Thanks SCP! And I ordered that book; it should be here tomorrow! (though maybe I should have gotten a book on tape instead given the time of year!) I too, believe in bending over backwards for my clients, and I'm (usually) happy to do so; even missed vacations to do so. And I like your voicemail message; I think I'll switch mine right now!

Its been a while since the original post and I am sure while I type this twenty others will post too so - Ok so far I am understanding the following:

OP has unrelated case of client1 ordering cake but failing to pay before deadline and pickup however, OP says she gave them multiple chances to pay for cake (up to day before infact) voiding this caketract (the client actually voided it since they didnt pay by the deadline). This happened in April according to the news as apparently they went to the news with this. The news didnt report on it because the Client1 wanted to work it out amongst themselves.

Client2 has a caketract, pays all fees, gets cake but there is a cake-fail (one tier involved) this client2 would not let OP fix a cake flub. Did that client get refund as OP didnt get to fully fulfill contract due to the client not allowing OP the chance to fix the flub.

Client 3 has one on one consults with OP, gets design down, signs non-refundable deposit caketract that I assume she read fully. Schedules final payment. Then Client3 who knows Client2, witnesses cake flub sometime between February and about 4 weeks ago. Client3 then tries to get with OP about their order to no avail - 1) OP has already owned up to the fact that she should have called them back sooner, 2) OP states in extended news footage that their email ended up in her junk box, 3) Ok so the client has been wronged somewhat but I assume that nowhere in the contract it states that the OP will be available 100% of the time between February and June (they had to have contacted her by June 1st because that is when the original post occurred).

So- Client 3 goes to the news, News girl lumps in Client 1, Client3 and some other numberless clients and decides that there is a Deceptive Business Practice in the CB Bakery. Client3 goes on the news, tells her story, is very distraught and just wants to get out of the contract and not have to deal with the OP, then the OP gets about 30 seconds to rebut it. People start commenting on story, News girl posts the whole OP 13 minute interview and then posts a rebuttal of sorts on the News page and tells us to tune in later for more exciting updates.

Ok Kali, am I correct on this so far...?

Well if so, did you give Client 2 a partial/full refund for the damaged cake (even though you werent allowed to fix it?) Is there a provision in your contract to refund unsatified clients POST cake delivery?

And - when Client3's final payment due? If its two weeks before the June 25th date that would be the 11th, and it's only June 8th last time I looked so you aren't in breach of your contract by not being available...yet.

I think almost everyone agrees including yourself, that you should let your customer's know that you were "out of the net" for three weeks. As far as being hung on the word vacation, you stated here and in the interview that your vacation was to basically get your junk together and get prepped for the upcoming wedding season storm... so I guess vacation isnt really the right word even though I rountinely do spring cleaning on my vacation so I can see how you would look at it.

So back to your original question - should you give this woman her money back... well based on your contract only, a refund is not required, only credit for a cake in the next 90 days or so. Some have suggested that you should give her the money back but I think maybe that would just be adding as much fuel to the fire because it would be essentially a payment given back because she went to the news with it and in my experience if you give her the money back, the NewsGirl who has spent effort clarifying/justifying her story is never gonna do that - "OMG I was wrong, Chasing Butterflies is really on the Up and Up" story. Sorry but I feel the damage is already done with the news story and if Client3 doesnt want you to go ahead with her order then there is nothing for you to deliver in order for her to be dissatisfied with.

Sorry for the long drawn out post but this whole situation sucks for both you and the Client3. But let me just say that I watched the whole 13 minute video and boy that News girl was after the bad baker story. Every question she asked you seemed like she had pre-judged you. Never heard her ask how long you had been doing it, how many satisfied clients you had per year, how many clients you had period, if you ever had this situation before or any information that would have proven you were a bad baker who didnt deliver paid for cakes. (remember she only referenced Clients 1 and 3) Kinda seemed like to me since she just showed up at your house on the spur of the moment that she wanted to catch you off-guard. Didnt seem too fair and balanced to me. Maybe she will prove me wrong with a positive follow-up story.

Good Luck and Bless you for having to go through this but next year at this time you will be a better business person and still a fabulous baker!!!

