Jason, it was $1750 total. that's tax, delivery, setup, everything. Served 275

OK, that's a pretty good credit then. Someone spending that much on a cake would definitely be expecting superior service.

Thanks Jason. That's what I was thinking too. I know they're upset. I would be too if it had happened to me. I'm trying to put myself in their shoes, as well as keeping my end of everything in perspective. I want them to know that they are valued as customers, I do take what happened seriously, and while I feel that the fault doesn't legally fall on my end, I am still sympathetic to the situation. I want them to know (without being rude about it) that by going back and more or less redoing the cake in under an hour and a half, I went out of my what with what I was obligated to do. Nonetheless, I do feel that some sort of additional compensation is in order in a goodwill attempt.

I don't know. I still think you should have had all the information before you made contact with the groom. If you needed to at least touch base with him before you had gotten all your information, I would have just sent an e-mail stating that you're "looking into the matter, and will get back to him as soon as possible". That way if someone did see "Uncle Bob" (who had a few too many) sneak up, steal a strawberry and bumped the table causing the cake to fall...you would know it wasn't because the cake was not structurally sound. However, if no one was near the cake, and it just fell on it's own, you would know there was a support problem (which would be nice to know anyway so you would know you need to fix that problem in any future cakes).

Ok, let s say it really fell, it was an accident. There s no need for that family member to harass you about it. Accident happen and will continue to happen. Period. U are handling this like a true soldier. You re amazing!!

To be fair, weddings are a highly emotional time, and the reaction to anything that goes wrong will be magnified (especially when you spend a lot of money). After they've had a few days to cool down things will usually be more manageable.

Very true jason_kraft!

I m not arguing the fact that we have to be held accountable, only that the family member didn t have to attack her about it, she s doing something about it. No need to harass her.

You u what I mean Diane706? It was so unnecessary for her to act like that.

You are handling this with grace and I hope that your customer can see that.

I don't jump on the "they got what they ordered/the cake was fine when you left so you don't owe then anything bandwagon. Yes you made the cake they ordered, yes it was fine when you left, and yes you fixed the problem, but they did not get what they ordered and they do have a right to some compensation. (not aimed at the OP at all, just my general feelings on the whole thing) I hate seeing the posts where people are so up in arms because the customer is looking for compensation for a job that, while it started out well done, wasn't what they wanted in the end. If they didn't like the flavor they chose that's one thing, but to have a different cake than what was paid for... that is completely different ball of wax.

Hopefully they call back and are happy with your offer. I don't think that they are entitled to a full refund (or anything close to it) but they are entitled to something, and you are handling this so well.

I agree with Diane 706 she handled this with her "big girl pants on" considering, in my opinion, that she was not accountable for what happened.
Very professional her attitude at this situation.

I don t know, opinions are different on the matter and that s OK. The point here is that she s handling it like a pro. That s all that counts.

Diane706, I m not attacking you, please relax. The problem with writing is that tones are misinterpreted very easily. Words need to be used more carefully. My tone was by all means peaceful and u misunderstood me completely. But anyway, I don t want to turn this into something it s not meant to be. Life is too precious to waste it arguing. Have a good night everyone._

Well, I have mixed feeling about this, probably because I just got married last year and had a horrible experience from my lighting company, but on the other hand I have a cake business too so I know how people can lie and all the effort it goes into making a perfect wedding cake stable.

So here is my opinion, if someone purchased a cake over 1000$ I would stay at the venue untill the wedding started, take pictures and then be on my way. This assures that its stable for at least an hour and you have pictures to prove it. That cake is very expensive and for it to fall, is devastating to the bride who probably feels that was the most important part of her wedding if she paid that much for the cake. So I understand both sides, and I think this is a learning experience for all of us bakers on wedding delivery day.

Do you have pictures of the cake before and then pictures of the cake as how you fixed it? If it was still just as beautiful after, then I am on your side and you owe no refund. I also would be contacting the venue director/florist/dj and getting opinions on who was there when it fell.

Staying at a venue for an hour, or more in most cases (we deliver 2 hours before an event), is not a realistic possibility for any business. You are tying up your delivery vehicle and paying someone to sit and do nothing for a good chunk of time.

Many of us deal with cakes in the $1,000.00 range on a regular basis, so I think that price has nothing to do with it. Be it $2,000 or $200 the cake should be what was ordered and be able to stand up until served. (again... not a dig at the OP as I think she feels the same way that I do... this is just a general rule) No matter what the size or price tag, every cake is precious to the one who ordered it. They put their trust in a baker and had faith in them to provide a beautiful and structurally sound dessert, and in most cases this is what happens. In the case of disaster you do what you can to remedy it and/or offer some compensation if warranted. Just because cakes can fall doesn't mean they will everytime and it doesn't warrant being obsessive about it. I'd think you'd get some pretty strange stares from the venue staff. It would make you look less than confident in your work and would more than likely lose you some business.

I respectfully disagree, a 6 tier topsy turvy has way more possibility of falling or something going wrong than your basic 3- 4 tier stacked wedding cake. I delivered a 7 tier stanley cup cake to a venue this summer, stayed 30 minutes extra to make sure everything was good to go and to assess the situation of what was going on around the cake before i left.

No one looked at me like i was crazy, they looked at me like wow! you did that masterpiece! You may call it being over picky however after i spent numerous hours on a super tall cake, you can bet ill take the extra 30 minutes to make sure everything is ok and that there are no babies running over the cake table before I leave and take pictures. After I leave I understand is out of my control, but you can get a pretty good idea of the type of wedding it is by watching and assessing your surroundings before you leave.

Just my 2 cents, and if you do a gazillion wedding cakes in a day then I can see how you may disagree with me, but I have never had an accident to date and no one has ever wanted a refund from me. I know that day is coming but you can bet all my eggs will be in a row on my behalf. Accidents can happen to any of us, the OP handled this wonderfully, I am just adding that a quick stop, look n listen to the surrounding of the cake table for a bit has helped me alot.

I agree that when delivering a cake you should take your time and make sure everything is set up correctly, but after you take pictures there's really no reason to hang around. Usually you will be out of there before the guests arrive anyway.

If there is a problem, your contact at the venue or the planner (or the bride) can just call you, as they did in this situation.

What I see some on here forgetting is that the cake was supposed to be set up hours before the reception but was changed at the last minute to the reception start time, by the bride or venue, not the baker. She tried to pre-assemble what she could to keep the interruption to the festivities to a minimum.

Would the cake have fallen if it was set up earlier like it was supposed to be? Who knows. But I bet had she had adequate time to assemble like she would have preferred and it still fell she wouldn't be questioning at all what she should do.

I'm not suggesting that you drive by and let the cake roll out when you are going 20 MPH... just saying that the luxury of time to just hang out at a venue isn't something we all have (and I'd venture to guess that most of us don't). If I were to hang at a venue for 2 hours... they would look at me like I was insane.

You definitely should make sure the table is sound ( and so many times they are NOT) and that your cake is sound, but hanging around isn't necessary. If you build your cake properly you shouldn't have to stress about it falling to the point that you have to wait around to see if it falls. Speaking from the stand point of someone who has a shop and does about 10 cakes on average... hanging back at a venue just isn't something we could do, or need to do since we have confidence in our cakes. You can agree or disagree, but that is my opinion.

So what was the final outcome???

thanks,

Barb

Did you take a couple of pictures when you first saw the damaged cake? I would've at least taken a photo of the cake in general and the handprint on it, before touching the cake to fix it.

seriously, what happened???

What a cliffhanger, I would love to know what happened in the end.