Hello fellow cakers, could really do with some second opinions. A bit long, but I hope not too much. Apologies if it is.

We received an order for a chocolate golf birthday cake with one weeks notice. We have a 7 day notice policy so this customer just got the order in time.

The original quote was for £55 for a fully decorated cake with topper. She stated that it was outside her budget, so we redesigned the cake to make it doable for £40. There were several emails back and forth (each more helpful than the last) and she submitted her payment via our online paylink to confirm the booking. On receipt of receiving her order invoice she then informed us that the delivery is to be outside our free delivery zone, which would be an additional £5. As an act of generosity we decided to wave the fee.

Fast forward to the delivery, and we have a nightmare of a day. As the chocolate cake is to be delivered between 2-4pm and we had a delivery at 12noon which got rearranged to another venue last minute, that we were not told about until we got there. Which resulted in the chocolate cake arriving 40mins late. As we were out of office and had no contact number we decided to drive flat out and try to make the delivery as soon as possible. Ideally a courtesy call should have happened, but the customer would not supply a contact number. I was prepared to offer a discount on her next order but she appeared happy and glad to receive the cake.

I then received the below email.

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Customer email:

AI would absolutely call the restaurant. I want to speak to the person who said try couldn't cut it.

Well, I'm sorry that this happened.

I would ask the restaurant to confirm in writing the condition that the server found.

And one question for you: do you own a commercial refrigerated delivery vehicle? do you check the chiller setting against actual temperature?  Is it possible that "rock hard" was a fact of refrigeration? (which is not a bad thing at all...merely something that a late delivery could not correct by simply letting the cake sit at room temperature).

But in future, please remember that the potential customer's dislike/refusal of the quoted price has come to be a sure and true red flag in other Cake Central threads, and this has been followed by stopped payments, demands for refund etc.

And we have agreed that the only form of payment is a CLEARED payment: cash at the time of delivery if a credit card transaction or transfer has not cleared YOUR bank.  In this day and age, money transfers for commercial transactions happen all 7 days of the week. The timing of the stopped-payment order can be documented by your bank. The total absence of a contact phone number meant that you could not have contacted her about this failed payment...feeshy...very feeshy...

So next time you will not accept a deposit without a phone number that you have called to make sure, right?  As well as a complete street "billing" address?

(edited: I took down the CBC link because they only allow their funny stories to be listened to by Canadians)

AUmm 12 min I I that podcast & while humorous, no mention of cake delivery :(

I would speak with the restaurant before making contact with her.

Sounds to me like the lady with the small budget may not have had a budget at all and would like a free cake.

So sorry this happened to you.

Oh my!!!! that is just AWFUL!!! I do agree with most of whats been said here, as soon as I started reading about your client there were red flags coming up, why would she not give a phone number!!?? you had given her a total of 20£ ( I think) of a discount already between redesigning the cake and not charging for delivery!! I think she's just chancing her luck for a free cake!!

I really would contact the restaurant and find out what happened from someone else before I spoke to her.

If you have never had any problems with that same cake before I would find it extremely strange that it would be inedible, it might not have been to their taste(everyone's different) or a bit dry etc but definitely NOT inedible!!!

But at the end of the day I think if you have to lose the 40£ it might be well worth it to save on the headache,and bad mouthing, and we learn from everything!!

NEVER take an order without a phone number, anything can happen that would make you need to contact the client.

If they don't want to pay for delivery explain that they could have someone pick up the cake.

Do keep us posted as in what happens

Wish the best of luck and everything resolves OK for you, as they say here......It takes all sorts!!!! ;)

Thanks for all the replies. The contacting of the restaurant is one of the first things I would like to do. However, I do not know which one it is. So I will have to contact her first to get the details and the rest of the info then get back to her.

The issue with the payment was a bit close. The funds were withdrawn and received by the online payment company  on the Wednesday and were scheduled to be released to us on the Friday. I was hoping that like previous transactions it would have cleared by lunch (hence the scheduled afternoon delivery), when it hadn't I assumed it would be cleared end of day. If it hasn't gone through by today that means she stopped payment on Friday before the inedible cake was delivered.

BakingIrene - Our delivery vehicle is a standard family car and was only in it for 20-25 minutes at temperatures of Frosty January England weather. As we didn't take her cake with us on the previous delivery (to prevent it drying out or getting damaged) we had to drive back to pick it up and go straight there.

