Soooooo......what Would You Say To This???
Decorating By prettycupcake Updated 12 Jul 2013 , 5:04pm by lorieleann
Sooo...I get this email from my customer today and I must say this is a first to me...If you would see my website and my FB page its swamped with testimonials from my SATISFIED clients...lol...I just want to see what you lovely CC members would say before I respond....My Hubby says you can't make everyone happy and these do happen sometimes...Not sure...
Dear Heidi,
I want to give you some feedback on the cake I picked up on Saturday. The cake was more beautiful than I could imagine and my mother in law loved it! But as beautiful as the cake was, it was that inedible. The cake portion was so dry and tasteless and the filling, which should have been chocolate mousse, tasted like old canned cake frosting. I was very embarrassed that no one could eat the cake.
I feel for $225 the cake should have at least tasted above average if not wonderful. It was neither and I would have to rate unsatisfactory. The design, with no question, was outstanding but it was not a complete experience and the cake ended up in the garbage.
Yvonne
Ouch
Did you taste any of the cake scraps from leveling the cake etc? Did it taste good to you? If so then unfortunately I'd agree with your husband that everyone has different tastes and sometimes you can't please everyone. I'd be interested to see what anyone else has to say though...
AWell, you know your product, none of us do. And if you get nothing but stellar reviews from everyone else, I'd have to say thank her for her feedback and you regret that she didn't return the cake to you so you could investigate her concerns.
AAnd whatever you do, don't reference the fact that people have different preferences or taste, because there is no way to make that sound anything but demeaning. Like, well you must be a cardboard grocery store cake lovin' dummy then! Even if that's what you'd like to say. Out of curiosity, what kind of cake was it? What style of icing?
A
Original message sent by kakeladi
It's possible this customer is looking for $$$ back.
@ DriveMeBatty...I did taste it and that's the funny thing because my nephews cake was the same weekend and I made the same flavor for him. I tried the cake and my sister and my husband tried the cake and they all loved it..so I KNOW it tasted good... go figure
@Kakiladi....Yea But I am a small business owner and I can't afford to have a money back guarantee...not even WalMart does that... I spent so much time on that cake and ingredients..
AIt's a fine line to walk with crap like this. Do you remember her demeanor through out the ordering process? Did she exhibit any signs of apprehension about the price or anything else you can recall that would have been a red flag? I'm not one to automatically side with the baker in stuff like this, and I think it's from seeing sooooo many posts in here where people automatically start lighting the torches and saddling up for a beat down when a customer has the "nerve" to complain even when it's obvious (to most) that the baker was negligent. Not saying that here of course, because it sounds like everything was on the up and up. Really, what can you do almost a week later and there's no product to show you? Did you deliver it or did she pick it up? Was it kept in the fridge before serving?
A
Original message sent by AZCouture
It's a fine line to walk with crap like this. Do you remember her demeanor through out the ordering process? Did she exhibit any signs of apprehension about the price or anything else you can recall that would have been a red flag? I'm not one to automatically side with the baker in stuff like this, and I think it's from seeing sooooo many posts in here where people automatically start lighting the torches and saddling up for a beat down when a customer has the "nerve" to complain even when it's obvious (to most) that the baker was negligent. Not saying that here of course, because it sounds like everything was on the up and up. Really, what can you do almost a week later and there's no product to show you? Did you deliver it or did she pick it up? Was it kept in the fridge before serving?
Yes..she was a little hesitant about the price and she had to call me back. I guess she wanted to shop around and in my area (NJ/NY) I was reasonable. She did sound iffy but I went with it cause I need the $$. I should have went with my guts. She picked up the cake. I had the cake in the fridge over night because chocolate mouse is perishable. Do you think that might have compromised the cake????
ACould be. If it was served cold, that can give a dry mouth feel. Sounds like she may be refund shopping. But who knows, because how can you judge it now? Sucks and I hope it works out for you.
