Backwards #1 cake and shes MAD!! how do i handle this??!  

You made a mistake that impacted on your customers big day.

Doesn't matter WHAT it tasted like - it was 'back to front' - you or your family may not have noticed, but your customer surely did.

FULL refund and lots of apologies necessary

These things should NOT escape your notice - not ever - no excuses

SORRY - sometimes I say what people don't want to hear

Ok you made a mistake but to say that you ruined the party is a little ridiculous. For my daughters graduation cake, the bakery I ordered it from also made a mistake on the spelling of "Congratulations" spelling it as Congradulations. I didn't check when I picked it up & was so busy that I didn't have time to go back for them to correct. So what? Big deal. There are more important things in life. You apologized, offered 50% refund and a free 8 in cake.

Since you have no pictures posted, it's hard to tell what you could have done. however I'm assuming it was a '1' just like this. If it was a carved '1', you could have taken the cake back and just cut the serif off (the curve-y thing on top), flipped that and re-iced it...and if your cake was covered it in fondant, just covered the serif and pushed up next to the 'one' and maybe covered the seam with some fondant decor like flowers or such and then just patched the area where you cut off the serif. It wouldn't have taken very long and you could have avoided the blow-up.

If it was just a '1' piped on a buttercream cake, I don't understand why you couldn't fix it.

And yeah, I'd be angry too if someone got my baby's first birthday cake wrong! Sorry this happened!

Customer definately deserves a refund NOW. Not 30 days later! We all make a mistake from time to time but we have to own up to it and suck up the cost.

If it was my son's first birthday I'd be upset as well. I'm curious why it would take 30 days for a refund?
I'm sorry this happened to you.
Since you are beginning your cake business I would offer this customer a full refund and offer a free cake for her next order .
You need to make this right. This customer will not be satisfied until she has received her refund. I see you offered her a free 8" cake for her next order. I would also offer an extra discount of say 50%for the rest of her order.
IMHO I would do anything to correct my mistake. I would not want one of my first customers for my new cake business to trash me online (assuming this customer would do this).
A child's 1st birthday is one of the most important for a parent and their families.
Best of luck to you.

Getting the #1 the wrong way is a big mess up. A full refund is in order. Or you could offer a 50% refund along with a replacement cake so that she can re-take photos for her scrapbook. I'd be really upset, too, if there was an error like that on photos that i'd plan on having in the scrapbook forever. (of course, i'd figure out how to cut and reposition the numeral to make it NOT look backwards if it happened to me. but i'd still be upset and expect an immediate refund)

Something you must learn when you are selling a product/service.... with compliments and comments come complaints - how you choose to handle these complaints will ultimately impact on how successful your business is.

Conflict resolution skills provide you with some tools to diffuse the situation. The use of empathy often helps reduce any anger that the customer has. Demonstrate empathy by allowing the customer to vent, reassuring the customer that you understand the situation and offering to help resolve the issue.

If somebody is REALLY angry with you, and is feeling like their concern/complaint hasn't been validated - it just makes them ANGRIER (yes, cursing will come from that)

You needed to apologise profusely, accept that it WAS your wrong doing and offer her ANYTHING & EVERYTHING to make her realise that you MEAN what you say.

By 'stalling' the refund or even questioning whether it was due to her - all you have succeeded in doing is having your company/name dragged through the mud. She will contnue to do this anywhere & everywhere she finds possible until she feels she has received restitution for your wrongdoing. This mud will stick and all those comments on cyberspace will more than likely come up every time somebody Googles your name.
WHY prolong things and cause yourself more damage?

These are business lessons you will learn from

The only thing that should have come out of your mouth was"I am so sorry and embarrassed for making such mistake."

I would also suggest keeping a dictionary and Google handy for future reference while working as well if you didn't notice something like that, and no one elsedid in your house. Good luck with this.

I am going to be very honest about how I would have reacted to your suggestion of 1/2 back in 30 days.

I would have chewed you out too... big time... for even suggesting the half refund, etc. I may not have cussed you out, but I would have clearly made my point and you would have been upset with my response, but you really would have deserved it. That refund suggestion was an insult. You should have driven that refund over right away. I probably would have sent it to small claims just to tack on the costs to you for even suggesting a 1/2 refund and in 30 days!!! And she certainly doesn't want even a free cake from you at this point. Forget that.

This made you and her look like idiots. With my education, a backwards 1 for my child's birthday would have made me so mad. I would have gotten a Walmart cake and served yours where the guests couldn't see. No, I would have shown my guests how incompetent my baker was. Sorry, this was inexcusable, both the mistake and the compensation.

Because of this, the entire guest list will trash your company for a long time. I'm not trying to be mean. I'm trying to point out just how devastating bad customer relations can hurt a business. Just the backwards 1 would have eventually been funny and forgotten. But your handling of the situation was deplorable. Another case of a baker going into business with no business knowledge. It just hurts all home bakers, many of whom are smart enough to know what to do to turn around a bad situation. This is about the worst handling of a mistake I have ever seen on CC.

Get in your car and drive the cash over to her immediately and profusely appologize for your lapse in judgement.

Please people, learn good customer relations policies and study the numerous books and information on the web about how to turn any bad situation into a positive one for your company. It can always be fixed and not made worse.

And don't spend the money until you know everything is ok. If you are that strapped, you shouldn't be selling cakes or taking money for any good or service. Get a job and have a have some reserve before you sell. This is no way to run any business.

I don't know. This story is getting a little hard to believe. She chose, and you allowed her to pick up a cake at midnight? Who does that?

Based on your picture, that cake would have been an easy fix, and could have been repaired using whatever spare bits of fondant you had left over.

Just because you are under charging her, does not give you the right to say, "oh well". You told her what you charge, you told her what you would provide, and you didn't provide that.

There may have been nothing wrong with the smash cakes (why did she need two smash cakes anyhow?) but the main cake, and her order was wrong. At that point you do whatever it takes to make the order right. This is not a case of someone coming back later and making claims to get a refund. This is a matter of a very incorrect order.