but my husband's...black. But he USED to be white."
REALLY - wow - that reminds me of another person who thought he was a Prince - rofl...except he was black and then turned white....too funny



When people start babbling on about what they have - why they have it and where they sit on the ladder of life and the rest of the nothing to do with cake talk - thats when i am booked up and can't be bothered listening to another minute of their talk.
Why do i care what their social standing is - rich or poor - we all swallow cake the same way.
Except for the cake with a crown on top - the rest was just idle B***S***

In reality, she wasted 10 minutes of yout life that your never going to get back again. Shame you can't charge her for that


Bluehue

Stef this story was too funny!!

OMG YOU GUYS.

Here's the next chapter. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

She called me today. I know because I saved her in my cel as "Princess XX from Africa LOL". My kids are like, "Answer it!! Do it!"

So, she's now picked a date in July and a venue (the nicest one in the area, and no she's not living in it) and a backup venue idea.

She picked a cake from my website, said she wants exactly that design. She did mention she wants it 6' tall. I stopped her here and said: "OK First I need to know how many are we feeding?" She's like, "About 40." I said, "You realize a cake to be 6' tall is going to need a lot of styrofoam dummies, or you're ordering a ton of extra cake". She's like, that's ok, I love cake. I said, "No I mean, thousands of dollars worth", so she said that it doesn't matter then, just copy the 4-tier round on the web and add some pearls and sugar diamonds. She picked flavors and fillings for all four tiers, although at one point she said she wants ME to pick all the flavors (huh??? no). I reminded her that the cake she's ordering will only be like 18"-20" tall. She said that's fine, it doesn't have to be huge (?).

She didn't mention anyone's color this time. She did mention that it's 4 a.m. where she is, and she's kind of tired, but she has to get up and deal with all this at wierd hours because that's the time difference to get vendors over 'here' during regular hours. (oooo-k).

she still wants a pillow cake with a crown and gold tassles (because that's a royal color), and a frog inside the crown, because she had to kiss a lot of frogs to get her prince (believable? sure).

I asked her if she's already booked the venue; she said it's one or the other but hasn't booked yet. (I have calls in to both to check this). She didn't mention moving INto a venue this time, just said that by that time "their house should be finished".

The whole time, I'm thinking, she is so rational to visit with and very appreciative of my taking the time to help her with this, etc., etc., that (aside from the original wacky details), she could be any lady I've talked to, who's planning a cake.

So I wrapped it up with I will get all her details into a quote and email it to her. If she wants to book it, there's a $100 deposit to hold the date. The balance is due a month before the event. She said that's fine and that her daughter is here in Idaho and can get that to me. (very normal, no offering of extra funds or whatever). She's like "Oh thank you so much; I know it will be perfect." etc.

Ok, I do have to recall that she mentioned some of the cake is being taken BACK to Africa, at which point I said italian meringue isn't a good idea for long travel, and she said they'd be using dry ice. (what EVER)

NOW the 64 million dollar is: WTF? is this?

I called my bank and totally enthralled the lovely girl there with the story. She now wants to be on the list of updates when this all does/doesn't happen. ("Call me. I mean it.") She said a cashier's check is OK but can be a fraud and frauds can go for 7 years out, in terms of them being able to suck the funds BACK out of my account if it turns out to be fraud. She said cash of course is best, or a credit card from the daughter and give everything lots of time to clear, etc. Of course my contracts state that nothing is refundable after certain dates etc. And of course I wouldn't let her 'over'pay me (whoops), so I'm thinking....

Am I booked, or should I ever-so-cautiously continue to check up on details here with vendors and carefully play this out and see which of my instincts is right (schizo off meds ...or....nice woman trying to plan a party a continent away)??

DISCUSS please... I need the advice.

and Deb, if you're out there. pm me--I'd love to speak to you in person about this one...

My husband thinks I've already wasted enough time on it, but it's just so much more amusing than, say, laundry and bills.

