for agreeing to do this cake.

The dreaded "friend of a friend" calls in desperation on Friday. She's busy (nobody else is, right?) has a one year old at home and got way behind in planning her 4 year old's birthday, which is Sunday.

Of course, I feel bad for her and since she knows my brother so well I decide to drop what I am doing and make her little boy a very nice 3-D Spiderman cake. We agree on a price so she can have a check ready and we agree that I will drop the cake at her house (5 minutes away) on my way to church on Sunday. She thanks me profusely, she LOVES my cakes, I'm a lifesaver, blah, blah, blah.

Sunday morning I wake up with back spasms, so I send my husband with the beautifully packaged Spiderman cake right at 9:45 like we agreed.

She's not home (why am I surprised?), her husband takes cake, grunts something and shuts the door in my husband's face. No check. No thank you.

I'm pissed at myself for falling for this. I thought I was helping her out.

Never again.

Oh hell. That would make me want to kick something.

What are you going to do about it? I certainly wouldn't take it lying down ~~ pursue the check that she promised and tack on a late fee!!!

I would go back over there and knock on the door and demand my money....Hubby should have not left the cake until dipstick at the door paid him...

Bad lesson to learn..sorry it happened! Hope you get your money!

I would sure follow up on this. Make a phone call "how was the cake? Sorry I couldn't deliver it myself since my back when out. And by the way, my husband forgot to pick up your check when he delivered the cake. Is it okay if I come by and pick it up (on my way to the bank)?"

If that woman has any decency she'll be calling you and apologizing and thanking you profusely for helping them out. But, there are a lot of creeps out there. Hopefully she's not one.

if people are getting payed on delivery (cash is a safer option then too), some of them will leave the cake in the car til they see payment. if there is no payment its then much easier to walk away.
chase this woman up, and if that fails, rope in the mutual friend. its a bit unair to the friend, but is they guilt this woman, hopeully it will get you your money faster!
xx

OMG! I would go after her until she pays you your $$. I don't know why people are such scammers.

I sent her an invoice for the cake first thing yesterday morning.

I also am wondering why no phone call to explain what happened. It's not like she doesn't know my number!

Chalk it up to a lesson learned and yes, I will be sharing my experience with my brother. He is one of my biggest fans with this cake business so I think she will have some 'splainin to do.

Thanks for all the support--you guys are the best.

Could it have been an honest mistake? Like your hubby didn't know not to leave the cake without getting a check and her hubby didn't know he had to pay for it on delivery? Maybe it is just a misunderstanding and you should give her a call. Just wondering.......

Yes, it could have been an honest mistake. That is why I am not getting all worked up about it.

BUT, we did have an agreement that she would be there to see the cake and pay for it since I was going out of my way to deliver it before church.

In any case, it shows me that what I should have done when she called me in desperation was take a deep breath and explain to her that since she only lives 5 minutes away it would be best if she drove over and paid me in full for the cake I am going to make for her last minute. If she couldn't do something that minor that should have been a red flag to me. If she had done it we wouldn't be having this conversation.

I have been making cakes for friends/family for quite awhile, but just this last month we completed my legal kitchen, paid all the blankety blanking fees and I am really getting a wake up call about doing things more business-like rather than casual.

I know one thing--I am not as likely to take on people like this anymore knowing that I may not get paid, which means I may not be able to pay my kitchen's electric bill or for those new pans that came in the mail today.

Want to grow a spine with your pricing and contract issues with people? Go to the trouble and expense of getting legal!

I understand your frustration totally! Congrats on being legal because I know that is not the easiest thing to do.

Owww--back spasms!!
Perfectly debilitating at times--hope you are better!!!

Hate that this happened. Hopefully she will come through with payment. I got burned too much at the beginning too. Now I don't accept any COD. I set up a credit card terminal through Paypal for that reason.

I've always been one to give people the benefit of the doubt, but I won't go broke doing it.

Hope your back feels better, back pain is the worst.

I have metal rods on either side of my spine from the base of my neck to the top of my tailbone with screws and bolts all the way down, so back problems are just a way of life for me.

Lucky for me my husband customized my kitchen with counters and tables at just the perfect height to keep me from straining my back

Well, if she really is good buddies with your brother, I'd be calling him and telling him to get on her case--NOW.

