Cried All The Way Home!

Decorating By robster Updated 6 Aug 2012 , 1:37pm by cakecraving

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robster Posted 6 Aug 2012 , 6:27am
post #1 of 4

I just delivered the order from hell! The customer wanted a Mustang fastback cake in red. I don't normally do these types of cakes but I thought I would give it a go - I knew it would be hard.

Yesterday I spend 9 SOLID HOURS decorating....yes 9 hours, that doesn't include baking the actual cake. After many tantrums I finally got the stupid thing finished to a standard that I was comfortable with....it was by no means perfect but looked pretty good.

Anyways I drove carefully to drop the cake to the customer this afternoon. Pulled in to the driveway, looked down at the cake in it's box and realised it had SLID OFF THE SUPPORTS. OMG! I thought I was going to have a heart attack. 3 of the wheels came off, a piece broke off the front and some cracking in the front corner. I fixed it as best I could and sheepishly gave it to the customer....I was fighting back tears, but I didn't want to look like a complete IDIOT! She had paid 50% deposit - I told her the cake had moved during delivery and there was some minor damage that I couldn't repair. She seemed OK.

I didn't take the final payment from her (how could I - when I just gave her a broken cake). I cried all the way home.

Do you think I should do anything else? I feel terrible and sick. Should I call her tomorrow and offer to give her the full amount back. I just don't know what to do.

I have learned a BIG lesson - to support my cakes MUCH MORE and hope I never have to deal with this again!

Thanks for reading - just knew some of you guys out there would understand how I felt.

3 replies
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cupncake1 Posted 6 Aug 2012 , 6:58am
post #2 of 4

Awwww man I totally know how you feel, maybe you can offer her an additional cake that serves 30 for another occasion? Just tell her you would like the opportunity to show her you can do good work, so she'll see that you went an extra step further to make sure your customers are happy, I got a bad haircut once and swore to never go back and when they gave my money back and offered an additional free cut (by another stylist) I felt that they really did care, I actually went back a few more times after that, hope you feel better, I just want to jump off a bridge when something goes wrong with a cake, all that hard work and on top of that feeling terrible about ruining someones special day, but in the end all we can do is wipe our tears, learn from our mistakes and keep baking thumbs_up.gif

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sillywabbitz Posted 6 Aug 2012 , 1:21pm
post #3 of 4

First, I'm so sorry this happened to you. It just sucks.

A couple of things to think about: Did you have the cake in your front seat or on the floor board. If you had it in the front seat, ideally don't place it there. The following may not apply to you (because you may already know it) but maybe others don't know the following.
Cakes need to travel flat and seats are not flat. Cakes are best in the back of a well air-conditioned SUV or on the floor board of cars. If you have to put it on a seat, level the seat first. Fill in the gap and then lay something very flat, like plywood on top of it but make sure it can not shift. Then place the cake on a non-slide piece of shelf liner on the plywood. The non-slide shelf liner works great to help the box and cake from sliding. It will not however keep elements from sliding off the cake so to your original comment be sure and support those well. Or attach as many of them on delivery.

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cakecraving Posted 6 Aug 2012 , 1:37pm
post #4 of 4

Im so sorry this has happened to you. It is so hard when we poor our hearts and souls into our work for it to just fall apart. I think you did the right thing by not taking anymore money. Maybe offer a discount on her next order, show her what you are made of (show her what you can do) and you may have a loyal client for life. Good luck

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