Hello everyone,

I had a huge diaster this weekend w/a wedding cake. On way to deliver cake had someone pull out in front of me and ended up having to slam on brakes hard or hit the guy. I was only 5mins from the reception!!!! Well needless to say, the cake fell over. Was a 3-tier square cake covered in fondant. Fresh flowers were going to be placed on cake at the reception site.

Well the cake itself was fine but the fondant and border was damaged beyond repair. The wedding was over an hour from my shop and I didn't have time to go back to the shop and repair b/c I had another cake to deliver also and that was the only one that had any problems.

Well to make a long story short...the business's parking lot i pulled into had a conf room and let me use that to fix what i could. (i couldn't believe how helpful and nice they were). Since the conf room wasn't very sanitary and i didn't have everything i needed to actually just recover the the damaged one....I had someone bring me dummy layers that i could cover in fondant so they would have a nice cake for display and then keep the other one in the back to serve later.

The only diff. in the dummy cake from what they actually orderd was the the shape. I only had 1 round and 2 hex dummy cakes to cover. Other then that it was exactly the same.

Well of course when the bride found out she was VERY UPSET!! I tried to explain what happened...but she said she didn't care. Which is fine...but she demanded a FULL refund. I was going to offer her 50% off b/c they still had cake to serve and still had a cake for display. They are from out of town so offering a discount on new cake isn't an option.


And the rest. they had the recption at cut the top tier of the wedding cake instead of keeping for their annv. tier. So they also want me to make them a new annv. tier. I told them it wasnt my fault they rest. cut the top tier and served it. But she said i either give her full refund or she calls cc company to dispute all charges. They also had a groom cake that was fine.

Ive never had this happen before so I just agreed to refund wedding cake and make new tier.

Just wondering if this has happened to anyone else before and what they did??

thanks...Christine

I'm so sorry that happened to you! Sounds like the bride is being unreasonable to me. I think 50% is fair, considering they were able to serve the cake. Maybe you could add something to your contract to the effect that in case of an unforseen disaster (car accident, weather) you will make every attempt to provide a cake, and that 50% of the cost will be refunded... or something like that just to cover yourself in the future.

thanks...i thought 50% was reasonable as well...but since I've never had this happen before and she asked for a full refund...I wasn't sure if I was being unreasonable or she was.

I, too, am sorry that you had this happen, but I'm glad you were able to avoid the accident. Kudos for being an attentive driver.

I'm not sure what refund amount would be fair, since I don't know how important the shape was in the bride's decision to go with the cake she did. I definitely don't think that you are responsible for the top tier!

I would recommend against putting this specific clause in a contract--as a potential customer, I would run, not walk, away. If you had a problem that prevented me from receiving the cake I ordered, I would expect more than 50% back if I received nothing for my money. (No matter how hard "every attempt" was, if I didn't get anything, I wouldn't accept 50% back on my money.)

I wasn't questioning whether you understood. I was just commenting on jpmama's recommendation. I think that you did what you could to mitigate the damages.

Oh that bride was a witch with a capital B!! Get real lady, you had cake to eat, cake to show, what's the problem?? Had that happened at my wedding, I wouldn't have asked for any sort of refund. I mean geez, you went out of your way to make sure she had the best she possibly could. I would not refund that money, who cares that you already said you would. THAT is the type of woman who cares more about the party than the marriage.

I think this bride is way out of line expecting a full refund. They had cake and ate it, for goodness sake! Not only that, you did everything you could to make their display cake presentable. I would be very happy if I was offered a 50% refund.

Well, I hope she doesn't dispute it. Just make sure to write everything down. All correspondence, phone calls, what happened, what you did and when, how they had the cake to serve, etc., etc., etc. This way if she tries to pursue anything, she won't have much of a leg to stand on with getting a 100% refund to her credit card.

Good luck with this one! (Bet it make you appreciate the gracious brides even more, huh?)

I think you did the "right" thing by agreeing to give full refund and make anniversary tier. Besides a Brides Dress, the Wedding Cake ranks right up there as top priority. Unfortunate for the both of you that the cake was damaged, in the end however, the bride did not get what she paid for. You did your best to mend situation but the client was not happy and for a legitimate reason.
By refunding, word of mouth will be positive, by haggling with the bride I imagine your business image would suffer from bad mouthing.
No one likes to take a loss, but I think you will gain in the long run. JMO.

Christine,
I just spent some time on your web site. You have made so many gorgeous cakes.
It is really a shame all of this happened. I hope everything works out.

-Debbie B.

All of these bridal horror stories just floor me. Maybe I was overly laid back about my own wedding, but holy cow. Some of these "ladies" are ridiculous.

I'm very sorry this happened to you. She was being unreasonable. I can understand being disappointed, but isn't the day supposed to be about love and happiness, not b!tching up a storm?

As we all know Cake is unpredictable. You have to learn to go with the flow and make it work for you. LOL....easier said than done (Especially since I can't get past all the crumbs) I am sure you will do what is right for you and your situation. Best of Luck.

As we all know Cake is unpredictable. You have to learn to go with the flow and make it work for you. LOL....easier said than done (Especially since I can't get past all the crumbs) I am sure you will do what is right for you and your situation. Best of Luck.

As we all know Cake is unpredictable. You have to learn to go with the flow and make it work for you. LOL....easier said than done (Especially since I can't get past all the crumbs) I am sure you will do what is right for you and your situation. Best of Luck.

Its always good to have a "just in case" clause such as inclement weather, unforseeable acts of God, etc., BUT it would hard to argue a car accident. The thought will always be "you should be extra careful". Now, I would NOT give her a full refund, cause she ate the cake, period. Don't get me wrong, she would be getting a BIG refund, cause the bottom line is she didn't get the cake she ordered. And no, she would NOT get the anniversary cake. Let her dispute the charges, what does it matter, she already wants a full refund. Its not your fault the restaraunt cut the top tier. You could probably take her to small claims court to get your money back on just the actual cake part, cause they did eat it. The judge isn't going to do anything for her as far as the anniversary cake goes, cause that is beyond your control. To me, it sounds like she is trying to intimidate you to get her way, DON'T LET HER!. Call the c.c. co. & let them know she did get a cake that she ate.

If you had not had the accident and the cake had been delivered perfectly, and if they had mistakenly served the top tier, would you make her a new top tier for free? I think not. I think that is completely unreasonable. So really, she wants a 130% refund on that cake. No. The ONLY way I could possibly see it would be if the damage to the bottom layers meant that some servings were lost (which your post seems to say did NOT happen) and the top tier had to be cut to make up servings. If you are giving the 100% refund, no way do the extra cake. If she takes you to small claims court, you are going to counter claim for payment for the value she did receive -- i.e. the edible portions of the cake and possibly for the display cake as well.

Seriously, why would she antagonize you and then ask you to provide her with food. Not to cast aspersions on your character, but seems like asking for trouble.

Im so sorry you had to go through that.....that is horrible! I also think there is no way she deserves a FULL refund. some things you just cant control. Did she prefer you get into an accident rather than slam on the brakes?!!? if you'd gotten into an accident then she wouldnt even have her damn cake! If she wants the thing payed for she should hunt down the guy that caused you to slam the brakes and get him to pay for it!!! the jerk!! (glad youre ok!)
This hasent happened to me (yet)...but I think her getting the 50% is more than fair, and you tried all you could for her to have a nice cake. I'd still charge her for the top tier cos you had nothing to do with that. I'm sorry she is such a b-i-t-c-h.

I agree with margaretb!

If she's getting a 100% refund...she's being compensated for the loss of the anniversary tier in that amount.