AI had a situation once where (my fault) I didn't specify that the cake needed to be at room temp. You couldn't just pull it out the fridge and eat it cold..maybe she did that? I got similar comments to what you received. "Dry and tasteless". However when they let the cake come to room temp they loved it!
AI had a similar experience, right when I started out. I ran an after school program for kids at the local YMCA (I always took goodies in and donated for auctions) so one of the parents asked me to make her sons cake. She was one of those people who blamed everything on everyone so I should have known better to begin with, but like I said I was just happy to have an actual order. First she said she wanted a small sheet cake for 15-20 people, simple design, marble, with buttercream frosting-no problem. The night before she called me and asked for a half sheet cake rather then a quarter-I warned her it would be a lot more cake then she initially asked for, I offered to make some cupcakes if she was worried about the serving but she insisted she needed a half sheet. So I agreed to remake the cake, I only charged her an extra $10-I just wanted it to be done lol. Anyway, I dropped off the cake and everyone was happy, her son told me the next day how cool the cake was and all his friends liked it. Again, me being a rookie I agreed to let her pay me the next day since she was busy with the party. When she came to pick up her son she told me she forgot her checkbook and she would pay me the next day, I didn't mention anything because this was my other job and I realized what a mess I had put myself in. This went on for about a week, then she told me that the cake was too dry and asked if I had frozen it-I reminded her I remade the cake that morning so it was as fresh as I could manage to make it, and apologized she felt that way. The next day it wasn't too dry, it was soggy. We had an entire cake leftover plus scraps from leveling, I always taste. The next day she had too much cake that they had to take the cake home from the skating rink and throw it in the trash and now they had ants. Are you kidding me! Each day she had an excuse and each day I reminded her she requested the extra cake against my warning (not in those words but polite and firm), etc. I wasn't getting my money but I figured I learned several lessons from this 'simple' order. She paid me a week later and apologized a month after that, something about her medication being off...
Your website is lovely, your cakes are lovely. If you have a contract and her email confirmation you are technically covered. AZ had some very good advice about being firm and not leaving room for her to try to get a refund of some sort. I knew consulting with this woman that this might be dramatic, did she give you any red flags? She seemed very kind saying that the decoration was great but perhaps it's simply because that was something that couldn't be debated (please don't think I mean any disrespect about your product!) The fact that she waited so long to come back at you is fishy, one would think if it was such an 'indelible disaster' she would call you from the event. Or if nothing else right after, that's what I would do!
However, if your worried about the bad feedback maybe offer her a small discount towards a future purchase. You should do what your comfortable with.
AAll I'm going to say is that I've never heard of a party where NOBODY ate the cake, no matter how bad it was. You know we all know that someone who just doesn't turn down cake.
A
Original message sent by kikiandkyle
All I'm going to say is that I've never heard of a party where NOBODY ate the cake, no matter how bad it was. You know we all know that someone who just doesn't turn down cake.
All I'm going to say is that I've never heard of a party where NOBODY ate the cake, no matter how bad it was. You know we all know that someone who just doesn't turn down cake.
good point!!
Also I don't think everyone who complains is asking/looking for a refund. This person didn't even mention one, did she? Maybe she truly just didn't like the cake and just wanted to let you know. It can happen.
Everyone has different tastes..who knows.
I like the response from the YumaAZ cake poster..what she said, thanks for the feedback, too bad you didn't keep the cake so I could investigate etc etc.
prettycupcake, that's a very nice reply. She hasn't answered yet, but she may wait until she needs another cake. Make sure she knows about proper serving temp.
that is a very nice reply. The next little hiccup i could see is that in a year or so when she needs another cake, she has the grit to remember 'oh yeah! i have a free cake coming to me!' and digs up your email that didn't have an expiration date on it. I don't know if you want to take that chance, or perhaps email her back in a week and say that her complimentary replacement cake must be ordered in the next two weeks.
I think that the free cake is above and beyond. I would have stuck with AzCouture's response of needing to have cake returned in order to investigate the matter further.
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