Okay so today my customer (a second time repeat for bar/bat mitzvah) is concerned about the weather and anxious about her cake so I did what I RARELY!!!!! do and phoned her a pic of the cake. She was very happy but then was like "Hey wasn't it supposed to say "Mazel Tov"???

Now I vaguely remember us speaking about how to incorporate that during our consult...BUT somehow the info did not make it into the contract that she signed OR the sketch, which she changed a detail on it and approved the sketch as well. Neither of which had anything with "Mazel Tov".

Thankfully I was able to add a banner (just added on the board because didn't want to mess up the design of the tall topsy cake) in time but for future reference....whose fault would it have been, had it been omitted for the party? Mine, for not remembering to establish it during the consult, or hers, for not catching that it was absent from the contract AND sketch? I did mention it was not in contract or sketch so she seemed like she was accepting dual guilt...me for not remembering we discussed it, and herself for not catching the omission....

But hey all's well that ends well...well...I mean there IS a large wrinkle at the base of the middle tier, which I was complaining about here last night. haha. That NEVER happens, can't believe it happened this time. Hope she doesn't get upset about it...its on the side so not visible from the front, but highly visible (to me) at the side. Oh well....its also so heavy it takes two of us to carry it so I won't relax til its safely delivered!!!!!

She approved the sketch without it,
she signed the contract without it on there- its on her.

Okay that's what I was thinking...I vaguely remember us trying to discuss how to include the message without messing up the design and I guess we must have not come to a conclusion during the tasting because I didn't write anything down...because I had to come home and do a sketch and contract from all the information we had discussed and somehow it didn't make it. But I figure if I missed something that important, she should have carefully read everything for accuracy before signing....

Also, I never send a picture of the completed cake before I deliver it. I don't want them to try to ask for changes, plus I like for them to get the full effect of seeing it themselves for the first time. Seeing it "in real" is better than seeing it in a picture, I think.

I never did sketches, but I did "stick people" cakes in excel (cells outlined to look like cakes) with my working instructions written otu to the side .... aka "white/rasp (meaning white cake/ rasp filling), white swiss dots, red ribbon at base"

I would tell the bride:

"Look this page over carefully. This is the sheet I'm looking at when I make your cake. Between now and your wedding I will be talking to a LOT of brides, and darlin', after awhile you all start to run together! I promise you .... I will NOT remember this conversation. If it's not on this sheet ... its not happening."

Strong emphasis on the last statement.

I never had a problem.

I agree w/ all of the above. When we have a customer order a custom piece of furniture, the drawing is reviewed & signed (& dated) by the customer. And we pretty much tell them the same thing Deb does. After a few weeks/months memory fades & become very selective, especially if there was back & forth before a final design was achieved.

I had this happen once with a repeat customer. She ordered a birthday cake for her twins. She only specified that she wanted Happy Birthday. So I made a banner for the bottom. Later that day I received an email saying she loved the cake but I had forgotten to put her kids name on the banner/cake. I only do what has been approved on my contract. They sign off so that is what I go by. I think sometimes people think we are mind readers!!

A similar thing happened to me twice this year. Once was that the background of a Groom's cake was to be green (according to the bride) and the other time was that there was supposed to be small beading in front of a fondant band on a wedding cake (according to the bride and the MOB).
Both times, I had a contract in both instances and neither detail was on the contract. All I had to say was, I reviewed the signed contracts and neither detail was on there. We may have talked about it at the consultation or it may have been talked about on the phone. If it is not on the final signed contract it won't be on your cake. I like the other responses that the customers all run together and that my memory becomes selective after time. It is so true!!
After all, isn't this the reason why contracts are so important? It allows both parties to know what the agreement is!

I can see how it might be easy to overlook on the contract but she definitely should have noticed it missing on the sketch.

But all's well that ends well I hope! Got the delivery done, even through a snowy afternoon....the snow had pretty much stopped by then but I was sooo scared for me and hub to carry it to and from the van.

I didn't get a nice pic of it. Too heavy to set it up at home and then too dim there for a good pic, but I posted in my pix what I took.