This irks me. A nice young girl ordered a 3 tier "Twilight" (the movie) themed cake. Its a 10, 8, 6 very beautiful cake. Im super proud of it.

She paid a $50 deposit, and said she'd pay the rest Wednesday. She did not. She called Thursday morning and asked if she could pay upon delivery, because her mom was nervous about paying for a cake they hadn't seen yet. I told her it was my policy to receive payment in full before delivery, because of the hours of work already put into it, etc, etc.

So she says she's ok with that, to bill her for the balance and she will pay by PayPal Friday. Its 9:30pm and the delivery is for 11am tomorrow. I have not received a payment. I called her this evening, she did not answer, I left a message. No returned call.

I dont really know what to do. This hasnt happened to me before. Has this happened to you? Am I unreasonable for requesting payment in full before delivery? This is how the bakery I worked at before did it, and I felt it was a fair policy so I adopted it as well.

If this has happened to you, what was the outcome? Did you refuse to deliver the cake?

I was thinking if I do not receive payment, Im going to immediatly advertise on craigslist or something and see if I can sell it. Either that or freeze it and see if I can get like $50 off it or something...just to cover the costs really.

Im really aggrevated because I had 3 other customers request cakes for tomorrow and I had to turn them down because I was booked. What a pain in the #*($().

i dont have a lot of experience but i think that what they are doing is just wrong and i think that if they dont contact you than dont deliver it, and if you talk to them than make them come and get it, dont waist any more time with them you dont want to risk going over there and having your cake rejected just because the mom is does not agree with the price. And i would say that next time ask for the deposit worth of the ingredients and the rest a week before the event, that way if you dont get the money you dont begin the work and if you have to make like tons of flowers or decorations at least you can store them for another job. Sorry if it does not work this cake for you but be positive and think that we always learn from our mistakes and you just learned something new today. Good luck.

If she wants this cake she will contact you. If you don't hear from her by delivery time tomorrow don't deliver it! Stick to your policy no money no cake period.

Where are you at?? I'll buy the cake for my daughter!

But seriously, that is pretty crappy of them to do! It's not like wal-mart where if someone doesnt show up for the cake they can scrape it off & make it something else.

Hopefully they'll come through! Most people don't want to lose their deposit...

If so and if you can't sell on CL you could donate it to a hospital or children's home or something and write it off on your taxes.

That stinks. I will not start on a cake that size unless I have payment in full 30 days beforehand. Sticking with that policy helps keep this from happening. I am sorry it won't help with this situation though. I would leave a message saying unless payment in full is not received by 9 am, no cake will be delivered. If you have to, donate it to a chairty and use it as a write off. Good luck.

I charge a $100 deposit. It covers the cost of ingredients or any sugar work I put into the cake ahead of time. Balance is due in full two weeks before delivery. My deposit is non refundable. If payment is not received by the two week deadline I have the right to refuse the order and no money is returned.

On cake under $100 I do not require a deposit and payment can be made at pick up. These cakes are few and far between, I take a chance on them and am not risking much ingredient or time wise for a cheap cake. If they don't show for it my kids will eat it and its their lose.

If she has not paid by morning I would give her one last phone call as a courtesy and if she doesn't answer wait for her to call you. When she does call tell her that you assumed she did not want the cake any longer. She will now have to pick the cake up because her delivery was schedule for 11 and you now have other customers to take care of. Tell her she will need to bring cash! Do not refund any deposit if she does back out.

For deliveries I require prepayment but for pickups so far I've been fine accepting the balance (after deposit paid to reserve the date) in cash upon pickup. I know its probably a risk but so far I've been okay with it. And I feel as a home baker it helps my more cautious customers feel better because I also don't do contracts with most of my pickup orders (just deliveries).

I think you did enough to try to contact her. If she doesn't reach out to you, then give the cake away (or sell it), nd chalk it up to a lesson learned. At least you have a great photo for your portfolio.

LOL Im in FL I wish I could mail the cake to you!!!

Well, it is my policy, and states in my contract, that payment must be made in full two weeks prior to the event date. She placed the order in less than two weeks so I gave her a little grace. She told me she would be able to pay Wednesday so I was cool with that. Sometimes I like to be nice and try to help people out. Ive never had this problem before though. My husband keeps telling me I need to stick to my policies and stop letting people run all over it. Honestly sometimes its hard for me to tell where the line is between good customer service and letting them take over.

Your right though...I do learn with every cruddy situation. So I guess I just have to stick to the two week deadline, and if the order isnt placed with enough notice, they will have to pay the full amount after placing the order.

Donating it is a fabulous idea though! I may just do that. There is a camp for disabled and sick children about 10 minutes from my home. That may be where it ends up!

Your hubby is right. There's a member on here that says "No payment and my oven doesn't get turned on." Bang on. No money, no work.

