Soooo Pissed!!!!!

Business By andrea7 Updated 14 Dec 2006 , 11:08am by janbabe

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andrea7 Posted 12 Dec 2006 , 7:00pm
post #1 of 39

I have this problem. This has never happened before and I need some help. In our town we have a local wedding board where you can get lots of general information vendors, reception sites etc. My sister is getting married and frequents this board. She emailed me about some of my past brides post. One post said not to use our bakery and if you wanted more information she could email you the problems she had with me. Another bride chimed in that I lost her crystal monogram topper and that the cake was bad. She also was mad because the design colors were wrong.
The first bride has never called to complain so I have'nt a clue what's the problem.
The second bride lied in her blurb on the message boards. I never lost the monogram. The mongram was'nt crystal and the mongram had been left right next to the cake. The $15.00 monogram had no anchors and the florist had'nt shown up (3hrs late)so I went with my gut and explained to the cordinator of the venue the florist was'nt there and could you please help me in this situation. She said no problem and that was it. The bride was also dismayed about the colors of her groom cake. The picture she provided showed red and blue. The colors were supposed to be red and black. How am I supposed to know this? I made it look like the picture provided. The last complaint was that the cake was horrible. Which she had never explained to me.
How do I protect my reputation from these crazy people. Lord knows how many people read these boards. The crazy part is that the first bride has never even contacted me to let me know what's going on and the second bride made serious lies up to endulge her story. The shocker of this bride also is that she still has not paid her full balance to this day. I could never reach her weeks before the wedding and I brought the cake to the wedding in good faith that she would take care of the balance after she returned from her honeymoon.I have changed my contracts to deal with this in the future but how to I defend myself now from 21 year old idiots?

38 replies
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Panda-monium Posted 12 Dec 2006 , 7:08pm
post #2 of 39

Are you able to get the comments removed or are you able to respond to these individuals?

Unfortunately there are people who are only happy when they are complaining. icon_evil.gif

Panda

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dl5crew Posted 12 Dec 2006 , 8:00pm
post #3 of 39

Can you comment & add the fact that the second bride isn't a good reference due to her unpaid bill.

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starrchaser Posted 12 Dec 2006 , 8:02pm
post #4 of 39

you should get a friend to inquire to this ladies email to find out the first situation. in the second situation im not sure there is anythin you can do. People can be like that, complaining so that they have a banwagon to join. Sry.

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RisqueBusiness Posted 12 Dec 2006 , 8:14pm
post #5 of 39

if you had the ability to respond..I would comment back.

AND ask the BRIDE that owes you still...if THIS IS THE REASON SHE HASN"T PAID YOU..lol!

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KittisKakes Posted 12 Dec 2006 , 8:16pm
post #6 of 39

It certainly wouldn't hurt to reply to those posts. Just make sure you keep it professional and try not to "point fingers" or make excuses. Even reach out to these two women, through the post , to contact you to show that you are concerned about their grievances. I know I respect businesses a whole lot more when I see they try to fix any problems. Unfortunately, some brides cannot be pleased, no matter what. I hope this doesn't affect your business too much!!

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OhMyGoodies Posted 12 Dec 2006 , 8:23pm
post #7 of 39

After you contact or post on the board if it doesn't resolve with a good outcome I would contact the board monitors or webmaster and ask that they be removed as they are totally false accuzations and one being a client that refuses to make payment to you and one being a client that never stressed there was a problem to be fixed before trying to ruin your reputation. It's called slander and if it's not removed someone can get into trouble for it. I went thru this recently with my husband's ex-wife when she came across my rants on my blog about her lol I was threatened with a lawsuit and a whole mess of legal info later I learned what slander was all about and that my actions could be used against me as they can with these two kids. icon_smile.gif Good luck

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imartsy Posted 12 Dec 2006 , 8:25pm
post #8 of 39

Write to the board and ask if you can add comments to defend your bakery - explain to them what the comments are - be professional and keep it simple and short. For instance:

In response to complain #1, our bakery never received any complaint directly from this bride. We are still waiting for payment for this cake. We were completely unaware the bride was unhappy and wish she had come to us.

In response to complaint #2, our bakery also never received any complaint directly from this bride. The bride provided a picture of a cake in red and blue, which was what as provided. Our contract never stated any other colors. Also, the bride had a tasting and approved of the cake flavors and its taste prior to the wedding Again, it is unfortunate the bride did not come to us first to discuss this matter.

