So this lady called me about a bridal shower cake she wanted me to make for an office party. She has ordered a cake from me before...a bassinet cake for twins (in my pics) for which I charged her $50. When I told her the price she was completely surprized and excited because she thought it would cost a lot more. I told her that she had asked for a cake to serve 25 people, so at $2 a serving it was $50.

So anyways she calls me about this bridal shower cake for 40 people. It was a buttercream sheetcake with a bouquet (similar to the wilton best wishes cake) and she wanted tons of roses, about 100 to 150. I said no problem and then she asked me what the price was. I told her $80. Well she freaked, and not in a good way. After a long drawn out and frankly quite rude conversation she cancelled the order.

My thought is where was her common sense? She said her budget was $50 for the cake, but she ordered on twice as big as the previous on which she paid $50 for. Wouldn't you think that it would cost more b/c it was bigger? Did she think all my cakes cost $50?!?!?!?!

Any thoughts? Sorry so long...needed to vent

common sense isn't all that common! *shaking head* I'm wondering if it ever was...

Stupid people shouldn't breed. (sorry, I'm just in that kind of mood tonight)

someone failed mathematics.

Because people go math-dumb when it comes to food! All she knows is that she got a cake from you for fifty bucks .... so this one is twice as big! Gosh, THAT shouldn't make a price difference, should it??

And even tho' I dont' charge extra for design elements, I think I WOULD tack on an extra fee for over 100 BC roses.

people would make life easier if they brought all the cards to the table from the beginning. The aggravation could have been avoided if she would have said that she only had a 50.00 budget.

Getting upset because you are charging what you deserve (and you weren't even charging extra for the flowers) is ridiculous.

People do not know how much work is involved and with the price of supplies going up. The price we charge will have to increase.

I'm new on here but I had to reply to this topic. These people are the same ones that think the cakes you make should be the same price as walmart. Someone once told me that they didn't want to buy a cake from Walmart because it was $30 and wanted me to make a cake the EXACT same as walmart for cheaper. If I wanted to make walmart cakes I would be working there!

I've gotten to the point where I have almost always started asking what is your budget. Saves me and them both time.

Common sense went out the door, what happens is that people think cake is cake , no biggy , what are they thinking

I had the exact same thing happen. I had a woman order a cake that looked like a large cupcake. It only served 30 and it was all BC. So, I only charged $60. A couple months later she orders a 2 tier cake. She wanted superheroes on it and a city scape in the background. So, the buildings were fondant standing on the side of the cake and the 4 superheroes were sugar cookies with edible images on it (Kinda based on a Wilton Cake). It served 60. I was more than generous and gave her a price of $130. (I got an enormous amount of referrals from her, so I thought I was giving her a good price). Her husband about flipped. And she wasn't too happy about it either. I just flat out told her to go ask another decorator/bakery to do the same design for any less. She wouldn't find anyone. She had me do the cake anyway.
Some people really have no clue how much time goes into these cakes.

Think about it - when people go to a restaurant and order a specialty meal or order something custom made, do they haggle with the price? No! They pay up without any question. So why should we, being decorators making custom designs, lower our prices for them. I'm now at a point where if they don't like what I charge, I just politely tell them to find someone else to do it.

common what??

So the lady called me back. I didn't answer... she left a message that said the price was OUTRAGEOUS and that her office has decided to get a store bought cake, but that she would call me in the future.

I really feel like calling her back now and telling her that I can't compete with Wal-Mart prices but then again I don't serve cakes frozen for upteen weeks either. I know thats unprofessional, but shes pushing my buttons.

I don't think $80 is outrageous. In fact if it was anyone else I might have charged extra for all those roses, but she had already bought a cake from me a couple of weeks ago and I felt like she would keep coming back.

Why would she call me in the future?! I'm not going to drop my prices, especially now when every ingredient of cakes has skyrocketed in the grocery store.

If she finds your prices so outrageous, why will she call you again for future orders? Maybe she think you'll learn your lesson and lower them Some people puzzle me to no end.

Yeah, this lady's goofy!

Personally, since she left you a VM - I would just leave it. If she had sent you an email, I would respond something along the lines of, "It's unfortunate we could work together on this cake, but no worries. I understand that sometimes that party budgets just won't allow a custom cake."

THEN, IF calls in the future, tell her right off the bat, "I know there was some confusion last time over price. So, just to let know, currently my prices are $xx per slice."

I taught a "cake decorating for dummies" after work last week. I taught them how to ice a cake, how to fill a cake and how to make roses...the girls were all amazed a how easy it all looked, but how hard it was for them to do it. It may have been the best thing I've done, because now these gals understand why cakes cost what they cost!!

Or, if you're feeling really snippy (like me...), you could say,

"I've actually had to reassess costs and raise my prices recently, so it's probably better for you to go ahead and order your cake at WM," implying in a nice way that she probably can't afford you anyway...heh heh.

(BTW, I'd $140.00 for 40 servings ALONE. The 100-150 BC roses would be charged separately.)

It's not common sense. My DH calls it "yanking" when people do that: They (in a nice way) threaten to take their business somewhere else, hoping that you'll freak out and cave in and say "Oh yes, I'll do it for $50. Just don't cancel the order." ...so we always "yank" back and tell them (in a nice way) to please, by all means, do go somewhere else. lol

The only difference is that, when they change their mind and want to come back, we're conveniently booked for their date, any date.

Common sense? Is that something you're supposed to have?!

I think its awful that we have to keep coming back to this topic. People just have no clue. I think you are being generous in offering her a cake that's going to feed twice the amount of people for that price. Not to mention 100-150 buttercream roses.

Don't reply to her message. Its not worth it. When she calls for a "future" order make sure you increase your price. Then tell her that custom work calls for custom pricing.

If only we could come up with a great way to screen our customers.....!!!!!!!

Oh and don't worry, I was never going to call her back...I was just venting! Need to do that sometimes ya know?

I sometimes think that common sense has walked hand-in-hand with good manners off into the sunset because it's getting harder and harder to find people with one, let alone both, of those things. People seem to be getting more clueless by the minute. *Sigh*