Ok..so I had a contract, the bride changed the flavors and design a bit via e-mail back in Jan. I did not note this and made the cake per the contract. It was my fault...it just feel through the cracks..note that this matters to her, but my 3 year old was very sick at that time...

She wrote to me to say she was not pleased...I feel sooooo bad. She did not ask for $$$ back yet, but I feel like I should offer. What is an ok amout to give back? I did not make much on this cake...it was a friend of a friend kind of deal. So I gave her a discount from the start....I also had to buy 7 doz roses for this cake..it is the one in my pics with the pink roses and monogram....

Any help would be great

wow, hmm....

I would definitely offer something, but I'm not sure what.

Oh boy, that's a hard one.

Did you acknowledge the bride's change of contract email?

Since no amount of money refunded can retroactively change the wedding cake flavors for a cake that's already been eaten, and you gave a significant discount to begin with.....

Perhaps offering a free anniversary or other cake (limited to specific size/s, frosting & filling choices) along with your sincere apology will assuage the bride.

Implementing a system to notate changes to original contracts (and verifying changes by email) will prevent this situation in the future.

Hopefully, you'll get responses from cake pro's who have more expertise in customer service.

BTW, the cake you made was quite beautiful.

You said she was not pleased. Was she not pleased way it looked or did she specify she wansn't pleased with the flavors. I understand that you feel like you need to give her something because I would too. But she should also understand that you are human and humans do make mistakes. I would just apologize telling her that you are very sorry and maybe offer a small cake or something. I wouldn't offer any money back. I'm sure her guests didn't know the difference.

she wanted to change the flavors I made the correct ones...she just changed the order of the flavors...

I e-mailed her saying how sorry I am and if there is anything I can do to make it up to her...she has not asked for $$$$, I feel like I should offer...my hubby says no way they ate it...but I feel bad

So, if I understand correctly, you made the top cake vanilla and bottom one strawberry (for example) but instead the top one was supposed to be strawberry and the bottom one vanilla?

It that is the case, that does change it a little bit. She still did not get EXACTLY what she ordered, so I would offer a future discount and a replica of the top cake for them.

And really if that is the case (how I understand it) than 1. she is being a little to bridezillaish and 2. who cares? as long as you got the flavors you wanted, that's all that should matter.

Why did you buy the roses? Shouldn't that have been an expense for the bride? If you bought 7 doz. roses to place on her cake, I hope you included that on your original contract at least and made a little something on this cake. I think all I'd offer is an apology and a free anniversary cake and maybe a coupon for 25% off her first baby shower cake!!

I got the roses because I know some florists...they give me great discounts...I did include it in her price...put still I figured out what I actually made on this cake and it was only like $55...so...not to be mean, I feel bad, but I did do her a favor and gave her a HUGE discount...

In this situation and with such a significant discount given, I would give her a 'credit' for a future 8" cake with your apologies. It's not as if she was allergic to nuts and you made her walnut cake or gave her random flavors, it was a simple mistake.

I understand she paid for a service and it was a bit different from what she received but I think she is being ungrateful for not appreciating the significant discount she was given to begin with. I am not saying discounted cake is not held to the same standards as full price cake, I am just saying that the mistake made was not significant enough, IMHO, to warrant a refund. I would however offer some sort of free product as compensation - just to keep the peace, etc.

If she pushes you for a refund, I would be forced to appologize again and politely point out the huge discount and minor mistake made. Is she a cheapskate bridezilla trying to get free cake?

I'm sure most will go in favor of the full refund but my goodness, swapping flavors is not the end of the world. Just my 2 cents

I don't think this is a major issue. She got the flavors she wanted, just not in the correct quantity. I guarantee NONE of her guests knew there was a problem. This is a small snafu that only the bride noticed ... it did not cause a problem that will be "forever marred" in her photos, like having the completely wrong cake would have, for example?

However, it was an error. What if you ordered a red car with black interior and you got a black car with red interior? Same car ... rides just as well ... but it's not what you ordered.

I did this only a step worse .... bride ordered whte and chocolate cake and I made it all white. She said it was "ok" when we cut the cake, but while she was on her honeymoon, I emailed her and told her, "....while I appreciate you saying the mistake was 'ok', I feel bad because I did not provide what you ordered. While I can't go back and change it, I want to offer you a $75 refund since your day was not "perfect" in every way due to my error...."

The bride was very impressed with my offer and I've actually received a referral from her.

I would not offer a full refund .... it's not merited since it's not a "full" mistake. But just because the car is on sale, doesn't mean it's not suppose to run right and be the right color. I would probably manage to work in the dollar amount of the discount she got ("Normally, this cake would cost $450, and I did it for you for only $225, so I think you can see that I didn't make anything on this cake.....") as I offered her something.

Sometimes good P/R costs us.

Go to Office Depot (or a store like that) and purchase a package of generic gift certificates. I would send her a GC for a free 8" or 1/4 sheet cake and not refund the money. Just my 2 cents.

I agree with Indydebi. Honestly, though, I may get bashed for saying this. But the whole "it's my wedding day and it has to be P-E-R-F-E-C-T" is a little nauseating. Some of these brides are way overboard. It's one day in a long life of ups and downs, and if they can't handle one little thing as minute as the flavors of the tiers getting switched, then they are going to have a major wake up call when real life sets in!

That being said (sorry to rant but I couldn't help it - blame the pregnancy hormones - haha) if it were me who made the mistake, I would feel the need to offer her SOMETHING. So... if you hadn't already offered her the free anniversary tier, I definitely think that would be the way to go. If you already have done that, I would give her a $50 credit towards something else to use however she wants.

