i think you are right in whatever you decide. you do have a contract that will back you up. the other side of it it, you will probably gain a very loyal customer who will speak very highly of you if you could do some sort of credit, refund etc. i tend to feel that doing good for others comes back to you. this poor guy could probably use someone being kind about now.

Yeah, I wouldn't do running tab of the whole entire bill. That would be crazy. I'm thinking you could give him 3 or four cakes.
I do think he got left at the alter. Call the florist and ask her the DL (down low).
If you want to refund then refund. If not then not.

My only input is that since it's legally her american express, any refind or credit should go to her, unless it's possibly a joint account. I would call a bank or a credit card company and do a what if scenario. Maybe give each of them half the credit. 1,000 cake, so 500 to her, 500 to him. If she moved, not your problem, that's money in your pocket.

well technically if she does not refund but rather gives him credit, shes not losing profit.
On the contrary shes getting the profit w/o the stress of a wedding cake.

IF you give him credit, you can make a stipulation that it has to be used within 8 months or 12 months, and you need your standard time frame heads up. He wouldn't get a pass on all your normal rules, he just has a credit. So if you require 4 weeks notice on an order- he still has to abide by that rule. And the credit can't be applied to delivery fees- that way he has to come get it and you don't lose more time.

I know business is business, and im usually a hard A*@ for stuff like this.
He's not being a jerk about it, hes being nice.

I like the suggestion of - for example the cake was $1000. Tell him he loses $400 in the cancellation fee, and he gets $600 in credit.
He's already said that he understands if theres no refund at all. So something like should make him more than happy.

If he was half a of a Hot couple, I don't think he's gonna bug you with lots of little cakes, you know what I mean.

No emotion involved - that's harsh.

Who knows? Maybe he is in the hospital because she bopped him on the head with something.

Sorry, bad taste to find humor in a horrible situation, but my mind was just churning away about what happened.

I would give him a credit, and then take the week off. It sounds too sad for him to be freezing his wedding cake and gaining 500 lbs eating all by himself AND being single. Poor man!

BUT he did say "I certainly HOPE we CAN reschedule), which implies there may be no engagment, which means that he wouldn't be able to use the credit.
I just don't know what to tell you to do...

Okay, call me a cynic but I think the bride called off the wedding and headed back home after discovering he had cheated on her. The reason he is being so nice about the cancellation/refund issue is because he knows he screwed the whole thing up and it is all his fault anyway. I would bet the price of the cake that there was no hospital stay involved in any this! That being said...I guess the nice thing to do would be to offer him partial credit toward future cakes within a reasonable period of time, but I woud clarify the situation with him to make sure the bride doesn't call one day looking for HER refund!

After reading everyone's replies, I've changed my mind. No $$ back and no running credit (at least not to the groom). The bride paid for the cake, not the groom. She should be calling not him and tell him so.

I wonder if he didn't get too carried away at a bachelor party???? That would make this crazy ordeal seem much more logical. Bride left groom; groom too embarrassed; brusk bride demanding $$ back from florist. She was the one asking the $ back from the florist so she should be handling this situation as well.

My guess is you haven't heard from the bride because she's aware of your 30-day no $$ contract.

I agree with some of the others in the idea that the wedding is off! I think he just didn't know what to say, and came up with this idea...the whole thing seems strange in the fact that she is leaving???? I can't imagine leaving the one I love, and plan to marry alone if there was an illness, and if that is the case she is a cold hearted B****!!! I would do the running credit, it is much too close now to offer a refund. My contracts clearly state that there is no refunds to cancellations that are less than 10 days away from event. I am like you I usually go ahead and purchase or order supplies, as well as prepare things. The way I feel about it people think you are only getting paid for the cake on that day and not all the time and work that you spend days ahead. Like anyone would feel sorry for him, but you have to do what is best for you too and your business. I really think that the running credit is a great idea, there are so many events you can need a cake for. Hope this helps and good luck to you, I feel bad for the fact that you lost out on other customers, I know this is one of my fears....

so after re-reading I would give a credit to whomever gave you the money for the cake....did the bride leave you a cell phone number where you could call her and find out what the deal is? All seems so crazy...I would just put the order on hold, as far as the credit...I wouldn't offer any refund at all..I am starting to think that he may be the dog in all this!!!!

I just finished reading this thread and the whole ordeal sounds like some torturous nightmare! I am about to book my first wedding cake next week, and I have little luck in working out a contract. Does anyone have suggestions or can anyone share important points or a rough draft so I can try to cover all my bases? I just don't want to end up in the same situation one day and not have a solid contract in place.

Thanks!!

THAT is why I wanted to just deliver a cake PER CONTRACT. I don't want to make some kind of carved cake, as I have EVERYTHING ordrered for this cake, I flew in my helper for this crazy weekend, I special ordered the pearls for this cake from Geraldine Randlesome. AND I don't want anyone (bride or groom) saying hey she didn't give us what we ordered. I want to deliver the cake as I had planned and expected. THAT is what my head is saying to do. I tried to call him, a VERY sad message about the wedding being CANCELLED. So he is right EMAIL is the best way to contact him. I am so sorry this is happening to him, HE did not cheat on her! They are both early 30's and he was just so OVER THE MOON about her in every way. He just stared at her so adoringly in our consults. SHE would tell him, "xxx, she is the professional just chill out" when he would ask me too many questions, she'd roll her eyes, I thought, SHE thought he was being a groomzilla about stuff, but it never bothered me. In my opinion he's trying to get all the vendors contacted-not expecting a full refund just seeing what he can do. They are not financially dependent on their parents for stuff-they just seem like they are trying to tie up loose ends of can we get money back, but really not expecting to. It is quite a bit of money, but right now my business mind says to deliver the cake as they have on the contract and pray for the best

Wait....you said SHE handed you her American Express...I would not want to get caught up into anything legal here....HE did not pay for the cake, she did.

