How Do You Compensate Your Customers When You Deliver The Wr
Business By DragonFly2333 Updated 24 Aug 2011 , 5:02pm by jules5000
Just to play Devil's Advocate here, if this post had been from the baker and said, "I gave them the wrong flavor, I'm so embarassed! I offered them a partial refund" a lot of us would probably be saying the opposite of what we're saying now. We'd probably say that the baker made a genuine mistake, and made up for it with a partial refund, and that they consumed the cake, therefore it wasn't a total loss. It wasn't a life changing error... the bride didn't get the wrong groom, etc. Just the wrong flavor of cake. If the visual quality of the cake was subpar, that is another issue, and would deserve some monetary compensation.
I'm not saying that the baker in this instance was in the right at all, just saying I can see it from both perspectives. Was the cake nasty or was it tasty? Things like that make the difference. If I ordered a delicious chocolate cake and got a dry nasty white cake I'd be honked as heck and out for blood. If I got a delicious white cake I'd be irritated, but since no one else knew what I had ordered, it's not like it was some socially ostracizing snafu.
As for the assistant situation, bad bad call on the baker's part to just turn it over and not at least double check the work, etc. But, as some have mentioned, assistants are hired for a reason... to do some of the work. Again, not all of it unsupervised, but you know what I'm saying.
I think getting back roughly half of what they paid for the cake is reasonable if it wasn't a cake wreck worthy looking cake, and if the flavor, though innacurate, was still good.
I absolutely HATE, HATE, HATE raspberry...I am a chocolate person all the way. $500 is NOT enough for me to forget the raspberry!!!!
AND they ate the cake, which does have value.
I was interested to see if this thought (cake was consumed) would come up.
It usually comes up when the customer complains that the cake is not good, fell apart, undercook, etc but somehow there isn't a slice left for the baker to examine the problem.
For me being in that moment, there is no way we weren't going to serve the cake. Cake cutting is one of the main parts of a wedding reception and why in the world would we think to "check the cake" to ensure it's the right flavor cake AND for $1100 no customer should have to stick a toothpick in their cake to make sure it's right before they let their guests in the reception. (can you image the brides wedding day check list: hair, make-up, pence in my shoe and toothpick in my purse to check my cake..lol!)
Sorry, that thought would not hold an ounce of reason in my book for this situation.
Not attacking you QTcakes by any means, as I did see you would give a full refund. Just stating b/c I do feel like in general there are posts on these boards were bakers complain about the customers, but somehow forget about 'being in the moment' or forgetting that customers don't have all the cake knowledge we do. It's not alway black and white. We all know there are plenty of bakers on these boards who would try to tell my brother the cake was consumed.
ETA: several posts were added while I was typing this response, stepped away from the computer. oops
Though we know how our own personal feelings may be, you have to be realistic. Like Melvira said, too many times on here I see the exact opposite being said when it is the decorator starting the thread. And I have seen court cases on t.v. and with bakery owners that I even know, and no they were NEVER made to give a full refund for wrong flavor or even a badly decorated cake, if the cake was consumed. There is VALUE in the cake, wrong flavor or not. Like I said, I would have gave a full refund, but I think the couple did okay getting almost half their money back. And of course they were gonna serve the cake regardless of flavor, but that doesn't take away from the value of the cake.
Dragonfly for $1100 I would expect PERFECTION, so I agree with you, and that's why I would give a full refund, but I was just stating some facts from a different point of view, cause of comments like "if I found the assistant made it, I'ld want a refund". For a Baker that charges that much, I assume he is of a high calibur, and I am surprised wuth his' response an attitude. Even if my assistant had did the cake, I would have never said that, but apologized for MY work and gave a refund. To be able to charge a $1100 for a cake, I wouldn't let NOTHING tarnish my reputation.
Devil's Advocate - we have no idea how large this cake was for $1100. The price tag alone does not mean it was an expensive cake. It could be 100 servings for $11 (demanding perfection) or 300 servings for $3.66 ( a medium price for which, in my town, you might get a just ok cake).
Just a note to all about small claims court.......
You can win all the claims you want in small claims, BUT......that does NOT mean you will ever see any of that mony! It is up to YOU to go get it 
I have a judgement from back in the late 1970s but we never saw a penny of our money. The guy has since died.
