level product. This issue has had a serious impact on established, professional cake businesses.
The backlash to this is starting to benefit more established businesses as venues are seeing what happens when they let unlicensed people bring cakes in. One venue had the interesting experience of a baker bring in a stand that she had made herself, probably after watching a youtube video.The center of the stand collapsed before the recpetion started, and when they called her she basically said "oh well." They're changing their policy to only allow people who they know are established businesses who know what they're doing to bring cakes in, and I've heard of a few more around here who are doing the same thing.
I do think that the cake industry as a whole will never be the same after the last six or seven years of cake shows on tv and too many magazine articles encouraging people to make money "on the side" by doing decorated cakes. It lowers the bar even lower than it started out, and people have no incentive to be professional if they have their friends on facebook buying their cakes for $25 and telling them how talented they are.
AI know it's not like this everywhere, but here, the few people aren't good are getting run out of town by the consumers. With policies like what the venue has, that may help some.
A few of the venues here are starting to require business licenses and restrict outside deliveries to certain vendors. I hear all kinds of horror stories from venue coordinators about cakes that collapsed, weren't delivered, etc etc etc. and they're figuring out that something's going on. I do wedding cakes, though, so at least those types of customers have the venues as gatekeepers. For someone who's buying a birthday cake from someone off of facebook they don't have that list of approved vendors to choose from, and you get what you get. There are so many weekend warrior decorators around here, one quits and three step up to take her place. So I wish that the consumers were driving them out like where @morganchampagne is, but it's not happening around here. I've been in business for long enough that I'm on a million preferred vendor lists so it doesn't affect me very much, but if you're starting out now, or if you don't have a good referral base built up, forget it. One of my friends who started doing cakes about 4 years ago just decided to pack it in for a variety of reasons, and her work was really good.
Maybe because I'm in a more high income area? I am not sure really, but I am blessed thats for sure! The bakery that I started at, my first job as a decorator closed down. This is was the place that made me once and for all decide to withdraw from law school, and pursue this. And let me tell you, she did excellent excellent work. It is verrrryyyyyyy scary. And really it ticks me off when i hear a person say something like "oh pipe down, my undercharging isn't hurting anybody" well maybe if it was just you, no. But its not, its a gang of them, and it just really sucks.
Just checking e-mail, a lady mentioned that she would rather "pay more for peace of mind" than to get cut a deal, and have a mess on her hands. I just wish people like this were everywhere :( Its a scary thing when the under cutters are just as good as the business people
ADo you have any kind of contract or written agreement for the order? Ours specifies not to refrigerate and that we are not responsible for the cake once it has been delivered. Also specifies colors and ribbon details etc. We review all the details verbally before they sign. Because of this, I would not consider any kind of refund for something that happened to the cake after it was delivered. However, I would offer something to help compensate for the incorrect petal colors, even though it was gorgeous!
Being that you may have another order coming from someone who was at the event, I would be careful about offering a large refund for anything that was beyond your control , you may end up doing that twice.
Beautiful work, BTW
Customer
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The backlash to this is starting to benefit more established businesses as venues are seeing what happens when they let unlicensed people bring cakes in. One venue had the interesting experience of a baker bring in a stand that she had made herself, probably after watching a youtube video.The center of the stand collapsed before the recpetion started, and when they called her she basically said "oh well." They're changing their policy to only allow people who they know are established businesses who know what they're doing to bring cakes in, and I've heard of a few more around here who are doing the same thing.
I do think that the cake industry as a whole will never be the same after the last six or seven years of cake shows on tv and too many magazine articles encouraging people to make money "on the side" by doing decorated cakes. It lowers the bar even lower than it started out, and people have no incentive to be professional if they have their friends on facebook buying their cakes for $25 and telling them how talented they are.
Costumeczar - well said.
ASo sorry that happened to you. A question: Didn't you make a contract? It should be written in there which color the panels and ribbons should have. Even with maybe a sample... I can imagine that it's disappointing for a bride if the colors are clashing with her dress. And regarding the fridge: Was the cake protected? Did you not insist on doing it yourself? Every fridge is different. If I put gum paste in my fridge unprotected, it melts straight away when I talk it out... Well, like all the above comments stated already: Wait for her pictures. Next time I would deliver a cake not to the"earliest time possible"
Hi, I'm just jumping on this thread because it was really interesting to read. @costumeczar I've started to sell cakes professionally recently. The first thing I did was to get myself licensed and while I wanted to get my kitchen looked at but my local council said it's too small a business for them to come to look at it (Grr). How can I get myself on a vendor's approved list.
Sorry for jumping on this thread. It's an awful thing that happened but it's a great learning curve for you and anyone else reading this!
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Hi, I'm just jumping on this thread because it was really interesting to read. @costumeczar I've started to sell cakes professionally recently. The first thing I did was to get myself licensed and while I wanted to get my kitchen looked at but my local council said it's too small a business for them to come to look at it (Grr). How can I get myself on a vendor's approved list.
Sorry for jumping on this thread. It's an awful thing that happened but it's a great learning curve for you and anyone else reading this!
Start networking with the people who would refer business to you. Personal referrals are everything...If you have a cake scheduled to deliver call a day or two before to introduce yourself and make sure you know when they want you to arrive. When you get there make sure to talk to the person you spoke to (preferably the catering manager) or whoever is in charge. Leave business cards etc.
Preferred vendor lists are really weird things. Some places refer to people who pay them for advertising, some refer to people they know and like, and others only refer to a couple of people. You'll also find that the staff at hotels and that kind of place tend to change a lot, so you'll work on building a relationship with the catering manager, then they change jobs and they're not there anymore. I tend to get referrals from the same place over and over, then all of a sudden it's nothing from them and a lot from a different place. I'll later find out that the manager at the first place changed jobs and is now at the second place. Referrals are based on personal relationships a lot of the time unless you can make a deal to be the exclusive vendor for a specific venue. Even that can change if the management changes...
AI would chalk it up as a lesson learned, give partial refund. And Cake On:-) I had this happened to me yrs ago, except my gal said the whole base of cake should of been PINK not WHITE! 5 tiered cake. I do normally bring receipt to delivery, forgot it that day.... ugh! I tokd her sorry didnt remember going over that, she insisted yes yes yes we did........I told how sorry I was for mis understanding, im feeling like a hill at this point, doubting myself about order. BTW.....pretty detail on my order fom. Anyhow, Finish putting together......let them know when you return plates, I WILL take care of you:-) ugh was what i was really thinking! So I get receipt and NOT one place on receipt did it say pink base......bcuz it stated on contract......WHITE base! WTW!!! I was actually very right in my situation, but i dud give a very small refund back, as I showed her the receipt.....which she has copy of. The 1 very important thing I learned, SIGNATURE from client after we go over complete order!
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