Ok my blood is BOILING right now.
I had a 'friend of a friend' order a huge order from me. She wanted 300 cake pops that look like babies. I told her since she gave me short notice, I can make 150 babies and 150 simpler ones with sugar deco's with baby shapes on them. She agreed.
Her total was around $500. she paid the deposit.
she said she wanted the first 150 one day, and the other 150 the next day.
When my husband delivered them to the hospital, they took the box from him and said they would pay the next day. He told them no, payment upon delivery. she said she idnt have it and come back tomorrow with the rest of them.
I called my friend who referred her, and my friend agreed that was horrible but that she would pay.
So today when delivering the 2nd half, she had already told the security guards at the hospital to take the box from my husband and tell him she would pay the NEXT day. my husband said no, we agreed on payment for all today. The security guards took the box to her, and came out saying she said she will pay tomorrow. My husband didnt want to fight with security and left.

She calls 5 minutes later saying to have my husband come back, she doesnt like the popsl and wants to return them. She said they werent what she asked for. I told her she agreed the first half would be babies and the 2nd have would be sugar decos because of time and she AGREED. she says. "I know. but I dont like them. Im not paying." and HUNG UP ON ME.
I told my husband to go get the box, and to demand the remaining money from the order she DID eat. He said she came to the lobby, yelled at him that she would pay the remainder of the first order when she got the money, and went back into her hospital room. He said security wouldnt go get her. He said she had thrown the box of cake pops, opened, on a table in the lobby and some of the pops even scattered on the floor and he had to pick them up.


I am in TEARS right now!!!I'll upload photos later, I was working for 5 days straight! I had to hire help and pay them out of my pocket! I am so sleep deprived and sore! I had to soak in a hot tub cos I couldnt feel my feet or hands anymore!!
My husband said other vendors were there waiting for money as well. He said the hospital room almost looked like a circus with all the balloon arches and flower and balloon arrangements and custom made stands and desserts they had ordered.

I hope she chokes on my cake pop. I want to take her to court!!!! But I didnt make a contract!!!!!! everything was verbal!!!

I feel horrible! not just for myself but for my husband!!!!

That's a harsh lesson, and I'm sorry it happened to you. I don't know if you can pursue legal action since you have no proof of your side, but you probably won't be doing any unpaid verbal agreement orders again!

((((((HUGS))))))

I hope your week gets better.....

A verbal contract is a contract nonetheless. Collect your evidence (photos, emails, document any phone calls, date and time if you can), and go file in small claims court.

If the business requires a license and there is none, the court will not hear the case. Example: An unlicensed contractor not paid for plumbing work will not get on the docket. Courts cannot enforce an illegal contract.

If you are licensed, or you live in an area where no license is needed, verbal will be admissable.

I'm legal thankfully. I do have text messages but the part where she agreed to let me do the 2nd half of her order in a simpler design was over the phone. Yes very hard lesson. From now on all payments are in advance and I just put that on my facebook fan page.

Send her a text message and a letter via certified mail informing her that if you are not paid in full with cash by the end of the day you will be taking her to small claims court. Obviously you weren't the only one stiffed. Then make sure follow thru and file. She needs to be taught an important lesson.

I'm planning on doing that. She also stiffed another vendor I know. My husband said they had all those special orders and on both days he saw no guests, and he was there for about an hour each time. I'm sure she realized she ordered way more than she needed. I'm also shocked at the WAY she acted! throwing the box, yelling, what the?!?!!?!?!?!!?

I would take her to court then. Mouthy, irate people have a way of putting their foot in their mouth in front of a judge. Every time I have been to magistrate court, I just state my case and the other person loses it all by themselves. The judge will ask the rigt questions. Make sure your statement to the court is clear, al phone conversations documented with nature of the call. Do it while it is clear. You can save the fee for the process server by having a friend... not a relative, serve her. Good Luck. You might want to put in a system like I have for my business. The invoice/order is generated when payment is received... all online. No payment, no contract, no cake.

If she was in the hospital and she just had a baby she may not have been acting like herself (same goes for her husband)...it's not an excuse, but try not to take it personally.

But definitely go the small-claims route. I doubt they will show up for court so you will probably win a default judgment. Of course, you then need to enforce the judgment, a process which may take a long time.

http://www.ehow.com/how_2040751_enforce-small-claims-judgment.html

Thank you for the link, and I am going to look into the court matter for at LEAST the remainder of the money of the pops she served.

by the way, the woman who made the order and did all this, isnt the woman who gave birth. she's her sister. these were all supposed to be gifts from her.

Good luck to you. I hope you get your $$!

You said she paid a deposit, was it a check? If so, that is a signed contract that might help you in court. Document everything. Have your husband tell you word for word what happened and go get the name of the security guard in case you need to have him go to court as a witness. Also contact the other vendors and they might have heard something after your husband left. Good Luck

Also, make sure you have pictures of the before and after.

You should also follow up with hospital management. The security guards should not have forcibly taken the box the second day -- I assume there was some intimidation going on there, otherwise your husband would have just walked out with the box?

Aaaaand, once all the steam settles, you need to have a chat with yourself. This should include self-flagellation accompanied with "I will NOT deliver cakes without payment in full and a signed contract." Repeat.
This totally stinks, she was awful, and you are in the right. BUT you helped cause this issue.
And, as Indy says, texts are post-it notes, and you should NEVER do business via a post-it note. (Unless you're on Greys Anatomy.
Best of luck, and yes, take the woman to court!

My husband used to be head of security for a hospital...He was actually a sworn officer for the property and carried a gun and had full police powers. Hospital security is NOT allowed to just take something against someones will.
I would find out who the hospital security is contracted through and call the head person in charge and tell them what happened.
Then I would take this selfish woman to court.