Thank you MamaDear, you are on it.
And to answer your questions:
1) Client 2 was refunded 80%. She had demanded 50% on site, but as I told her (and said in the interview) I'm not in the habit of making on-the-spot decisions like that. So I took that weekend to mull the whole ugly thing over, and decided 80% was fair. I decided on this number because while the cake was used, it was damaged and had a very noticeable lean. Had the cake been rejected, a 100% refund would have been in order. Had the cake been fixable but not up to par, 50%.
2) Client 3 actually signed an older version of the contract, which required only 1 week prior to event date, rather than the 2 weeks I now require, which is one of the changes I made while doing evaluations during my vacation.
3) Yes, vacation, as most people think of it, is not the correct word. I'm not sure what the correct word is.

Kali, I think we are gong to be friends! You are young and have learned a lesson that will be very valuable to you in the future. That book has plenty of suggestions on how to turn this around. I have had to do marketing campaigns for people trying to do damage control. This can be turned around to a positive experience for you. If you would like some suggestions, pm me. By the way, notice I didn't answer my call? When you turn into my driveway, my phone won't always ring. Last Thursday I missed a call that my daughter had been taken from her school in an ambulance (she fainted and hit her head... she was fine). After all of those years of arguing with my husband that if you have 911 and roadside, there is no reason for me to be joined at the hip with my phone. Obviously I was wrong and when he had to break from his patients to come home to tell me about my daughter, he was nice enough to not say, "I told you so". Anyway, I have to check my messages all the time because it rarely rings.

Copy anything you want on the site or my message. It is copyrighted and you just got permission on a public forum. Now if you copy my business idea before it is trademarked, I'm coming after you! Kidding.

Has anyone considered that the person who says she was calling the OP actually didn't call her as much as she's claiming? I know that certain of my relatives will say that they've called me when I know they haven't because I have caller ID that records the calls I get. It's entirely possible that a disgruntled customer might exaggerate her own innocence in order to make the other person look worse.

Even if she hadn't called as much, the OP showed three emails (and gave the dates they were written) in the interview. Exaggeration or not, the OP was clearly ignoring these people.

I was kinda under the impression that to clearly be ignoring something/someone, you first had to be aware.

My apologies. I meant no disrespect, not did I intend to insult you.

Wow, some people seem to be taking your situation very personally...

Keep your chin up Kali, we ALL make mistakes (yes, some are bigger than others), it is important that we learn from them, and I would say you have. You are paying the price for your error in judgement... this will pass, and you will be stronger for it.

Good Luck!

What's a solid body guitar? I'll have to check that out. Very cool!

What's a solid body guitar? I'll have to check that out. Very cool!

Thanks Anna! I have learned quite a bit, and I really hope that others can learn from this as well.

The only thing I am taking her personally was her response to my comment. If she didn't want me to point out the holes in her story, she shouldn't ask me why I think the story is false.

Do I care if anyone here thinks I "look bad"? Nope. I'm not the one lying on the internet and duping a group of decorators to make myself feel better and justified for engaging in sloppy (or fraudulent) business practices. Oh, I have also never used images culled from CC on my own website.

As I've said, I have no desire to attack anyone. But neither will I let someone do the internet equivelent of looking me in the eye and lying right to my face telling me (and those around me) that I'm the one in the wrong.

Oh, and the only refund ever demanded of me was from someone who bought a cookie from me at the farmer's market a few years ago, and upon walking away noticed the sign that said they were sugar free. She said she didn't know they were sugar free - but was eating it as she asked for a refund. I apologized, gave her back her money, and she walked away EATING THE COOKIE! LOL!

Not sure why having worked in the legal field sounds far-fetched... now if I'd said I was lead investigator with the CIA I can see why someone might be skeptical.

p.s. I don't have a license to kill. Unless you count killing threads.

Thanks Anna! I have learned quite a bit, and I really hope that others can learn from this as well.

While those things may be inferred by saying what I said, they were in no way an attack.

If I said that I don't have a small p*nis (can I say that on here? LOL!) , that doesn't mean that you do... unless of course you're sensitive to that subject, in which case you might take it personally.

Too much deflection going on here. If the OP is really being honest, why is she avoiding any direct questions?

Whatever - I'm out of this discussion. We're going camping for 4 days (I'm taking a vacation, and will be unavailable by phone and email... just in case anyone tries to contact me), and I need to get busy packing.

Y'all have a wonderful week's end, and I do hope this mess gets resolved. But I have to reiterate that I think the customers deserve a refund and an apology - and the OP needs to get this thread removed because there are people who take these things WAY more personally than I do... especially the photo stealing (oh the things I've seen!)