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Feeling taken advantage of- Wedding Cake Order

post #1 of 42
6/7/12 at 10:27pm
Thread Starter 
This is my first post on here - so I apologize if this has been discussed to death already!

I will try to keep this short-
8 months ago, my coworker and Groom approached me about making his wedding cake. I gave him an initial break down of base pricing and design. He agreed and we would meet closer to the wedding to sign contract, get deposit, etc.

I verbally asked him on about 5 separate occasions to set a time for us to sit down and finalize all plans.

Two weeks ago I sent a formal message saying I had a lot to schedule the next month, if we are moving forward with this, I need to know now. No response.

Tonight (two weeks later), I get a text "When can (bride) and I meet with you to talk about the cake?"

The wedding is now less than a month away. I realize that if this were a normal client (and I know most of you will say- it IS a normal client) I would say that after repeated attempts to sign a contract, I received no response and assumed you have moved on.

But this is a coworker - whom I have to see on a regular basis. And just because the Groom is an idiot - does the bride have to suffer the possibility of not having a wedding cake? I have a heart, and while business is business...I do this because I want to make people happy.

Also - the bride is a bit vengeful...is it worth the risk of receiving bad reviews/public insults on platforms like Facebook?

Wanted to get a general idea of your thoughts on how to respond. I decided to sleep on it (not responding to his text immediately) until I heard a few people's thoughts.

Thanks. icon_sad.gif
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post #2 of 42
6/7/12 at 10:45pm
Set up the appointment with the bride and groom. If they don't show (or if they show and don't want to put down a deposit), wait a few days and send them an email saying you are no longer available for their wedding date.

I also recommend not communicating with customers via text messages, emails are more professional.
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post #3 of 42
6/7/12 at 11:05pm
Hmmm...if you do get them to come in, at this stage a last-minute order charge would also be in order. AND they have to pay up the entire balance immediately, or no cake.

All of that IF you have time to fit the order in.
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post #4 of 42
6/7/12 at 11:18pm
I agree with Evoir about the full balance paid at time of contract.
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post #5 of 42
6/7/12 at 11:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Evoir

Hmmm...if you do get them to come in, at this stage a last-minute order charge would also be in order. AND they have to pay up the entire balance immediately, or no cake.


I agree with paying the entire balance immediately given the communication difficulties, but I don't think a last-minute charge is warranted unless there are less than 2 weeks until the wedding.
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post #6 of 42
6/8/12 at 5:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirestella

Also - the bride is a bit vengeful...


This is the part that gets me nervous.Think about why she seems vengeful. I'm also guessing irresponsible and self-centered. She's the bride - in all this time it hadn't occurred to her to get wedding cake plans set? Nothing you do may meet her standards or make her happy.

Situations like this can get sticky. If this were my business, I would apologize and say that the date is no longer available. Then (since you work with the groom) offer to make something small (platter of mini-cupcakes, brownie plate, or cookies, etc.) as a peace offering.
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post #7 of 42
6/8/12 at 5:37am
IDK, I've had good orders come in at the last minute for a variety of reasons. I would require full payment at the consult, though. Anything less than 3 months out is "last minute" in wedding world.
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post #8 of 42
6/8/12 at 6:21am
Quote:
Quote:

... She's the bride - in all this time it hadn't occurred to her to get wedding cake plans set?...

Situations like this can get sticky. If this were my business, I would apologize and say that the date is no longer available. Then (since you work with the groom) offer to make something small (platter of mini-cupcakes, brownie plate, or cookies, etc.) as a peace offering.



I completely agree.

But set up one more appointment anyway. Dollars to donute she will cancel ***again*** and when your co-worker comes back from his honeymoon, you will find out that the bride had intended to order from another baker all along.

I also agree about the use of emails for appointments and contracts NOT texts.
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post #9 of 42
6/8/12 at 6:44am
If the bride & groom are not willing to take the initiation to book an appointment with you at this point, I would move on. It's not your responsibility to keep after them to get them to make an appointment.
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post #10 of 42
6/8/12 at 7:10am
I had a similiar situation last year. A lady my husband works with mentioned early in the year that she needed a wedding cake for September. Plenty of time. She made and cancelled several appointments for tasting. I even offered to make some things for her to taste and send it with my husband to the office...we already had everything down via email as far as the cake design. Less than a month before the wedding, she finally contacts me saying we can skip the tasting and she wants the cake. THEN I find out the venue is at least an hour away. I already had another big wedding cake for that day. So I told her I couldn't deliver it but that someone could pick it up if she still wanted it. NEVER heard a thing back. And my husband says now she's not too freindly to him in the office.....lol. Luckily its not a big deal to him.
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post #11 of 42
6/8/12 at 9:31am
Set up the appointment but make it crystal clear that because they are so close to the date they will need to give you FULL payment or you will NOT be making the cake.
If she cancels or is a no show then tell them you are no longer available to make the cake.
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Tact is telling someone where to go so nicely they can't wait to take the trip!
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post #12 of 42
6/8/12 at 9:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirestella

This is my first post on here - so I apologize if this has been discussed to death already!