If you don't want to go the small claims route, can you just send her to collections?

This seems so ridiculous..No direspect but here in Canada anyways there is NO security gaurds on every floor of the hospital and they are only used when patients etc become unruley so why would a guard be there.Second..they don't become involved in delivers and such and usually walk away..Thirdly..I don't know of any hospital that would allow such a rucus on a maternity ward with deliveries,Arches,flowers and a whole shindig like party...You just can't do that!! I would definelty take the sister to small claims court over the incident..She made an agreement and paid for the deposit for the items and them should honor the agreement and pay for them upon delivery.If she had a problem with the design she could contact you later to discuss refund but to act like a Bitch and throw them on the floor.No Judge will agree with that behavior...I would have died if this woman acted like that to me in public...Sorry you or rather hubby had to see that.

There is typically a security post in the lobby of the hospital, from the OP it sounds like the scene played out in the lobby and not in the maternity ward. When we've made deliveries to hospitals we've always met the receiving party in the lobby.

And as long as all the decorations can fit in the patient's room without impeding care there shouldn't be a problem.

Hmmm..Guess in the US it is different because you can't do that here....

Nope...The rooms are so small there is no room for tons of flowers etc like the OP mentioned..There is usually 2 woman to a room unless a single room is paid for or even available.When I had my son hubby paid for a private room and I had one for 6 hours in the Psch ward of all places so the next day they moved me to a shared room in maternity.I locked my door let me tell yah!!...You can brings flowers etc but you aren't really allowed to have more than 2 people visiting at a time as it disrupts the other new Moms..and you definetly can't have a party persue with Balloons,Arches,flowers,food etc...It is very quiet...Very low key...My Niece just had a baby in March and they even went so far as to ask that no more than 2 family members be in the waiting room at one time as I guess some extended families would haul 20-30 or more people to the hospital and it just turned into a 3 ring circus...so they don't allow it...The only people that came to see me when I had my kids was my Mom and Dad and hubby..everyone else waited until I got home...

I just re-read that part of the OP and that's certainly not normal for hospitals in the US either...they usually follow the same rules minimizing the number of people in the maternity ward. The private room we had was small but there is still room for flowers and a stand for cupcakes or cookies, but there's no way something like an arch or even multiple stands for desserts would fit.

Ha!Ha! Jason_Kraft ...it all just sounds so crazy....I feel bad for the OP and her hubby.Lots of loons out there!!

It's terrible that people act like that and I'm sorry it happened to you. I just can't stop thinking....300 cake pops because her sister had a baby????? WOW, that is ALOT of visitors to a hospital or that sister can put away some cake pops! A wedding, yeah, a birth...sounds crazy.

This is exactly why I don't turn on my oven without the order being paid IN FULL two weeks prior to the event. If ordered less than 2 weeks prior to the event (last minute), they pay AT ORDER, or it's not on the schedule. Way too much stress, and buyers' remorse is a real pain for the seller.


If they himm and haw around about paying "on delivery", I always know they'll be a problem, so it's easy to say no to those inquiries.

Sorry for the stress-I can just imagine

WTH? I don't know any hospital that would allow that kind of circus for anyone having a baby. And who in the world has balloon arches and all the works for a party in the hospital? Now if it was for a hospital event, then that's different. No way in heck would I have allowed anyone from security to take a box from me that wasn't paid for. If they didn't pay for it, then it's not theirs.

It seems I'm saying it more and mroe lately: "What the hell is WRONG with people anymore!?" Rude and obnoxious is the new "in" or something? Holy cake pops!

Another suggestion for the future is anytime you have a text or phone conversation, it should be followed up with an email "To confirm our conversation, your order will now be ......."

Everything I did was confirmed via email.

The hospital I had my sons in was actually a 'women's center' so was a separate building next to the hospital and huge. I have no idea of any rules for amount of people or decorations, but no way could you have a party there. The rooms were all huge too, and private. But it was brand new (in 1990,ha!).

I don't understand one thing though, we are in and out of the hospital so fast, like one day (really about 24 hours and I was home) and of course you never know when a baby will arrive....so I'm guessing this might have been a scheduled c-section? Hence the security? But this doesn't quite make sense to me.

A lot of maternity wards offer private rooms these days...not sure about the zillions of cake pops and arch and stuff though...weird.

I'm really SO sorry this happened....that is a lot of work to be thrown in the lobby. *sigh* Sad. This woman is unfit to be an aunt or whatever she is. Hopefully the mother of the child isn't at all like that or she will be unfit to be a mom.

I take $100 deposits and then I will accept the balance in cash for a pickup...but for deliveries I require a delivery contract and balance paid 10 days in advance.

I know that doesn't help you now, though....

I'd definitely see what you can dig up as far as proof (esp the deposit check?) and send her to collections or something....

Live and learn -- so sorry for such a hard lesson! Definitely put something into place that suits you and how you want to conduct your business. Document every little thing and follow up with emails as suggested good business sense. Definitely take her to small claims court, and follow through no matter how long it takes. It can be daunting and exhausting to do, but do it - you will not regret it!

Also, I would check into the security staff involvement as previously mentioned. Because since when can a visitor give instructions to hospital security especially regarding product deliveries to a patient? Perhaps the hospital itself should be made aware of how their security staff is allowing themselves to be utilized. Though as far as I am aware, no US maternity ward would allow such an over the top activity to happen. Maybe she was a celebrity or VIP or a wanna be of that nature but still, I mean, really?! However, it sounds like the aunt needed to be in the psych ward!

Best of luck to you!