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Original message sent by SDLocke87
My favorite was a lady who when I quoted $50 for an XBox controller cake told me that the price was ridiculous as all the was was a white block with a couple colored circles on it. I told her she could go make it herself then! (Later that week she did call me back and end up ordering it after getting quotes from a few other places around town! lol)
Or I would have charged her a rush fee since it took her a week to decide....LOL
Ooooppss...sorry gonna have to charge you a PITA price! 
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Original message sent by Sweet_Cakes
Or I would have charged her a rush fee since it took her a week to decide....LOL
Ooooppss...sorry gonna have to charge you a PITA price!
Sorry I'm no longer available for that date!
They must think the dummies come already decorated and all you have to do is put them together. I don't know what's happened to people's common sense. It's like they just don't have any any more. And it's hard to believe the sense of entitlement so many people have these days!
So true ! some people feel so entitled to get cheap or free not just in the cake business .
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Original message sent by Cakery2012
So true ! some people feel so entitled to get cheap or free not just in the cake business .
This. My mom works in a department store and had a customer call in to ask about a refund yesterday for a product he has had for a few months and wore out. She said they would need a receipt for a full refund or it would be for the last sale price. Nice to offer a refund on something the customer wore out and standard refund policy, right? Well not good enough for this guy. He yelled, swore at her repeatedly... After asking him to stop swearing at her with no result, she hung up. Then told the store manager in case the customer called back to complain. Store managers response? "You shouldn't hang up on a customer ever. The customer is always right, it's better to just give them the refund and have them satisfied. "
It's no wonder people expect everything for free these days. They've been trained to expect it.
Is it bad that whenever I have one of THOSE customers that I immediately think of this thread now?
Here is mine for the day:
I get a call this Monday from a lady who wants a baseball themed cake for her son. He really loves the cardinals so if I could put that on there it would be great. I give her a quote of $67.50 for an 8" 3 layer cake with 2 layers of filling( $52.50 is my usual cost with simple decorating - border and message) plus the custom decorating ($15) . She tells me shes on a budget and there will only be 10 kids so she doesn't need that much cake ( shes already told me that she has spent over $400 on this party. Who does that if they are on a budget). She I tell her I will swap out one of the layers of cake in exchange for the decorating price so it will be a 2 layer with custom decorating for the same price as my normal 3 layer with simple decorating ( are you still with me here?) so the price would be $52.50. I also explain to her that I couldn't make an exact replica of the red bird and bat because of copyright but if she wanted to bring something in I could put it on the cake. I also tell her that I would look for something with the Cardinals on it but couldn't promise anything and that I would charge her for it when she picked it up. Oh, and shes picking it up Thursday. This Thursday. 3 days after calls to book it.
Ok. Everything sounds great. She calls me back to book the cake and pay the deposit a few hours later. She even paid for the entire order. I was nice enough to not even charge my usual 25% rush fee on cakes booked with less than a weeks notice ( I have learned a lot from you guys).
I make the cake. White frosting, red and white trim. Air brush grass. Baseball diamond made out of graham cracker crumbs. Bases, pitchers mound, and home plate out of fondant. Baseball bat made out of caramel. Baseballs out of fondant. And put a variation of the STL on it. Mind you this in an 8"cake so there isn't much room for anything else. I send the pics to hubby and my best friend ( I work alone so I always try to get a second opinion in case I miss something) and get the green light from both. I call and tell her she can pick her cake up.
And she complains as soon as she sees it. she cant believe I charged that much for such little work. And the cake doesn't look very big. And she thought I was going to go out and buy something to put on it. Why doesn't it have his name on it? Why doesn't it say Happy Birthday on it? It doesn't have his age on it. And the parting shot "I guess I will have to take it as is because I don't have time for you to change anything
WHAT????? Are you serious????? Nobody else in town would have touched that cake for the price, what she wanted on it, within her budget, and with only 3 days notice! Not to mention the cake wasn't big enough for a baseball diamond, writing, logo, and accessories!!!