I think the food allergy point that was made is a valid one.
It doesn't seem that it was part of the equation here, but what if it were?
To make an entire wedding cake the wrong flavor is a huge screw up...I don't care if it were the best white cake with raspberry filling they ever ate...it wasn't what they paid for.
I'd love to see a picture of the cake if there is one....although what if the baker's are members here on CC?
uh oh! lol
Just to play Devil's Advocate here, if this post had been from the baker and said, "I gave them the wrong flavor, I'm so embarassed! I offered them a partial refund" a lot of us would probably be saying the opposite of what we're saying now. .
I wouldn't...I once delivered a cake and in the process of setting it up and leaving the list of flavors with the reception site I realized that I'd put the wrong flavor of filling in one of the tiers. I wrote a check for the cost of that tier and gave it to the MOB, who was standing there the whole time saying that I didn't need to do that. I didn't care, it was my mistake and it wasn't what the bride had ordered. If you don't deliver what's on the contract then you haven't fulfilled your part of the agreement.
The argument that they ate it doesn't wash, it's a wedding and of course they're going to serve the cake. In terms of whether you fulfilled your part of the contract that's irrelevant.
When my husband and I went to a baker for our wedding cake (prior to me making cakes) the lady we talked to represented herself as the one doing the cake. She showed us pics of the cakes that "she" did. Talked about what "she" will do for us. "She" wanted to use our design in a wedding show. I received a call from her daughter saying that she was doing our cake for the show. Then I found out that the daughter was the one who would actually be doing out cake. I cancelled the order on the spot! I've been to receptions where the daughter was involved and the cakes were dry and sometimes still frozen. One reception she put the cake together wrong and then argued with my niece that it was right. The mom had to come in a fix it. Noway I wanted this girl touching my cake! I just think that if you have a consult with a baker, it should be explained to the client who will be doing the work. That way an informed decision can be made. My husband helps me in both my businesses and I always let people know that. I guess it was because of what happened to us.
I think you should be a bigger refund. Maybe pay something because it was the correct design and it was consumed but more than $500! That is less than half.
We had 150 guests, were expecting 200. Not sure if they changed the size of the cake for the 50 less people.
It was all buttercream with fondant accents....just a simple line in the middle of the tier (like a chair rail) and then an intersecting line on the left.
Like below:
I
I
-----------------------------------------------
I
I
I won't post a picture. I have never seen the bakers on this site, but just incase. Just started the thread to see how others handle this situation.
My SIL/Brother are happy with the $500 b/c they really didn't know any better. Like I said, I was not there for the convo, but I'm pretty sure they never said anything along the lines of 'you fail to fulfill your contract' or 'we could have had allergy problems' Not to mention they were recouping from the wedding and preparing for their honeymoon and they are newlyweds....life is good in their world 
I did find out that my brother did get the correct flavor cupcakes to take on his honeymoon to give my SIL as dessert one night.
No the allergy did not play in this situation, but I have nieces and nephews allergic to nut, so we are well aware how wrong this could have gone.
kakeladi my parents had two apartment buildings while I was growing up....we know all too well that getting a small claims ruling in your favor is JUST half the battle.
ETA: all my I's in my diagram have been moved over to the left. The fondant basically was a t to the left side of the cake.
I'd say as long as the bride and groom are satisfied with their refund than that's all that matters. I'm happy they didn't let this sour their beautiful wedding.
As far as assistants go....I'm pretty sure Buddy doesn't make every cake that passes through his bakery door...I know he has bakers that bake all of the cakes, so he doesn't even do that part.
As businesses grow it's nearly impossible for one person to do all of the baking, icing and decorating. You have to hire assistants.
BUT to pass the blame off on the assistants, even if they were the ones to make the cake from start to finish, is not very good business form.
The owners needed to take full responsibility for that error, since it was their business.
Hopefully, they've learned from this big mistake.
I agree, to me it would not matter who did the cake as long as the quality was there and it was what I ordered. If I pay to have a certain quality there, I expect it. To me they paid out the eye-teeth for a poor quality cake and the wrong flavor at that. By poor quality, I mean the decorating, not necessarily the cake quality itself. The cake may have been fine, but the decorating quality wasn't there and I would have been madder than a bunch of hornets whose nests got disturbed(that's mad, real mad).
