Joined: Jul 07, 2006
Posts: 22150
Location: Indianapolis IN
Birthday: Jan 19
Posted:
Wed Nov 04, 2009 10:46 am
chefjulie wrote:
While I agree on a PERSONAL level that kids dont "need" that much sugar, I dont think it's my business or my right to tell others how to treat/feed their children. Really it's a matter of what size/standard you plan on setting for your cakes and going with that.
I agree that it is not our place to tell people what a child NEEDS. However, that is not what we're doing when we set pricing. we are setting a pre-determined serving size, just like every single food item in the grocey, in a drive-thru, in a sit-down restaurant does, and base our PRICING on that. (Insert KFC story here.)
If they want to take a 8" square cake and cut it in half and hand out just two forks, that's A-OK by me .... but they are PAYING for the 32 servings it's DESIGNED to serve.
And yes, you can get 32 servings. Cut the 8" cake into 4 rows (2" each). Then cut those rows into 1" pieces (8 columns). 8x4=32. Easy Peasy.
When I tell people "A serving size is about the size of a folded over peanut butter sandwich", I can see the light bulb go off in their head as they say, "OH! Oh, well, that's PLENTY then!"
How many parents give their child a folded over peanut butter sandwich, then stand back and complain because the bread companies are making the bread too small?
lcubed82 Frequent Member
Joined: Oct 19, 2008
Posts: 350
Location: SW IL
Posted:
Wed Nov 04, 2009 11:15 am
I love the YouTube video !!!!
beanbean Junior Member
Joined: Jun 02, 2009
Posts: 33
Posted:
Wed Nov 04, 2009 11:28 am
She was probably "advised not to contact" you by a reasonable, sane person who thought her complaints were ridiculous and that she should just drop it.
Good luck!
Next time charge appropriately, write a contract, have fun baking, package the product, and take picture after delivery. You may still have some crazy customers, but you will have solid back up for complaints.
kakeladi Forum SuperStar!
Joined: May 26, 2004
Posts: 6258
Location: Northen Indiana
Birthday: Aug 11
Posted:
Wed Nov 04, 2009 11:45 am
newmansmom2004 wrote:
........for a kid's birthday I would not use the wedding cake serving size as a guideline.....an 8" cake is way too small for 20 people...........
........even wilton's party chart says the 8" square serves 20........
I have not read alll the replies yet. This caught my eye.
She said it was a 2 layer 8" and very little was scraped when she cut the shape.
A 1x2x4" (wedding) serving *IS THE SAME* amount of cake as a 2x2x2 (party)piece.
Being as it was a 4" tall (2 layer) cake, cutting the pieces 2x2x4 is *way!* too much cake for the average kid to eat at one sitting.
We have to stick to an industry standard when quoting the size of a serving otherwise people would cut an 8" cake into 8 pieces! If they want/need bigger servings, let them order a bigger cake. Otherwise you are giving your cakes away much too cheap!
costumeczar Forum SuperStar!
Joined: Oct 18, 2007
Posts: 2594
Location: Henrico VA
Posted:
Wed Nov 04, 2009 2:07 pm
The customer is psycho. Don't worry about her, but keep posting any emails that she sends, because she amuses us with her craziness
FYI I get all of my boards from cakedeco .com (Pfeil and Holing)
CakeMommyTX Forum Fanatic
Joined: Aug 07, 2007
Posts: 1160
Location: where the sidewalk ends....
Posted:
Wed Nov 04, 2009 2:32 pm
I like how she went against the advice she received not to contact you and contacted you just to tell you she has been advised not to contact you anymore...lol
Does'nt contacting you to tell you she can't contact you defeat the purpose of not contacting you?
Anyone else feeling dizzy?
DakotaDesigns Junior Member
Joined: May 12, 2009
Posts: 48
Location: California
Birthday: Sep 08
Posted:
Wed Nov 04, 2009 2:54 pm
CakeMommyTX wrote:
I like how she went against the advice she received not to contact you and contacted you just to tell you she has been advised not to contact you anymore...lol
Does'nt contacting you to tell you she can't contact you defeat the purpose of not contacting you?
Anyone else feeling dizzy?
LMAO when you put it that way ...yes! Quite dizzy! I also agree with costumeczar, I feel bad for the situation with this crazy lady but she has become an amusement for all. I wouldn't worry one bit about her taking you to court or any of that jibberish. As everyone else pointed out, it would cost her way more than the original agreement to go there. And if she does she's plain foolish and any judge would tell her that!
If you need to cry go ahead and let it out and don't be ashamed! It is very healthy and healing. I have cried countless times over my cakes and customers. I've been poked fun by my family for it but it was all in fun and they know how stressful it can be. As professionals, beginners and hobbyists, we all put every ounce of energy and love into our designs no matter how simple or magnificently complicated. If I were in your shoes, frustration would have overwhelmed by now.
Keep your head up and remember we're all here for you. I love CC so much because everyone here is here for each other and not competing. Its a wonderful support group to have!
I love you guys!
indydebi Forum Matriarch
Joined: Jul 07, 2006
Posts: 22150
Location: Indianapolis IN
Birthday: Jan 19
Posted:
Wed Nov 04, 2009 3:08 pm
DakotaDesigns wrote:
If you need to cry go ahead and let it out and don't be ashamed! It is very healthy and healing. I have cried countless times over my cakes and customers. I've been poked fun by my family for it but it was all in fun and they know how stressful it can be. As professionals, beginners and hobbyists, we all put every ounce of energy and love into our designs no matter how simple or magnificently complicated. If I were in your shoes, frustration would have overwhelmed by now.
Like many, I've had issues with cakes and it's one thing when I know the bride is right. There have been times that I've been expecting their call; there have been times that I knew they were right. And while we never want to get those calls, those are a little easier to handle.
