I made a full sheet #1 cake long story short the 1 is backwards! I did not notice this neither did ayone in my house but I did make a huge mistake, she called cursing me out, calling me all types of names told me to remake it with in. Hour, I made her two matching smash cakes as well all together took 9 hours so there was no way I could get them all done in 1 hour, I told her calmly I would return half payment with in 30 days, also a free 8"cake. She then said oh wtf ever now my whole party is ruied and I want my money back this week! I told her she needs to talk to me with out cursing and we can try to fix this, she then kept cursing at me so I told her this conversation is over, she then txt me about wanting her money this week demanding things and I did not txt back, next day she said that the cake tasted amazing but she's still really mad about me messing her cake up. Im not sure what else I can do she keeps txting me making it known how horrible it was that the #1 was back wards also writing bad reviews ect. I've never had someone with this attitude well maybe once but she was under a ton of stress and said sorry. Help what do I do? Send her half payment and a free cake cupon? I'm 23 and have been making cakes for 4 years and just started my business this year.

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.

Well being called a (n) word several times does not help, i dont think you guys understand, when i first talked to her i was very nice and felt totally dumb for making the 1 backwards. i offered everything i could and it seemed as nothing was good enough she kept txting calling, and the reason for the 30 day policy is just based on where i live i asked a few home bakers and they said 30 days so i am wrong for that, again i am new to selling cakes i normally just give them away for free, she ordered a full sheet cake with filling and fondant plus two smash cakes for a total of 50.00 i know i am under charging and shes getting a great deal so that is why i was so confused on what to do when i am already cutting her a deal and she knows i am starting out there is no reason to call me a (n) word. and as for the lady complaining about my spelling i am a disabled adult i cannot help it honestly. maybe this just isnt my thing i will go back to giving them away for free.

this is the cake.

I could not fix it because she came to get it at 12am (her choice) i was out of fondant and no stores near me where open. She also wanted a refund for the two smash cakes so i take it i give all of her money back even though there is nothing wrong with the smash cakes?

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.

She said it was the only time she could pick it up, so i figured it would be less stress on her and let her pick it up at 12am, im up making cakes anyways why not? like i said i will go back to making them for free sense the lady's i would expect to understand and try to help instead of bash me on what i am doing wrong is a little useless for me. honestly the cake would have looked alot worse if i tried to fix it lol honestly i m not good with fixing cakes i panic. Please quit saying im trying to cover me im not i offered her money was very nice a free cake and will drive 2 hours to give her full refund back we just spoke about 3 minutes ago.

I was basically coming on here to know what to do better next time, not to get bashed and talked down about my spelling or how i do things like i said i am disabled and just trying to better my life.. NO EXCUSES!! its all good though i love making cakes there my passion and will have no problem making them for free and dealing with happy people then dealing with all of this its much funner being a hobby then selling them i dont need the money its not about that lol i really love doing this and have no issue with giving them away. thanks

You've been punked

Stories like yours, quite frankly, piss me off. But since it's just a prank anyways....

This must be the stupidest and most pointless punk I've ever seen. To have people you don't even know put their time and energy into commenting, advising and trying to help you out - only to find out it's all just a joke...and on top of that, not even a remotely good or funny one. That's just plain stupid.

You wasted a lot of people's valuable time. I hope we never see you back. Ever. There are many people who sincerely ask for our opinions.

Putting race in there is even worse.

ohhhh DUH!! slaps my head ..... THATS what the N word was !!

I was lost on that !

Yep - you MissUnique have just burnt ALL your bridges ..... and I'm actually thinking -

Everything you said is probably TRUE..... and you only decided to pull the 'PUNKED' card because it was EASIER than to admit you were one seriiously ignorant puppy!

I would have been amused with getting punked if the post would have been even a little bit funny. But the whole thing was just stupid. I don't believe it anyway. I think you realized how incredibly moronic you sounded and decided to cover it up with saying it was all a hoax. Now guess what? All of these very helpful, and knowledgable people will most likely not help you again. When you really need it.

Are you guys serious?? Do people really go on Cake Central to "punk"????? I was looking for something under "forums" and read this entire thread. People actually make up stories.....for......?????????? We are busy as it is and this just seems like a big, stupid waste of time. I am glad, however, that no one actually made a cake with a backward "1". I thought that was REALLY dumb.

Whether its true or not, we probably will never know but for all we know, this person might have another username!
You never really know what's behind all those usernames!

EXACTLY what I was thinking. If she truly was "punking" couldn't she/he easily just open up another account or change username? I don't have time for this nonsense. Back to work. Have a good day everyone.