As the delivery was to a well known tourist spot in the area where she worked the lack of phone number did not seem out of place. But we will be demanding it in future.
 

I have a feeling that the cake has been left uncovered/refrigerated for 3 days before being served. Which means, as we bake from scratch and use no preservatives or gumming agents will make the cake lose moisture and dry out.

i'll keep you posted

I wouldn't bother going to the hassle of finding out which restaurant.

I once had something similar with regards to the cake....

As it happens, a mutual friend (ie my friend and friend of the customer) was at the party, and she told me how lovely the cake was (taste-wise)

I sent the customer an email along the following lines.

Dear X

I am so sorry to hear that you were unhappy with the cake.  This is the same recipe that I have always used and have had many compliments.  Indeed, I have never had a complaint about it before.

Unfortunately, as you disposed of the cake, I'm sure you understand that I am unable to investigate your complaint further.
 

Yours sincerely

Did I understand correctly that the delivery was 3 days before the party?  Why did she want it so much earlier than the event?  Also, a cake can take HOURS to come back to room temp before serving...  I doubt there was anything wrong with your cake.  Probably something wrong with your customer!

What a horrible situation - but I'm certain this is just a manipulative, brass-necked scrooge and the likelihood of it being your fault is minimal in my opinion!!

I think you really have two options - 1) roll over and give her what she wants to make her go away and next time she orders you are always fully booked. This is (unfortunately IMHO) common in customer services and she has probably received such treatment before and gotten away with it which is why I personally prefer option 2) State that without a sample stored in an appropriate manor and returned to yourself promptly you will not be offering any recompense.

If you are confident in your recipe; stand by it and politely ignore the fireworks when they come.

Have you considered a cake contract outlining a ‘displeasure: sample return policy’ etc? I’m just about to post a thread asking if an emailed contract is sufficient as it’s more convenient than a hand signed one for my business, if so that might be something you could look into for the future?

Best of luck, don't let her bully you out of your money!

If I read everything correctly you baked a cake for a Friday delivery assuming the cake would be eaten that same day. But the client didn't serve the cake until Sunday. So, the cake was delivered to the client who then kept the cake for two days. The client's brother then had a restaurant serve the cake which was supposed to be discovered as hard and dry.

My 2 cents...

Did you ask the date of the party or just for a delivery date?

Was there anything in an email, on your website or contract telling the client cake must be returned to be inspected if they request a refund?

It sounds like the client bought the cake but wasn't at the restaurant when the cake was served, that she is getting the info from her brother and not first hand. If that is so, did the brother know that the cake needed to be saved to get a refund?

Did you give the client specific instruction s as to how to store the cake? If so, did the instructions include storage for several days?

Personally, I think bakers assume people will save left over cake to show bring back but if I buy something that doesn't taste good I pitch it. And a cake might not be discovered as unedible until after it has need completely cut and served. What should a host do, go around taking the slices back from guests so she can return them?

Since you don't know the restaurant that served the cake I don't think you should ask the client for the name. You will basically be telling the client you don't believe them and want a second opinion. If you already knew which restaurant, then I would suggest calling them before you replied to the email.

You may want to consider a refund. Between the cake being delivered late and the cake being made early (early because I am assuming only a delivery date was asked for and not the servue date)  I would refund the money and be done with it.

Now, if she stopped payment before she received the cake - or really served the cake since her complaint is the cake and not the late delivery - that is a whole different story. If that is the case I would point it out to her and ask what is going on. I am all for holding someone's feet to the fire if they are lying and I can prove it.

Thanks for the newer responses, it really helps with the frustration of the situation. This is the smallest and lowest cost cake we have taken on and seems to be taking up more of our time. lol

With the payment of the order. It is only a hunch at the moment, as it is unusual that this is the only payment that is taking a little longer than norm. According to the payment company the funds are waiting to be transferred to our account, but they too thought it was strange that they have not cleared in the stated time and should hopefully  be completed today. The terms and conditions on our website do state that any refunds will require the return of the goods.
 

cai0311 - With all orders we ask when the cake is for and then ask what is the best delivery time am, pm etc. to ensure that there isn't too long. Definitely
will be doing a help sheet for storage and a portion cutting guide for future orders.