What just makes me pee crooked is when I KNOW there's not a dang thing wrong with the cake/catering and they are (as hubby would say) "HUNTIN'!" for something to complain about. I know they are wrong in that there was NOTHING WRONG and I'm banging my head against the wall in trying to resolve it. They don't want to resolve it. They just want to gripe.
snocilla Frequent Member
Joined: Jun 17, 2009
Posts: 260
Location: Hampton Roads, VA
Posted:
Wed Nov 04, 2009 3:27 pm
Quote:
CakeMommyTX wrote:
I like how she went against the advice she received not to contact you and contacted you just to tell you she has been advised not to contact you anymore...lol
Does'nt contacting you to tell you she can't contact you defeat the purpose of not contacting you?
Anyone else feeling dizzy?
That's exactly what my husband said!
DakotaDesigns wrote:
Quote:
If you need to cry go ahead and let it out and don't be ashamed! It is very healthy and healing. I have cried countless times over my cakes and customers. I've been poked fun by my family for it but it was all in fun and they know how stressful it can be. As professionals, beginners and hobbyists, we all put every ounce of energy and love into our designs no matter how simple or magnificently complicated. If I were in your shoes, frustration would have overwhelmed by now.
Keep your head up and remember we're all here for you. I love CC so much because everyone here is here for each other and not competing. Its a wonderful support group to have!
Thanks Dakota, this is one of the reasons I love this site so much!
Jayde Forum Addict
Joined: Oct 22, 2007
Posts: 983
Posted:
Wed Nov 04, 2009 4:03 pm
Ruth0209 wrote:
Pookie59 wrote:
Personally, for a kid's birthday I would not use the wedding cake serving size as a guideline. Consequently, I think an 8" cake is way too small for 20 people. She was likely expecting to be able to serve a healthy wedge to each child rather than a tiny dessert size piece. (With my relatives, if I tried to serve a wedding size piece of cake at a family birthday, they'd think I was nuts. They expect a good size piece and probably want seconds.
...and we wonder why we have fat kids. When my children were small I used to serve big pieces of cake to the kids at their parties. Invariably, I threw away half a slice of cake on nearly every plate. It was just too much cake for most of them. A serving of 1 x 2 x 4" is more than ample for kids. And even if it's not, it's really all they need.
Actually my daughter's school prefers that we send mini cupcakes for just these reasons.
1. The children do not need that many sweets.
2. A LOT of them dont even eat it all, even the mini ones! So you do end up throwing away a lot of cake.
Carolynlovescake Forum Addict
Joined: Jul 10, 2007
Posts: 991
Location: Unted States
Birthday: Dec 21
Posted:
Wed Nov 04, 2009 7:31 pm
She's an absolute loon.
snocilla Frequent Member
Joined: Jun 17, 2009
Posts: 260
Location: Hampton Roads, VA
Posted:
Mon Nov 09, 2009 6:36 pm
So she emailed me again:
Stacey.
In response to your most recent email request for pictures of the cake you delivered, please find two pictures attached. In addition, a picture of the pictured emailed to me of the cake you would be making is also attached.
The quality of cake ordered and the delivered cake are completely different. (From the pictures, it is evident that the black icing was coming apart both on the number (15) for birthday and on the side swirls. Shortly after you delivered this cake, one of the tips began to lean as you can see within the picture. Additionally by the next morning two cracks on two of the tips also began to show as you can see in the picture.
The quality of cake not only differed from the shape of the emailed cake picture but also the quality. The cake delivered was not at what was ordered based upon YOUR sample emailed picture, nor would it have fed 20 individuals. Due to the limited amount of time (the next afternoon) we had to substitute a cake for my daughter's birthday from the grocery store. Unfortunately, we could not get a cake with the theme my daughter had wanted, but we were able to feed d all 20 individuals.
Have been advised to limit communication at this time, however was given the go ahead to forward these pictures as you requested. We will await hearing from you regarding this matter.
Sincerely,
XXXXXXX
My husband says that I should not reply at all, and that if she was supposed to limit contact, she wouldn't have written such a long email. He also says that I should not offer her any refund.
She says she is awaiting my response, but if I'm not supposed to contact her....
I can see now what she is talking about, but I still don't see where it's so horrible that she couldn't serve it.
Do you guys think I should reply? And what should I say? Should I defend the servings and the shape? Should I offer her a refund?
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snocilla Frequent Member
Joined: Jun 17, 2009
Posts: 260
Location: Hampton Roads, VA
Posted:
Mon Nov 09, 2009 6:40 pm
Couldn't get it to take all the attachments... That was the sample cake... Here is my cake.
I see... my attachments were too big
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costumeczar Forum SuperStar!
Joined: Oct 18, 2007
Posts: 2594
Location: Henrico VA
Posted:
Mon Nov 09, 2009 6:42 pm
Is this the cake that you made, or the one that she wanted you to copy? I don't see anything wrong with this one, but there also isn't a "15" on it, so I have a feeling that it's a different one.
costumeczar Forum SuperStar!
Joined: Oct 18, 2007
Posts: 2594
Location: Henrico VA
Posted:
Mon Nov 09, 2009 6:51 pm
Well, the first problem is that it's a Wilton board, so it probably flexed and that's why the tips are moving off of the main part of the cake.
I don't see how that wouldn't serve 20, so I wouldn't even take that part of her issue seriously. However, since you didn't bring the cake in a box I think that they might have a legitimate complaint, because that's probably part of why the board was moving around and caused the damage.
I hate to say it, but I'd just send her a refund of the money and be done with it. I don't buy the whole "we had to go buy another cake" thing, but if the cake wasn't packaged when it was delivered they do have a legitimate gripe.
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