is she trying to pull a sly one on me? - Page 2

The people who've replied to you here have given you good advice about how to run your business. Yelling at them by using excessive exclamation points doesn't do any good. You'll learn from this and your business will be much better off. At the very least, you'll have a good idea of what not to do the next time.

Good luck.

I'm sorry this happened to you, and I too am happy you have clients that can take your surplus cakes at short order. It is amazing how much stress some clients can cause. A lot of the time it is because that is just how they live and run their lives; just 100% scatty, lots of talk and no action.

I think the more queries and meetings you have with people like this, the more cautious and firm footed you get in general. I believe you did more than enough to accommodate her, and ultimately made the right decision to end it. If it does happen again, previous posters have given you enough ideas on how to enact the principle of no money = no cake.

I remember the *one* time I allowed somebody to collect a cake without paying me the final $130 owing on it. The reason? We had just spent over $12000 buying custom-made furniture from her business, and I still had to pay the final payment of $2000 upon delivery of the last piece. I was operating on a mutual respect basis. I paid my balance, and she then ignored every email I sent her about her (cake ) balance still owing. My lesson learned: make your water-tight policies and stick to them It cost me $130 but I will never make her another cake or recommend anyone to her furniture business. (She has already asked me to make her a cake for a family member, actually. Ha!). Nor will I let a cake leave my possession without having all monies paid.

All the best to you and the business Hope you have a nice calm and relaxing weekend!

Evoir you should have accepted that cake order and tacked on the additional $130 she owed you, and then required payment in full upon order. If she accepted and paid, you would have had your $130 plus an additional profit on the new order. If she balked at the terms then you just don't make the cake which is what you decided anyway. Could have been an opportunity to collect what was owed to you...LOL! And just wondering, did you ever bring it to her attention that you paid in full for the product you purchased from her business and that you expect the same respect in return? Did you complete your purchase from her company before you made her cake? Only asking because if not you could have deducted the $130 from your final payment to her. Just some thoughts going through my head. I know it is all mute at this point, just curious.

i was in a similar situation this week. I engaged with the order speculation on a cake for this weekend starting a month ago. Then i didn't hear from the client for 10 days. Looking back at our emails i saw that i wasn't firm and specific in stating that payment in full two weeks prior confirms the order. So in her mind, it was 'ordered' even though it i had no delivery information or payment. I made the mistake on Monday emailing her with a vague, 'do you want to place an order?' and then opened the door for more correspondence that wasn't definite.

What I should have said was, 'If you would like to place this order (see attached invoice), I will need payment in cash by XX day. If I do not hear from you, I will consider the order cancelled.' When it drug on and on, I really wanted to pull the plug on her order, but when I look at it from her possible perspective, I didn't give her consequences (your order will be cancelled if I don't hear from you by XX time), so I didn't feel right about canceling her. I always try to remember the saying "you teach people how to treat you"...and it totally applied in this situation. I engaged with her on her style of communication (vague, open ended...) instead of laying out the firm guidelines and consequences of how i want to do business (which doesn't include 'last minute' orders not confirmed at least a week in advance). FWIW, i am naturally a bit laid back when it comes to orders giving people a benefit of the doubt as well. But this last scenario this weekend has been a good lesson as to why i need to be more by the book in the business. There are going to be the people who will take advantage of it.

Apparently, just like there are people who don't pay their electric bill until there is a disconnect notice attached to it (though they have the money), there are people who need strict rules when ordering cake.

I used to have a customer who would have a standard order every week. She would just call and confirm at the beginning of the week. When a few weeks of back payment still didn't show up, I reminded her that it was before the holidays and I needed the money for my own use. She asked for a payment plan, which I agreed to. She then had the gall to assume that I would still bake for her every week, even while she was paying off her old debt, and was annoyed when I told her under no uncertain terms; I can bake for her again, when she is paid up. She has since made one order (it's been a solid 3 years) and I told her upfront that she would need to pay on pick up.

It happened to me a couple of weeks ago too. It too was a 3 tier only for a 6 year old. My saving graces was that I didn't even bake it. I was more worried that the little girl wasn't going to get the "special" cake. She did. I was going to leave her a not so nice message on her FB page. When I pulled it up, I saw her daughters birthday pics! I saw the cake and thought "awe, she must have attempted to make her daughter one herself. So sweet. She must not have had the money". I didn't leave the nasty gram. The a week later I was in a Walmart store (not the one I normally use) getting french bread. There, on the wall was a picture of the cake that her daughter had! Ugh. Wasted my time and efforts with all of the "I want my daughters birthdays to be special, no matter what.....blah blah". Okay, I'm still PO'd. I learned now to take deposits on ALL orders. Even the small ones! I don't want that to happen to me again. It was too stressful. However, my good friends on here kept me grounded and tactfully pointed out my failures LOL! Hope you de-stress and this doesn't happen to you again.

Any updates on this situation? Did she show up for the cake?

Trust your gut.  I had a wedding order and told them I needed the down payment asap (it was less than a month notice).  I waited and waited.  Finally, I checked the mail one day and the check was not there, I told myself I needed it by that day and no later...it didn't come.  I contacted the daughter who I have had good experience with and told her I would not be able to do it with no money seen.  She understood and told me that her Mom did not get her money.  I was waiting those days when she did not actually mail it.  If I wouldn't have made it that I would have drove an hour to deliver and maybe not gotten paid at all.  Trust your instincts!

So what happened the day the client wanted the cake?  Did she try to collect a cake?

I'd love to know too :P