I feel like you can go back on your refund quote. Just like the example of a "simple" cake. Get the information and use that. I think this is buyer's remorse. I had made a cake, sketched the cake and made the cake look like the sketch. The bride signed the sketch. I set up the cake (A tall three tier) on a 10 ft round table. It was a 6 10 14 and the layers were about 5 inches tall. As I was setting up the cake, the MOB and FOB were yelling about the cake. That is an awful cake and on and on. They stated they did not get what was ordered. It was too small. The venue, thankfully, replaced the table with a smaller table and that helped. But the bride swore that this was not the cake she ordered. She showed up at the bakery 4 weeks later after her European honeymoon and demanded a full refund. The cake was too short. Our tiers are usually only 4 inches but new baker made them taller and I used the full height made. She was told of the height of the cake the day before would be about 12 inches. She hollered and yelled and tried to embarass me. Later that afternoon, her MIL came in with the pictures. I thought I was going to cry. It was a picture of the bride smiling at the cake and the majority of the cake served, as they ordered too big a cake anyway. She also told me they have video of everyone complimenting the cake, would we like a copy. I think that you will find the same in your case. The bride spent more than daddy wanted and he found an easy target to aim for. Don't back down, every bride will hear whine a bit and get a refund

I'm really sorry this happened to you, but I have to agree with the others on this one, do not refund that money! I'm not a professional, but when I got married my cake didn't look anything like what I ordered. But we cut and served it, and we ate it, so I did not go back to the bakery to ask for a refund. (the cake was delicious BTW)
If you ate it, you own it!
Definitely check with the venue, if that cake was eaten, then she doesn't get her money back. If you want to be nice, maybe offer $100 back, but do not give her a full refund! Your time and effort are well worth what you charged!

Either way, no matter what you do finally decide, know it's a lesson learned, right?

Hold up, I am still not clear on the situation. Did you offer to fully refund her or did she push you into it? You need to tell her that in order to fully refund her you need to see pictures of the cake, and you need a statement from someone working at the hall that the cake was NOT served. Also, could you put a non-refundable deposit in your contract? That way you can make sure that ingredients will always be covered? (Just a suggestion).
I'm so sorry that you have found yourself in such a lousy situation. Keep your head up high and please let us know what happens.

I do not sell cakes, but I run a different business on the side. It's hard to even think on going back on what you said you would do.. refund. However, before you do anything.. I would draft up a letter, send it CERTIFIED, stating that for legal purposes, before any money is refunded you will need a written statement with the discrepancies from the contract to what was actually given as well as pictures of the delivered cake showing what she was unhappy with. I would also contact the coordinator and find out if the cake was served (or the venue if you think the coordinator won't be forthcoming). This way you can get the images of the horrible cake (LOL) and if it is in accordance with the contract, you can back out of your refund offer.

Good luck with whatever you do.. but I would definitely have some documentation from her-- it's her job to prove it wasn't up to standard...

She should produce the cake for a full refund. See if the photographer got any photos.

Talk to us when you feel like it.

Let me tell you a story.. I use to design and make custom wedding gowns. I wold one to this girl in Fla. for $2000 and her bridesmaids dresses were $800. They were all perfect. Custom made to size and color, material the whole ball of wax. Well she did a chargeback on her credit card after her wedding claiming that she couldn't use the gowns that they didn't fit and all this. Well it took a little digging but I found myspace pictures on her brothers myspace. She didn't put them on her myspace until it was all settled but her brother did and I linked into his through hers. She was wearing the gown and the bridesmaids were wearing the dresses. She gave me the same song and dance on how she invested all their wedding money in the dresses and I ruined her wedding. Bull honey! Find out the truth before you give her one red cent. And by the way...yes I won my case.