I would call her and verify the cancellation of the wedding. (I know you have been dealing with him, but she paid)

I would be giving her the options here...not him. And I know you feel bad for him and heck I feel bad for both of them too.
I would take a look at their contract and see who signed, who paid and although you have dealt with him, I would just be certain you make this decision regarding the person whom your business was contracted to, otherwise you are in the middle of one heck of a battle here...the amount on that cake you didn't mention but we all know that is one big chunk of change...Let us know how it all turns out...we will be curious.
Wishing you the best though, I know situations like this are hard, but when it is dealt with you will have this one to lean back on if it ever happens again.

the bold and the beautiful soap is on central central. oooooooooooooooh. I will be staying tune.

I think everyone is forgetting that he said he still wants the cake if he can't get a refund. So there should be no worry about whose card it was. We have established there will be no refund, just how he will get the cake...

The bride didn't ask for a refund from you because she understood the contract....

If you feel sorry for him, make him a small, half a wedding cake...smalllllllllll....

Maybe he was in the hospital...she globbered him but good when she found out about the other woman!


(I would really just stick with the terms of the contract....bend one, bend 'em all)

oof....even worse than a cheater...a smotherer!!!!!aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh....she'll be back...she probably had to get away to breathe....ugh...

ohh I didn't see the part where it was HER card (can you tell I can't focus on actual work today).

geez what a toughie.

Did u get the info from the florist or the venue as to what happened??

If its her money, and she didn't contact you, then you have to tell him that sorry- no cake and no refund.
I say no cake, because she paid for the cake so its her cake. She might call u in the next day or two and tell you to please deliver the cake to this new address and she'll have a party with all her friends.

Her money = her cake
and no refund and no line of credit since you went to such an expense of time and money for this cake.

6/7/8 was the most popular wedding date in a long, long time. She turned down many other cakes because of this order. No refund is due. I appreciate your kind heart but giving him money back is not realistic. Forgive me for being blunt but why should you be the one to lose money?

I do think that working with him is a lovely idea and I love the idea of a 2 cakes max with a required notice credit rather then making him a wedding cake he clearly doesn't need. I appreciate he is a nice man and you feel bad but this is business and you did have a contract and you did turn down work.

How much was the cake and were you paid in full? I only skimmed the last two pages so maybe this was already asked......

Sounds like she ditched him and left...for whatever reason.

And yes, emotions aside, even if you wanted to refund or credit him some money, if it was HER Amex card--the person you need to be dealing with is HER, not him. (Try taking your friend's Amex or Visa into any store asking for a refund of something they bought and see how far you get...)Nice as he is, if it was HER card, he shouldn't be asking you for anything. And I'd want more than email contact for an issue like this.

Then again, if it was her card, and she hasn't contacted you...maybe some of us on here are right and she's just assuming she'll get nothing back, per the contract.

Double check whose card it was and, if it was hers, (you might also try contacting Amex) then what I might do is tell him something like this:

"Dear XX,
I am so sorry to hear of your illness and wedding postponement! As stated in my contract, I am unable to fully refund your payment at such a late date. (or whatever your policy is...) As we discussed, I would be willing to hold your payment as a credit for future cake, but any credit or refund can only be held for the card holder who paid for the cake. As the original payment was on your fiance's card, I would need to hear from her in order to arrange such a credit. If you could let your fiance know this and have her contact me, I'd be happy to work out the details with her."

There are a zillion different things that could be going here, which you'll probably never hear. He could be just jilted and sad, he could have screwed it up and been dumped, he could be sick and actually not wanting to get married until he's well, he sounds like a nice guy, etc., BUT the reality is that you need to stick to whatever policy you have in place for your business, and, even if you feel their pain and want to refund a portion of their $, any credit you put in place can not go to anyone but the card holder who paid for it.

If she's thinking she for sure won't get her $ back, and therefore not bothering to contact you to even ask, and he's going behind her back and working it out with you, and she finds out later she just paid for her ex-fiance to eat $2000.00 worth of cake, that would be bad.

Let us know how it turns out. Boils down to, you need to hear from her, if it was her card.

Back to my original train of thought, but with one change - do the cake they ordered per the contract - UNLESS you can get it in WRITING from the person who SIGNED the contract to change the design to something simpler, which you are doing just to be nice as I assume your contract says something about not changing the design so close to the date.

I do like the idea of calling the other venues, the florist seems to be good here, I mean is she really going to send him flowers? Or is she keeping the money and the flowers?

Interesting, the thought of whose cake it actually is, it's tough, but it's business. They either take what they ordered or they cancel it and you keep the $$$$.

I feel bad for him, but you can bet that is what is going on with the other vendors.

Good luck!!!

I don't do this as a business but I did work at a bank in the credit card department and I'm not sure you can charge her credit card if nothing is delivered to "her". By law credit cards can't be charged until product is shipped. You might check with your credit card processor and see if there are other rules for special orders. If the card had her name on it you need to be dealing with her and delivering cake to her. If she hasn't contacted you she is probably assuming no refund and doesn't know she could file a grievence with Am. Ex. I would explain to him that since it was her Credit Card she need to contact you.