You probably wouldn't have done the cake without that relationship, so I'd tell him that you expect him to intervene and get your $$.

Rae

Call them.

Jen

Sorry to go off-topic, but you really shouldn't be selling cakes of licensed characters. The fees for copyright infringement are extremely high.

I think people like that are discusting. They make you go through all that trouble and then do that kind of thing to you. I definetly would call her. If she has caller id and doesnt answer then go down there and demand payment. She will probably then pull some crap that the cake wasnt up to her standards or some stupid crap like that to get out of paying. I had a lady recently that wanted a cake for her husbands 50th. She had no idea about design, couldnt give me much to go on about him, and gave me a week to do it. I agreed only because I had nothing scheduled that week. I should of told her no or charged her double. She wanted only a 4" and a 8" cake two tiers, two different flavors, and said that the "first" tier she wanted red velvet and second tier yellow. So first she calls and complains that the cake wasnt boxed. I actually gave her a 10" & an 8". I told her that the cake was on a cake board and in a box in the delivery van but that I do not have boxes that would accomodate a cake that tall. (the cake ended up having a Dallas Cowboy theme and a banner made out of sugarveil sticking out of the top along with a football). So then she says that the party was later and that she would "let me know" about the taste later. So she emails me a few days later and then complains that although she liked the taste, that I had screwed up the order. She said that she wanted the first tier yellow and the second red velvet. I told her that is what she got, not to mention that I gave her more cake than she asked & paid for. So then she emails me and tells me that she expected the yellow cake to be the base cake and that she thought that was called the first tier because of a house, ground floor being first, blah,blah,blah. I explained that it was a misunderstanding but again, she got more cake than she paid for and even if I had put the yellow on the bottom, she got enough cake to cover what an 8" would of given her.
So she thanked me and said she would remember that for next time. Ok, like Im going to go through all that trouble again for her? Did I mention that she only paid $55 for the cake which included the hour and a half drive to get it there? Yah, I know, kick myself in the tookus for that one! But no matter what you do, your going to have these a-holes out there. THere is nothing you really can do about it but grin and bear it. That why we have places like this that we can vent to others that understand that we wanted to shove the cake in their faces if we could have! So cheer up and dont let her get away with it!

It didn't read like prterrell was on her case about. No the thread was not originally about it. But someone who cares for another person and knows something could cause them additional harm will warn them about it.
perterrell didn't say she disagreed and didn't say anything about not liking it.
That was a short and to the point warning from one person to another.

It doesn't read nasty or sarcastic like your reply does. It is a matter of fact that this is a huge legal issue. A person opening a new business should be concerned with this as it really costs a ton in fines and could ruin the beginning of a business.
There really isn't need to get in a huff over this.

Well i guess we just see it differently. Period.

I apologize for what I said yesterday. I was in a foul mood ( i know not an excuse) so it came out extra fired up i guess. I guess i was just trying to say that the OP was posting about a hard time she was having and that i felt bringing that up just maybe wasnt the time or pace to do so when she was already in distress. Thats fine if you disagree. Again sorry for the extra "tude" Hopefully we can put this behind us

Whit, it takes a big person to apologize ~~ especially on the internet, where you can be as snarky as you want and remain anonymous. Cake people are just the best!!!

Right about now I am wishing I hadn't typed up what I did too. Well there's one thing about us, we are passionate about our cake aren't we!

Good on ya, Whit6 and sadsmile. What a great way to start the morning.

So any news on getting your payment and what they thought of the cake?

I had a similar thing happen to me. A "friend" from church needed a cake in a hurry for her husband's birthday. They were new in town and kind of in a bind so I WAY undercharged her. Well her HUSBAND ended up picking up his own cake and didn't pay. Just took the cake, said thanks and walked off. I assumed that he was going to put the cake in his car and come back to pay me. Nope I just stood there with a dumb look on my face as he drove off. No prob I thought, I'll just get it from her on sunday. Well they weren't at church sunday. So I tell her friend that I didn't want to be a bother but I needed to get paid for the cake.
Fast forward a MONTH and I FINALLY get a hold of her. She started blowing smoke up my butt about how wonderful the cake was and gave me a huge hug and started to walk away, I told her that was great but I still haven't been payed for it. You know what she told me. "Good Grief its ONLY $35" I told her "Yeah but its MY $35 and I need it now."