Hi everyone-

I have a customer who wants to order 5 dozen cupcakes (of course, 5 different flavors with 5 different frostings ) She wants them for the day I return from vacation, even though the day she wants them is clearly listed on my blog as a day on which I will not be accepting any orders. Since she is my dentist's receptionist, I decided to do her a favor and end my trip a few hours early so I could fill order. I sent off my contract detailing her order and requesting a deposit to reserve her date and this is what I got in return.


Hi ____________

I was wondering if you have any samples of any cupcakes my son in law was asking. He is very overly cautious and I was just planning to sign the contract it is cupcakes not a new car. But he asked is I every had anything from your bakehouse and I said no. But I knew you as a patient and everything you blogged about sounded delicious. If that is not possible I will just sign and I will pay for the cupcakes myself - ______________



Then about 2 minutes later, I got this:

Dear____________


It is me again. I was wondering I could buy 1/2 dozen cupcakes whatever flavor and then we can try them. The lemon cupcakes we wanted raspberry jam inside the cupcake and the just vanilla buttercream for the icing. Thank you sorry for the confusion. - ___________________



I have only been in business since January, but have been very busy, and this is the first person ever to complain about a contract. FYI: My contract is pretty standard, and I only use it if the order is over $50 total. It lists the order in detail, contact info, cost broken down, 50% deposit up front, balance upon delivery; no changes or cancellations within 48 hours of delivery....They sign to agree to terms, and return it with deposit. Simple.
And, oh btw, my minimum cupcake order is 1 dozen. Clearly stated.


I am starting to feel like this order is going to be more aggravation than it's worth. Do I really want to cut my trip short for this?

How would you respond? I need to cool off before I reply so I thought I might as well ask all of you.

ugh. This happens a lot, and you just have to realize this is not personal, its business. She doesn't care that you're going on vacation or cutting it short. Keep it business-like, acknowledge her feelings, but stick to your boundaries, because TRUST me, this type of customer WILL come back and expect you to offer the same deal again and again. Begin training her now!

I would say:
"I understand your son's concern. It is hard to take a chance on someone you haven't tried before, but I simply can't do samples for orders under $100 (or whatever). My minimum order is 1 dozen cupcakes, so if he is that concerned, I would recommend ordering the whole dozen, or if he feels more comfortable going somewhere else, I completely understand. Oh, and I will be going out of town from xxx to xxx, so this will need to be decided by xxx for me to be able to fill the order. Thanks for thinking of me, and let me know if I can help you further."

Or something like that. Eventually, as your business grows, you'll begin to be able to weed these people out. You won't have to serve everybody, and you'll need to up your minimums too. 1 dozen cupcakes is too few in my opinion! But then again, I just changed my minimum cupcake order to 10 dozen because I hate cupcakes....

If it were me, I would email her and tell her that your minimum order is 1 dozen and she is welcome to order one dozen to try out. If she's serious, she'll order those to taste.

Ask her to re-read your contract, and state that a min order is one dozen. Tell her that you need a definite within 48hrs, because you're getting quite booked. "I don't want to miss over your order since you've expressed your liking of my baked goods, however, I'm getting quite booked now..." Not sure when the date of the order is, but you may want to ask for it all now, and express no changes 2wks prior.

Or just say, with the delay in your signed contract, I am now booked.

Honestly, I would tell her you can no longer do her order. You are going to spend your whole vacation dreading coming back and making these cupcakes. If you are busy enough that you can afford to turn down this particular order I would do.

A simple email that states:
Unfortunately we have had an unexpected change in our schedule and I will no longer be able to accept any orders for the following dates (and then include the date of her party). I hope I will be able to make something for you for another occasion.

I would be honest and say that as you are coming straight home from vacation to do her order, and that it is coming up so soon (is it?) there will be no time for a tasting. If she is uncomfortable with the order, that's fine, no problem, you can cancel...or you are also happy to fill the order as originally requested as well. But that you are not able to offer a cupcake tasting at this time.

(I have been having people order tasting cakes too, before ordering a party cake....they pay for it, but its getting sort of annoying how little they seem to trust my reputation, even though they can look online and find nothing negative about my cakes whatsoever....)

I honestly don't see how she is being a PITA. Her sil was probably helping to pay for the cupcakes and wasn't comfortable with ordering without tasting. She emailed you initially to get some free samples then 2 minutes later emailed you again to pay for the samples. I would do like fruitsnack said and tell her your min is one dozen.