As for bothering with a deposit, I'd make it part of your policy to skip that and go right to the full balance amount due for orders under 2 weeks away OR less than $100 in total.

There is Jesters in Kissimmee. I love them. The manager is fantastic. There is D&G Occasions in Orlando off of 50. The street is Herndon Ave I believe. They are ok. They will probably have what you need but the customer service isnt fantastic. If you call with a question they treat you like your an inconvenience. I shop there when Im in a pinch and need something right away because they are closer to me, like a little over an hour away. Kissimee is too far for me to drive but I order from  all the time. www.******************

Ive actually delivered to Davenport a few times. Welcome!

I think kissimmee is actually closer to me, I'll have to look up their address & maybe I'll be nice & volunteer to take the kid bro to his friends house in kissimmee

Thank you for your help!

Ok, its 9:40am saturday morning, and still no payment. I emailed her again last night and called again this morning. She didnt answer, I left a message telling her since I have not received payment I will not be delivering the cake for her at 11am. No calls back, no emails. I dont get it.

My hubby thinks maybe something happened. I dont think so. She kept putting off payment so that tells me either her mom got to her and told her it was a bad idea to pay for a cake you hadnt seen yet, or she just decided she doesnt want it and is avoiding me.

This is eating me up inside because I just worry if I dont show up with the cake they are going to give me hell. They were wanting to pay at the time of delivery and I told them no. Maybe they are thinking that if they dont pay I will still show up and they can pay me then?

Ok. Lesson learned. My oven doesnt even get turned on until the order is paid in full. Im sticking to this policy strictly from now on.

I would wait until 11 am and if no call, I would take the cake to your favorite charity. No refund on the deposit. Save copies of all emails and document your calls to her with dates and times etc in case they turn out to be bigger pia's than they are already. (Just the lawyer in me speaking) Good luck

I'm sorry this happened to you but please post the picture anyway. I'm sure the cake is beautiful. I understand there are supposed to be a lot of these "Twilight" parties going on this weekend due to the dvd release. Maybe you can get it on CL and get something for it.
BTW my folks live in Winter Haven, FL, & I drive through Davenport on the way home all the time. I will have to check out Jesters next time I'm home.
Again, I'm sorry this happened to you. I wonder if her mother talked her out of it.

I would not call her again. If she doesn't show up with the payment in cash to pick up the cake then give it to charity! If she calls and gives you hell about not being there at 11 then give her hell right back for not paying when she was suppose too! I think she is avoiding you too. If she was worried about getting the cake she would answer or call back.

The kids at the camp will appreciate it more than her or her mom anyway. They would probably try to pick it apart to get a discount .

Sorry that this happened to you. If I were close to you, I'D take the cake! My daughter and I are Twilight fans . In your origional post you said a "young girl ordered a Twilight cake", did you ever speak to the mother yourself? Just wondering if "mom" was really a factor here or if the "young girl" acted alone. Just a thought. How old do you think this girl is? The reason I'm asking....when I worked as a cake decorator in our local grocery store I had a question about an order I was working on. I called the number on the order form and mom answered She wasn't even aware that her daughter had ordered a cake!

Would love to see a picture of your cake. I checked your photos and noticed you haven't posted a picture yet. Nice work btw!

Maybe she or her mom figures you're going to deliver it anyway to get the final amount due...

(I could just hear this comment coming from a snidely woman...)"...afterall, you don't think she WON'T deliver...she wants her money..." aaaaaaaaaaargh...I wouldn't deliver it. When the phone rings at 11:15 wondering where you are, "ooooooooooh, so your phone DOES work!..."

LOL ok if your a twilight fan, can you please explain the dead tulips, chess pieces, apple, and broken ribbon? I havent seen the movie so I havent a clue. When I was making the cake my hubby was like, "what is all that for? They want all that on the cake? I dont get it."

I"m just wondering if she said she would pay be Paypal on Friday, did she actually do that and it's not showing up on your side? Thsi happened to me before with an item I sold and it took a few days for the amount to show up in my account. I recieved an email from the buyer asking why I didn't send the item and then I had to call Paypal to verify the payment.

Sorry this has happened to you. I think I would email her a photo of your cake just so they know what they are not getting! Your cake is lovely and you did a great job. I live in WA and they are really big fans of the Twilight movies since one of the stars are from the area I live in.

Love, love your cake . They are missing out if they don't get the cake it's georgeous!! Thanks for posting a picture. Like the previous poster said you may want to check with paypal. But then if they have already paid via paypal they probably wouldn't be avoiding you

Your cake is stunning. Pleae let us know what you end up doing with it

Beautiful cake!! Sorry about the sticky situation, seems like they might be avoiding you and just hoping that you just show up anyways to collect that final amount, like PP said.

Let us know what happens today!