If the board doesn't respond to you or you can't figure out how to contact them, then just write those responses yourself. You have a right to defend yourself. Also, ask some of your previous customers or good regular customers if they woudn't mind posting on the board - even if you didnt' do a wedding cake for them, they could post how happy they were with a birthday cake or a shower cake or anything like that to help show that these are two very rare instances of unhappy brides who didn't clearly communicate and aren't telling the full story. It will discredit them in my opinion. 10 good reviews and two bad shows that something else was going on in the 2 bad..... and it wasn't necessarily the baker's fault.

Good luck!

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GenesisCakes Posted 12 Dec 2006 , 8:30pm
post #9 of 39

I would take it like a grain of salt. You will have people who are unhappy with your product. You will deal with people who you simply can not please. But these people are scattered among the bigger amount of people who are pleased with your work and Rave about the outcomes. Never mind those brides. Just keep on doing what you do and continue to do the best you can.

They do not pay rent in your brain, so evict them from your mind.

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jmt1714 Posted 12 Dec 2006 , 8:33pm
post #10 of 39

Weather it is written libel or spoken slander, both are notoriously difficult to prove and even harder to win damages for.

I think the easiest solution is to sign up for a membership yourself and add your own two cents. nicely. Also, I'd send a certified letter to the brides asking them to desist from posting false information (and asking the one to pay up!).

I'd also take the occasion to figure out how to avoid this type of confusion in the future - like getting it in writing what colors icing is supposed to be, and getting someone to sign for ornaments when you leave the cake, etc..

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canoewoman Posted 12 Dec 2006 , 8:36pm
post #11 of 39

Have you tried contacting the Bride that left the first bad post? I DEFINITELY would. It is easy to slam someone when they aren't present to defend themselves. As for the second bride she is just trying to get out of paying off her bill by jumping on the bandwagon. If you can post replies to DEFEND your business' integrity without coming down to their level do it. Most people will look at the more mature, calm factual response and start to question the integrity of the two childish brides by their immature posts.

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Dizzymaiden Posted 12 Dec 2006 , 8:40pm
post #12 of 39
Quote:
Originally Posted by KittisKakes

It certainly wouldn't hurt to reply to those posts. Just make sure you keep it professional and try not to "point fingers" or make excuses. Even reach out to these two women, through the post , to contact you to show that you are concerned about their grievances. I know I respect businesses a whole lot more when I see they try to fix any problems. Unfortunately, some brides cannot be pleased, no matter what. I hope this doesn't affect your business too much!!




I love postive advice like this! It is a small world we live in and a smaller cake world!

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RisqueBusiness Posted 12 Dec 2006 , 9:23pm
post #13 of 39
Quote:
Originally Posted by GenesisCakes


They do not pay rent in your brain, so evict them from your mind.




Oh Man...that is deep! icon_wink.gif

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mypastrychef Posted 12 Dec 2006 , 10:24pm
post #14 of 39

Why would any one deliver a cake without being paid first!!
They should have you paid in full at least 2 weeks ahead of the delivery.
And what they have pre-paid should be NON-REFUNDABLE!.

Get people you know to post all the reasons why your bakery is the best. Or to respond directly to those posts.

Lora

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RisqueBusiness Posted 12 Dec 2006 , 11:03pm
post #15 of 39
Quote:
Originally Posted by mypastrychef

Why would any one deliver a cake without being paid first!!
They should have you paid in full at least 2 weeks ahead of the delivery.
And what they have pre-paid should be NON-REFUNDABLE!.

Get people you know to post all the reasons why your bakery is the best. Or to respond directly to those posts.

Lora




I would so do that...so many people forget to post the good and remember to post the bad..lol

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kdbobo Posted 13 Dec 2006 , 5:44am
post #16 of 39
Quote:
Originally Posted by mypastrychef



Get people you know to post all the reasons why your bakery is the best. Or to respond directly to those posts.




As someone who lurks on a lot of message boards (including this one, LOL) and who teaches business communication...I would not recommend this. People will figure out that you are getting buddies to write in with positive posts, and that kind of thing backfires. Makes you look like you're hiding something.

I like GenesisCakes's idea--ignore. If someone is dizzy enough to pass you up because of two complaints, let them walk. Honestly, I wouldn't be very interested in doing business with someone who appeared to spend a lot of time responding to posts from disgruntled people. And as a reader, I take posts like that with a grain of salt--it's the random people complaining who are most likely to post, and unless their complaints show some kind of trend, I wouldn't really give them much attention.

If you must respond, send something along the lines of imartsy's posts. Don't spend energy trying to make her look bad--show that YOU provide good service by stressing that you're sorry to hear she's upset, wish she would have contacted you directly about the situation. Keep it short and positive.

