Hello everyone.
I have some time to spare and thought I would share how business is going with my new prepayment policy. I dont know if you remember my thread about the woman who didnt pay me for 150 pops and made me chase after payment for the other 150, but she was the customer from hell that made me QUIT doing the whole "pay on delivery" thing.

Well now I dont even do deposits, its full payment upfront and in full. I've had very few people not call back when I tell them this (which is fine with me) but most people seem to be perfectly ok with it. I tell them that i cannot promise them the date until they pay for their order. So far thankfully no one has really questioned it, and if they seem a bit skeptical I nicely tell them it keeps *both of us* from having to run around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to find each other for payment issues on the day of the event.

I have been SO RELIEVED since doing this. for example, I had a mommy to be order baby pops (in my gallery) that she wanted tuesday. Her baby isnt born yet and asked if I could keep them with me til she delivers. If she hadnt paid upfront I would have been resentful, worried, pissed, you name it! But since she has I had no problem keeping them in my freezer til she is ready for them. Also today, I had a elivery for graduation pops (also in gallery) and my husband does deliveries for me. Well when delivering to the venue the woman was about an hour late. But why didnt it bother me? cos I already had the money. We could just drop it off and leave.

although, i do have to make sure the delivery fee is included in the prepayment. I let a woman pay for the delivery at pick up, and she just took the order and closed the door. didnt pay the delivery fee. I dont know if she forgot about it, (even though I texted her a reminder an hour prior, and told her about it while booking) so im going to wait 24 hours before mentioning it to her. my husband does my deliveries and doesnt really know how to handle these situations, and to be honest, neither do I really.

So thats it! my nerves are so much more calm, and im not worried about getting my money all the time like I used to be. I am so sticking with this new policy!!! thank you CC for everything you teach me!!

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=716543&postdays=0&postorder=asc&&start=0


this is the topic about that horrible horrible customer lol if anyone is interested.

Glad to hear it's going so well. I can sense the relief in your post!

Yes..I can too.It is a huge relief knowing all your hard work is paid for in advance and what the customer does with them once delivered is no longer your problem.

thank you very much, I really am!

any ideas how to professionaly mention via email the "forgotten" delivery fee? Or should I just let it go? her order was about 100 dollars (50 pops at 2 dollars each).

very true!
like with the graduation pops, my husband left them on the party table and asked me if he should stay til she gets there to "protect" the pops from grabby kids. I told him no, we have our money, and its not our responsibility, and we have other deliveries to make. She stated the time of delivery to me TWICE, and we were there on time. Whatever happens now since she isnt there isnt our respobsability. There were already a couple women and some kids there waiting for their late hostess so hopefully they will know not to let kids play with them. and if not, not my responsibility and dont have to worry "omg will she pay me now".. ***sigh of relief***!!!

I would email her and politely remind her that the delivery fee "Must have been forgotten" and you will expect payment on xx date.Remind her also that you were kind enough to BEND your policy and allow her to make delivery payment upon delivery and that she promptly closed the door without payment.Then send her a Paypal invoice.