Now that I got that off my chest.. I am closing shop early so I can go enjoy a Cardinals game with the hubby!
So true ! some people feel so entitled to get cheap or free not just in the cake business .
That is quite possibly my biggest pet peeve is how everyone has a sense of entitlement. I'm sorry, I do not just give things away for a person to just exist! If you want something from me, work for it, pay me for it, we can figure something out but this baker/lady does not tolerate a sense of entitlement and I will be happy to tell you that.
Is it bad that whenever I have one of THOSE customers that I immediately think of this thread now?
Here is mine for the day:
I get a call this Monday from a lady who wants a baseball themed cake for her son. He really loves the cardinals so if I could put that on there it would be great. I give her a quote of $67.50 for an 8" 3 layer cake with 2 layers of filling( $52.50 is my usual cost with simple decorating - border and message) plus the custom decorating ($15) . She tells me shes on a budget and there will only be 10 kids so she doesn't need that much cake ( shes already told me that she has spent over $400 on this party. Who does that if they are on a budget). She I tell her I will swap out one of the layers of cake in exchange for the decorating price so it will be a 2 layer with custom decorating for the same price as my normal 3 layer with simple decorating ( are you still with me here?) so the price would be $52.50. I also explain to her that I couldn't make an exact replica of the red bird and bat because of copyright but if she wanted to bring something in I could put it on the cake. I also tell her that I would look for something with the Cardinals on it but couldn't promise anything and that I would charge her for it when she picked it up. Oh, and shes picking it up Thursday. This Thursday. 3 days after calls to book it.
Ok. Everything sounds great. She calls me back to book the cake and pay the deposit a few hours later. She even paid for the entire order. I was nice enough to not even charge my usual 25% rush fee on cakes booked with less than a weeks notice ( I have learned a lot from you guys).
I make the cake. White frosting, red and white trim. Air brush grass. Baseball diamond made out of graham cracker crumbs. Bases, pitchers mound, and home plate out of fondant. Baseball bat made out of caramel. Baseballs out of fondant. And put a variation of the STL on it. Mind you this in an 8"cake so there isn't much room for anything else. I send the pics to hubby and my best friend ( I work alone so I always try to get a second opinion in case I miss something) and get the green light from both. I call and tell her she can pick her cake up.
And she complains as soon as she sees it. she cant believe I charged that much for such little work. And the cake doesn't look very big. And she thought I was going to go out and buy something to put on it. Why doesn't it have his name on it? Why doesn't it say Happy Birthday on it? It doesn't have his age on it. And the parting shot "I guess I will have to take it as is because I don't have time for you to change anything
WHAT????? Are you serious????? Nobody else in town would have touched that cake for the price, what she wanted on it, within her budget, and with only 3 days notice! Not to mention the cake wasn't big enough for a baseball diamond, writing, logo, and accessories!!!
Now that I got that off my chest.. I am closing shop early so I can go enjoy a Cardinals game with the hubby!
We see this on a daily bases on CC Every time someone does this it comes back to bit them in the butt. I would've never removed a layer of cake so she can afford decorations. It's either you can afford the basic version or you can afford a decorated cake.
If a car comes standard with a CD player, AC, and heated seats for $10,000 and the navigation system cost $1000 more the dealer is not going to remove the cd player and AC so you can afford the Navigation system.
Every time you change your basic business practices and procedures to accommodate people you undermine yourself and set a bad precedent. (this comment is personally aimed at you Strubbette)
Every time you change your basic business practices and procedures to accommodate people you undermine yourself and set a bad precedent.
plus, it always turns out that it will be the cake you feel the worst about decorating. Not worth it. But I certainly understand being an accommodating person. That's me in a nutshell. unfortunately, I don't find that it pays off.
Aawesome analogy J!