Cusomer

email reply below

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I have had a few retail businesses and always tried for 110% customer satisfaction. I know all to well that a complaint is like a punch to the gut, and a double punch when you have went out of your way to satisfy them buy giving discounts and waiving fees.

But no matter the case, and even if they lie to your face, The Customer Is Always Right. That is not to say become a repeat victim to this customer, satisfy them, cut your losses and never have them as a customer again.

When people come to me trying to change my business policy's and practices, it is a huge red flag and I pass on their order.

Live and Learn, Take Care.

Jimmy

Further developments

Payment finally received (wahey) - odd that out of all our orders this one took the longest. Great replies above, how tempting to send them unedited.

Had a quick word with the manager at the restaurant, a little bit hesitant to talk about it as he did not want to get involved. Assured them that it would not be passed on. Turns out that, the cake was kept in a carrier bag and not a box as originally stated. Not ideal for the 1 hour drive to the venue. The cake was not cut or handled by the staff but by the members of the party, also not as originally stated. Who then asked the waitress to discard all of the cake as they did not like the taste.

Apart from the delivery incident,  which I would have waived the delivery fee if it was charged in the first place as we WERE late. We had done everything as normal. So it is very strange that this cake was not up to standard. Maybe they are used to the store bought variety,

I posted 3 times in this forum and now my posts are gone!!!?? why is that????

I'm very glad that you got paid. 

I have had experience of delays of 15 minutes for transactions when a bank is doing monthly accounts.  Heck it sometimes takes all of 15 minutes for an international wire transaction... but several days is an indication that something else happened. The fact that the payment was released as soon as you called (implying that a proof of purchase existed)  is a good sign.

So live and learn...some of us get this lesson early and some of us get it later.

The cake was in a carrier bag?! 

Thanks again for all the feedback. It has been a great help over the last couple of frustrating days. This will go down as a learning experience on  how not to budge on your own policies, as even a little wiggle room over the length of the ordering process can quickly build up to be a major hassle.

The customer was emailed yesterday and as of yet has not replied (knock on wood). So hopefully that should be the end of it. The email I sent is below. In case it is of any use of reference for others. Thanks again, to all those who contributed to this thread. Extra special thanks to relznik for your example letters.You may spot some of your handy work below. :)

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P.I.T.A Customer

Your comments have been dually noted, but we must point out that you did not provide us with a contact number and therefore we were unable to call ahead to let you know that we would be slightly late. Once again, however, I do apologise for the delay in getting to you.

In regards to your comments regarding the service you received, I believe that we were more than accommodating in making you a cake, and keeping it within your budget. To then be told after the booking of the order that the delivery was to be in #########. Outside of our area of free delivery, we decided to waive the fee, again to keep your order within your budget.

Also, I would like to add that your payment was not released from your bank to our online payment company until the Friday evening and transferred to ourselves end of day Monday 4th. To ensure that you had a cake for your brother's Birthday we broke our policy of delivery without receiving full payment and delivered your cake in good faith.

In regards to the cake, it is the same chocolate sponge recipe that we have always used and have had many compliments from our customers Indeed, we have never had a complaint about it before and have had frequent reorders.

Unfortunately, as you have disposed of the cake, I am sure you understand I am unable to investigate your complaint further.

I am sorry I am unable to help you any more on this occasion.
 

Yours sincerely

Hopefully relieved Cake Shop

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I think that's perfect.

It's professional, without being rude or aggressive.  However, it also lets her know you're not willing to be a pushover (especially when you've done nothing wrong).

It's very easy for me to be so confident ...  after all, it's not my complaint.

When I had the complaint I felt sick and tearful for about 2 days until it was sorted.  My customer did reply to the email I sent, telling her I couldn't investigate further - she said "I understand, but I won't be recommending you to anyone."  Well, let's be honest.  WHO in their right mind is honestly going to say to friends "I had a cake from xyz company...  It was dry as cardboard but it's OK, because she gave me some money back...  You should use order from them, too".  NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.  In reality, it would have been "I ordered a cake from xyz company and had to complain and get some money back because it was really dry."  Who's going to place an order after a recommendation like that, eh?

Hope it all goes away now and you can carry on with nicer customers!

Suzanne x