i have this princess Belle cake due in a couple of hours..make that one hour...and my tiara just broke. i don't think i can fix it...i don't feel good and i don't get the pieces.

obviously i am going to have to go buy one....I just had my mom go get a $20 worth one...cuz that's what I charged for the tiara.

do I do that AND give them money back...cuz it's obviously not what they ordered. but, I am in the hole $20 now...ADVICE PLEASE

I don't think you should give them their money back. You are giving them the product and you have spent the $20.00. In fact, I wouldn't say anything about it - they will probably be thrilled. The only problem is: you're out $20. but these things happen.

well...they are expecting a hand made tiara of course they are going to notice I'm going to see what they say..i'm sure the bday girl will be thrilled with a tiara she can wear!

I'm sure I'm too late, but what was it made of? Could you glue it back with candy melts or something?

The girl who ordered the cake seemed a little disappointed...but the bday girl loved it non the less

If she paid for a handmade tiara and you didn't give her one then I think you need to offer a refund for it.

I only make them out of gumpaste now, NEVER again will I use royal. sorry you had to deal with this today....

This is what I would do in this case...The birthday girl may be pleased with it, but the person that ordered the cake was disappointed that she didn't get what she had ordered and deservedly so. I would offer a gift certificate for $20 off her next order. She may see that a kind gesture on your part to make things right. If she doesn't and wants the money back, then I would just cut your losses and refund her $20 in cash.

I don't know if anyone else does this, but in my contract I state that sometimes small details of the design may need to be altered due to accidents or the cake not being structurally sound. I explain that things happen such as this tiara breaking and have them initial that its okay to make these changes. That way you don't have to refund for a small change to the cake. I am totally agree that the customer should get what they've ordered but the fact is things happen, I think that by automatically refunding $ word gets out that you can claim something isn't perfect and then get a free cake.