Oops - messed up the quote.....

lol...it's okay...I know I got the point.

This is why I let the machine pick it up if a client calls. Gives me a few minutes to get my thoughts together before I call them back. Most of the time it's just whether or not I can do an intricate 3d cake on short, short notice, but since I always want to help them out I often agree too quickly then end up regretting it at 2:00am.

Well it's morning here and after sleeping on it I'm starting to agree with k8memphis. It does sound fishy that they would order a wedding cake at such a late date, come to a tasting, charge the amount to their cc, and than request a refund.

I would call them and tell them you have to wait to have the funds cleared and in hand before you can do anything......and that's only if you decide to refund.

One question about your "no cash refund" line in your contract though, because I'm still thinking about that..........Do you apply ALL the money you have received from the client towards a future order or just a potion of it? I understand keeping some money because we turn down other orders when we have a date booked up, but.......if you just apply it to a future order, how is that benefiting you? You're essentially working for free on that future cake, because the funds you kept from the previous order, was the payment for that date that you couldn't rebook at such late notice.

Now I'm confusing myself and everyone else probably! I need caffeine before I tackle these problems

I have in my contract.......50% NON-REFUNDABLE deposit due upon placement of order. Payment due in full 30 days prior to the date of the event. Non-payment of balance will result in cancellation of order. No exceptions.

I don't offer any monies from the deposit to be used towards a future order, that's my compensation for holding their date. Usually if they cancel from non-payment, I still have 30 days to rebook with some smaller cake orders. In 20 yrs, I've only kept 3 deposits from canceling or non-payment that I can think of.

Off to tank up on some caffeine

I question the wording "No CASH refund." which to me, implies that you will still refund credit??

I would probably refund a portion, just not all...

They need their butts kicked for making you second guess your cake just because Aunt Minnie Lou decided to make a boxed cake and put cute little gum drops and store bought sugar cookies on it (The $500 Walmart cake). Who in the (bad word) do they think they are. Do they know that cake central members will start a revolution and they will never buy another cake any where in this community. We know people!

OMG that was my penned up inner baker throwing a tantrum.

Just trying to lighten up the mood.

NO CASH REFUND means (generally) that you get a store credit only. You don't get to spend that money anywhere else. That is coming from a "buy"-ologist/ shopoholic/ person who has been in every store and will spend her lunch money on cake decorating supplies.

HeavenLeeCakes--LOL @ $500 cake!!! I so remember that post. That was really bad. Mario didnt look to bad. Good thing he was standing by the cake.

I'm leaning towards a precious post. Where you state no refund before two week of event...(that sounds crazy-geez I cant process just yet). It is before the two week cut off. I would refund half, and if they came back wanting the 2nd half I would then let them know you turned down 2 other orders.

If you do decide to give them full credit I would wait until the money has cleared. CC scams are high and with the way the economy is you have to be more careful.

This sucks! Sorry this has happened to you.

Okay...Did they pay you a cash or cheque deposit?? If so...the money is refundable after the cheque clears the bank...If they gave you a deposit via credit card then I would refund the money immediately...However I am a bit confused because if it was a last minute order I would have stated to them and in my contract that there is no refund policy!! period... just to cover the inconvenience of it being last minute..alot of high end cake decoraters charge a fee for last minute cakes and No Refund at all!! If they didn't like the cake tasting they should have never booked! I am confused as to why they did! Sounds like they were shopping around and just expect to get their money back from place to place..Doesn't work that way in the events industry!!Good Luck with it!!

It sounds as if you may need to go back and reword (by being a bit more specific) your contract.
Maybe 'no cash refunds' should be changed to 'no refunds' if that's what you truly mean. The word cash could be take literally. Leading people to believe that 'credit' payments are refundable.

She ordered the cake. She signed the contract. She paid for the cake. Where does that give him the right to a refund of any kind?

She paid for cake before the tasting. What happens if you took an order, made/delivered the cake... The event took place... There was oodles of cake left... They demand a refund because no one would eat the cake...and they could return the remaining uneaten cake?

I'm just curious on that one.

I also don't understand why anyone would accept an order for a wedding cake without a tasting first. If shortness of time for the order was really an issue, why would they get a tasting at all?

I'm sorry, with such a short notice, to schedule a tasting is not possible. If a b-t-b uses a decent timeline to order a wedding cake then she should be extended all the features(tastings...)of the process.

I say the bride goofed by paying before she tasted. and the OP goofed by offering her a tasting after she paid....

i've had a couple of these" aunt millie" situations come up.

and i've had them calling day of wedding...aunt millie didn't know what she was doing and screwed everything up....i swear, for some things you really need a pro to do it.

i can't tell you how many brides that have called me bawling the day of their wedding because a family member or a friend was making the cake....of course it's too late then, i did redo a cake that the mother in law made...(i did it as a favor for the bank prez where i bank at)...i wish i would have taken a picture of it....it was way worse than anything you'd see on cake wrecks...

i'm sure it had nothing to do with the taste of your cake, that is just a lame excuse....

they'll get the cake they deserve after doing all this to you.

I am not understanding how this is a last minute order. They called you and placed the order almost a month in advance. They has cancelled more than 2 weeks before the date is was to be due. How is this last minute?

I was reading all of the interesting points in this post and will be re-reading our policies to make sure they're airtight. Here are some general thoughts....you all can take them or leave them:

1. Use of refunds would be better than CASH refunds would cover more angles.

2. The contract was signed by the bride. Even though a verbal OK was made to refund, it was to the non-signer of the contract. Therefore, the contract is still valid. They are not legally married yet so she is responsible.

