This past weekend I had an order from a previous client.
The theme was "Surfer".

She wanted a cake for 60 people plus delivery.
I charged her $2/ per slice (Butter Cream) and $20 delivery charge.
Total: $140.

This is her e-mail:
"The cake was great Nathalie, but I want to be brutally honest with you being that I am a good customer. That cake was not worth $140.00. I think that it was way to expensive for the quality of the decoration. I am so sorry.
Melissa"

Do you think I charged her a fair price? Do you think my cake was nice?? What should I do and how should I respond?? I think that I did charge very fairly and even told her since she was a loyal customer, I would giver her 20% off her next order! now she's not happy...

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1234992

She got what she paid for. This is fair market value for 60 servings. This is on the low side.

What annoys me about stuff like this is I'm sure she discussed it w/people who have no clue. Sure if that was an 8" cake $140 for that decor would be pretty steep. But for 60 servings. A 20% off coupon is a very nice gesture.

See she's been asking people do you think that design is worth $140. It's what the design is sitting on that's worth $140 --the design is a great beach scene. Sand and water hello, great fabulous beachy accoutrements. You want Annete Funicello and Frankie Avalon at Beach Party Boogie you pay another $140.

I mean this is a standard priced cake in that there are no orchid groves or bird of paradise arrangements. You're fine. No, you're awesome.

PS praying about your possible new gig--just didn't post on the other thread

Did she ever say exactly how she wanted it? I think it's always hard to do a cake w/o any real direction and then get feedback only after the fact.

The cake seems in line w/your other cakes, so it's not like you were slacking or anything like that.

Oh, and yes, I like your cake.

I'm not sure where to go with it now.

Well, first she had only given me like 3 or 4 days notice.

I sent her some pictures for ideas and she liked one of them. Then she said, "Just decorate it how you like- I trust your judgement."
I didn't copy the cake because that's not right either.

When I delivered the cake, I did get some compliments on how nice it was from her sister. And when she gave me the money, she didn't tell me anything negative about the cake.

Ok.. Here are my thoughts...

First of all the cake is lovely

2nd of all it's a double layer sheet cake... serving 60 people...

When I do sheetcakes and they say they want filling I torte the sheetcake and charge them accordingly for the filling... So say it were a 9 x 13 which (I have changed my prices) would cost her 45.00.. plus filling another charge of 10.00.. (trouble of torting and filling plus the cost of ingredients for the filling).. But for my sheetcakes I do just charge a flat rate (like I said with filling would be an extra charge). If I did some ornate decos. I would charge for that also. (I do charge also if they want actually 2 sheetcakes on top of each other instead of filling on.. )

Maybe she expected a flat rate on different sized sheetcakes? I dunno people are crazy

I would maybe give her 15% off her next order and explain to her the costs and whatnot. Thats only cause shes a good customer of yours...
I think your cake is cute! Maybe next time she'll be more spacific about what she wants.

Word to everything k8memphis said.

Your cake is very, very nice. $2/serving is a very low price for a custom cake. She got EXACTLY what she paid for.

I wouldn't even offer a discount on a future cake. She's not the kind of customer I would want to work for again.

Thank you all for your help and suggestions...

I don't mean to sound conceited and all, but I think the cake came out nice! I did reply to her e-mail:

"Hi Melissa:

I'm sorry you feel that way and I know that you have been such a great customer.
I charged you $2/per serving (I usually charge $2.25/per serving), time & labor, and delivery.
I made the cake for 60 servings :$2 X 60= $120.
Then it was a $20 delivery charge.
Total: $140

I appreciate that you have always been such a faithful client and I am willing to give you 15% off your next order.
Again, I apologize and I hope that we will do business again."

And she always orders the same flavors: Chocolate & Vanilla with a chocolate chip cookie dough filling...

Thanks for all your help, everyone. I know that i wasn't going crazy or something!

Whoo hooo! Famousamous for the win! Hahaha!

I think you did a great job on that cake. Its kind of hard to meet everyones expecations. People are kind of crazy now adays and expect you to guess what picture they see in their head.

UPDATE:

Well, after I sent her that e-mail she never responded...until 2 days after asking for another cake!

The cake is for 75 people, beach ball theme, and for her friend.
Well, I made it..it's in my gallery.

I just find it very humorous that one day she's complaining about the cake and then two days after, she orders another one! WHATEVER!!

congrats on getting the repeat order!!

Cake civilians just don't understand, and that's logical ... they don't live and breathe this like we do.

Had a lady stop in the shop yesterday, shopping for her baby's first birthday (coming in October). She relayed a story about a cake she got at another bakery in town that wasn't what she wanted. She then complained because it was $140 ".... and it didn't feed that many!" The cake was a water scene with a mermaid on it. I told her, "When you're getting a cake like that, you're not paying for the number of servings .... you're not paying for the cake .... you're paying for the skill to create that mermaid."

She held her hand above the counter and said, "But it was only this big!" I said, "Doesnt' matter. I've made cakes that only served 20 that I charged $200 for .... you're not paying for the cake; you're paying for the art. You cant' just whip out a mermaid 3-D cake out of a pan in 20 minutes. It takes a real skill and talent to make that. THAT'S what your'e paying for."

Not sure if she got it or not, but at least I made my effort to educate the masses!

was it stated already what size the cake was? i didn't see it in the tread.

The first one fed 60.