Hi everyone! This is a really interesting board...hope I haven't overstepped my newbie boundaries, but I wanted to add my $.02.

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andrea7 Posted 13 Dec 2006 , 3:22pm
post #17 of 39

Vendors can't post on this message boards. Plus it really could spiral out of control at that point. These girls just don't understand that this is my living and this could hurt me finacially. I still can't understand who would have the heart to make bold face lies and post them for others to read. This is so distressing to me. I guess I can't change the situation and i'm just going to have to take this quietly.

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OhMyGoodies Posted 13 Dec 2006 , 3:31pm
post #18 of 39

You could write a letter to both of these unhappy brides and explain to them that you have read their posts on said message board and you have found out that they aren't happy with the service they received and you really wish they had come to you first. I'd also send a certified letter and bill to the lady that hasn't paid as of yet and demand payment by the 1st of the year or you'll see her in small claims court icon_smile.gif.

Also please contact the webmaster or owner of that website forum board and request that they be taken down since they are blaten lies. icon_smile.gif

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RisqueBusiness Posted 13 Dec 2006 , 3:32pm
post #19 of 39
Quote:
Originally Posted by andrea7

Vendors can't post on this message boards. Plus it really could spiral out of control at that point. These girls just don't understand that this is my living and this could hurt me finacially. I still can't understand who would have the heart to make bold face lies and post them for others to read. This is so distressing to me. I guess I can't change the situation and i'm just going to have to take this quietly.




another solution would be to follow up with your customers..and those of them that give you glowing Kudos...refer them to the message board to post.

If enough of your happy customers post, then those 2 negative comments should be cancelled out...

How is that for a nice solution? lol

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OhMyGoodies Posted 13 Dec 2006 , 3:37pm
post #20 of 39

Sounds good to me lol Too bad we can't sample your work and go brag about ya icon_wink.gif

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CoutureCake Posted 13 Dec 2006 , 6:05pm
post #21 of 39

O.k. ...

Bride who hasn't paid her bill: Send a certified letter that contains an invoice and letter stating the amount owed at this point and stating if the bill is not paid in full by January 1, you will be forced to take legal action including the cost of collection. NO business ever gets faulted when they take a deadbeat to court for not paying their bill especially after services have been rendered (the cake).. In the future, no money no cakey or they only get cakey that amounts to the amount they paid.

As for the negative message board comments, write to the board's administrator, tell them that a bride contacted you and informed you of the posts detrimental to your business, and you want them removed. The owners of the message boards don't want to P.O. the people who pay their lunch ticket (even if you aren't an advertiser, you're still a wedding related business, and potential advertising customer of theirs)..

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jessieb578 Posted 13 Dec 2006 , 6:32pm
post #22 of 39

I'm so sorry that you've had these problems!! I would have to say that when you're in the food service business that there are always going to be unhappy people. Unfortunately unhappy stupid people who lie and are over dramatic!!! I think that trying to fight back just might make it worse, so I think the best thing to do is chalk it up to that 1% of people who are never happy with anything!

I'm sure there a TONS of people who have raved about your cakes and are unbelievably happy! Do you have a website?? If so, put a section on there for people's reviews. Ask some people who are happy with your service if they can be contacted by potential clients for recommendations. Ask people who love your work to send you a letter stating how happy they are and put them up in your kitchen!!!

Also, as far as the bride who you didn't even know there was a problem with and the other one who hasn't paid - what if you start a new business policy with yourself that you always follow up with a client whether they are paid in full or not?? It's always good to hear good and bad feedback so you know what you've done well or what you may have to change next time! Also for those who haven't paid, you can politely remind them of their balance prior to having to take other measures. Plus it always shows a client that you took that extra time to show you care!! Can we say REPEAT BUSINESS??? icon_lol.gif

Best of luck honey.....don't stress it too much! Work hard at what you do and revel in the good comments about you, don't stress these bridezillas who don't know a good cake unless it was smashed in their face!!! icon_biggrin.gif

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andrea7 Posted 13 Dec 2006 , 8:28pm
post #23 of 39

Thanks for your tips everyone!!!

This morning I went back to the message board to see what had been posted and it's funny that the bride with all her lies got caught in it. Two brides make comments about her outlandish comments to be fake. She had never made any postings on that board and the brides did'nt believe her. WOW!!!

