o.k...so this is my first unhappy customer...in all the years that i've been here in italy. she picks up her cake saturday morning and comments on how awesome it looked. i get a phone call from her sunday evening(mind you...she has my email address)...anyway, she says that the cake wasn't cooked in the middle...then she says that she cut half of the cake and served it to the kids. then she serves some to the adults. i told her...how can the cake not be done in the middle and yet you served half of the cake to your guests??? no...that's not what i'm saying...did you graduate?!! NO SHE DIDN'T!! i told her there's no need for insults and hung up on her.
she said none of the adults ate the cake, but the kids did. well...she is trying to see how much of a refund she can get. i told her i don't give out full refunds because some of the cake was eaten. her husband calls back and we calmly discussed the matter. he said he paid for the cake but was not looking for a refund, only to tell me about what happened.
i baked several cakes that day all the same amount of time and she is the only one that has called me. i received emails from others who i did cakes for that same day and they all expressed how much they loved them!
something just doesn't add up. well, i told her husband how sorry i was if his daughter's birthday was ruined...which it wasn't cause she was one of the ones that ate the cake! ...and that i would be happy to give a $15.00 dollar refund. she paid $35.00. i charge $5.00 for the image...so i felt that in all fairness that half of the price of the cake would be proper.
what do you guys think??

Before any refund is given I'd insist on evidence that backs up what they are saying. After all, all you have is their word. If something is not right you bring it back to where you got it, don't you??? And usually you have to have the receipt! If it wasn't cooked, they should have saved some to show you.

JMO

Did you ask her to bring part of the undone cake to you?

Also, I think your refund is more than fair.

When I want a refund for something, I usually have to return it to the store. Even on packaged food goods, the directive is to "return the unused portion to..."

So perhaps if they will return the unused portion to you so you can verify what the problem is, then a refund of a small portion might be in order. Or perhaps $10 off their next order so you have a chance to rectify the situation...IF THERE IS ONE.

Anyway...just my opinion...and like belly buttons, we all have one!

Best of luck!

Well to be honest if a customer ever called and told me the cake wasn't done and therefore could not be enjoyed, I would give a full refund. To me most people don't call to complain about the cake so I would tend to believe them.

I know we put a lot of hard work and time into our cakes and hate to ever have someone put them down but the truth is sometimes things can go wrong and we have to accept that.

First of all your cakes are very pretty and look wonderful. Your cost is very low and I think are worth much more. But that is not what the customer is saying is wrong.

To me it's better to keep the customer happy every once in a blue moon then to take it so hard and get upset over it.

I'm sorry this happened to you. It has to be very upsetting.

First off, if someone told me that my cake wasn't cooked, I'd be mortified!

Secondly, I definitely would like to see the area of the cake...just to inspect it for possible future problems AND to verify the account.

Thirdly, if in fact, there was ANY undone cake that she could produce, full refund, my absolute apologies and a percentage off of the next one.

I think if it was not cooked, she should be more than willing to show it to you. I would not refund any money, but instead give them a credit towards their next cake, maybe $10 or so.

I've never had that happen, but since I test all my cakes to be sure they're completely done, I'd insist on seeing the cake before refunding.

I'm not sure how a customer could get a cake that wasn't baked completely since I would think it would be obvious to me before I decorated...mine always sink if they're undercooked.

If by some miracle it was indeed undercooked, I'd give a full refund plus a discount on a future cake for their time and trouble.

If she doesn't produce any evidence the cake was uncooked, then just offer a percentage off the next cake. This way she will likely order from you again and you won't loose money off this cake. If she does bring the cake to you, offer money off this cake and the next one.

Well, I'm going out here by myself and say I think that you should give a full refund (even without any proof that the cake was not cooked through) I think as cake decorators that our main source of advertising (good and bad) is word of mouth and an angry customer is never a good thing.

It is not a $500 wedding cake and being right is not worth the risk of this person hurting your business because they are angry. Sometimes we have to be the bigger person (right or wrong, fair or not) and say please accept my aplogies I'm not sure what happened, it has never happenend before and I will be happy to refund your $35

Just my opinion. Hope I didn't offend.

