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last minute orders!!?

post #1 of 21
6/4/05 at 11:25am
Thread Starter 
had a customer call me today and asked could i do a cake for TOMORROW???
can you believe it!! icon_eek.gif i told her that i charge extra for last minute orders.
here's what she says...oh, but you did a cake for me before., your ad says $25 dollars and up. (thinking that she was gonna get it for $25 dollars. yeah, right! icon_cool.gif that sure is a lot for a cake for ten people!
can you believe it??? she acts like i don't have a life and all i do is decorate cakes!!! icon_confused.gificon_confused.gif i charged five dollars extra. i think that's fair, don't you guys?
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post #2 of 21
6/4/05 at 11:34am
Sounds more than fair to me! As long as you said "and up" you can do whatever you want...!
People like this are the ones who think the world revolves around them and never even consider what your life is like! Charge her more and decorate less...good enough for the likes of her!

Boy! I sound tuff, don't I? Janice
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post #3 of 21
6/4/05 at 11:49am
I get that all the time, but since I dont get alot of orders and have nothing else to do, I dont mind, and I dont charge extra....heck I stutter everytime someone asks me how much I charge...... but you go girl. I do agree that is more then fair.
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post #4 of 21
6/4/05 at 2:04pm
It is definitely more than fair to charge for last minute orders. For all she knows you could have already made plans to do something else before she placed that order. If you didn't say yes she should would have to go somewhere else where the cake might not be as good and as pretty.

Customers who don't know the process of cake decorating sometimes need explanations of our process.
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post #5 of 21
6/6/05 at 1:08pm
I think you should have charged her more!
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post #6 of 21
6/6/05 at 5:51pm
Don't you just hate it when people think you should jump at their beckon call..... I would have charged her more too....and if you had plans and had to cancel them because of her cake....well, ..I would have put a nice $$ amount to the cake... after all you did say ...and UP!!!!
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post #7 of 21
6/6/05 at 9:12pm
Diane

Yes, you should charge! Me & tcrema have a 7 day rule. If your order is needed in less then 7 days there is an extra charge of $5. No if &'s or buts about it! You have to order a cake in plenty of time. If that lady doesn't like it then she can go to someone else. She doesn't have many choices on the base so she'll pay extra.

Flayv... You are too kind!! I couldn't do cakes for free. If a good friend or close family member needs a cake I tell them to get the ingredients I need & I don't charge them. But that is if they let me know about the cake in at least 3 wks ahead of time. When are you PCSing? You getting short yet?

Good luck on charging!!!
"Learn from a turtle... it only makes progress when it sticks it's neck out"
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post #8 of 21
6/7/05 at 12:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tcturtleshell

Diane

Yes, you should charge! Me & tcrema have a 7 day rule. If your order is needed in less then 7 days there is an extra charge of $5. No if &'s or buts about it! You have to order a cake in plenty of time. If that lady doesn't like it then she can go to someone else. She doesn't have many choices on the base so she'll pay extra.

Flayv... You are too kind!! I couldn't do cakes for free. If a good friend or close family member needs a cake I tell them to get the ingredients I need & I don't charge them. But that is if they let me know about the cake in at least 3 wks ahead of time. When are you PCSing? You getting short yet?

Good luck on charging!!!



I still have a hard time with the concept of charging my family and friends for cakes (or even asking for reimbursement). Mainly because I started out doing them for free and making them my guinea pigs. I don't know how to start asking for payment from them.

Also, what is PCSing? And why would she be getting short?
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post #9 of 21
6/7/05 at 12:36pm
Thread Starter 
PCSing is permanent change of station. getting short means she only has a short time before she moves to her new base. i can't wait til' me and my family pcs, but that won't be for another two and a half years.
i miss the states!! icon_cry.gificon_cry.gif
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
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Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
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post #10 of 21
6/7/05 at 1:25pm
Ughh, my husband did this to me last night. He runs a restaurant and occasionally asks me to do cakes for him. Well last night, as I was walking out to go to the movies with friends, he asks me to make a 1/2 sheet cake for him. he told me that it was for an employees last day.

