At this point, I wouldn't put anything in writing to her, not in an email, not on her facebook, no place. Those words could always be used to be posted against you to further inflame the issue. A phone call might be fine, but don't put anything in writing. If she put it on your wall, delete it so no one can read it. If it's on her wall, and there is a way of blocking it (don't know) do so, but if it's on your wall, you can delete from your facebook. Is she a good enough "friend" that you want to keep her on your facebook page? If not, delete her from your friends list so she can't post something directly to your page.

I've always heard that if you do something that pleases someone, they will tell their family and close friends.

If you do something they don't like, they will tell everyone they know.

Just human nature.

But it is also human nature to forget. So if you can put this out of your mind, and quit worrying, it will blow over.

I agree with Crownsj. I say by all means do not reply or contact her via Facebook, after all this is a business matter between you & her & not everone on her facebook friends list. Facebook is very useful and fun but it can also be the devil. The last thing you need is for your reply to be taken the wrong way & it blow up in your face & potentially run off persepective customers. I would deal with her in a very profession business manner & either call her directly to clear this issue up or email her. Sorry this happened to you & good luck with it.

I agree with smokeysmokerton.... we are all human and you will have to accept responsability every now and then when you are not able to deliver as promised...

Kiddiekakes: we can't expect that only the satisfied client will post a good review... that's what word of mouth does... u either have a good review or a bad review.... so if you decide to advertise in facebook... be prepared to take the good and the bad.... that's the way the cookie crumbles lol...

I think we have been able to see things from both perspectives here.... pick what you feel is best for your business without compromising your strong feeling about the issue and go with it...

Good Luck

If the comment is on your wall then delete the comment. Then send her an email apologizing again.

If the comment is on her wall, the I would comment underneath it how sorry you are and that you are sending her a private message. That way, people who see it will understand that you are trying to address the situation. Then email her with another apology.

I wouldn't delete the comment. Yet. Give it time. She has every right to be upset & give her opinion of your business. If you delete the comment, she may come back even stronger and make sure even more people know. I wouldn't say anything either, you're just inviting her to say more. Time heals all.

I have read everyones comments and I agree with some of them. I think that you should either call or email the client. If you are going to reply to the clients post on facebook I would make the post short and sweet. "I'm sorry for....(whatever) I will be contacting you shortly." However I would not delete the post if it's on your wall. It was mistake and we all make them. No one is perfect... When I purchase an item on ebay I always check the reviews from previous buyers. I personally like to see some negative comments on there. It shows me that they are not perfect and they are not immune to having an order go wrong. I think that the apology and discount on your behalf was a good deal, but keep in mind that the costumer is upset because they did not get the product that they agreed on and really had no time to get another cake or search for another alternative. Its ok for them to vent on FB.

I don't think that ONE bad comment will influence a whole lot of people... like it was said before... we are all human... things happen... u can't help getting sick... this will soon be a faded memory... you have a lot of good reviews...

if I saw that on someone that I wanted to order from... I would see that it's only an isolated event.... I would pay no mind...

Happy Monday!

thanks everyone for your opinions although I am now more confused than ever as what to do.

I wasn't sick and making a cake (I don't want others to get sick). It was a really bad cake day. My white cake is always great, but it totally crumbled on me, my fondant was acting up and it took forever. I lost a lot of time. I think I still could have delivered the cake on time with those issues.

But I did not do my homework good enough. I didn't try the luster dust beforehand to see that it was more yellow than gold and if I looked at the carriage more carefully I would have seen that there is a lot of thin rope work almost around everything on that carriage. It would have been better to get an extruder rather than doing it all by hand. I attached the wheels to the carriage with ri but it needs time to dry and the wheels kept falling. The curly cues at the front/back of the carriage were done and I made extra but even those broke on me. I was just ready to jump off the cliff.

The cake turned out good but didn't have all the bells and whistles on it which really made it. when I watched ultimate cake off last night, one of the guys said that he examined his cake to determine which were the focal points and necessary to have on that cake and then put everything else on priority. Instead of making the cakes and fillings and doing the flowers and leaves and running around getting that edible image I believe it would have been smart to make the carriage first for it was the star of the show.

I'm not making excuses and I was so upset mainly because I did put myself in her shoes and understood what that cake meant to her. She said she dreamed about that cake. I dreamed about that cake too. I was so excited to make it. I feel just awful that I let her down.

She said she would post pictures on Tuesday, so I will wait until I see them and the comments they receive. I will send a pic here so you can look at it too. It makes sense to me to wait for those pics.

90% of my business is from facebook and I get a lot of referrals too. Whatever I do now determines how I am perceived and I want to minimize the damage as best I can.

Sorry for the long winded explanation.

