AI'll try to make this quick just wanted to get some opinions for you.

A year ago I had a client refer a wedding and two other orders. I was very appreciative and gave her a basic buttercream free 6" cake. She finally called to redeem/ordered the cake for her daughters tea party but wanted a tea pot cake topper and other fondant details so I charged her $15 extra she said she was fine with that and would pay when she picked it up. Well upon trying to arrange delivery the day before she became very difficult to work with I gave her several options that did not include a delivery fee and she had every excuse why she couldn't pick up the cake. In no way did she try to consider meeting me at the available times I gave her, so she said you need to bring this cake to me, I said yes I can do that but I will have to charge a delivery fee since you aren't able to meet me halfway. First she said ok the called back an hour later saying I'll just cancel the cake order since I don't have time to pick it up and you won't bring it to me without charging delivery. After going round and round I said I understand if you decide to cancel but I won't be able to offer you another free cake since I've already made this one for you. She became livid and said you are terrible I'll never order a cake again and hung up. So please tell me what could I have done different?? [IMG]http://www.cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3326618/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

I ask for a non refundable downpayment for cake orders and the balance for orders two weeks before delivery for party cakes, and one month before for wedding cakes. If it's a last minute order then it's full payment upfront. I would start charging up front for your business as well to prevent this happening in future! There will always be someone who will mess you around. Some people don't seem to take cake orders seriously unless they've paid up already.

Try and forget what this horrible woman did to you, start charging up front, and move on from this episode. All the best for future cake orders  

And by the way, what a bloody miser of a woman to cancel the order for $15 plus delivery!! She's missed out on a lovely looking cake. What a fool.

APeople think "free" should mean everything is without cost - not true! Do not offer free anything anymore. Offer a set sum discount on their next order or complimentary cupcakes and proceed as you would normally and collect your money before the cake is due then hopefully they will have their more usual customer behavior. "Free" puts people in a different head space.

Honestly, I don't think you could have done anything differently. You gave her a free 6"cake for the business you passed her way, you didn't give her free toppers, free delivery.. If she wants to act like that and throw a tantrum then that's not the kind of customer you want repeat business from. 

I'm sorry this happened to you. What a nasty person she is.

Going forward, if you want to offer a discount or a free something or other, give it to them in the form of an actual coupon that states what is included and what is not. Also include an expiration date. You can always extend the expiration date if they come up after it is expired and you like them, but that is up to you.

Save it in PDF form and keep it on your computer so that when they come back and say they lost their coupon you can provide it again if you so choose.

I also make the coupon customer-specific so they can't make copies of it or hand it over to a friend. If they want to give the cake to a friend, then that is their business, but they have to place the order with me, not the friend.

AThanks for the response and great advice. I'm in the process of reviewing and changing some of my policies.

The only thing that you did wrong was to not say "please promise me that you mean that" when she said she would never order another cake from you again.

Adorable cake!

In my industry, we read contracts all the time.  So, in a word, contract…spell it out before you turn on the oven.  At my company, we get invitations, perks and comps regularly for the promise of bringing in clientele, but often  there are "blackout dates" and other things spelled out in a contract.

 Even if you are giving something free, you need to add specifications.  Might be a good idea to say "offer is for basic buttercream only, excludes fondant.  Fondant is to be an additional $15 for basic design and $30 for custom design, delivery included (or not included).

I know you are frustrated, you worked hard. However, she sent you a referral for  a wedding and 2 additional clients, and I am going to assume your profits from those referrals added up to far more than $15.00 and the cost of your gas/time to deliver her cake.

You now may have lost the two clients and definitely have lost a bunch of other potential referrals.  You are running a cake business, a business based almost entirely on word-of-mouth and referrals.

The delivery situation is not what was upsetting her. She knows that she has referred valuable business to you and is wondering why there were strings attached to something you were doing to thank her.  

She is not a miserable person, she was angry.  She needed some sugar, and when you argued with her, the sugar was gone.

I agree with you to a certain extent @Norasmom, but she WAS being difficult regardless of how much business she had referred a year ago. I wouldn't give people free cakes to refer business to me anyway, but if I did offer a free cake I wouldn't be delivering it too. It sounds like the woman was being difficult hoping that she'd get a 6" cake that she hadn't paid for delivered to her, and there's a limit. No good deed goes unpunished...

AYour right I may have lost her business and its definitely ok with me. This isn't the first issue with her ordering a cake but this one was the worst by far. I have referred many brides to a italian food caterer and unexpectedly they gave me two free family meals and when I redeemed them I didnt try to get over or hassle them for more than they offered. There's no doubt this was a good learning experience.

A@norasm You mention strings attached? There were no strings attached I told her the free cake was just buttercream and she sent a picture asking for a more detailed cake, so at that time I told her there would be an extra $15 charge and she agreed. She was also aware that I charge for delivery from past orders and she always says no because she's always pinching pennies. So there were no surprises she knew up front that the she would need to pay for the extras she wanted.

Gingerlocks, are you sorry because I have a point?  You just indirectly called me a bad businessperson, by making the assumption I don't know how and when to drop a client.  We drop clients all the time that have unrealistic demands. I assure you, I am not a bad businessperson.  I would not have been hired to do what I do if I were a dud.  I'm in the hospitality industry, I do negotiations.

What I mean here is that anger arising from frustration gets you nowhere in life, it just causes wars and high blood pressure.  Better to drop a client nicely, by either truly being too busy or using honesty.  Deliver the cake, but when a new request from the customer comes in, just tell the truth.  Say you cannot deliver the cake because last time you had a transaction with her she seemed unhappy and your goal is to deliver the highest quality cakes available within the parameters of a budget.  Spending time driving is not a good allocation of your time or hers…then you can refer her to someone else in the area as an act of goodwill.

I still believe she is not a miserable person.  How we behave and what we say when we are angry is not how we are as people.  Think back to a time you were angry and ask yourself…"Am I really an angry person who stoops to someone's level by arguing and getting my fondant in a wad?  Or am I the better person who calms a customer down and nicely brings her back into reality?"

Love and let love.

Glad you have little patience for a tantrum.  Good idea not to throw them yourself.

include that information in your original post.  We missed out on some critical information.  Still get all via email or in writing.  

Listen to Mimicakes.  She has written several books about the cake business.  There are some "tried and true" people still on CC, she is one of them.  Cake biz experience, life experience, business wisdom, decorating expertise and objectivity:  she's got them all of those qualities.

@K8memphis--you are awesome too.