I think that since you yourself admit that the cakes were messed up by someone else before they ever even left your shop, and then your driver admitted to messing it up even more when dropping it off, a refund is in order. At least partially. If what was delivered was not what was ordered and agreed upon, then I think you should give something back to her. The people at the venue didnt say everything was fine, they said "crap happens" which isnt saying that the woman lied. Sounds like crap happened and it wasnt right, for whatever reason. As for everyone bashing the woman saying that it's BS that she went cheap on flowers and skipped her honeymoon to spend on an awesome cake, not everyone has a 25,000 budget for their wedding, and some people do choose to put more money toward some things than others. And in doing that, I can totally understand that they'd expect what they're paying so much for to be top quality. As for whether they ate any of it or not, what would you expect them to do? Would you have preferred them to stand up and say, "This is the name of who we chose to make our cake, it got royally screwed up, so we arent serving anything at all, don't hire her for anything."?? I think I'd prefer them to do what they did, and call me to make it right rather than bashing my name all over town. I just think that a lot of people are quick to lash out at the customer for a mistake that they didn't make. If I order something, I want it to be what I pay for. $800 is a lot of money for something to not be what you pay for. I also think that the original poster wouldnt have offered a full $800 refund if she didnt think that it was deserved, she'd have stuck to the partial no matter what the woman was saying.

You mentioned that you spoke to the wedding planner and hall manager I think it was? What did they say about the cake???

Sorry this happened to you, I know it hurts. I know this can just shatter your confidence, and I hope you get right back on that cake horse. I think we cake decorators are very sensitive souls, since we are artists at heart.
Best of luck.

Okay, I see what you mean about having someone crying and upset on the phone could possibly make you make a misjudgment about how much of a refund to give. It'd probably make me pretty upset too, especially if I was already upset about the quality of what I was sending out to begin with (the guitar, and being rushed with taking on too many orders to give this one proper attention). I do think it would help to have photos of what happened to compare to the sketch of what went wrong. Perhaps I'm touchy on wedding cake issues because my wedding cake looked ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like what it was supposed to...but it did taste AMAZING so we didn't complain. We just went with it since it was too late to do anything about it anyway. No one knew but us.

After thinking more about it, I think I'd only offer to do a partial refund, unless in your heart you feel that a full refund is truly deserved. I do have to wonder though, of all three cakes (the wedding cake, the baseball cap and the guitar) is she saying that they didnt serve ANY of them and that they ALL tasted funny because of the icing?? I think I'd want the cakes back if she is saying she didnt serve them at all. What'd she do with them then? And if she didnt serve them, how does she know everyone thought they tasted weird because of the fondant with less buttercream icing underneath? Too many questions for me!! Go with what you feel you should do on it, is probably all the advice I should give.

This is all quite interesting but reading the op post and her other post I think that she has already decided to give the money back no matter what anyone says. This is what she wants to do so all the back and forth about what she should do doesnt matter because she is letting her emotions take over instead of going with the facts. Yeah the cake had issues but she never answered the question on whether the cake was served. That is the main question. Was the cake served or not? Find out. If it was served and they ate it then give them like half back if you feel that horrible. When did all this happen? Because if they didnt serve it the cake is gone in the garbage now because who saves cake for like four days. If you want to give the money back because you FEEL bad then do that! I'm not trying to be rude or anything but that is the truth. The bride is acting like the cake sat there wasnt cut and they threw it in the garbage. If that's the case then give them back their money and as I heard someone quote on here before "Put your big girl panties on" and deal with the situation instead of taking the easy way out and just throwing her the money. If your shop is new you are going to be closed in a year because everyone that complains and is mean or angry will get their money back and you will become a bank just handing out checks every month to customers. Face reality.

If she ate it and served it, she pays. You delivered a product and she accepted it. You did not contract a refund so you are not legally binding to do so. If you truly believe it was a subpar cake, do a partial refund but no more than 20%.

Next time she calls, ask her to bring the cake back to get her full refund. When she can't because she ate it, she's admitting that not all the cake was bad, therefore, you delivered your cake.

In order for the bride to get her full refund, the whole cake should have been returned to you, either the day of or the day after the wedding. Since it was consumed and nothing returned, they would not be entitled to a refund and although no contracts were drawn, the use and consumption of the cake is like you are in agreement to what the cake looked like or tasted like. This is just my opinion.