The cake may have been fine, but the decorating quality wasn't there and I would have been madder than a bunch of hornets whose nests got disturbed(that's mad, real mad).
I wouldn't...
And that is exactly why I said some of us might, not all. I totally understand that some of us would be immediately going above and beyond to assure the customer is 100% satisfied, and that is fantastic. I am just saying, it often depends on whose 'side' we are on as to what we think is appropriate, KWIM? I'm not saying no refund should've been given, just tipping the perspective scale for a sec. 
The argument that they ate it doesn't wash, it's a wedding and of course they're going to serve the cake. In terms of whether you fulfilled your part of the contract that's irrelevant
I totally understand what you're saying there, and I am in agreement... you are not going to say "Ok everyone, don't eat that, it was supposed to be chocolate, and I have to throw it in the baker's face in a huff tomorrow!" But how many times on this site have we heard that? That is almost the first question that comes up every time one of us writes a thread about a pissed customer. #1 is amost always "Did you TRY it yourself?" (Like the top you trimmed off) and #2 is almost always "Did they EAT the cake?" I am not arguing with what you said AT ALL, simply mentioning that this is often how it goes.
Just to play Devil's Advocate here, if this post had been from the baker and said, "I gave them the wrong flavor, I'm so embarassed! I offered them a partial refund" a lot of us would probably be saying the opposite of what we're saying now.
I agree and had the same thought. Thanks for bringing it up.
I should have made my earlier post clearer. (Is that a word lol) Anyways. I understand people have assistants and that the assistants do a lot of the work at some places. But under no circumstance should an assistant be tasked with an entire wedding cake, unsupervised and unchecked whatsoever. I guarantee Duff & etc have assistants that do most if not all of the work sometimes. But I also guarentee that the cake doesn't walk out of the door without their approval.
The fact that these bakers admitted to not even checking in on their assistant is reason for a refund in itself. I didn't hire your assistant, I hired YOU! Your assistant is just that, YOURS. And any assistant you have should be able to make cakes at the quality you can. And if they can't, they shouldn't have been hired in the first place.
I also kinda agree that we would have a different attitude if the baker came on here and said "I accidentally gave them the wrong flavor. I offered a partial refund. I'm so embarrassed." But the situation is completely different because the baker admitted their fault and tried to fix it. This baker wanted to pass the blame onto someone else and pretend the problem ended there. And also, the OP said the cake was not only the wrong flavor, but of poor quality as well. Not one person on here is going to not offer a full refund or close to it if they messed up THAT much in an order. Lots of people say it's 50% taste and 50% appearance. Well wrong flavor = 50% taste refund & poor quality workmanship = 50% appearance refund. So 100% refund.
I disagree with all the posts that say the assistant shouldnt have made the cake unchecked. If thats their job no matter their title, then they have done what they were employed to do. When you go to work and your supervisor asks you to do something, do they check behind you every step of the way or do they trust you to do it correctly on your own. I know my supervisor doesnt review my work nor stand over my shoulder while i work. They trust i can do my job correctly.
I also dont understand the double standard for what cakes the assistant makes. Its okay that they make a complete birthday cake but not a wedding cake. Why not? Some birthday cakes are just as elaborate as wedding cakes if not more and they may be just as important to the recipient as a wedding cake to a bride. You are only physically born once and it gets remeembered every year and some only get married once and that gets remembered every year also.
I wonder what would happen if a bridal shop ordered the wrong dress for a bride and didn't have enough time to re-order cuz to me, this would be an identical situation. Of course the bride would wear it because the alternative would be to not have a wedding dress but, it is still a breech of contract.
As much as I get the other side in the cake still having value but, of course they are going to eat it since there is no other alternative.
If it had been me I would have given it to them at cost and refunded the rest.
If I ordered a blue shirt and got a red one I'd expect more than 'well you still got a shirt so you're not naked...here's half your money ish". The flavor of the cake is just as important as the design.
When we order from a bakery we're not necessarily hiring the owner of that bakery to make our cake. That's just not the way it is.
Assistants/employees make cakes from start to finish all the time, the owners can't be there every second.