Since you are on top of this, and very wary of any fraud, and you are enjoying it so much..... I say go with it. I think I would explain to her that with the difficulty of funds, etc., from other countries, you'd feel much more comfortable with her daughter either bringing you cash or a money order.... since she's here and all. Nothing wrong with saying this is an unusal situation and you are "honored" to be able to make her wedding cake for her, but that you also need to take care of, and get the financial matters out of the way as soon as possible so you can order all the necessary items to make her cake in a timely manner. And yes, I need to know as soon as you book with the venue so you can coordinate with them as w
And dang, of course the person at the bank wants to know what happens/doesn't happen with this one..... We all do.

Edited to add: oh, and please supply me with the contact information for your daughter, just in case.

Sorry to be so on and off with this one, but I took the time to reverse look up the phone #, remember I said it appears to be a Lewiston #?

Well.

It says it's a...(ready?) LAND LINE in Lewiston.



So how. IN. THE. HECK is she calling me from AFRICA?

I'm done. I have no idea wtf with this, but she's lying about that, and that's that. I'm emailing her to say I don't have that date, and I just won't answer any further correspondence from her.

So much for rational, sane sounding lunatics.

"Yes, hello, Room service? I'd like a glass of water and some librium. Thanks."

I can't wait for the sequel!

I'd like to say game over, but who knows.

I emailed her and said
"I have checked, and my July schedule is too full to accomodate this order, but I appreciate your inquiring. Best of luck with your event and your move."


Best Regards,

Stef etc


Yeah. I *checked* all right. Kook.

Looking on the *up* side - at least you know now as to whether it is a scam or not - and no more of your tine has to be waisted if/when she phones again.


Last year i sat a on a Jury for three weeks - It was to do with a chap scamming people - and monies being wired through Western Union to various bank accounts.
Gob smacking to actually sit and listen to how a doctor - an accountant , mr and mrs farmer and a retired soliciter had so willingly and blindly fell for the scams.
Rather frightening actually to think people who sat composed - had their wits about them - were clear of mind all fell for such (what seemed to me) to be such blantent stooooopidity.


The lengths the chap and his off siders went to to convince these people that "alls good" was also frightening - so i guess what i am summing up and saying here is....
What we would like to believe and what we can believe are sometimes two very different things - but your saving grace was that the alarm bell went off in your head and told you be very wary and careful.


I know some of us - ME had a giggle at your story - (so well written) but in reality - some of the people we have to put our trust in blind us with scams all the time - Remember your ex president Nixon and we have had our fair share of them over here also.

Hooe your day turns into a great baking day...


Bluehue.

Is it at all possible that a family member or friend is pulling a HUGE prank on you?

If this lady is for real I wouldn't go near her let alone bake her a cake. Lord knows what she may accuse you of when some of that cake goes back to Africa.

You better listen to that little angel on your shoulder saying "BEWARE" You know something just isn't right. Don't fall for it.

I like what the last poster said about a prank.

Stef, is anyone wanting to 'punk', you?!

I'm still waiting and watching for the continuing saga of:

"As The Cake Wheel Turns"!

I feel as though I recall other companies with the same thing, but it is possible she has a Magic Jack phone. You can request your area code when you get, and you can travel with it and use it from anywhere in the world.

{ Your Question

Do I need to change my magicjack area code number if I move or travel?

Answer

No. Your magicJack is entirely portable. You will have the same magicJack area code and telephone number to use from anywhere in the world.}

and not sure how this might or might not fit in

{Your Question

Your number is being identified as a local number when it is a long distance number


Answer
If you are getting a message stating "Your number is being identified as a local number when it is a long distance number", you need to call your long distance carrier and tell them to route your call properly.

For you convenience, we have provided some common long distance carriers' phone numbers below:

Sprint 866-866-7509
MetroPCS 888-863-8768
AT&T 800-331-0500
T-Mobile 877-878-7326
Verizon 718-890-1800
Sprint 800-639-6111
Cricket 800-274-2538
Optimum Lightpath 866-611-3434
Comcast 800-266-2278
Verizon 800-837-4966
Bell Mobility 800-667-0123
Comcast 888-266-2278 }

I'm not saying it's legit or not, just that's it's possible. And I think it's with other companies too. Just fyi.

