Ever Have One Of Those Customers?

Decorating By tripleD Updated 2 Feb 2009 , 8:21pm by Amia

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tripleD Posted 30 Jan 2009 , 11:25pm
post #1 of 56

vent vent vent ...... O.K. Ever have one of those customers that when the phone rings and you hear that voice .....agh!! I have always gone out of my way to please my customers but this one just won't go away!
I have over priced and she still keeps coming back. Shes places a order and its like two weeks before its needed and she calls me everyday.Asks if I have tought about making her cake. What I have in mind,can she change the color or Oh I seen this on TV. can I do this or that.. Agh!!!!
The last cake was for a baby shower. I think she called 20 times in a two week span.agh!! She just called for valentines day. I told her I was booked. So she is ordering for the wed. before I priced so hugh this time I hope she don't come back.. I hate to be mean but agh!!!! thanks for letting me vent!!

55 replies
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chutzpah Posted 30 Jan 2009 , 11:29pm
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Oh my.... I feel your pain.

I had one customer who called three times a week for five months before her wedding, asking how the cake was going. Um........ it's NOT (yet), since your weddings is MONTHS away.

Duh.

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diamondsonblackvelvet13 Posted 30 Jan 2009 , 11:42pm
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OHHHHH! I had one of these! For the slice of cake cake I made last week. The day I was working on it she called, and texted, and called. She wanted to know what color it was (after giving me free reign), how I was going to make it, how was it going to look chocolate. I wanted to STRANGLE her! I ended up turning my fone off.

People like this are SO annoying!

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ILE Posted 30 Jan 2009 , 11:56pm
post #4 of 56

people like that i don't bake for..that's a headache i don't need ..

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bellsnbows Posted 31 Jan 2009 , 12:04am
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i know exactly what you mean!! i have one that makes me cringe when i see her on caller id! so one day i decided not to even answer the phone. then, i am not joking, she literally hangs up and calls back and hangs up and calls back and hangs up and calls back, OVER AND OVER for 10 minutes straight! then she calls my home phone and starts doing the same thing. I had over 20 misses calls from her in 15 minutes. i mean seriously woman, i will call you back when i have time!!! i was so mad i never called her back.
then, once she called for an anniversary party and wanted an EXACT replica of the wedding and groom's cake. she was very insistent that it had to be EXACTLY like the original. so i told her to send me the picture and i'd be happy to do it for her. um, pictures, we don't have any pictures!! she tried to describe it to me, NIGHTMARE! i worked for hours drawing up sketches and learning how to do the 3-D groom's cake. the week of this party i hadn't heard from her and started to get worried. i had turned down several other orders for hers. i could not find her number anywhere (guess i decided not to worry about it since i knew she would be calling 90 billion times!) it finally dawned on me where to find it, by phone bill (just found the number that called 10,000 times in a row!). i called her and she said oh, yea we had to cancel that!!! i was gonna call you but....(get this)....i couldn't find your number!!!!! but of course she found it again the next time she wanted a cake!!!
2 lessons learned: always get a deposit and i'm always booked when i see that number!

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Deb_ Posted 31 Jan 2009 , 12:15am
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2 words............Caller I.D., (well technically the second is an abbreviation.) icon_wink.gif

She can't talk to ya if you don't ever answer.....eventually they get the hint.

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linstead Posted 31 Jan 2009 , 12:16am
post #7 of 56

Oh ladies thanks for making me laugh big time after a very long work week !!! not to make light of your plight but that is soooooooooo bad. I have to sya I have never had anyone like that ever and hope I never do!

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tripleD Posted 31 Jan 2009 , 12:23am
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hey she just called back. I told the kids if they see this caller not to answer.. My husband just walked in the door from work guess who answered the phone.... She wanted to know if she ordered roses do they all have to be red...(valentines day order that is what she wanted ) I told her fifty cents for every color change hahaha... she said Okay.....Then she said she'll call me back tommorrow..agh!!!

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cakesbycathy Posted 31 Jan 2009 , 12:33am
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If you haven't received her deposit yet I would tell her you are now booked for the day.

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heavenlys Posted 31 Jan 2009 , 12:58am
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I had a lady calling the bakery earlier this week wanting to come in a speak with the decorator to design the a cake for her childs first bday. My PITA radar went off and when she finally came in and requested a 2 ft tall 3d carved monkey cake for Valentine's day I told her I was sorry I would not be able to do that on such a busy day. She then said what about earlier inthe week I & I then apologized saying that I don't take any carved cakes for that week becasue we are extremely busy and carved cakes take waaaaaay to long.

