I made a cake for a birthday party party and the mom calls me and says she wants a refund because it was not what she ordered.

Now to clear up a few things before questions are asked.... She had placed the order then changed the color of the center tier on the 3 tier cake by email, which I did. It was a very humid day when I was working on it and the fondant would not cooperate with me so I used food coloring and painted the dots and stripes instead of using fondant. I explained that the fondant was giving me issues to her and she seemed fine with it. She also said that I didn't add a specific design that she wanted(it was not n the order or in any email we shared).

They did eat the cake so I do not feel a full refund is in order but I'm not sure what I should offer her. I was thinking 20% of the amount she paid.

Any thoughts?

what is the complaint if it is just that one small element was missing then a small refund or a discount on a future cake would be warranted.

If you are willing to refund 20% offer 10 first then if she okay with that you are 10% ahead of the game, if not you can go up to 15% the 20% to be accommodating. If you start right out with the 20% and she wants to try and up it you don't have any play room. Make sense?

Oh and the other thing never tell someone you were are having problems with the fondant, you just open the door for them to look for problems when you do that.

If she accepted delivery of the cake and ate it, then no refund. Sorry, that's just not the way it works.

If you go to a restaurant, you don't eat the whole plate and then tell the waiter you want a refund because it wasn't good, or wasn't exactly what you ordered. Only scammers do that.

They accepted the delivery of the cake- they ate the cake-- the element that was 'missing' was not part of the order--I really don't see where a refund would be in order. What did she say when she saw the cake at delivery?

I am actually not in the camp of offering a discount on a future order. I wouldn't want this person as a customer again, period. Especially at a discount. A simple "I'm sorry you were not satisfied, I strive to provide each and every one of my customers with a superior product. Your feedback is greatly appreciated." will do.

This is where a contract is a MUST. You write everything out in black and white, give a date where no more changes can be made and if something is changed before that date you mail a NEW contract with the changes in writing...even with a sketch for them to initial if you can...then if the cake is not exactly what they "thought" they ordered you can show them proof that it is what they ordered. Now since you did have problems with the production of the cake and had to change some elements then I would offer the 20% off on a FUTURE order, not a refund. As it has been said, they accepted the cake, ate the cake and are now asking for something in return. Chances are she won't order with you again because her scam didn't work but if she did you should have your prices set high enough to be able to absorb the discount. In the meantime, draw up a contract and make every client sign it! Cat

She called and wants %50 of the money back on the cake!!! She also said the cake was crooked... I know it wasn't because I leveled it and I used an SPS for the inside.

She had shown me a card at the consult of these characters her daughter liked and IF I could to put them on the cake by the numbers.

I delivered it and he husband was there for delivery, he was fine with it but wasn't involved in the planning, so he didn't know exactly what was ordered. We did have it in writing and she did the change by email 30 min later(when she got home).

Thank you for your advice... this was a learning experience for me since I haven't been doing this long. It's just been a hobby for my kids.

I did make a little $ on it even if I give her up to %20 refund

I got her to agree on %20 back. I'm not planning on working with her again.

no refund if they ate the cake its yours did she call you rightaway or wait until the cake was ate your labor is worth 75% mix and icing 20% that leaves 5% leadway you just screwed yourself if she had called rightaway and said something then there mayhave been a ?