Address each "issue" separately-

1. Do you want to do the order and shorten your vacation? Is the profit worth it? If not, announce you are "fully booked" now.

2. If your minimum is one dozen, tell her. (one dozen seems like a PITA personally). "Sorry no tastings for orders under $500, but I can bake you a dozen of your choice for $xx.

Simple. If you stick to your policies, you will not bitch while making them when you return
.

Side note- why do only bakeries/ cakes get a tasting... even with what I consider "run of the mill" orders. Imagine going to Red Lobster and saying, "I am thinking of spending $200 here but I want to try the crab platter first." LOL

If it were me, I'd bake those bitche$ up before vacation and throw them in the freezer, and make your icings and fillings ahead of time and freeze them too. But that's just me...

I agree with jentreu on this one-train her now.

Thank you for your great advice, ladies. Here is what I wrote to her, using some of jentreu's fantastic wording in the beginning and the end. Thanks Jen, you really have a way with words! I hope it's okay with you that I quoted you.


Dear____________-

I understand your son-in-law's concern. It is hard to take a chance on someone you haven't tried before, but as a small part-time baker who works out of my home, I simply can't afford to do samples for anything but custom cakes over $100. My minimum order is 1 dozen cupcakes in one flavor, so if he is that concerned about quality, I would recommend ordering a dozen.

It is true that these are cupcakes and not a car. However, the contract/deposit is, unfortunately, a necessity of doing business when anyone places an order over $ 50. This is fairly common among custom cake bakers. In the time I have been doing this, I have lost money and a great deal of time due to orders that were canceled or changed at the last minute when I've already paid for the ingredients and done all the work. No one should work for nothing. In all fairness, I have to ask this of everyone with no exceptions, even my closest friends. Just as it is good business for a doctor or dentist to have a cancellation policy, I require policies as well. Reading and signing the contract gives you the opportunity to become aware of and acknowledge reading my policies. While some of the legal jargon is a bit silly, I've received nothing but positive feedback about my contract until now. Most people appreciate being able to see and confirm the accuracy of their order listed on the contract, and they like knowing my policies upfront. I try to be clear in everything I do, which is why I give more detailed price listings on my website than most bakers you will encounter.

I hope this helps clarify things for you. If your son-in-law feels more comfortable going somewhere else, I completely understand.



________________


Her reply this morning:



Dear _______________

Please do not take offense about anything I wrote. I read the contract and there is nothing in there that anyone would take offense too. I was just making a comment that they are only cupcakes. I would like to order the cupcakes, I will sign the contract it will be my gift for the party. I would like the lemon cupcakes as I mentioned to have rasberry jam inside and vanilla buttercream icing. Thank you for your patience. I will bring the contract to work whenever you would like to pick it up

____________________________



Questions:

Can I add a stupidity surcharge to her order?
It sounds like she doesn't want the dozen to taste. Is that what you get from this?


I am so tempted to give her a breakdown of the cost and time involved in making her 5 dozen "just cupcakes," with 5 different fillings and 5 different frostings.

Oh, and I'm going to raise my minimums and free tasting requirements after this.

I know right?

Oh, I dont mind this aspect of her email and had no problem telling her that my min is a dozen. The part I didn't like is being hassled about my contract, the comment "it's cupcakes, not a car" and feeling like I had to defend my way of doing business. Not to mention the fact that I am cutting my family vacation short to fill her order as a special favor to her. Having said that, this was my choice, even though the profit doesn't make it worth it to me. She is well aware of that, and I know she doesn't care about it since it's business, but the least she could do is not cause me additional aggravation.

That's what I plan on doing, Annie. Everything can be frozen or refrigerated, except perhaps the marshmallow cream. That way all I have to do is decorate and package, although everything tends to take me twice as long as I think it will.

I forwarded today's email from this customer to my husband at work. I just have to share his reply with everyone since it made me laugh!

Customer email:

Dear _______________

Please do not take offense about anything I wrote. I read the contract and there is nothing in there that anyone would take offense too. I was just making a comment that they are only cupcakes. I would like to order the cupcakes, I will sign the contract it will be my gift for the party. I would like the lemon cupcakes as I mentioned to have rasberry jam inside and vanilla buttercream icing. Thank you for your patience. I will bring the contract to work whenever you would like to pick it up

____________________________



Here is my husband's replyl:

I have re-written part of her e-mail...so it is a little more clear. I suggest you send it to her so that she can offend you again.