I think i'm going to send a letter forgiving her balance and let her know that I know what she said on the message boards and they were bold face lies. I'm going to tell her I feel sorry that she has started her marriage in lies. I'll also tell her that it takes a deviant person to come up with the lies that big and there's really something deeply wrong with her and she needs to get help! Also i'll let her know what Karma is and that she will get hers two fold!!!!

What do you think?

Forget the money i'm PISSED!

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RisqueBusiness Posted 13 Dec 2006 , 8:32pm
post #24 of 39
Quote:
Originally Posted by andrea7

Thanks for your tips everyone!!!

This morning I went back to the message board to see what had been posted and it's funny that the bride with all her lies got caught in it. Two brides make comments about her outlandish comments to be fake. She had never made any postings on that board and the brides did'nt believe her. WOW!!!

I think i'm going to send a letter forgiving her balance and let her know that I know what she said on the message boards and they were bold face lies. I'm going to tell her I feel sorry that she has started her marriage in lies. I'll also tell her that it takes a deviant person to come up with the lies that big and there's really something deeply wrong with her and she needs to get help! Also i'll let her know what Karma is and that she will get hers two fold!!!!

What do you think?

Forget the money i'm PISSED!




no leave it alone now. The new comments took care of the problem. That letter will make sound petty and childish. I know you're pissed...if you feel any better...write it all down but burn it after, it should help you put closure on this and put it behind you.

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OhMyGoodies Posted 13 Dec 2006 , 8:38pm
post #25 of 39

No let's not forget the money honey you are pissed but you deserve that money. You gave her what she ordered and she failed to pay for what she ordered. You can't go into a bakery and pay half or part up front and expect the bakery to deliver and leave without payment and if they do I'm sure the cake they left was so small due to the amount they had been paid.... I wouldn't forget the money you are owed that money and you deserve to be paid. I would simply inform her that another bride contacted you with questions concerning things that had happened at previous weddings mentioning said board and what was said on that board and that you had to defend yourself and your business and your reputation because of her lies, something that shouldn't have been stated to begin with!!!! and you expect full payment made by cash or cashiers check or postal money order (NO CHECKS!!!!!) something that is just as good as cash or cash itself ONLY!!! and give her a deadline of January 1st or whatever you want to do... I'd give her until January 1st, 2007, and tell her if it's not paid in full legal action will be taken. Include a copy of the signed contract with the payment guidelines highlighted where it says payment due upon delivery or no later then or whatever it says.... It's a signed contract and you can take her to court for it and win icon_smile.gif

As for the website just contact the administrator and ask that they be removed if they are still a problem to you icon_smile.gif

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kelleym Posted 13 Dec 2006 , 8:44pm
post #26 of 39

I agree with the others: DO NOT drop the debt owed, and DO NOT write a nasty-gram! You are a professional, so hold yourself above her level.

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andrea7 Posted 13 Dec 2006 , 9:04pm
post #27 of 39

I'm just so tired of the situation I find myself just wanting to be free from this dumb girl and forget about the money ($75.00). I want to have a good Christmas and forget her. Is that wrong?

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doescakestoo Posted 13 Dec 2006 , 9:27pm
post #28 of 39

I have had a simular situation, foregiveness is a blessing not all can give. I have asked someone (who has posted here- but live near me) to accept my apoligy for something I said and she has refused. She calles herself a "Christian" but cant forgive. So if you can forgive her lies do it. You will live longer than she. She will rot with guilt for the lies. ( PS I did not lie too or about her. I just said something to her that was told to me about her and she blew up at me for even saying it - thought she would of liked to know what was being said about her. I know better now. I won't say anything to her about what is being said about her again. Bad or good) If you can forgive her debt then you are a BETTER person than she that owes you.

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kelleym Posted 13 Dec 2006 , 9:32pm
post #29 of 39

I just don't think this is an issue of being a "Christian" or not. Businesses need income to survive. They don't go around forgiving debts just because they want to be better than their clients.

It's understandable if you just want to be done with it. Forgiving the debt is your choice, but if you'd really like to put it behind you for the holidays, I would drop it entirely...no letter, no nothing. Just move on and enjoy your family and friends during this wonderful season. icon_biggrin.gif

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RisqueBusiness Posted 13 Dec 2006 , 9:34pm
post #30 of 39
Quote:
Originally Posted by andrea7

I'm just so tired of the situation I find myself just wanting to be free from this dumb girl and forget about the money ($75.00). I want to have a good Christmas and forget her. Is that wrong?




no not wrong, but ...if you get the money fine..if not...I don't know what to tell you except to wait till after the holidays and take her to small claims court.

if she pays you before that...buy yourself something utterly useless that you can enjoy!!!

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