Original message sent by ellavanilla
plus, [B]it always turns out that it will be the cake you feel the worst about decorating[/B]. Not worth it. But I certainly understand being an accommodating person. That's me in a nutshell. unfortunately, I don't find that it pays off.
A[SPOILER=Warning: Spoiler!][/SPOILER]
Original message sent by ellavanilla
plus, it always turns out that it will be the cake you feel the worst about decorating. Not worth it. But I certainly understand being an accommodating person. That's me in a nutshell. unfortunately, I don't find that it pays off.
Any time I try to be accomodating it turns into a "no good deed goes unpunished" situation.
We see this on a daily bases on CC Every time someone does this it comes back to bit them in the butt. I would've never removed a layer of cake so she can afford decorations. It's either you can afford the basic version or you can afford a decorated cake.
If a car comes standard with a CD player, AC, and heated seats for $10,000 and the navigation system cost $1000 more the dealer is not going to remove the cd player and AC so you can afford the Navigation system.
Every time you change your basic business practices and procedures to accommodate people you undermine yourself and set a bad precedent. (this comment is personally aimed at you Strubbette)
I just noticed my mistake I meant this comment isn't personally aimed at you Strubbette
ALast week I had an order for a 1 year old birthday cake... It was Safari theme and they asked that it be "***y!" WHAT?!?!? He's 1.
Is the customer always right? A couple of years ago I bought my daughter a bra from Target. At the time they were heavily advertising just how good their brand name clothes were; super tested etc, with a life time warranty against faulty products. After only a couple of wears the clip at the front broke. I didn't have the receipt but I took it back as it had the target label on it and was in pristine condition, apart from the broken clip. I did not want a refund, just a replacement. The conversation went like this;
Target rep: "How do I know it's even one of ours, you could have bought it anywhere", with real attitude
Me: "Excuse me", I said, "See this label, It reads Target" (Probably not very tactful of me)
Target rep: "Well for all I know you could have shop lifted it"
I'm not very often stuck for words but I was flabbergasted. All I could think was that the money I had paid for shares in this company obviously did not go toward customer service training.
The customer is only always right with cheap stuff like Target clothing...my dishwasher broke after 2 years and I must buy a new one due to the fact I didn't purchase the extended warranty.
Is the customer always right? A couple of years ago I bought my daughter a bra from Target. At the time they were heavily advertising just how good their brand name clothes were; super tested etc, with a life time warranty against faulty products. After only a couple of wears the clip at the front broke. I didn't have the receipt but I took it back as it had the target label on it and was in pristine condition, apart from the broken clip. I did not want a refund, just a replacement. The conversation went like this;
Target rep: "How do I know it's even one of ours, you could have bought it anywhere", with real attitude
Me: "Excuse me", I said, "See this label, It reads Target" (Probably not very tactful of me)
Target rep: "Well for all I know you could have shop lifted it"
I'm not very often stuck for words but I was flabbergasted. All I could think was that the money I had paid for shares in this company obviously did not go toward customer service training.
The customer isn't always right, but in this situation you should just stop talking to the sales associate and ask to talk to the store manager right away. Not the department manager, the store manager. Anyone who accuses you of shoplifting something shouldn't be working customer service.
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Original message sent by costumeczar
The customer isn't always right, but in this situation you should just stop talking to the sales associate and ask to talk to the store manager right away. Not the department manager, the store manager. Anyone who accuses you of shoplifting something shouldn't be working customer service.
I find it's also helpful to contact the corporate office (make sure to write down the name of the associate), they sometimes even send you a coupon or gift certificate for your trouble.
We see this on a daily bases on CC Every time someone does this it comes back to bit them in the butt. I would've never removed a layer of cake so she can afford decorations. It's either you can afford the basic version or you can afford a decorated cake.
If a car comes standard with a CD player, AC, and heated seats for $10,000 and the navigation system cost $1000 more the dealer is not going to remove the cd player and AC so you can afford the Navigation system.