3. If you feel that payment should be returned, I'd return the payment less the amount for the free cake they got plus your time to prepare for and to communicate with them on their nonsense.

HTH

Paul

Thank you everyone for your advice.

I did send the bride and email and told her that if she wanted to cancel the event that she needed to contact me in writing and not her soon to be hubby.

Oh I got a response all right - which said my cake was dry, tasted like the coco was not mixed into the cake blah blah blah which is a load of CRAP. Her cake was made on Tuesday morning along with another cake made from the exact same batch. Took that cake to a testing on Tuesday night got rave reviews and booked that order. Got up Wed. morning unwrapped her cake which had 4 layers of wrap on it. Leveled it, dug a whole in the middle to check for doneness and never saw 'any coco' as she claimed. Also my assistant came in to pick up her check that Wed. morning 2 hours before delivery. She always takes our scraps home, well she picked up the leveled off piece and popped a piece in her mouth and said got to love a moist fresh cake. Had she got a cake from another batch cooked at another time and NOT tasted by anyone else I could think o.k. maybe this one snuck by me but the cake sample given to her on that very day was tasted by someone else.

So I know without a doubt that she is just trying to get out of this order. In my email to her I let her know that anything said between her fiance and me was void because he did not sign the contact.

grrrrrr - definetly going to airtight my policy.

Y'know I have this huge control thing about my cakes. It stems from the fact that I raised a hyperactive child and I had to make serious choices about what I had to control and what things I could let go. So I'm not by nature a control freak but I developed the tendency.

So all that to say maybe a slice was cut and they got called away and the cake was left on a table where a heater vent blows hot air on it and they ate that. I don't know what happened but I know your cake is great.

If I get a shop going again, I will give small samples that they can eat on the spot if I have to. But I'm just writing to say consider having more control over your product. I mean these folks would be a problem no matter what you do though.

That's one of the buggaboos of wholesaling too--you don't know how your stuff is being handled.

So sorry you've got this gnarly issue and these mean people to deal with. Sounds like lover-boy doesn't want bridelette to have a cake.

Tell them they can have their money back only if you can find someone else to fill that spot. Take out money for tasting and PIA fee and any thing you had to buy for the cake if you do though.
Explain to them the deposit is there because people book dates and then you have to turn away other potential clients.

Hi Posh,

I have been in business for 19 years. When I was a couple years into the business I had a bride pay in full for her cake and then a month out call me crying that the wedding was off, he had left, etc., etc. I bought into it & refunded all but her deposit. Then I receive a call from the florist as to what size cake top was needed and what time would I be at the hall. Seems wedding was still on and a family member had offered to do the cake as a gift. I had asked for her cancellation in writing, which she had done, along with the groom leaving her story. OK, now is when it gets good. A couple of weeks later, I get served court papers from her suing me for the remaining deposit I hadn't returned. I go to court with my contract, her written cancellation and proof that the wedding went on as planned (she placed her wedding picture in the local paper). The judge listened to everything and then asked me why I bothered to have a contract if I wasn't even going to follow my own company policies. He was right, if I wasn't going to go by my own contract, who was going to? He said that if she had brought me in for the full amount, which she would have, he would have sided with me and I would have kept the entire balance. He then told her she was very lucky that I had refunded what I had, she wasn't getting anything else.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago, she comes in for her wedding cake for her upcoming second wedding, hoping I wouldn't recognize her. I did, she kept saying how sorry she was, I made her sign and initial everything on the contract, the wedding went off fine and I received a thank you card from her on how beautiful the cake was. Stick to your policy, no refund, you have turned away other business and in this economy, why should you take the hit when they have probably found what they think is a better deal.

Omg I love your story, Cfao, love love love it. That is rich.

Only thing, I don't know if I could have done her second cake--hope you charged her out the whazoo!

I have in my contract "all monies paid are date specific and non-refundable". I have bent the date specific rule for people becuase it wasn't an inconvenience, but never the non-refundable part. I had a bride cancel over a month before her wedding because it was called off.. she didn't get her deposit back. She was very understanding.. rare I know. I told her I'd make her a cake in the future if she wanted. I doubt I'll ever hear from her about it. So sad.. listening to her message made me tear up. She actually apologized when I returned her call because she asked about a possible refund.

You owe them nothing.. they signed and knew what they were getting into. Good that you changed your wording, and lessons for the future right??

Yes, me too, Jeanne, and I explain that in the consult. I schedule as many as three payments. I explain the first is to reserve my life for that week and date and time. The second is to purchase the ingredients third is to pay me for my labor.

I make it clear that if the wedding does not take place they are still getting a cake. I can't store it. I'm one person. The roller coaster has left the starting gate.

Neither are the first two payments contingent on the cake being produced. So once payment is received, there are no refunds--it's payment for services rendered to date and the third one buys you a cake. If you pay in full a year in advance you are the lucky owner of a cake on a certain date and time.

Larger facilities can be more flexible. I'm a small facility, I'm old and crabby too--they get the message it's best not to cross me.

k8memphis,

When she first walked in, I really wasn't sure what I would end up doing with the order, it did cross my mind to ask her if she was crazy. I then told my self, you're in the cake business, she needs a wedding cake and if anyone now knows my policies, it's her. It didn't take long for her to realize I recognized her. Things for this wedding went very smoothly for all the vendors.