She left in a huff because she strikes me as someone that has never been told no. The only other bakery choice is a grocery store. An hour later she called to talk to the owner and my hubby answered and she preceeded to tell him that I was so rude!!! & she was gonna tell ALL her friends that. Pretty sure telling someone no is not rude but maybe I am mistaken. Thank God my radar was workin cuz I think I avoided a major pain.
And as her friends she says they come to us all the time. If that is true they will know that I am not rude and ususally go out of my way to satisfy my customers. But my new years resolution this year was to listen to my PITA radar and avoid some of them this year. Everytime I have had a difficult bride or customer I can see them coming so I am going to try to lessen my stress by being busy when they come to call.

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Deb_ Posted 31 Jan 2009 , 2:48am
post #11 of 56
Quote:
Originally Posted by heavenlys

I had a lady calling the bakery earlier this week wanting to come in a speak with the decorator to design the a cake for her childs first bday. My PITA radar went off and when she finally came in and requested a 2 ft tall 3d carved monkey cake for Valentine's day I told her I was sorry I would not be able to do that on such a busy day. She then said what about earlier inthe week I & I then apologized saying that I don't take any carved cakes for that week becasue we are extremely busy and carved cakes take waaaaaay to long.

She left in a huff because she strikes me as someone that has never been told no. The only other bakery choice is a grocery store. An hour later she called to talk to the owner and my hubby answered and she preceeded to tell him that I was so rude!!! & she was gonna tell ALL her friends that. Pretty sure telling someone no is not rude but maybe I am mistaken. Thank God my radar was workin cuz I think I avoided a major pain.
And as her friends she says they come to us all the time. If that is true they will know that I am not rude and ususally go out of my way to satisfy my customers. But my new years resolution this year was to listen to my PITA radar and avoid some of them this year. Everytime I have had a difficult bride or customer I can see them coming so I am going to try to lessen my stress by being busy when they come to call.




I wonder what her response would have been if your husband had said "OK, we'll do your cake the price will be $1000.00" icon_lol.gif

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SecretAgentCakeBaker Posted 31 Jan 2009 , 4:15am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dkelly27

She can't talk to ya if you don't ever answer.....eventually they get the hint.




Nope, they immediately hang up the phone, hop in their car and speed right over to your house, then call from their cell phone while parked in your driveway, and when you don't answer the phone, they come to the door.

Yep, I've had this happen to me several times.

They never do get the hint. icon_mad.gif

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Carson Posted 31 Jan 2009 , 4:34am
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I had someone email me last night and asked if my cakes were edible...ummmm...<<insert some sarcastic comment here>>

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adunfag Posted 31 Jan 2009 , 4:35am
post #14 of 56

LOL, some ppl!

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arosstx Posted 31 Jan 2009 , 4:38am
post #15 of 56

I had a bride do this to me once. Booked the cake, called every two weeks until a month before the wedding. Then she called every week until a week before the wedding. Then she called almost every day that week.

When I got home from delivering her cake (it's the 4 tiered square white w/ black scrolls and fresh red roses, delivered in August in 107 heat), my husband tells me she called while I was gone to make sure I was bringing her cake!

....she's lucky I didn't find that out until AFTER the cake was delivered....

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heavenlys Posted 31 Jan 2009 , 2:09pm
post #16 of 56
Quote:
Originally Posted by dkelly27

Quote:
Originally Posted by heavenlys

I had a lady calling the bakery earlier this week wanting to come in a speak with the decorator to design the a cake for her childs first bday. My PITA radar went off and when she finally came in and requested a 2 ft tall 3d carved monkey cake for Valentine's day I told her I was sorry I would not be able to do that on such a busy day. She then said what about earlier inthe week I & I then apologized saying that I don't take any carved cakes for that week becasue we are extremely busy and carved cakes take waaaaaay to long.

She left in a huff because she strikes me as someone that has never been told no. The only other bakery choice is a grocery store. An hour later she called to talk to the owner and my hubby answered and she preceeded to tell him that I was so rude!!! & she was gonna tell ALL her friends that. Pretty sure telling someone no is not rude but maybe I am mistaken. Thank God my radar was workin cuz I think I avoided a major pain.
And as her friends she says they come to us all the time. If that is true they will know that I am not rude and ususally go out of my way to satisfy my customers. But my new years resolution this year was to listen to my PITA radar and avoid some of them this year. Everytime I have had a difficult bride or customer I can see them coming so I am going to try to lessen my stress by being busy when they come to call.