Now you know you live in Spokane? Who the heck would want to move there if they were a prince? I love it there, but I wouldn't move back

i think she's an aspiring grifter a la "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" Though not very good if she is messing up her place pronouns and can't keep the story straight on how many guests and how big the cake should be. I'm thinking that they (she surely isn't working alone), would put in the investment on the deposits and then have some way of getting money back or the money returned to them.

are you planning on following up with venues to see if this goes ahead? I know i'd be too curious not to. Or even set up a sting with the local police with taking the deposit from the daughter and trying to bust them (but there's my inner TV crime drama alter-ego talking )

This is hilarious....have you tried to ring the landline number to see who answers?


I'm a member of a bike forum and one of the guys got a scamming email offering to buy his motorbike and send an extra few thousand for shipping etc......the usual scam.
He led them on for weeks, even setting up fake solicitors websites - it was brilliant. Sometimes it's fun just to string them along

I may see if the venue or the caterers have heard from her.

My husband also pointed out that as royalty, she WOULDN'T be setting up the party herself, she'd be surrounded by staff and bodyguards etc who would do the planning for her.

She's from Spokane, which is why they're building a house here, so she says.

If you guys really want a laugh, I could cut and paste you the actual text I got in the last email order. After speaking with a rational person (sorta), the prose is amazing. No punctuation, no capitalization, and one big run on sentence that barely makes any sense. And she still wants it 6 feet tall. Again, to serve 40.

I don't have time to be an investigative reporter on this one, although part of me wants to pay the $10 to see who the phone number is registered to, and whether it is in fact a land line in Lewiston. And call the cops etc.

No way it's a prank by friends. I don't have any prankish friends, and I wouldn't think it was funny if they did something like this, so they know better.

I can't resist...let me do a little cut and paste and I'll be right back

This is the actual cut and paste from the online order form through my website. Above this, in the form, she has filled in blanks for size, shape, etc. We talked about a round 4 tiered cake minutes before, yet she filled in the blanks for size with "6 ft cake" and shape with "rectangle". WTF?


Actual text:
--Wedding cake forget me knot flower a lot of flowers with a crystal crown I ordered also Tier 2 what ever filling for red velvet a lot of royal diamond shape with pearls etchings. Colors are lavender and black but I really want the forget me knot flower with the diamond shape with pearls etchings I really want six feet but let me know

just to play devils advocate...b/c i think this is a scam too...but. I have a friend from Zimbabwe and well....the English is not that great and the emails, texts and FB posts are sometimes head scratching. And when talking I would get confused a lot and have to have her rephrase. So...not to say this is legit, but anything is possible I guess.

yes, but she says she's FROM Spokane...so unless she skipped grade school, I don't get the run-on sentences. And if that's her level of education, why o why would a prince marry her? LOL

Maybe she has a scribe. *muffled laugher*

Ok, I really have to get baking now. Overload orders this weekend.

oh yes! very true! Well then. You are booked through eternity!

If she sent the email from your website, can you check the IP address? I have a (free) tracker on my website that tells me the IP address, which pages they viewed, how long they stayed and how they got to my website...

You know, I am soooo tired of people scamming others out of their money. What kind of people can live with themselves when they know they are stealing from good intentioned and hard working people. I am not a vengeful person but I only pray that they get whats coming to them.

Stef, It's like a little mystery. I'm gonna start calling you Nancy Drew! LOL

I did talk to the venue about this, and they had a HUGE laugh about it, too. Of course, they said they'll let me know if they hear from any *cough* visiting royalty.

Thanks for this laugh, Stef

I just read this thread. Funny! No chance you were being recorded for a morning radio show, huh?

Usually royalty would have some of their servants or hired help do all the leg work and phone calls. But maybe Idaho royalty is more hands on. You are hands down cooler under the circumstances than me, I'd laughed at her til I wet myself. This is by far the best cake prank call I've heard in a while.

what happened next!!!!!!!

Did I read it that she wants two cakes? One soon, and then the big wedding cake? You know how if a really big star or really rich person wants something, a lot of places give them "free" stuff- just so they can say I did Princess So and So's cake?

Maybe she is trying to scam you into doing that first cake free.. She wants you to think she is filthy rich and willing to spend anything on her wedding, so you do her the first cake for free thinking she's going to order a $$$ wedding cake, and she never intends to get the wedding cake.