Personally, if it were me, I would give the refund and learn from this experience. It is a beautiful cake (all your cakes are!), and she is probably being a difficult customer, one who you may not want to work with again. But if you give her money back, chances are she won't speak ill about you towards her friends. Like a previous poster said, one bad complaint can spread to ten people.

One of the reasons I like to shop at Costco is their return policy. If I am unsatisfied with anything, they take it back, even if it had been eaten. My family once ordered a cake from them years ago, and it was dry. They took it back, no questions asked. On the other hand, I avoid many stores that do not offer refunds, or have very limited ones, because there is a chance that something just may go wrong with what I purchased. So I am a very loyal customer to Costco and other stores that have the same policy.

Again, this is all new to me, I have yet to sell one cake, so I am coming from a different angle. But to keep your name good along with your beautiful cakes, I would give her her money back. And with a smile and being very gracious. That will speak volumes to her and you never know where it will lead.

I wish you the best with this. Bernadette

costco is a multi billion dollar company they can afford to give refunds. Home businesses typiccaly cant!

You are right about Costco, but you have to start somewhere, and chances are this is not going to happen regularly (like it does at Costco), and she will learn to be very thorough when taking an order.

Someone like this will never give you a good word even if you gave her a full refund.

I wish you would have thought to tell her about the copywrite law when she ordered and what style shoe did she want.

The cake is fantastic by the way.

First and foremost, she got a beautiful cake. She had no right to make the "ugly" comment. I doubt very much if it not being a Prada shoe ruined the entire party!! If it did, she needs to get a life.

I think offering her some of the money back to make up for the misunderstanding was a good gesture on your part. You have tried to make it right. I would also be too busy to fit her next cake into my schedule...no need to ask for trouble.

If the customer thinks the gift is ruined by the "ugly little shoe" on top, I would let the customer know that the money paid will be refunded in full with the return of the cake in its entirety. The customer should have specified what exactly she was looking for and as a decorator it was your responsibility to ask. If the customer is not willing to return the cake then you may assume that it is what she wanted reagardless of what she says. Lesson learned by everyone.

Exactly what the other people said on here. I would have not refunded her any money. Especially after calling your cake ugly and that other snarky comment. She didn't specify.

she has already told the lady 25 euros.

Yeah I know. That's why I said "I would have not". Past tense.

O.k. first, I do not think you should give her a refund because she did not specify that the shoe or box had to be Prada.. Secondly, you cannot LEGALLY make a prada shoe anyways if you want your technical babble explanation. Companies like Prada pay HUGE amounts of money to own the copyright and trademark. That's your other argument to support your position.

I have a clause in my contract basically stating that I have artistic license when it comes to the final design.

In other words, NO, you shouldn't give them anything back unless you get the cake back. If the cake is going to ruin the entire event, there are other issues going on with this person.

you should just give her the 25 euros and then tell her the next cake of simialr value is on the house. Just to combat her telling others about how "bad" your BEAUTIFUL cake was. She is silly though!

"Maybe if you give the money back she wont talk as bad as if you don't"

Unfortunately this is probably not true. You could give her a full refund & she would still rant about it & be proud of herself for getting the money back. Too bad for us that there are people out there like that.

That's true...there was an assumption made so giving a partial seems OK (I'm glad it wasn't all). This shows she is trying to make amends. It wasn't the entire cake that wasn't liked, it was just the shoe. Nobody's eating the shoe.

But I don't agree with offering a free one on the house next time. That's going a bit overboard, imo. And this lady just sounds like the type to still badmouth, regardless of what is done. I wouldn't want any more business from her.

Keep us posted on what she says about the 25 euros.

"Gumpaste Shoe Ruins Woman's Birthday Party, details at 11."

Gosh if the only thing that's wrong with the cake is that the shoe doesn't have the word 'Prada on it this woman needs to get a life (as someone else said too). I would never know the difference. Honestly if she feels so strongly that the lack of a respectable fashion label willl be the ruin of the entire party then she and her friends sure could learn a thing or two about having a good time at a party! I think its really sad! In saying that I would give a refund to smooth things over...as long as I got the entire cake back.

ditto what "cookie brookie" said.

if "prada" was that big of a deal to her she should have said so....i mean it's not that hard.

ugly little shoe huh?...i say " NO CAKE FOR HER AGAIN EVER!"

i do lots ans lots of cakes....after awhile you can tell the lil brats that can not ever be satisfied.

i talked to one on the phone today, finally i got sick of her wanting to be tickled with a feather....so i just told her i didn't want to do her cake, i knew i could never satisfy her....boy was she surprised!....people are so used to getting their butt kissed it makes me sick.

one of the members of this forum told me this a while back...."life is to short to dance with ugly people"...HA HA...that really stuck.

i find that right behind the picky people there are ones that can be pleased, ready to take their spot...so move on and forget it.

the cake was stunning....that ugly shoe comment really made me mad...i wouldn't give her a dime.

So is it 11 o'clock yet!?? LOL (headliner from Ironbaker)

I want to know what she said!!!