I wonder what her response would have been if your husband had said "OK, we'll do your cake the price will be $1000.00" icon_lol.gif




That's funny! That is definitely something DH would do too. He is willing to sacrifice my sanity for the almighty dollar icon_smile.gif He is not the one who has to deal with t he crazies or their cakes! Never fear I torture him every minute of it.

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Cakechick123 Posted 31 Jan 2009 , 4:13pm
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I cut mine loose this week. Had this bride that called me wanting a quote, but she didnt have a design yet. I gave her a low and high estimate. So then she found a design she liked with loads of flowers, so the quote ended up at the high end of the estimate, out of her budget. She then kept on emailing me different designs, and as soon as she hit the send button, phoned me as well to tell me that the mail is ont he way and could I quote her quick. We finally settled on a cake that was in her budget, and I breathed a sigh of relief, then the calls started again, she saw a cake that was the same size as I quoted her and h2b wasnt happy, he wanted it bigger... but not a bigger price, I had to do the bigger cake for the same price... Said poor bride in a whiney voice "you already gave me a price, how can it change" then wanted to start emailing designs aagain. So before I got on the merry-go-round a second time I told her that I dont thin Im the cake person for her, and gave her a couple of other people to go and bug. I must say there was this shocked silence on the other side of that phone icon_lol.gif

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tripleD Posted 31 Jan 2009 , 4:55pm
post #18 of 56
Quote:
Originally Posted by riana

I told her that I dont think Im the cake person for her, and gave her a couple of other people to go and bug. I must say there was this shocked silence on the other side of that phone icon_lol.gif




love it... I would have liked to see the look on her face.. thumbs_up.gif


THANK YOU ALL... You made me feel better and now I can laugh that everyone has a critter like that..hahaha

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Deb_ Posted 31 Jan 2009 , 5:19pm
post #19 of 56

I like to call them High Maintenance Pains in the Image Sorry, I've been dying to use this one ever since I found it!

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meganmo27 Posted 31 Jan 2009 , 8:38pm
post #20 of 56

I had a mom who ordered a princess castle cake call, text or email me every day for 2 weeks until the day of the delivery. Then, the day of the delivery she called my phone 2 times to make sure that I was really bringing the cake. Wow!

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Mac Posted 1 Feb 2009 , 3:40am
post #21 of 56

Oh my gosh--just had one of these this week. I quoted the cake price, then she calls about the topper (it was a wedding shower cake), wanting fresh flowers and what color would they be, what kind of flowers would they be so she could coordinate...

Called her back to tell her that the price that I quoted did not include the cost of a fresh flower topper--it was for the cake only and ALL toppers were extra $. Well, she told me the last cake I made for her with fresh flowers was only $45.00....4 YEARS AGO!!!! and she only wanted to spend about that much this year. We went to Walmart and found a bouquet of white flowers for $5.00.

When cake was delivered, the host (the lady that ordered the cake) had her house decorated like a wedding--complete with chair covers, mirrors on the table, silver cake plateau.... icon_confused.gif

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Honeychild Posted 1 Feb 2009 , 6:11am
post #22 of 56
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carson

I had someone email me last night and asked if my cakes were edible...ummmm...<<insert some sarcastic comment here>>



OMG, too funny! Maybe they just couldn't imagine that cakes that beautiful could be eaten!

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dg10148 Posted 1 Feb 2009 , 6:33am
post #23 of 56

dkelly27 That is too funny

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Bunsen Posted 1 Feb 2009 , 7:00am
post #24 of 56

In some industries you can charge the client for your time when they phone you - think we could get away with that?!

Quote:
Quote:

Carson wrote:
I had someone email me last night and asked if my cakes were edible...ummmm...<<insert some sarcastic comment here>>




Too funny, I hope you told them you charge extra for edible cake!

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cakesbycathy Posted 1 Feb 2009 , 4:04pm
post #25 of 56

For those that have clients that call repeatedly after they placed the order - after about the 2nd or 3rd call I think I would put my foot down. I would very politely say that if you do not have confidence in me to create the cake we discussed then you should find another baker. If you want me to make your cake then please stop calling me and trust that I will provide you with an amazing cake. Grown-up should not need hand holding like this, even if it is a wedding cake.

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indydebi Posted 1 Feb 2009 , 4:53pm
post #26 of 56
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bunsen

In some industries you can charge the client for your time when they phone you - think we could get away with that?!

Quote:
Quote:

Carson wrote:
I had someone email me last night and asked if my cakes were edible...ummmm...<<insert some sarcastic comment here>>



Too funny, I hope you told them you charge extra for edible cake!