This is why you have a contract. Stick to your contract. It sounds like she is just trying to get a free cake. You are running a business here. If word gets out that all you have to do is yell about the cake after the fact and then the customer will get their money back, you'll be out of business in a month. Call the catering hall. Find out if they served it, and if there were any complaints to the maitre 'd. Get pictures of the cake from her to see what she was talking about. And learn a lesson that next time you need to have better control over your employees. Unless she can prove the cake looked like crap, she does not deserve a refund.

I think above all you are running a business. Even if emotionally you think you should give the money back, you should still thoroughly investigate what happened with the cake. Document any refund with statements and pictures and keep a record for yourself against future complaints. I think all the advice mentioned to guard against this in the future is helpful. You are a true businesswoman now- stand up for your work!

I think regardless of what you do this bride is going to bad mouth you anyway. I forsee gloating over the hissy fit she threw and the refund she got. This story will be told over and over. The best you can do is take a deep breath and get on with your business.

I agree with the others who suggested that now that the emotional outburst is over, calmly gather your facts from the venue sources, document them, and determine if they cut and ate the cake. Contact the photographer and get copies of the pics.

At the very least, cover your costs and give only a partial refund if you feel you must.

I'm so sorry this happened to you!!! My heart goes out to you.

Wow! I feel for you. I know that when your cake is rejected it's like you are being rejected and that's hard to deal with. That said, I agree with addietx-I think a person is only as good as their word. I know that most would consider me a dinosaur for having that perspective, but I don't care.

I also agree with aligotmatt. I think she gives you a gracious way of working through this without sacrificing your integrity.
You have been given a lot of great business advice. I've gotten a couple of great ideas here as well. Here's a few more.

1. Don't ever, ever, ever agree to anything or make decisions about money when you are experiencing strong feelings of any kind...ie fear, joy, grief, REJECTION, anger etc...No matter how someone goads you, stand your ground on this one. Wait till you calm down--completely, and can sort out the facts from the hysteria.

2. About delivery: If the reception is at the church and you or your delivery person can find the MOB, have her sign for the cake. I usually find the MOB in the reception hall before the wedding checking on things (even though she has a caterer). I have even gone looking for her on occasion.

I say, "excuse me m'am but would you mind checking the cake over and signing for it? I would have the catering staff do it, but they usually just sign without even looking at it and I would prefer someone in the family look at it and sign for it"

I know this sounds wordy, but it gets me over. She will either do it or assign someone in the family to do it. Usually it's the MOB and FOB that are paying for the cake anyway, so if they approve--you're good.

This also puts part of the responsibility for the cake's condition on the bride's family which makes the bride a little less likely to squawk.

3. There are many spoiled, prissy young brides who want to play "princess" and think that part of that role is to complain about everything. Sometimes this is obvious in the first stages and that's when you just say:
" I would love to do your cake but I don't know that I can produce what you want. I would feel more comfortable if you checked out a few more designers before settling on me."
Chances are good she won't come back and you'll be better off.

I know that you are concerned with your rep. Just know that for every bad word this girl spreads, there are probably multitudes of good words being spread about you. If this girl is "high drama", people will consider the source when she badmouths you. I live in a small town and I know that badmouthing falls flat when the person being badmouthed is known and respected/loved by others in town.

Anyway, this too shall pass and in a couple of months you will have had enough successes under your belt to enable you to put this in proper perspective.

Good L.U.C.K.
Laboring Under Correct Knowledge

So you too think I should kill my brother. Hmm...

I 100% agree with Karema.

I'd love to see the picture and original sketch.

Yes, K8
I think that if you are a hired killer and you said you would kill him and someone paid you to kill him, then you should kill him. You have my blessing. Be sure to take pictures in case you are asked for a refund. LOL

I have to get my son to hockey practice so I could not finish reading so if someone stated this then I am sorry.

Can I suggest that you put the onus on her first? If she is unhappy then make her prove it.
Make her prove it to you with the photos that she should have. She had a full time photographer there correct?
Make her show you that she did not serve the cake.
Make her get testimonials from the caterer to prove she had a fit when she saw it etc...Not the guests since she can get anyone she wants to give a fake report about how bad things were

She wants money back she has to do a little more work then turn on the tears to make you feel bad.


good luck

LOL. LOL, LOL

i too would like to see the two cakes