My question is I set up a cake yesterday It was 4 tiers when i went to set the 3rd one on the 2nd one on the back side crashed then the 3rd fell after i calmed my self i unstacked and put 3rd tier in box which was not completely ruined i then replaced that one with the top one put it all together with finishing touches and from the front you could not tell anything happened waited around for more than an hour and all was fine the Mother came in and said don't worry things happen I asked the mom if she wanted me to slice the one I put in the box and she did my question is how much do I refund her all it, half it, she did not loose any servings but it just looked like poop from a portion in the back from the front you could not tell anything happend thanks for in put

I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry it happened and it sounds like a nice save (do you have any pics to post?). I don't really think that you should refund anything, instead maybe offer a discount on her next cake.

Gail

(2nd time trying this post ... lost the first one! )

This happened to me once. The car in front of me slammed on their brakes, which meant I slammed on my brakes. The bottom tier separated .... top layer separated from the bottom layer. Post-mortem cake-autopsy indicated I had too much filling in there (but the brake slamming didn't help!)

I was able to set up the top 3 tiers. Showed the bride and the mom what happened and told them I would refund $200, which was the value of the bottom tier (why was it the BIGGEST tier that got messed up? ) but while it was not pretty, it was still servable and we would cut it in the kitchen and serve it.

They were AWESOME about the whole thing! Man, if you ever have a cake problem, these are the type of people you want it to happen with! Mom tipped my catering crew $200 and when I said, "Are you SURE? I mean, I messed up your cake!", she said everything was great, the guests were very happy, and we handled a problem very well.

It was the best PR money I ever spent.

I know there is much to be said for "well, they ate the cake", but there is a fine line (that's sometimes hard for me to find, too). My bride ordered a 4 tier cake to display for her wedding guests. She got a 3 tier and basically a sheet cake. It's not what she ordered. I would not have felt right NOT giving a refund.

Sometimes it's a hard call. So I'm just sharing one of my experiences with you.

(Psssst! Yes, I gave my staff the $200 tip ... and took the $200 loss on my sales/profit. They earned it.)

thank you for the help I have never had this happen and just did not know what to do. I going to refund her for the tier that I sliced I have worried all weekend that what if it fell again after we left . have not talked to any one yet.
I do have Pictures but have trouble posting my files are always to large sorry