I wanted THANK YOU ALL for giving me your opinions. I do want to keep my policy to deter "sp" ppl from being late. I guess I could have called her but I didnt. bad judgement on my part perhaps. I guess next time 10 minutes into someone being late give them a little call.
That's probably best. And I think you said you let them know about the rescheduling fee right off the bat? And that you only wait 20 minutes for people to show up?
Anyway, I am chronically late, and I would probably just pay the fee. Well, if I had your number I would have phoned to say I was on the way, so hopefully it would have been okay, but I would understand about the fee and probably felt I deserved it. Especially if I knew you were waiting at the location just for me and twiddling your thumbs. You said you had orders for the next day, so yes, I can see how you need to stick to a stricter schedule.
It would seem to me that if pymt is due on a certain date, that I would have until midnight, basically, to pay that.... it might be good to sign up for Paypal or something so that if somebody can't make the mtg that you can still collect a last minute payment.
My policies for party cakes are usually about $50 down (or half for smaller orders) and the rest upon pickup. Larger orders they pay about $50 down and the rest 10 days before the order is due, which can be paid online or via check, dropped off or mailed in time to make the due date. I do send a reminder about a week before the due date. I did have a lady pay a day late one time (she fudged, she sent the check on the due date...bad lady!) but since she did have the check postmarked, I let it slide this time. I figure I'm getting the money....as long as its not a habit, lets keep everybody happy.
I do feel that the 20 minutes late thing was expecting a little too much...at least in this area, people are late (or even early!!!) all the time for cake pickups. Wasting a half hour of my time is annoying but on the other hand its a small price to pay for being able to work this job at home with my kids and be my own boss, and make my own schedule. Ya know? Whenever I get grumpy about it, I remind myself that. haha.
I do understand following procedure, but unless you were clear that 10am was the absolute final deadline for payment, I do think you may have expected a teeny bit too much.....but hey all's well that ends well, I assume. Happy baking!
I have to agree with the origional poster. She was upfront about being on time, even talked to the customer that morning. If customer would of later said, well husband is running late can we still do it this am, fine, but she said he wasn't even coming that day she thought it was tomorrow. You have this happen to you enough times its just not worth the wasted time you could have been working on other orders, and is just plain rude of the cutomer. A ten dollar rescheduling fee is not outlandish by any means and a small price to pay for someones wasted time waiting around for someone who is not going to show up!! This is after all a business.
They could have called her with an excuse before the scheduled meeting time if something came up. I think refurring it to being a cake nazi is pretty harsh. My time is worth something, and if people have an I don't care attitute about showing up, then a small fee will maybe teach them to next time take a scheduled meeting seriously.JMHO
lori
I can understand what everyone is saying regarding some flexibility...but it seems to me a few things are to be said...
First of all, the cake was ordered a month ahead of time. She called the woman (unless I read it wrong) prior to the appointment and the woman called her ON THE DAY OF THE APPOINTMENT and said her husband would be by.
She let them all know her policy including the rescheduling fee ahead of time. and like she said, she has to meet them at a neutral place (which if she already met the lady once, the lady knew this) and she schedules the appointments 30 minutes apart.
Most doctor's offices have a sign now that reads if you are more than 10 (or 15 or 20) minutes late for your appointment, you will be charged $25 and have to reschedule.
It's true that her customer could go elsewhere for the cake, but it's inconsiderate of her time for them to not even bother to call to say they were running late. They lady was quick to call her after receiving the email...so her phone was working, and she apparently knew the number.
I guess I can see both sides of this, but I'm thinking like others said that's why we have policies. Special situations (like many no shows) would make a person want to institute a policy like this.
That's my opinion at least. I don't know about OP, but I have kids, and will be baking from home...sometimes it's hard to schedule child care etc and then have someone flake...that probably cost OP money...I would be upset about that and want to pass it on. Now...if there were a legitimate reason for being late (or even a believable one) I would be a little lenient...but considering the woman confirmed a day or two before and then day of...her reason sounded like BS to me.
but I have kids, and will be baking from home...sometimes it's hard to schedule child care etc and then have someone flake...that probably cost OP money...I would be upset about that and want to pass it on. Now...if there were a legitimate reason for being late (or even a believable one) I would be a little lenient...but considering the woman confirmed a day or two before and then day of...her reason sounded like BS to me.
Yep I have three kids.
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