You can call someone to your hearts content at home, then again some states only allow you to call a person to collect money once a day. All this veries from state to state. But heres the thing about calling someone at work. It can be construed as harrassment (which is illegal even if they do owe you money), you can get the person fired (and bosses do fire people when they get too many personal calls or bill collector calls, especially in these times were they are looking to get rid of people), which then leaves yourself opened up to YOU getting sued and for a lot more money then $30 bucks. I am not saying it's wrong to call anyone at work, would I do it, no. But its not unprofessional (unless your acting unprofessional on the phone, and you can do that calling them anywhere), but calling someone at work does come with some risk. I just thought I'ld point that out. Oh yeah, and I do hope you get your money, I really do.

I'm really sorry that this happened to you. My two cents for what it's worth (it's worth just that, two cents, to be exact ) is that this was a learning experience for you. I would chalk up the $30 loss and just know to never leave a cake for anyone without getting paid for it. I would lose more money in wasting my time trying to go after this woman and hunt her down for the money than the $30 I would collect from her.

I say (for what its worth) you should reach her by whatever means you have (you said you didn't have a mailing address so sending a letter is not an option) and request payment in a professional manner. I think people need to be called out for things like this. I know the size was a miscommunication, but like others have said, "she ate what she ordered", so she should pay for that. Letting her just get away with it would be doing yourself right. Let us know how things turn out!

One of my first bigger orders I allowed the lady to pay me the remaining balance upon delivery. She asked, with a laugh, what happened if she didn't pay, I told, with a laugh, I have a big family - they'll eat your cake. Since been a good customer since.

Next time someone orders, make sure you get payment ahead or DO NOT LEAVE WITHOUT THE MONEY! I will stick around until I get my money. If they don't have it or say 'someone's bringing it in an hour' tell them, okay, I'll take the cake and call me when the money is here.

I have to agree with K8 on this one. If the only contact information she gave you is her work number, then that's the number you use to contact her for payment. If she didn't want you to contact her there, she should not have given you the number.

What is low class and rude is accepting an order (which she basically did when she went ahead and ate the cake) and thinking you don't have to pay for it. I would send her an invoice once a week at her work place, and call her once a week. If she tells you not to call her at work, ask her for a home number where you can call her so you can discuss her unpaid bill.

I could care less if someone who owes me money gets fired because her employer doesn't like her getting calls at work. There's an easy solution to that problem. She pays her debt and you stop calling. SHE IS NOT THE VICTIM HERE. She can resolve this easily.

This kind of thing makes my blood boil. Sure, it's only $30, but it's also a matter of principle. People like her depend on people like you not being willing to make a fuss.

That said, NEVER, EVER leave a cake without getting payment. If she wasn't there to accept the cake and pay me, I would have left my contact number and taken the cake home. You didn't owe it to her to leave the cake without being paid. And trust me, the poor little kids who would have been so disappointed that there was no cake would have lived.

You don't have to care about getting someone fired, but if you are the cause of someone getting fired, they can sue you.

I agree with K8 also. If the woman is worried about losing her job then she just needs to pay the bill. It is up to the customer to decide if she is willing to risk her job over a cake.

It might JUST be $30 dollars to the customer, so she might not see it as a lot, but it is $30 dollars to the cake decorator, which to some is a lot. One is out product while the other is not.

If she can't pay she should not have ordered.

I say call her, she is the one in control of whether she is at risk or not, and if that is the only info as to where to reach her then that is her mistake not yours.

LaBellaFlor, I do not believe that is true. On what basis? I worked in the Human Resources field for 32 years, and I will tell you that an employee can sue an employer for wrongful termination, but I seriously doubt that they could sue you for calling them at work to collect a debt when that's the contact information they gave you, as long as your collection process is consistent with state laws already mentioned here (so you are not guilty of harassment).

If you are conscientious about asking for an altermative place to call or send correspondence, and you document that, then you've shown good faith in trying to pursue a legitimate debt without bothering someone at work.

Absolutely, if you have no other contact info. you are well with in your rights to keep contacting them at work. I was refering to if you do have other contact info. & you keep calling their job. If you constantly get calls at work that are not work related, your boss can see that as you not doing your job, as well as counter productive to the work place. All this veries from state to state of course. But let me tell you as far as "Right to Work" state such as Virginia or Arizona. It is very easy for an employer to terminate your employment with out just cause, I have seen it happen here in VA. The thought it is you choose to work here, we choose to employ you, you can choose not to work here anytime you want, & we can choose not to let you work here anytime we want. The biggest thing that comes to question when you are let go is if you get unemployment. Most people I know don't. As far as someone sueing you, cause you cause them to lose their job, behind calling, yes, I've seen that too. My aunt's an attorney in California & she has seen it happen.

LaBellaFlor, the concept you refer to is not "right to work", it is called employment at will, or at-will employment, and it means that either the employer or the employee can end the employment relationship at any time with or without cause. And you are correct that an employer can terminate an employee for taking too many personal calls (although that would not be without cause).

The concept of "right to work" has to do with employees having a right to work for an employer that has a union without being required to join the union. Something entirely different.

I know that doesn't have anything to do with this post, but it's a mistake in terminology that a lot of people make, and as an old HR person I feel compelled to clarify. : )

I'm not sure California is a very good example of what normally happens with lawsuits. California is notorious for being litigious, and it has many very employee friendly employment laws that are not typical of the rest of the country.

Yes, I know we have GREAT employee friendly laws in California. Ah, those were the good ol' days. HR in Virginia goes above & beyond to protect the employer, I think even you would be horrified by the unfairness of it all.And I'll let everyone know the proper term, cause EVERYONE here says "Right to Work".

It stinks that you delivered a cake without payment........that's true, but all this talk about civil suits and phone calls at work are a moot point if you are not a licensed baker.

So are you? If you're not then you're out $30 because I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want to bring that status to the court's attention.


If you are licensed and own a legal cake business you need to ask yourself if $30 is worth this stress. I'm sure you've learned a pretty tough lesson with this one and that is "no money, no cake."

If you're legal, send an invoice certified mail and then follow up with "A" phone call to her workplace.

Sorry and good luck!
Deb

LaBellaFlor, I sure understand about the employer favorable employment laws. Idaho is the same. The company I worked for here also has a site in Manassas, and I spent some time working there, so I know what you mean! I really loved Virginia, by the way. It's a beautiful state and I was in heaven being so close to Washington, DC. Don't miss the humidity, though! Nearly killed me!!

Loriana, I'm not terribly well versed in the collection laws. Others in this post have said that collectors have to stop calling if asked, so that may be true. I imagine it varies state to state.

I worked for a big employer with sophisticated systems that could automatically screen some calls and any e-mails, so we helped employees with that when they were harassed at work (although it was usually ex-spouses!). We also had a big security group that coordinated with law enforcement to get those things stopped. I think it's harder with a smaller employer to shield your employees from that kind of thing.

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the OP!

Girl tell me where she works. I'm been in a bad mood for a couple of weeks and would be more than happy to go take it out on her! Sorry no other helpful advice here.

I love the Manasa area too, it reminds me a little of California. I live in the Richmond area, NOTHING like Northern VA. And yes, the humidity can kill you! It took me 3 years to get used to the summers here.

You stab em we slab em!