Bride Signed Wrong Date On Her Contract...
Business By mom2spunkynbug Updated 18 Apr 2011 , 7:01pm by KoryAK
Pissing off brides is never a good idea, nor is arguing about who is at fault. They run in packs and every other bride in town will hear all about this if you make her take the cake a week early, or freeze this one. Bad PR.
Agree 110%...word of mouth brings a TON of business and travels fast. Would it really be worth it in the long run for you to make the bride eat the cost of the cake? Who knows, she could go running her mouth to every friend she has and it could cost you a ton of business in the future.
I would donate the cake to a shelter for women and families and then use the cost of the cake as a tax write off and just make the bride a new cake on the correct date.
Before they sign I tell all my clients to look over the entire contract to make sure everything is correct before they sign.
What I would tell my brides is "be sure that what I've written down is what you're expecting. Between now and your wedding, I'll talk to LOTS of brides and trust me, I will NOT remember the details of this conversation. So if it's not written down ... its not happening!"
(Before someone accuses me of being hateful with brides, which happened once when I shared this story, let me assure all that I said this with a smile on my face and in my voice and they always laughed with me at the end of the speech! Those who have met me know my verbal delivery style!! 
)
Let's say that the bride contracts for a 6:00 start time, and you have other deliveries that day that will let you deliver her cake in time for 6:00. Then you get a call that day as you're out delivering other things with the reception venue calling at 2pm saying where's the cake, the reception starts at 3:00. There's no way that you can get the cake there in time based on your other deliveries...Would you point to the contract that the bride signed to show that she contracted for a 6pm start? Or would you refund her money when she called to complain that you were "late" for the delivery?
This happened to me. I arrived at a catering (not a weddign) and the guy said "Oh you're finally here!" I pointed out that "My paperwork says blah-blah time ... I'm actually 15 minutes early. He THEN informs me that he told everyone an hour earlier. I said, "Well, when you change the time, its a good idea to let the caterer know! Tell everyone you gave them the wrong time and I'll be set up as soon as I can."
I had a bride change venue & time on me once (the day was the same), and if I hadn't called the original venue a few days before the wedding to arrange a delivery time, I would never have known. She forgot to tell me, and I had to call her to find out just where & when I was going to deliver her cake! People can be really stupid sometimes, so I always confirm I have the right info myself!
Ihad a bride change the date on me once and not tell me, too. Must have slipped her mind...
Luckily it was only one day later, but if it was a week off there's no way that I would have done a free cake when I had her signature on a contract that said the date that I was standing there with a cake to be delivered.
If the bride started telling her friends that the cake was delivered on the wrong date then her smart friends would ask for more details. Her dumb friends would just accept it. That's okay with me. Most people know that there's more than three sides to every story.
I can't speak for the original poster, but I wrote down the wrong date on a contract and the bride signed it liked that. I went back and looked through all the emails she sent and she always had the right date, but in my head I was thinking it was a week later than it was. I have no clue why...
Thankfully she contacted me a week and a half before her wedding date (2.5 weeks before the date on her contract) and we sorted things out. Good thing she contacted me to confirm because I wasn't going to contact her to confirm for another week or so!
Both sides of this conversation have very valid points. Excellent customer service is the best way to grow a business. I try to take mistakes like this (mine or the customers) and learn from it.
Leah S and Indydebi have great points to make. I also like having the bride/customer intitial all the different important places on the contract.
I have definitely learned from the OP, and from the comments left. Thanks everyone.
I never rely on just the notes I take during the consultation. EVERY bride of mine receives an typed version of her entire order via email that I ask them to approve. If something is off in that and they approve it, now the issue is on them. My final payment is due one month before the wedding, so about 2 weeks before that I send it over again to remind about payment and ask for any corrections. A little prep goes a long way.
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