Like Indy said, covering your butt now could actually get you a few referrals later! Better to have her walk away satisfied than mad and telling the whole world about your TEENY TINY error and making it sound like it was the end of the world!!!

Amber

I'm still trying to figure out how she even knew that one tier was strawberry and the other tier was vanilla and it was supposed to be the other way around. She must have been a very controlling bride to stand there and watch them cut every layer and make sure each layer had the flavor it was supposed to. She got the flavors she wanted just not on the correct tier. I would offer her something minimal like a free 8" anniversary cake, but I don't think I would give a little refund. Normally I'm all for it's the brides day and it should be perfect, but even this is a more than I would notice. I hope you don't let it bother you too much. I'm sure that a lot of us feel if that was the only thing that went wrong then the day was still perfect

A lot of us are speculating. I think we need more information. Did you just mix up the layers of cake, or did you use different flavors all together. Like, she wanted vanilla and you gave her all chocolate. Could you be more specific?

I think that is a VERY minor mistake. It's not like the bride is going to EAT then ENTIRE cake by herself... I would just apologize for the oversight and offer a free anniversary cake or a small percentage of a future order or maybe 10 % back on the wedding cake.

I just wanted to clarify what I meant by my post since it was necessary to post three times that I called this bride uppity when I never said such a thing. I did say she must have been very controlling, but that is far from being uppity. I was just curious how she would know that the tiers had been switched when she still got all the flavors that she ordered unless she was standing watching them cut and serve the entire cake. I also didn't say the cake baker should ignore this because she got it almost right. I agreed that she should give her something for the mistake.

I seriously doubt that MaisieBake intended to post three times! Sometimes, people get impatient when the post doesn't seem to go through, and try again. This can cause duplicates. Sometimes, the server just hiccups, and duplicates show up.

I proposed that maybe she didn't stand there and watch, but instead was surprised that the tier she cut wasn't what she expected. Then, it would be a simple matter of asking the person who cut/served the cake what the other layers were. I don't see why she'd have to be particularly controlling.

Not that it's a big deal whether she was controlling or not, since that wasn't really the issue at hand.

Yeah, this was a very little mistake. Just offer her an anniversary cake for free, just for good relations. If she isn't satsifyed then, then I would just let it go. But, she does sound like she is really over reacting. I would have just rolled with it if it had been my wedding cake!

Sorry, but I have to agree that the bride needs to either get a discount back or a free anniversary cake or something. Someone posted that if you got a red car with black interior instead of a black car with red interior you would want the mistake corrected. I agree - same issue on a smaller scale. Take pride in your work, but also take pride in customer relations. Yes, it was a mix-up but I also have to agree that if she were supposed to cut into a strawberry to eat as her first big day bite and ended up with vanilla, well... I'd be a bit upset myself. Order white shoes with red straps and get red ones with white strips - they're going back. But I also agree that it wasn't a major mistake like with my cousin (totally wrong cake flavors but decorated the right way - of which when I posted about it, many of you basically said she should deal with it because it was edible....). So this bride is deserving of some money back or a free cake or something - but I'd let her decide what she'd like to have. JMHO

I am someone who is very particular about gettting the services that I requested and paid for (even at a discount), but a sincere apology and offer of a free anniversary cake or partial refund would ensure my returned business as well as referrals to friends. Good customer service is my number one priority as a consumer as well as a baker.

I would be terribly disappointed if the cake flavors I ordered were not the cake flavors I got. I do think the bride is entitled to some sort of discount and an apology. I am not saying this couldn't happen very easily to any of us I am saying she did have a right to say she was not happy if she did it in an appropriate manner. As a business person you should offer her what you think would be a fair offer if this happened to you. Put yourself in her shoes.

Hmm. I'm just a newbie, but I guess I disagree with some about how large an error this is. The couple got the flavors they wanted, and the cake looked exactly as they wanted it. The pieces of cake on the plates were exactly as they wanted them. The only thing they didn't get was the correct proportion of flavors--i.e., more of one kind than the other.

I don't think the car analogy is a very good one in this instance. To me, it's not like getting a red car instead of a black car, because the appearance of the case was precisely correct. Instead, to me it's more like you bought a new car and asked that the gas tank was half-filled and the windshield wiper fluid well be completely full. What you got was a full gas tank and half-filled windshield wiper fluid.

So, to sum up my opinion, yes, it was an error, albeit a very minor one. A *small* discount or a free, simple anniversary cake would be appropriate.
JMO

I've done several cakes with different flavors and I have to admit that it is a BIG thing. If the bride likes some crazy flavor and you convince her that the guest may not like it, and you both come to a "polite-ratio" and then switch it ... well, that could cause some problems. (Granted it's only cake!) But if the anniversary top cake was wrong that could be a frustrating problem (if they saved it). I would, personally, make her a new 8 inch cake (for any occasion or for her anniversary.) And if she's not asking for money, she may just be a bit annoyed... and a free cake would make any one feel better!! (Not to mention make you look super nice!)

My friend had completely wrong flavors but at that point she was so happy to be married she didn't care, nor did she notice until later when they were looking at pictures!!!!

Since the OP only made $55 profit total I don't think she has the money to give back....almost all of it was out of pocket cost, which the customer ate.

I would definitely just offer a small anniversary cake next year in the flavor of their choice and apologize, no further action needed.

I would not offer her ne money back, maybe as previous people said, offer her a "limited" free anniversary cake or something to that extent...this is a hard one cause you dont wanna lose a customer and maybe more due to people talking. Let it go as it is and maybe offer her a cake, i do agree with your hubby, they did eat the cake....good luck!