Every time you change your basic business practices and procedures to accommodate people you undermine yourself and set a bad precedent. (this comment is personally aimed at you Strubbette)
I just noticed my mistake I meant this comment isn't personally aimed at you Strubbette
LOL. I am glad you said that. I was wondering what I did that was so offensive.
I normally stick to my guns on cake prices. I let this lady give me a pity party and figured I wasn't going too far out of my way to accommodate her. After looking back I really think she overspent on the entire party and took it out on me because I am a small business, figuring she might get some money back (even after me doing her a favor). I still don't regret doing the cake. It turned out wonderful and I am sure I can use it to book more with the same theme.
LOL. I am glad you said that. I was wondering what I did that was so offensive. I normally stick to my guns on cake prices. I let this lady give me a pity party and figured I wasn't going too far out of my way to accommodate her. After looking back I really think she overspent on the entire party and took it out on me because I am a small business, figuring she might get some money back (even after me doing her a favor). I still don't regret doing the cake. It turned out wonderful and I am sure I can use it to book more with the same theme.
Lol I'm just happy that I was able to catch my mistake in time.
Is the customer always right? A couple of years ago I bought my daughter a bra from Target. At the time they were heavily advertising just how good their brand name clothes were; super tested etc, with a life time warranty against faulty products. After only a couple of wears the clip at the front broke. I didn't have the receipt but I took it back as it had the target label on it and was in pristine condition, apart from the broken clip. I did not want a refund, just a replacement. The conversation went like this;
Target rep: "How do I know it's even one of ours, you could have bought it anywhere", with real attitude
Me: "Excuse me", I said, "See this label, It reads Target" (Probably not very tactful of me)
Target rep: "Well for all I know you could have shop lifted it"
I'm not very often stuck for words but I was flabbergasted. All I could think was that the money I had paid for shares in this company obviously did not go toward customer service training.
WOW really? I would have raised hell! I spend so much money in Target and one reason is that they have an accommodating return policy. I once took back sheets because they didn't wear well (they were pilled after a week). I didn't have anything, but my CC. I had no problem.
LOVE. There's also these...please heed costumeczar's warning above prior to clicking this link http://www.captainleisuretees.com/s/T-Shirts/Cakey-and-Bakey-Tees/Fondant-*****es/session_04d9d462cd74/
I WANT so many of these Tees! LOL
I just had someone email me and ask me for a cake to serve 4, chocolate with chocolate filling, and 4 s'mores cupcakes. WHAT?? My s'mores cupcakes are graham flavored cake with mini marshmallows in the batter, filled with a cross between milk & semi sweet chocolate ganache, topped with roasted marshmallows and more ganache and grahams.... A crud load of work, and they are seasonal, since I hate making them. And there is a 1 dozen minimum.
Not to mention my smallest cake that I will sell individually serves 16.....
AOmg Anna that sounds incredible. Can you send them to Canada? I only need 2 though. At a reasonable price please :p
I just had someone email me and ask me for a cake to serve 4, chocolate with chocolate filling, and 4 s'mores cupcakes. WHAT?? My s'mores cupcakes are graham flavored cake with mini marshmallows in the batter, filled with a cross between milk & semi sweet chocolate ganache, topped with roasted marshmallows and more ganache and grahams.... A crud load of work, and they are seasonal, since I hate making them. And there is a 1 dozen minimum.
Not to mention my smallest cake that I will sell individually serves 16.....
Well, they'll take the one for 16 people, but they only have 4 people coming, so they'll only need to pay you for 4 servings. Same for the cupcakes.
AWell, now I feel bad, since he just ordered the 16 serving cake and a dozen cupcakes, lol!
A[QUOTE][/QUOTE]
Original message sent by Annabakescakes
Well, now I feel bad, since he just ordered the 16 serving cake and a dozen cupcakes, lol!
Aw, don't worry about it. He was just clued in by you. Probably did him a favor.
AHe'll thank you for it when he has all that yummy cake to eat and only 3 others to share it with!
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