This might be off topic but why are you leaving your cakes that late? I make it a point to have my cake finished the afternoon before, that way if anything goes wrong I know at least 24 hours before its due.

Bake at least 2 days before, freeze if you have to. But if you are decorating the day of the party Murphy and his law will always come and bite you on the a**.

roweena, if the cake isnt due to till the avo i dont usually start decorating till that morning. only because im scared if i start earlier the cake wont be as fresh??

or am i just being pedantic?

ok, yea i ve never even attempted because ive been scared that it might. but ive had some of my cake that mum had for her bday after a few days and it was actually still very moist! thanks, i wont be so scared now! and i always think its easier to decorate at night when i dont have little hands around as well hahaha.

I'm sorry this happened to you. I agree that you should have had the cake finished the day before delivery. When I have multiple wedding cakes for Saturday I start on Tuesday. My cakes are scratch, covered in fondant and refrigerated and they are still just as fresh when they are delivered.

I do think you should acknowledge her post as some have said. Make it breif....apologize and let her know you will contact her to resolve the issue. That way people reading it know you are doing something to help correct the issue but the details don't need to be published on facebook.

I always get a cake done at least the day before its due, and on a busy week sometimes two days before its due. A few times its really helped if I've had stubborn gumpaste or fondant decorations that break or something!

The best time its helped is that one time I wrote down someone for a Saturday pickup. I had made a huge mistake and it was a Friday pickup! Thankfully the cake was DONE! I just had to quickly photograph it and package it up for the customer. Close call.

Anyway yeah its not good if the customer comes for the cake at a certain time and its not ready yet...yikes....sorry that happened to you.

Always have it done the day before! Saves a lot of stress.

Definitely don't comment on her fb page. You'd end up in a losing war of words. You'd be at the mercy of her friends and family and might get torn to shreds on the very medium you use to advertise, not good business. If you feel you need to talk with her, pick up the phone.

I am very sorry this happened to you. What ever you do - do not get spinned around by all the opinions here. I love CC, there's tons of experience to draw from here and most people are happy to share.

That being said...you have to live with you. You sound a bit like you are disappointed in yourself & just don't know how to make it up to this lady. AND, of course you're probably worried about your reputation.

I have always worked in some kind of service position. Retail in college. And, after college...much to my surprise, I ended up a financial analyst & still in a service position. I supported a sales department. I needed to give accurate and quick responses with regard to their "deals". High pressure & inevitably high risk for mistakes....

I know you must feel horrible about this. But, if I still felt bad about the situation I would (1) probably avoid FB all together as far as the commenting back - don't even acknowledge it, this is not a high school bicker game - don't reduce yourself to that. (2) Call her and let her know you'd be happy to mail her the balance she paid after the $100 discount. (3) Along with her check, I'd mail her a coupon/gift certificate for a free 8 inch cake or something.

After all that, I would HAVE TO let myself off the hook. Then, of course remember that I need work on time management. Everyone needs to work on something.

Definatly DO NOT respond to her on fb or otherwise. I have been there and done that, and would not again. I had a MOB that posted that her gumpaste roses were not at ordered and trash talked for three days. Can I say nightmare. I finally gave into tempation and replyed to the message. BIG mistake! Her friends started commenting for her (even though no one new the situation. *The roses that we made had 15 petals and she thought she would be getting more petals per flower. The roses were the correct size, but not the right number of petels. I never cound petals in a photo, who does. The bride even called to apologize to me for because of the way her mom was acting* After the bash on fb, one of the MOB's friends told me that she was sorry that she sided with the MOB, but they had been friends for 20 years, and she felt she needed to although she did not agree with the MOB. I let it die down for a week and then called the MOB to discuss the problem (she was also talking in the community) The next day she posted on fb that I had the nerve to call her after what I had done. LESSON LEARNED: Let sleeping dogs lie.

Sorry that it happened to you, but yes- don't leave your cake until the morning... thats when things will always go strong...
speaking of experience.
hope it all works out.
Jodi

The beauty of FB is that you can delete or hide any friend, comment, or wall posting you want. If you scroll over on a wall post to the far right of the post a "hide" button will appear. It will hide any and all posts from this person on your FB page. Now anyone who sees her actual page and is her friend will still see it, but if she went to your FB page and did a wall status you can hide it from your wall and no one who visits your page will see it. Now if it is a comment to a status post on your page you can simply delete the post and it will be gone forever and NO ONE will see it. HTH

Everyone has been extremely supportive and I'm grateful to receive all your comments and advice.

Cakesdivine thanks for the fb lesson. I was wondering whether I could do that or not.