All of us who own businesses know that as the owner, that a lot of our time is spent doing paper work, ordering, payroll, marketing etc., which is why we have employees.
This is the main reason why I never want a large storefront bakery...I love being able to say I make every aspect of my cakes from start to finish. I would hate turning that responsibility over to somebody else, especially when my name is on that product.
Now I still don't think the owner should have placed all blame on his/her assistant....they should have apologized and than talked reimbursement.
Hopefully this will make them come up with a better system in their bakery so that this never happens again.
I wonder what would happen if a bridal shop ordered the wrong dress for a bride and didn't have enough time to re-order cuz to me, this would be an identical situation. Of course the bride would wear it because the alternative would be to not have a wedding dress but, it is still a breech of contract.
As much as I get the other side in the cake still having value but, of course they are going to eat it since there is no other alternative.
This sort of actually happened to me, when I got married 6 years ago. I ordered my Maggie Sottero dress. I ordered my dress from a shop that would give my bridesmaids the discount on their dresses, instead of the shop that would give me the discount while my bridesmaids paid full price. I knew that the shop sold knock-off dresses, and when I ordered mine, I was quite emphatic that I didn't want the knock off, I wanted the real deal. Well, when the dress came in, it was ok, but I just didn't like the feel or the way it looked. Something was off...
I dragged my friend's mom in to the both stores with me, the one that I didn't order from, but had the actual sample dress to try on, and the shop that I ordered from. She agreed that the materials were not the same quality and that the dress I bought seemed to be inferior. My fiance (well, husband now) actually called the Maggie Sottero rep and spoke with him, giving him the number off the certificate that came with the dress. Come to find out, it was a bogus number, and the dress was a knock off.
8 days before the wedding, we contacted the shop I didn't originally order from, and they allowed us to buy the sample dress off the rack, got it dry cleaned and altered in time for the wedding. We threatened to sue the other shop that sold me the knock off, and they gave us a full refund. But then they called the evening of our wedding, and threatened to sue us back because I was telling everyone I knew about what had happened.
Even now, 6 years later, I still tell people about that experience. Not total strangers, and probably never a wedding cake client, but it comes up every now and then. Just like now 
Now I'm not a lawyer, but it always comes down to how you were harmed or how much you are out because of the error.
These people sound like this isn't their first trip down this road. A judge, most likely, would not give a full refund because they had decent cake to serve. Then, the judge has to go somewhere in between. That's where it gets dicey for the bride and groom.
Is it worth their time to get anywhere from nothing to a couple hundred dollars more? They have to file, go to court, collect judgment.
It sucks, but it can't possibly be worth it.
They probably got a good deal.
myslady, if the assistant works and turns out the same quality cakes that is fine to go unchecked altogether, but you do have to prove yourself and my bet is that this couple who had the business probably wanted to go somewhere for once and let their assistant do it. Not realizing that she could not do the same quality. I believe in this instance, that they just did not care. I believe that they got a little too big for their britches and thought that they could farm it out to their asssitant and no one would be the wiser. "Let's take a little time off, we have worked hard to get where we are and we are finally getting the recognition we deserve" seems to be their thinking. Or the assistant may turn out the same quality cake and decorating work all the time that they do, but let's say for instance that the bosses wanted to go somewhere on a set date and that happened to be the same date and time that the assisant wanted off. So the assistant, being a little upset about this was not as careful about her quality as usual. If the bosses saw that on a reg. basis she did the same quality of work, then that is why they turned this wedding cake over to her, believing that she would do it good. But she didn't and now they have to answer for it and dish out a refund. And at the same time defend their assistant. Well, they might or might not be really upset with her, but to the customers they have to defend her and what she did. So they went overboard and refused to do the customer right. Yes, these are all assumptions, but possible scenarios. I am with most of all the others that believed that this cake decorato and his business owed the full refund. I know that you were playing the devil's advocate, but if you were these people and had gained the same recognition that they had through all their hard work, would you want to throw that all away because one customer wanted a 100% refund? They have got to realize that all the negative publicity that can come from that situation can undo all the hard work they have put into the business until now. These people can ruin them if they wanted to and went about it right and there would be nothing tht they could do. Because it would not be slander or libel. It would be telling their story to everyone that didn't know it already. I am sure that those who attended the reception that lived in town won't be going to them anymore if they had at all before. and not only that they will also be telling the story to those they know also. Is all that bad publicity worth keeping part of the cost of the cake? If they had cheerfully refunded these people's money when told what happened, my bet is that they would gain a whole lot more customers because of it. Even if they couldn't handle them all. People want to go to businesses that are going to make it right if t a mistake is made. I am not trying to come down hard on you. I am just pointing out that even if temporarily refunding that much money on a cake, even if it was all eaten, would be worth all the positive word-of-mouth's that they would get. Plus when I read this again, I caught something that I had not before. Maybe I am wrong, but the quality of the cake itself, was not even what they paid for as well as being the wrong flavor and all the other issues.