So I got back around 11 pm, made up the cake, made a batch of icing, and went to bed around 1 am. Way too late for me. My 2 year old is up at 6 am!

So I finshed it and tok it in, but I was still peeved!
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A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous--Coco Chanel

Check out my latest creations!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/daintycakestampa/
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post #11 of 21
6/7/05 at 1:26pm
Ah! Well, that's a relief... you would believe all the things you can think of the come from PCS. icon_twisted.gif (Joking, by the way) icon_razz.gif Thank you for clearing that up for me, man was I confused! icon_rolleyes.gif
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post #12 of 21
6/7/05 at 8:39pm
I think a $5 last minute premium charge is more than fair, she would be charged a lot more at a bakery, if they would even do it at all!
What I absolutely hate is when someone was supposed to get back to you about a cake and then pulls this last minute stuff because they were "Just so busy". Of course everyone knows that cake decorators do not have lives or problems and are never ever too busy to be available at the last minute, haha! Grrh!
Hhmn, remind me again why we are doing this for peanuts? Oh yeah, we are nuts!
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes
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post #13 of 21
6/8/05 at 5:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by diane

had a customer call me today and asked could i do a cake for TOMORROW???
can you believe it!! icon_eek.gif i told her that i charge extra for last minute orders.
here's what she says...oh, but you did a cake for me before., your ad says $25 dollars and up. (thinking that she was gonna get it for $25 dollars. yeah, right! icon_cool.gif that sure is a lot for a cake for ten people!
can you believe it??? she acts like i don't have a life and all i do is decorate cakes!!! icon_confused.gificon_confused.gif i charged five dollars extra. i think that's fair, don't you guys?




This just happened to me yesterday! Someone I did a few cakes for in the past asked me yesterday morning if I could do a 1/2 sheet with a Porsche for that afternoon. I already had a graduation cake to do for this morning (3 1/2 sheets with all the grads pictures on it), was having trouble with both my printers (regular and edible image printer), plus 4 kids and a house to keep up. Needless to say I was barely able to get the Porsche printed and the cake finished by 4pm. I wasn't able to start the grad cake until after dinner so I was up all night (finally finished around 7am this morning right after my kids got on the bus). Luckily my DH helped me with boxing it up. I didn't charge any extra for the Porsche cake but I should have. If I didn't already have the supplies for that cake I probably would have turned it down, especially being where I am it's hard to get supplies last minute.
$5 last minute charge was more than fair.
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post #14 of 21
6/8/05 at 7:58pm
Calejo,

My family knows I'm doing cakes because I like doing them & also for the extra money. They will pay me if I ask but I usually just do it for them if they buy the ingredients. They will usually slip me at least $20. Now my Mom always pays for my cakes. She also says EVERYONE should pay, that it's a business enough said. (Gosh, I love my MOM) Our family reunion is in July... Hopefully Mom will tell everyone just that! I'm a lot like her.. outspoken icon_lol.gif

When I first started out I told everyone that the 1st cake they want is free. I also told them that if it is good & looks good & they want another one they will have to pay. Everyone said fine. I have a big family... that wasn't the brightest thing to do!! thumbsdown.gif I still have a lot of family who hasn't order a cake yet... One day I'll have to do each person a free cake. icon_cry.gif

Sorry I didn't explain the PSCing to you. There's no telling what you're silly mind came up with. icon_wink.gif Just joking icon_wink.gificon_biggrin.gif
"Learn from a turtle... it only makes progress when it sticks it's neck out"
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"Learn from a turtle... it only makes progress when it sticks it's neck out"
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post #15 of 21
6/9/05 at 4:18am
Thread Starter 
i know this may be a dumb question, but i just have to ask, what does DH stand for?? icon_confused.gif
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
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Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
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