I will try to keep this short-
8 months ago, my coworker and Groom approached me about making his wedding cake. I gave him an initial break down of base pricing and design. He agreed and we would meet closer to the wedding to sign contract, get deposit, etc.

I verbally asked him on about 5 separate occasions to set a time for us to sit down and finalize all plans.

Two weeks ago I sent a formal message saying I had a lot to schedule the next month, if we are moving forward with this, I need to know now. No response.

Tonight (two weeks later), I get a text "When can (bride) and I meet with you to talk about the cake?"

The wedding is now less than a month away. I realize that if this were a normal client (and I know most of you will say- it IS a normal client) I would say that after repeated attempts to sign a contract, I received no response and assumed you have moved on.

But this is a coworker - whom I have to see on a regular basis. And just because the Groom is an idiot - does the bride have to suffer the possibility of not having a wedding cake? I have a heart, and while business is business...I do this because I want to make people happy.

Also - the bride is a bit vengeful...is it worth the risk of receiving bad reviews/public insults on platforms like Facebook?

Wanted to get a general idea of your thoughts on how to respond. I decided to sleep on it (not responding to his text immediately) until I heard a few people's thoughts.

Thanks. icon_sad.gif



Your first mistake was asking 5 times. I understand that it was for your benefit as well as his, but he's not in this business so he doesn't know things. You ask once and the second time is your final time and let them know it. If not he's gonna think you are begging him for the job. So after the second time you ask, you tell them they have 2 weeks to decide at which point you will need a deposit to hold the day, and that it is not refundable because you will be turning down other orders for that day because of them.

Don't worry about the bride not having a wedding cake, she will get one regardless. If she is so concerned she should have seen to it that the plans for it were made a few months ago.

They were very disrespectful in not getting back to you in a timely manner and you should not feel bad because of it.

You say the bride is a bit vengeful, dealing with someone like that is asking for trouble, you are damned if you do and damned if you don't. Decline the order and let them know that you can't fill the order because you are already booked for that weekend.

If your coworker does not understand it's his problem and it didn't cost you anything to get a person like that out of your life. Just be cordial with him, but realize that some people are petty and won't be cordial with you in return, but it's their problem. If he brings it into work let your superiors know.

Like you said in your title, you felt taken advantage of, don't let people do that to you.

Good luck whichever way you decide to go.
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post #13 of 42
6/8/12 at 10:14am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for all your advice and insight. I think I will set up the one last appointment and request the full payment - that definitely makes me feel better about the whole thing. It's hard not to let personal feelings get involved - I'm not sure I would want a frustrated baker working on my wedding cake.

And as far as the texting goes - that was only one sent from them, I always use e-mail or in person/phone as contact.
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post #14 of 42
6/8/12 at 10:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cattycornercakes

I had a similiar situation last year. A lady my husband works with mentioned early in the year that she needed a wedding cake for September. Plenty of time. She made and cancelled several appointments for tasting. I even offered to make some things for her to taste and send it with my husband to the office...we already had everything down via email as far as the cake design. Less than a month before the wedding, she finally contacts me saying we can skip the tasting and she wants the cake. THEN I find out the venue is at least an hour away. I already had another big wedding cake for that day. So I told her I couldn't deliver it but that someone could pick it up if she still wanted it. NEVER heard a thing back. And my husband says now she's not too freindly to him in the office.....lol. Luckily its not a big deal to him.



The problem is that you allowed her to make and cancel more than one appointment and then you even went out of your way to try to get her to have the tasting to no avail. You even tried to find other solutions for her and told her you can make the cake, but can't deliver it and it still wasn't good enough for her. You should have asked her if she wants you to cancel the other wedding order to see if she has the nerve to say yes. icon_biggrin.gif

People like her want to blame others for their own mistakes, you husband is right not to care.
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post #15 of 42
6/8/12 at 10:19am
This happened to me recently with two brides and both worked out really well in the end. Give them the opportunity to meet with you and request full payment / balance paid at the meeting. I had a client who was very skeptical to pay me the entire wedding cake cost even though her wedding cake was due 3 weeks away.

When I came out in my branded chef jacket she wrote me back immediately to say how professional I was and she felt safe having me do her wedding cake.

Sometimes people have delays on their end that we may not understand or know of. One of my brides was waiting on her dad to give her the cheque for the longest while to pay down on her wedding cake and I thought she was going to be a difficult client. She is now a loyal and regular customer.
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