I am so mad right now that I had to come on here and vent. So I had a customer call me on Friday with a current customer of mine on 3 way, which I thought was weird anyway. She wanted to get a quote on a cake for her companies Christmas party, no big deal. She told me what she was thinking for and how big she needed it, I told her I could come up with a design which could cost a bit more than the initial quote I just gave her depending on if I included any 3 d objects which I'd charge more for. She said no problem she would wait for my email which I told it would not be until probably Monday. She called back 3 more times to ask about different sizes and prices, she was trying to get bigger sized cakes to feed more people. She wanted a 3 tiered cake but was wanting tier sizes thatand just did not go together and bigger top of tiers like a 10 inch or 12 inch. So I came up with a design today and emailed it to her with a price of the cake excluding delivery, which I told her I would need to know the location in order to give her a quote. She called about 30 minutes after to talk about the cake, she like a design but was worried about the serving amount, she needed more. So I came up with a different size and quoted her a price. She called 3 more time to talk but different sizes and different prices again. The last time she called she told me that her company would probably not approve the amount because they don't like spending more than 80 dollars on a cake. I told me that she's getting a really good deal with me and no other bakery would give her that same price, which she agreed and understood but just didn't think that they would pay this much for cake. So I wasted all that time coming up with a design and talking to her about 10 different times about this cake when she knew it would come to nothing. I don't mind giving quotes to people, I do it all the time I just don't like people wasting so much of my time on all the different phone calls when they knew they couldn't afford it. Both days they called I really just didn't have the time to talk to them. People just suck sometimes. Sorry so long I had to vent to someone.
I am so mad right now that I had to come on here and vent. So I had a customer call me on Friday with a current customer of mine on 3 way, which I thought was weird anyway. She wanted to get a quote on a cake for her companies Christmas party, no big deal. She told me what she was thinking for and how big she needed it, I told her I could come up with a design which could cost a bit more than the initial quote I just gave her depending on if I included any 3 d objects which I'd charge more for. She said no problem she would wait for my email which I told it would not be until probably Monday. She called back 3 more times ..............AT THIS POINT I would have been done. I don't know how some of you have the patience to keep going.................to ask about different sizes and prices, she was trying to get bigger sized cakes to feed more people. She wanted a 3 tiered cake but was wanting tier sizes thatand just did not go together and bigger top of tiers like a 10 inch or 12 inch. So I came up with a design today and emailed it to her with a price of the cake excluding delivery, which I told her I would need to know the location in order to give her a quote. She called about 30 minutes after to talk about the cake, she like a design but was worried about the serving amount, she needed more. So I came up with a different size and quoted her a price. She called 3 more time to talk but different sizes and different prices again. The last time she called she told me that her company would probably not approve the amount because they don't like spending more than 80 dollars on a cake. I told me that she's getting a really good deal with me and no other bakery would give her that same price, which she agreed and understood but just didn't think that they would pay this much for cake. So I wasted all that time coming up with a design and talking to her about 10 different times about this cake when she knew it would come to nothing. I don't mind giving quotes to people, I do it all the time I just don't like people wasting so much of my time on all the different phone calls when they knew they couldn't afford it. Both days they called I really just didn't have the time to talk to them. People just suck sometimes. Sorry so long I had to vent to someone.
I feel your pain! Last week I was in an email conversation back and forth with a potential customer who wanted an 11 x 15 sheet cake with a large 3-D Noah's ark on top with fondant animals. After several emails back and forth I finally quote @ $175.00 (which was a good quote mind you for that amount of work) and that's when I find out their total budget is only $30.00! 
Sorry for all your wasted effort. My first question is ..."What is your cake budget?" Then I let them know what I can do for that dollar amount and if they think it's too much...too bad. Nicely tell them where else they might go (even if it's Walmart. Not everyone will be your customer.
Good luck next time!
i am having the same back and forth with this woman, brand new customer though...just found me online. I think i already stopped her in her tracks by stating "if you would like a custom design I would need the 50% deposit to hold the date and then we could talk further about drawings and such". I am NOT going back and forth with people anymore either!
I hate when people do that! I used to do the same thing and started asking what their budget was and boy did that stop it right away. Had some people call me for 120 cupcakes and I told her that mine are the king size cupcakes and they run $1.75 unless fondant is wanted. I asked what their budget was..... $75.00 max. Asking ahead of time sure saved a long drawn out ordeal.
Sorry for all your wasted effort. My first question is ..."What is your cake budget?" Then I let them know what I can do for that dollar amount and if they think it's too much...too bad. Nicely tell them where else they might go (even if it's Walmart. Not everyone will be your customer.
Good luck next time!
thank you! i've used budget before but not "cake budget" and i just used it in my email to this customer. Maybe then she will get the clue that i'm not going back and forth.
it's soo frustrating when they start off with "i don't like fondant and i want this cake". so, i can totally understand what you are going through Regina...but us as bakers and business-women need to stand up for what we do and explain to the customers how WE do business 
I wouldn't have done the back and forth if my repeat customer was not on the phone every time she called called, which I'm still confused why they did that. She told me at first she needs it below $200 which I couldn't do and only when it got up to over $300 did she tell me about the company usually going to Costco and spending only $80 for 200 people.
I wouldn't have done the back and forth if my repeat customer was not on the phone every time she called called, which I'm still confused why they did that. She told me at first she needs it below $200 which I couldn't do and only when it got up to over $300 did she tell me about the company usually going to Costco and spending only $80 for 200 people.
More than likely your repeat customer was on there to make sure you weren't overcharging them. Or to see if by her being on there you would give a 'special' price. It's pretty tacky either way. Yeah, the red flags were all over the place.
Ugh! What a pain in the butt! It's so frustrating when people do that. Sometimes I feel like billing them for my time I spent going back and forth with them coming up with 15 different quotes and designs! 
So y'all aren't going to believe this but she just called and her company approved the cake purchase. Apparently she submitted my design with the price and they loved it so much they didn't care about the price. That makes me feel good but good grief was there alot of trouble for this one cake.
Budget is one of my first questions too, but sometimes they have no idea what their budget is, OR they refuse to tell you. So then we just quote them what they asked for and tell them if that's more than they wanted to spend that we can come up with a less expensive option.
I completely understand....I went through this in September. It was horrific. The client sent several photos of 3 different cakes, and then informed me to design it myself. I did just that, then I sent several photos when it was finished, and she loved it. I delivered it, spoke with her for a few moments, everyone was raving about the cake, so I leave for home and receive a text that it was not the cake she wanted. I attempted to contact her immediately to resolve the issue, and of course, no answer...I decided she was too much trouble to keep as a client.
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