Yes, 11 o'clock has arrived. Here's what I've just got in my email:

sorry I was really upset about it.
I was really looking forward to give this gift to my friend .
I'm sorry also to disappoint you even more because the cake was too sweet and people didn't like eat it. I know I'm complaining a lot but I think is good for your business to know .
Thanks for your offer but your apology is more than enough. : )

As I said, I expected her to complain about the taste as well! Considering I get huge amounts of positive feedback about the taste and the looks of my cakes, I'm letting this one go (well, I'll try to), as being someone who just likes to find something to complain about everything!

Thanks for your support, I am feeling a bit bummed though

What a manipulative witch. She just had to twist the knife a bit more. I know how tough it is to let one complaint go even though you get tons of positive comments. They seem to stick out more. Try not to be discouraged, because she's a nut.

Well, I replied to her that I was sorry the cake was not to her taste (I did Hershey's Black Magic), and that maybe she was used to eating a different kind of cake, and that I get an enormous amount of positive feedback on the taste of my cakes, so I was confused as to why they didn't like it. Here's what she replied:

Yes, maybe I have a different taste and with me the 20 people at the party.

But ok...whatever! I tried to be nice but you know what ?
this is my bank account no.********* and I would like to have my money back and , with this, we close the "queens cake" chapter.

Not quite sure where she was trying to be nice insulting the look and the taste of my cakes, but OK! I've refunded her the 25 euros I offered, and hopefully that'll be an end to it - although I have no doubt she'll bad mouth me wherever she can

Don't worry, I've been in this business for 14 years, in inevitable that some client will not like my cake from time to time, but no cake will make you or brake you, so it will be ok.
I have a policy for returning money, You didn't like the cake, ok is fair, bring it back, and I'll give you the money, if you don't have it cause you eat it, It could not be that bad after all.
By the way she handled things I can tell she is a difficult person, and brace your self, there will be more like this to come. Next time you'll handled better

What a rude cow!!!!!! I can not believe her attitude to you! Your cake is amazing!!!!
Its her fault for not telling you EXACTLY what she wanted....
i can see how you wanted to make her happy and sort out some solution. But she was just utterly rude. I hope you never have to deal with her again!

no...if she was going to be sooo picky about the prada theme, you think she would at least mention it...i think she's trying to milk u...i wouldn't give her a refund...there's nothing wrong with the cake...

the way i see it, if it was really the "theme" and she wanted it so bad, it would have been mentioned, and confirmed and mentioned again...i hate ppl who try to take advantage

This woman is sooo manipulative!!! I would NOT give her money! She is NOT being nice and I would tell her that! That is just me though. I guess give her the 25 euros and be done with her! You don't need her. It's just one cake. Yours are beautiful and anyone else would be honored to have one, eat one, have it in their presence!!! She is disgusting me!

What a lunatic!!! I'm so sorry she's made you feel bad but try your best to take her snide, ugly behavior with a grain of salt.

Some people are just trolls and have no manners or tact. She just had to throw in the "too sweet" comment under the awful disguise of "helping your business". I wish you knew of someone else - or even the birthday woman - who attended that party to see if that cake truly wasn't eaten.

I really hope she didn't mean refund all of her money. It doesn't seem like anything would appease her at this point so she can take a flying leap...

And what did she mean by "queens cake"?

Sorry Step0nmi, I slacked on the news report.

what an incredable brat ignore her & move on your cake was fantastic & I for one would like to have the recipie it sounds wonderful

I had a bride one time that got her panties in a twist over the meal I catered. It was very low key at a chapel in the country that had no business allowing a caterer in, because they had NO facilities. Of course I had never been there before and did not know what I was walking into. Anyway, the meal was great even under combat conditions, but after the fact I get a letter from the bride ticked off because she noticed we had used some styrofoam bowls for the meal. This lady (40+ years old) had order a salad with the meal and several of the guests asked for a seperate bowl. After the 10th or 12th person, I just set some out and they all appreciated it, even served a salad to the bride and groom in one and she never said a word. Her letter stated that it "ruined the look" and there were pictures to prove it was there. I mailed her back, apologized, told her I didn't realize the foam was not acceptable and that I was simply trying to please her guests. She sent back that she didn't appreciate my attitude and was just trying to give me constructive criticism to make my next job better! Some people will try to pick at anything and go out of their way to make you feel like crap. Take it with a grain of salt and move on! -Lori

adobewife---HILARIOUS!!!
I would like to see the look on bride's faces IF that was ever said to a bridezilla!!!

Sometimes I do wonder if I think out loud!!!

Wow, I've been reading this like it was a novel! I can't believe how nasty this woman was! I'm kind of upset that you had offered the refund of 25 euros to her, she deserves nothing. This is the kind of person who probably badmouthed your cake to every guest who walked in the door, making all of the sheep there predisposed to saying that the cake was no good. It's a shame there are people like this! I think your cake was awesome! Don't let this one b**ch get you down!