I just returned from delivering a cake. When I got there my client said. "it's really cute but I thought it would be bigger" when she ordered the cake I gave her two size options. She picked the smaller cake saying she didn't want to spend more than $100. she told me she didn't want a tiny bear that would get lost on top of the cake. when I delivered it she told me she wanted the bears feet touching the sides or hanging over. I told her that the bear would be a bit smaller than the 7" cake. Had she told me she wanted the bears feet hanging over I would have directed her to go with the larger cake. She said its fine and accepted the cake as is but I could tell she wasn't impressed. (usually I get hugs from people so this is totally foreign to me)
She also told me she had found someone who would make the larger size cake for $70. (I happen to know that those people are not legit... frusterating). I told her that I can't compete with people who don't bake legally and would be happy to make her a beautiful, delicious and safe cake.
So, what would you do. refund? refund half? or too bad she should have ordered the larger cake then....
The picture wont load for some reason so you can check out the cake here...
I just returned from delivering a cake. When I got there my client said. "it's really cute but I thought it would be bigger" when she ordered the cake I gave her two size options. She picked the smaller cake saying she didn't want to spend more than $100. she told me she didn't want a tiny bear that would get lost on top of the cake. when I delivered it she told me she wanted the bears feet touching the sides or hanging over. I told her that the bear would be a bit smaller than the 7" cake. Had she told me she wanted the bears feet hanging over I would have directed her to go with the larger cake. She said its fine and accepted the cake as is but I could tell she wasn't impressed. (usually I get hugs from people so this is totally foreign to me)
She also told me she had found someone who would make the larger size cake for $70. (I happen to know that those people are not legit... frusterating). I told her that I can't compete with people who don't bake legally and would be happy to make her a beautiful, delicious and safe cake.
So, what would you do. refund? refund half? or too bad she should have ordered the larger cake then....
The picture wont load for some reason so you can check out the cake here...
The cake is really cute, and if she got the size she ordered, I can't think why you would need to refund any money! You didn't do anything wrong.
You can't do something she didn't tell you she wanted, why on Earth would you refund?
She knew the sizes and price beforehand, and there is nothing wrong with your cake, no refund.
If you gave your client the size options, she made the choice, and she received what she paid for, then there is no need for any refund. This may be a situation where the client does not have the capability to visual something and its size.
Your reply to her comment about the other baker was nice as well.
Cute cake!
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Original message sent by kvand
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She also told me she had found someone who would make [B]the[/B] larger size cake for $70.
No. They would make [B]A[/B] cake not your cake.
NO refund!!! And that cake is darling, I want to give the teddy bear a hug. 
P.S. I think the bear looks perfect as is, I don't think it would look as cute if it went all the way to the edge of the cake or hanging over. 
What if someone told all your customers that not giving you a hug would get them a refund?
You gave her what she asked for and paid you. That's the end of it. In the future, I suppose if the customer is present, you could show her the pan sizes. Or, if not, tell her to get out her ruler and make sure that is what she wants. It's a lot of hand holding, but you could do it if you want.
If the client chose the size of the cake, then any error is hers because she didn't take out a ruler--or even an 8x11 sheet of paper--to give herself an idea of what she was buying. No refund.
I always tell people that the size of a serving is AxBxC for a given cake size. I encourage them to take a piece of paper and fold it to see what this looks like and then I tell them that if they want to serve bigger slices, then they'll need to buy a bigger cake and that I still charge the same PER SLICE based on the info that I've provided.
This is exactly true! Thank you!!
Thank you for the feed back everyone!! That was my first thought but then I started second guessing myself since I have never had this happen before. Hopefully once the party got going she changed her mind. Some of the party going guests are clients of mine and have already emailed or messaged me to tell me they loved the cake. I feel much better about it.
Thanks!!
In my first response to inquiries, I always give them a visual... "a serving is a 1" x 2" slice of a 4" tall cake. As a visual, an 8" cake, which is the size of the specialty cakes at {local grocery store}, 'serves' 24". That way they can picture in their mind the size of that carrot cake or Boston Cream Pie.
That being said, you don't owe her any kind of refund!
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