Over the weekend, I was on my way back from one delivery, to get ready for another delivery... My other car was delivering another cake that had to be delivered an hour and a half away... I was in an accident; another car slipped on the wet road and ran right into the side of my van.... This in then caused me to be 1 1/2 hours late on the next delivery I had.... I called and let the customer know that I had just been involved in a accident and as soon as I got done I would be on my way... Which of course they thought it would be 30 mins, but this things take time, and I couldn't just leave the scene of the accident, and I did not have another car at the moment to get the cake to the customer, which I let them know.... They sounded perfectly fine with it, but once I got there they didn't seem to car at tall that I just spent my night and they long drive to make sure they had a cake for the party.... It was a 3D golf bag that served around 100 ppl... Now I was planning on taking some of the price off, but nothing seemed right..... They ended up only paying $150 for the cake, just because I couldn't stand there and try and work with them on it anymore, they didn't even try and go about it in a nice way.....

What would you have done??? What should I have done??? What would your policy be if this happened to you?

Thanks in advanced for any suggestions or comments....

Wow, you must have been so shaken up! Sorry to hear that! Maybe there is a way for the insurance company of the vehicle that hit you to pay for the income you lost on the cake?

1. I don't understand the "They only paid $150 for it". ALL cakes are 100% PAID before you turn on the oven. NO ONE should be accepting payment at delivery.

2. I have an "Act of God" clause in my contract. If something happens beyond my control (like your accident) then nothing happens. If I can get there with the cake, great. And they should be happy I'm not in the hospital.

3. If I can't deliver then they do get a refund. But if I deliver no matter how late (given the Act of God clause) then I keep the money.

4. This is one time when the phrase "it's only cake" should come into play. Your vehicle is damaged. You could have been seriously hurt. You now have the hassle of getting your vehicle repaired. And THEY are mad because their *cake* was late. People. ::shakes head::

I find that there are some people in this world that just have no humanity in them at all! What did they expect you to do? I would have discounted the cake by 10-15% for it being late. If they didnt agree with that, I would have taken the cake and donated it to an agency that would be more than appreciative to have it! It would be a loss in time and money, yes, but the principle of the matter is that they basically got this cake for free!! Stand up for yourself and your work. No one else will!

Sorry I cannot offer any advice but just SMH at how thoughtless some people can be.
I pray for more good things to come in your way in near future. ((((HUGS))))

They only paid $150 because you agreed to it. You should have collected a non refundable deposit up front that covers all of your ingredients and some of your labor. That way when you get there you tell them that you are going to give them a small discount for being late, if they don't agree with it you walk with your cake knowing that the deposit already covered your costs.

Sorry that this happened to you, seems like you ran into some people who tried to take advantage of your bad situation. Chalk it up as a learning experience. You were lucky the cake wasn't damaged in the accident. They would have demanded you go buy them a new cake and get a refund.

I agree 100% with full payment in advance or no oven gets turned on.

How far in advance do you deliver? I usually get hthere 1 1/2 to 2 hours before the start time, so if this had happened I still would have been there before the start time. You also could hve told them that they could come pick the cake up at the accident scene and refund the delivery charge, but it sounds like they wouldn't have done that.

Sorry this happened to you, to have people being jerks on top of a car accident must have made for a crappy day.

Thanks everyone!!! Just chop it up to a learning experience.... Hopefully one that doesn't happen again in the future.....

I normally deliver around the same time, but due to a wedding delivery right before it, I was only able to be an hour before the party started..... By the time I was able to leave the party had started, and then from there it was around a 35 min to 40 min drive..... depending on traffic......

So glad that everyone was alright! Just some damage to the cars involved.....

I agree about the insurance company reimbursing you, but every cake should be fully paid in advance. No exceptions except for regular, corporate, or wholesale accounts. But these have an ongoing business relationship.

If the event had a short window for serving, I understand their frustration. I would have given a discount, but it would have been at my discretion as a business act of goodwill.