My first post on this topic was to give a full refund. I havent changed my opinion on that. I agree they trusted the assistant and in this instance they were let down.
Im just confused why posters are seeming to be outraged that the assistant made the cake alone. The way i see it, a business was hired to do a job, but that doesnt mean the owner will be the one doing the work unless it was stated by the owner or written in a contract they will.
Just a thought, because Im a wedding photographer the thought crossed my mind on how it would be in our situation. For eg, a company you hire for your wedding pics, you hire because you like a particular style and quality, right?
Now what if that same company has many photographers, and they assign you differnt one from the one who's work you like without telling you. Are you going to be ok with that because "they're all professionals, it shouldnt matter who you get" or are you going to be mad because they're not the person/artist/style/quality you were going for in the first place?
This does happen, and I promise you, people arent ok with it. I think the baker should have been upfront on WHO would be making the cake.
And speaking from a complete n00b's point of view, I would think the assistant would only do smaller orders from start to finish, and only parts of a wedding cake. Its a WEDDING!!!! People pay THOUSANDS to make this day perfect and no matter how fancy your bakery/business is, you have NO right to mess up and not take responsibilty for it!
Aside from the allergy thing, something a little more superficial, but what if there was significance to the chocolate flavour? Then to get another one? Eish! WHat if you tried the raspberry at a tasting and didnt like it? (I too hate raspberry - ew!).
I agree that 100% should have been refunded. And someone mentioned that we dont know how large the cake was, but I'm sure I read on page 1 or 2 that it was a square 4 tier??
My first post on this topic was to give a full refund. I havent changed my opinion on that. I agree they trusted the assistant and in this instance they were let down.
Im just confused why posters are seeming to be outraged that the assistant made the cake alone. The way i see it, a business was hired to do a job, but that doesnt mean the owner will be the one doing the work unless it was stated by the owner or written in a contract they will.
I agree. There are TONS of bakeies that the assistants make the cake, period. Wedding, bithday, whatever, assistants make the cake.
I hire a photographer for his' style, true. But this is not the same thing. A photography company will tell you who is coming out, wether it'll be them or not. If they don't, they may have a problem. But this is cake. This is different. I gurantee Vera Wang does not make every single dress, personally, herself. It's still called a Vera Wang dress. Her design that her employee made.
Tails, I appreciate that you put in an opinion from another perspective. If I hired someone to take my wedding pictures, it is as much because I like the photographer that I talked with because I felt that they understood what I wanted and "got" me. If they were working for a company and not theirselves, I would hope that if there were going to be a problem with the photographer that I wanted coming that I would be notified as soon as possible that there was a problem. I believe that any company that deals in any way with weddings knows the cost that comes with it and knows that you have to make reservations a long time in advance So if there is a problem it should be dealt with immediately. They owe you that much. If it is a last minute problem then unless the photographer you hired is definitely out of the picture because of a family medical emergency or their own medical emergency then you should be given the cream of the crop so to speak of the rest of the photographers that work for that company and you should still get what you paid for.
I see a cake as being no different in that what you ordered and paid for is still to be the same quality as what you expected no matter who does the cake. The flavor of the cake, the filling, the icing or fondant or both and the decorating should all be up to the standard that you knew this bakery to stand for and be able to produce and paid for it. If it is not and that is because the one that you thought would be doing the cake decided to take the day off you deserfve a full refund. This bakery really messed up and then did not want to face the music an just gave excuses and they were lucky to get what they got with that guys attitude.
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