Dear _____________-

Please don't take any offense to anything I wrote, but in case I didn't offend you enough before, I will now try to offend you even more by telling you again that these are only cupcakes and not cars. Oh and cupcakes are stupid and cars are less stupid...contracts are way stupid because I don't understand them. Stupid is a stupid word...I think I will try to come up with a less stupid word for it and let you know what I come up with. Now come to think of it, I need a word which is more stupid to replace stupid.


I love my husband!

LOL. Your husband is funny! Sometimes we don't know how to say no to orders and take away from our own time to "do favors" for people...and then favors usually are not appreciated. If I knew I was going to have to cut my vacation short for that, I would just say I'm not available on those dates. But otherwise, I think you handled her well. Good luck to you and have a great vacation!

I have to say... It didn't sound to me at all like the customer had a problem with your contract in the initial email? I read it as she was laughing at her son for being overly cautious about placing the order? Kind of like "dear, I'm not buying a car, I'm buying cupcakes, what are you so worried about?"

Thank you cakification and HappyCake for the different perspective. I agree with you, and that's the way I originally read it too.

However, my previous and further interactions with her confirmed that she was actually addressing me, not laughing at her SIL (ie: These are cupcakes, not a car, so why do I have to sign a contract?) Her lack of punctuation made it a bit unclear initially.

BTW: I didn't mention it before but this is the same woman who called me up a couple of months ago at 7:30 am and wanted to order 6 filled lemon cupcakes to be delivered to her office by 9:30 am (during school vacation week when I had posted clearly that I was not taking orders since my kids were home. Again, 1 dozen minimum, also clearly stated.) Hell, I require 72 hours notice when I AM taking orders. Uh, sorry, but no. I do this part-time and fortunately do not need to do it to pay my mortgage.


I still haven't responded to the latest email. What to do?

Out of curiosity, how long would it take all of you to do 5 dozen cupcakes/separate fillings and frostings for each if you were working out of your home kitchen. I bake a dozen at a time in my oven.

Me again... I'm not trying to start a debate, but again, I respectfully disagree about her tone. Quoted from her initial response to you (as you posted it)

"He is very overly cautious and I was just planning to sign the contract it is cupcakes not a new car."

She stated that she was just going to sign the contract because it's for cupcakes and not a car. She pointed out that her son was being overly cautious, which implies (to me) that she is making the cupcakes vs. car remark because of him... She went on to say that if a tasting was not available she would just sign and pay for them herself...

Your blog clearly states that the day she wanted the order you were not taking orders but you made an exception to that. Why shouldn't she try to ask for more exceptions. I have learned the hard way to treat family and friends the same way I treat all customers no discounts and no changes to my schedule and/or contract. Sounds harsh but it prevents situations like the one you are describing. You have a schedule set up would you open your doors at 7pm for a friend even though your business closes at 4pm? Would you let someone buy one sock out of a pair just because they are a friend? Just sayin'

The OP said "The part I didn't like is being hassled about my contract, the comment "it's cupcakes, not a car" and feeling like I had to defend my way of doing business."

I feel like the comment "He is very overly cautious and I was just planning to sign the contract.. it is cupcakes not a new car." was not putting your contract down...it seems it was more directed at him. She was going to just sign, not a big deal to her...until he got involved...he wanted to try them first. It didn't have anything to do with having a problem with the contract....or making "fun" of the your contract. I could imagine him saying "don't sign the contract until we taste them" and her saying "come on it is cupcakes, not a new car"

I feel you may have taken that the wrong way. I am in no way saying anything against you, there are enough mean people on this site, I am not trying to be one of them, I just read it and I am giving my opinion...

Sorry, I thought I read all the posts first....my bad.

I guess my thing was, had I read her email is that she was not taking offense or making a snide comment about your contract, but instead at her son's or SIL's request (I can't remember who it was now) that they TRY your cupcakes when she felt there was no need. She even indicated that she felt just looking at your blog that your product was wonderful. She was only asking because she had been asked by the family member and felt that they were making a big deal out of wanting to know if your cupcakes were good, and so the comment was directed at them that "hello, we are spending whatever on cupcakes at least it is not a 20,000 dollar car" meaning to me, hey lets just give this a shot, worse case we don't care for her cupcakes and we don't order again, at least we are not in it for 20,000 dollars.

Please don't take offence to what I am thinking, but this might have been another way to understand it.

I'm confused now......her latest email stated she would sign the contract and wants them lemon, filled with rasberry and buttercream icing. Am, I reading that wrong?? Does she want to purchase the "samples" too. Or, is the order now just one flavor and not five flavors? I can't stand working with customers who beat around the bush!! lol