My Own Little Pity Party----(Long)
Decorating By cindy6250 Updated 30 Mar 2006 , 7:20pm by cindy6250
Here's my story--
I had a cake due on Saturday, 2nd of 3 Darth Vader cakes. The customer wanted a picture on top of the cake, done in stars. That's fine, no trouble. She wanted White Cake with Buttercream icing. Again, that is fine, I feel confident I can make a nice moist cake that she and her guests will like. Oh yes, and it needs to feed at least 50 people. Well, initially I was going to just make a 12 x 18 cake, but was afraid it might not be enough, so I made two 11 x 15 cakes and butted them together. You could not tell that it was 2 cakes. I decorated it and delivered it to her on Saturday morning. She liked the cake and I thought all was well.
WRONG!!!!
I went to speak to her about making a baby shower cake that she wants next month and she said that she had several people tell her that the cake wasn't good. One person said it was burned!!! I would never sell someone a burned cake. I failed to trim the edge before I butted the two cakes together and speculate that is what she was calling burned. Anyway, she said it was very dense and foamy (I guess like foam rubber) but it was moist. My best guess is that she was expecting something like the texture of a boxed cake. I don't know.
But, to top it all off, she still wants me to make the baby shower cake.
I am really not feeling that I will be able to please her with the second cake either. My best friend said I should tell her that I can't do it.
I would really appreciate feedback and comments...Has this happened to any of you??? I was really stunned to say the least. No one has ever said anything but nice things about my cakes and I have gotten multiple orders from many. HELP, what to you all think????
Cindy
P.S. And if that wasn't enough, she threw away my 10.00 cake board after I specifically asked her to be sure and take it out of the box and not throw it away. UUUGGGGHHHH!!!
My guess is she wants a free shower cake! She is probably trouble. Is it worth it for you to have her as a customer? That is the question you have to ask yourself.
First of all........I would do the cake ......business is business and you'll still get paid....second of all.....I know people like this that no matter how much they love something they will complain (possibly to even get a discount on that cake or the next one she's ordering) and thirdly...I would charge her a deposit on the cake board or ask her to supply (since she didn't return the first one) I would just say...I'm sorry, I'm having to either have you supply the board, or pay a deposit because too many people aren't returning my boards and they're not cheap when I have to replace them everytime I get a cake order! Also...if she wasn't happy......she would NOT be ordering another cake from you...so obviously she didn't feel it was aweful or she would go somewhere else1!!!!!
Agh! I'd be inclined to decline the cake order for no other reason than she didn't get your board back to you like you asked! Bummer! She does sound like a difficult customer. I've had one; and I called her the "cake customer from hell"... 
The thing is, she kept coming back. Unfortunately! Go figure...lol...
If she asked you to make another cake, she must have liked something about the first! So, you can look at it in a positive angle, and think of all the things she must have enjoyed about the cake! Every cake is not going to be perfect and ya cant please all of the people all of the time! As far as the cake board goes, thats not cool!!! I dont know if you would that she pay you back, because you specifically asked her to not throw it away, or if you just chalk it up to a loss? Anyways, I think most importantly, she asked for you to make another cake!
That hasn't happened to me before. But, if she was really disappointed, then why does she want you to do the other cake? It's hard to say what to do. Do you get your money before she gets the cake? I'm just wondering if she's going to try and "stiff" you and say the cake was not up to her expectations and she shouldn't have to pay. Also, she could just be one of those people who have to complain about everything. If you think telling her no might jeopardize orders with other people, then go ahead and do it. If you don't think you'll lose anything by saying no, then say you can't do it.
As for the cake board, next time either get a refundable deposit from her or use several layers of cardboard as a base so it doesn't cost you much if it gets thrown out.
Thanks all,
LisaMs, that is exactly what I'm afraid of. I don't want to be worrying about what the next complaint will be. I worry enough as it is. I am going to think about it for a couple of days and make up my mind. I told her I would do it, but I'm sure i can come up with some excuse to back out of it. Maybe I'll tell her I need to clean the charcoal out of my oven from all the burnt cakes I've been baking!!!
Thanks all,
LisaMs, that is exactly what I'm afraid of. I don't want to be worrying about what the next complaint will be. I worry enough as it is. I am going to think about it for a couple of days and make up my mind. I told her I would do it, but I'm sure i can come up with some excuse to back out of it. Maybe I'll tell her I need to clean the charcoal out of my oven from all the burnt cakes I've been baking!!!
That just stinks! I think that you should definitely charge her somehow for the cakeboard, and as for the next order, I agree with the theory that she wouldn't ask you to make another cake if she didn't like it. She sounds annoying and just hard to please. Don't change your recipe either. You have a reputation, and I don't think it's a good idea to start changing your recipe to please one very difficult custumer.
Good luck.
Angie
I don't think I'd be able to make her another cake. But, here's an idea: Just simply ask her if there's a box mix that she's used to or prefers. Maybe you could try that for her. Did she how you make your cakes?
And, you know what???? If she still doesn't like the cake, then don't do anymore for her again.
JMHO
She hadn't had my cake previously. I was referred by her husband and a couple of other friends who have ordered or eaten cakes I made. Her husband was one of the people she said didn't like the cake. I think part of it is that it was a white cake, which I don't often make. He had eaten chocolate and yellow cake that I made previously. Honestly, I tasted some of the cake that was cut off to level it and it tasted good to me. I guess it was not the texture they are used to. But guess what kind of cake she wants for the shower cake!!!!???? WHITE
Ain't that about right!!! That is part of what really scares me to make the shower cake.
Cindy
Good luck with this!
I wouldn't know what to do, myself.
I don't understand people's obsession with white cake. Why have white cake when you could have a buttery yellow cake or a chocolate cake. Or a carrot cake or a lemon cake or...
If you decide to make the shower cake, maybe you could encourage her to choose another flavor?
Cindy6250 - do you bake cakes for your living or as a side business? If I did this for a living I would probably end up making the shower cake and biting my tongue (you know the customer is always right-ya like I believe that-remember some people can never be pleased even if you were the Virgin Mary baking the cakes.) I would also charge her for the cake board she threw away and make her pay a deposit on the board for the new shower cake and I would also raise my price just for the complaining you will hear! She will call you to complain and you can think-oh well-that was worth $5.00 dollars extra. But if this is a side business, I would tell her I am booked-period!
This is just a little side business. I really enjoy baking and decorating, but I don't need a lot of stressing out over it. I have enough stress on my full time job (911 dispatcher!!). I am going to mull it over for a couple of days and make a decision by Monday. Thanks everyone for the input.
I totally agree about the white cake. I would much rather have yellow or chocolate cake, personally. Go figure!!
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%