I thought about this a little more and think that the best approach would be to offer her a free cake next time. This way you will make the customer happy and show her that if the cake really was uncooked then this isn't the norm for you and they are usually very good! You will be giving a free cake away if you offer a full refund this time or a free cake next time, but maybe this way you will be able to bring her back as a regular customer again.

was it a one layer or did you cut it to put a filling in the center? I have had fillings add so much moisture that people thought it was not cooked, plus if you cut it you would have seen if it wasn't finished

I'm torn which way I would have gone but I think you "done good". There is an expression, when people are happy, they tell 2 people and when they're unhappy, they tell 10 people. I know I'm off on the numbers but it's something like that.

Funny thing, I gave up on store bought cakes after I got a rolled cake from a grocery store which my brother described as pumpernickel cake. We threw it out but I mentioned it to them. I wasn't looking for a refund but they said they would give me the refund with the receipt which I found. I told my family, I don't care what they look like, I'm baking my own cakes which I did! About 1 1/2 years later, I started the Wilton courses at the AC Moore's next to the supermarket. I never bought another cake from them but bought PLENTY of sugar, Crisco, flour and cake mixes since! They made a lot more on me because of that bad cake.

it was a 1/4 sheet, no filling. i offered to give her a free cake, but said she didn't want another cake and that she couldn't recommend me if she didn't get a discount off of this one. well...as far as her recommending me...i could care less. i have less than a month left here and i have more than enough customers each week, so many that i have to turn some down. i don't need her recommendations or her business. i asked to see the unused portion...her answer, "i threw it away". if she had bought a cake from the base commissary and didn't produce any evidence, she wouldn't have gotten a full refund, but a portion of the cost. as far as me hanging up on her...i am not going to stand there and let her insult me. our discussion was about cake, not my education...which happens to be a college level. if she couldn't talk to me like a civil person with respect, then she didn't deserve respect back.

Diane,
I have to agree with you on this one. My reason for this is what happened to me today at McDonald's. I ordered a hamburger. I opened my burger and it was a cheeseburger. I do NOT eat cheese on burgers. Anyway, I went back to the drive-thru and nicely stated that my burger was incorrect. I was immediately asked for the receipt and the burger. I handed both to the very nice cashier and she replaced my cheeseburger with a hamburger. If I had not shown the incorrect burger, I really don't think I would have gotten a replacement. I did get a replacement but it was because I could prove that my product wasn't correct.

If this woman had a cake that she needed to complain about, I think she would have saved some to show the baker. I think you are being kind to offer any sort of refund without proof. Just my opinion.

It's been my experience after years of baking, that if a cake is underbaked, there would have been evidence to you before you even put spatula to cake. It would have fallen, possibly had a wrinkled look to the top, and mostly likely have shrunk considerably after cooling.

It doesn't add up.

I agree, as if $35 wasn't already a great price AND if she was going to complaint, why throw the cake away??? Does not make sense!

I know this won't help in your current situation, but in my contract for all orders it clearly states that

"if, for any reason, you are unsatisfied with your cake, please return the uneaten portion and a refund of equal value will be given back."

Just a thought for the future cakes. HTH

What a coicidence? I had the same problem exactly a week ago. I made a doll cake mounted on petal shaped cake for a 5 year old. It was so beautiful and it was taken to her school. The school authority called the mom to say the cake was bad. She rushed to the school and discovered the doll was not well cooked but the petal base cake was okay. The petal one was shared for the kids. She called me to let me know. I was so embarrassed but i apologised to her and gave her a plain cake as compensation. She was so understanding and everything was settles amicably. As cake decorators we should not get overly upset when things like this happen. We should understand that anything can go wrong and that as humans we can make mistakes afterall you would not deliberately want to give out a bad product. Agreed some customers could be difficult but there is a saying that the customer is always right. Take the bold step to reconiliation and your business will move ahead.