"Ohhhhhhhhhh!!! You want an EDIBLE cake. Wow, that's a new one on me! I never thought about if my cakes should actually be EDIBLE or not." icon_eek.gif

File it under "things I WISH I could really say!"

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Janette Posted 1 Feb 2009 , 5:13pm
post #27 of 56
Quote:
Originally Posted by riana

I cut mine loose this week. Had this bride that called me wanting a quote, but she didnt have a design yet. I gave her a low and high estimate. So then she found a design she liked with loads of flowers, so the quote ended up at the high end of the estimate, out of her budget. She then kept on emailing me different designs, and as soon as she hit the send button, phoned me as well to tell me that the mail is ont he way and could I quote her quick. We finally settled on a cake that was in her budget, and I breathed a sigh of relief, then the calls started again, she saw a cake that was the same size as I quoted her and h2b wasnt happy, he wanted it bigger... but not a bigger price, I had to do the bigger cake for the same price... Said poor bride in a whiney voice "you already gave me a price, how can it change" then wanted to start emailing designs aagain. So before I got on the merry-go-round a second time I told her that I dont thin Im the cake person for her, and gave her a couple of other people to go and bug. I must say there was this shocked silence on the other side of that phone icon_lol.gif




I had to do the same thing. I should have paid attention when my radar went up. After 8 cake samples and then her asking for the samples again because the soon-to-be Groom hadn't gotten around to tasting them the first couple of days and she wanted him to taste them while they were fresh. I just told her I didn't think I was the right baker for her and she may want to keep looking. I feel sorry for the one that did her order.

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something_sweet Posted 1 Feb 2009 , 5:23pm
post #28 of 56

I had a lady who (apparently was planning her daughters wedding for her) called me to discuss some options. She hadn't even booked with me yet, but called and emailed me multiple times a day for a week, and the wedding was over a year away! She said that her daughter wanted a cookie cake instead of a wedding cake because she doesn't like cake. Then she came back and said that she wanted cookie made from a cake mix. (??!!??- That's right, she doesn't like cake?!?) Finally, after her changing her mind 50 times in 1 week, she asked me to make a large "wedding cookie" but she was going to make individual cookies for the guests. I told her that I have a minimum order, and do not serve my cakes in situations like that. Truth was, I didn't want to work with her anyway, I could see her calling me every week for the next 18 months!

I know the people who are catering her (daughters) wedding and they told me that she called and emailed them almost every day for a month, until the one owner finally told her that she had other customers and was busy. I don't think they have heard from her since!

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Janette Posted 1 Feb 2009 , 9:11pm
post #29 of 56

That brings up something that has been on my mind. I always here the bride say what she likes. I'm I wrong to think that maybe they should think what their guest want?

I have a bride that ordered a Wedding cake to have at her reception that they will cut for pictures then it will be taken away to be served at a brunch the next day.

I got up the nerve to ask if they were concerned that the guest at the receiption will be disappointed not to have a slice of cake. They let me know they didn't care that's how they want it.

Then there are the brides that order the entire cake in the flavor they want (sometimes an unusal flavor), I suggest they have one tier in that flavor and make the other tiers in flavors that majority seems to like. It's usually a no go.

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indydebi Posted 1 Feb 2009 , 10:46pm
post #30 of 56
Quote:
Originally Posted by Janette

That brings up something that has been on my mind. I always here the bride say what she likes. I'm I wrong to think that maybe they should think what their guest want?




More than one bride has heard my "zilla speech" when they start this. I lean back, arms crossed, look at them over my gramma glasses, and in my BEST exaggerated Paula Deen accent, I have told them:

"You may think this day is all about you, but it's not (and really drag out the word "not"). See, while you are exchanging your vows, it IS about you, but once you walk down the steps of the church, you are now hosting a very large event and you have guests to take care of, and we ARE going to take care of them. Now .... what flavors do you think your GUESTS will enjoy?" (smile sweetly, sit back and wait).

I've had mothers actually applaud me after I make this speech! icon_biggrin.gif

I have also told couples, when they comment "I don't LIKE this or that flavor", I tell them, "well, there are 98 other people who are going to share in your cake ... what do you think they might enjoy?" Or I tell them, "You're not the only one eating the cake, darlin', so we can make the top tier just for you, but let's be considerate of what your guests will enjoy."

I understand that I have a personality that allows me to "get by" with saying things like this that others couldn't ... but trust me, I DO understand it and I use it to my advantage.

As I've said .... the reason I don't dye my hair is for marketing .... because no one ever won an argument against a Southern Gramma! icon_twisted.gif And I can do Southern Gramma REALLY well! icon_rolleyes.gif

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