Last night I kept looking at fb to see if there was anything else from her posted. the post was there early evening and then it disappeared. No comments or anything. I don't know if she just blocked me or it's totally gone. Do you know if she just blocked me and she's still out there and I don't know it? Wouldn't I have some sort of notification that I was deleted or not a friend anymore?

I am somewhat relieved though I really did want to see a pic of my own cake so I could get your opinions.

The decision to post something on FB is gone, whew!! In a couple days I will email her. Something - when her husband came to pick up the cake, he said that he's been to a couple parties where my cake was served and they really liked it and he wanted to order from me again. That was before she freaked out. So I will try and smooth things over. Mother's Day is coming and maybe I could make a comp cake for her. Or do you think she should have her own choice?

I got into doing cakes purely by accident. My daughter put me on fb and her friends started asking for cakes. I love to bake but haven't had any formal training. The first cake I did was a skateboard cake and I actually had it standing on wheels. I would get a photo from a customer and figure out how to make it. Of course I'd look here and asked a zillion questions. I know a lot of you are going to say that this is very risky. I have only one shot at getting it right.

Researching a cake takes time. I'm a home baker and only keep stock on hand I need, so I have to run to the store all the time. Another time waster if you call it that. I'm a scratch baker too. As well, I know I'm a little slow. All of the above things play a role. Most of the time, I have a week to do the cake (which I know is forever for you guys). It is only now that I am learning to prioritize and have an order in which things are to be done. Otherwise I am scattered. When I get an order for 3 cakes in a week, you can imagine what it's like for me. I have difficulty keeping things straight, etc.

Sorry to drag on. I really thought I had enough time and extra if I needed. I baked like 6 cakes which took forever on Tuesday and did freeze them. I made the buttercream and 2 fillings. I didn't have any fondant so I made that (which I hate). Then I started to compile all the things I needed, cake boards, presentation board, round styrofoam ball and a place I could get an edible image done. So by thursday pm I was ready to put cake together and then the next part which is what gets me into trouble.

This doesn't leave me a lot of time for what I'm beginning to see is the most crucial. The cakes need to taste good (which I don't have an issue with). Maybe more importantly, we taste with our eyes first so presentation should be the first thing to do well.

This situation certainly tells me that I HAVE to change if I want to continue.

I know you must be busy and this does change the topic. I would be very interested in hearing your schedule and how you do this and any tips.

As always, I am sincerely appreciative of your help. You came to my rescue when I really needed it.

as far as checking whether you are blocked, just search for her in your friends list. if shes not there shes deleted you, search for her in fb search, if shes not there either, chances are shes blocked you.

I agree that you should just leave it alone. You have already given her a discount to try to make up for it.... so that's all you can do. You are not going to be able to please everyone. This will not be the last problem customer you will have if you continue to do cakes. Next time it may even be a cake that is perfect that someone complains about. I feel like you are probably like me, and it really gets to you when someone isn't totally pleased, and the fact that she posted something on a public site bothers you too, as it would me... but you've done your part.... so just try to forget about it and move on. I know, easier said than done.
Just try to plan better so it doesn't happen again.... Have your cake finished a day in advance. We ALL do that! Takes the stress off!

Well here is my 2 cents.
I think you were right by admitting you had made a mistake. Honesty is the best policy! I agree with artscallion a business not admitting to their mistakes is patronizing. I personally go way out of my way when I have made a mistake. I personally would have given her the cake for free and offered her a discount on her next order (how could she tell people not to order from you if she is going to). I know this is extreme, but I figure the cost of a cake and a discount on another is a small price to pay to retain a customer with a "big mouth" Her comments can help as much as they hurt. Her comment could go from what went wrong to how well you handled the situation. It sounds like she may be the type to take the chance to just spout, in that case the people who know her will know that about her and take what she says with a grain of salt. In other words the people at the party won't care what she says they saw and tasted the cake for themselves. Maybe if it happens again you could offer to deliver the cake and make it a big entrance so that it's part of the "show" of the party. I've seen cakes delivered 45 minutes into the party so that it was a big unveiling. Always try to take the negative experience and make it a positive one. It sounds like you did try to do that but it wasn't enough for this particular customer. I too, would give her a few days and ask her what more she wants you to do. The fact that she didn't confront you from the beginning indicates that she really is satisfied. The time for her to have thrown a fit would have been when you called her the first time. I do agree that when a client gives you a picture you should let them know that you will not duplicate anothers work exactly and what key elements do they want to make sure you include and what can you change so that you can call it your own design.

One thing for sure, don't stress too much at the very least you have learned a lesson and I'm betting she will be back, she might just tell you she wants her cake a day ahead of time.

Of course all of our post are just our opinions and ultimately you have to decide what is best for your business. After all I don't have anything invested except a few keystrokes.
I will be praying that the tension ease and there are no negative reprecussions from one bad experience.