I had a baby shower cake order for this weekend.  Very nice woman but not so good on the communication.  She took weeks in between emails/phone calls to plan her cake.  I had to remind her to pay her deposit but she finally did.

Sent her the 2nd invoice for the balance and, here we are, a week and a reminder email later and she still hasn't paid her balance.  No email, no phone call, crickets.  The cake is due this Sunday.  I'm baking off cakes today for this weekends orders.

So, I sent her an email and cancelled her order.  Against my policy, out of courtesy, I refunded her deposit minus the Paypal fees. This is the first time I've had to do this and I feel bad but I also feel relieved.  I'm not going to be chasing clients around for their payments. She is officially on my "no cake for you" list now.

I wouldn't feel bad for cancelling the order. You did what you were supposed to do to let her know that the balance needed to be paid. Don't feel bad! I would have kept the deposit, as well.

It always feels bad but you shouldn't feel bad...She's a grown woman and you shouldn't be responsible for reminding her of things she has to do. Y

I would look at it this way..you would feel a lot worse if you made the cake and when she came to pick it up she tried to screw you out of the remaining balance.

Thanks, Peeps! I appreciate the feedback and support.  At least, I didn't turn away any other cakes orders for hers.  I only had two this coming weekend and I still have the other one, which has been paid in full for weeks, haha!!

gingerlocks said: ..........you would feel a lot worse if you made the cake and when she came to pick it up she tried to screw you out of the remaining balance. ......

OR didn't ever show up to collect the cake

Awwww, jeez...   So, I cancelled the order Monday and get an email today (Thursday) stating she was in and out of the hospital and she thought the balance was to be paid at delivery.  Now, she doesn't have a baby shower cake for her daughter, bla bla bla!

Now, I am super duper clear from the get go about my payment policy.  I would NEVER accept payment at delivery (unless it was a good friend or family).  I told her over the phone, via several emails, etc that the balance was due on 5/29. 

Now, she's trying to make me the bad guy.  I don't feel bad anymore.  I'm glad I cancelled her cake.  I don't think I would have gotten paid and I think she'd end up my 1st complaint.  No thanks!

I also have a new policy:  if a potential client contacts me for a cake and I email them back, then don't hear anything for several more weeks....I'm booked.  Those people are always a pain in the @$$.

You not lying someone just waited until I contacted them and canceled part of there order. This was.for a wedding.v and she thought the money she had paid was gonn . E it. Sadly mistaken... U still owe e, the the wedding this week...

jinkies ~~ You were 100% correct in everything you did regarding this client, including refunding the initial deposit less the paypal fees since you had not incurred any losses.  In "Judge Judy" terms, you were made "whole" and the client was made "whole" even though her personal circumstances (hospital) may have interfered with her wishes. 

THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE FOR JINKIES!!!!!!!  

Thanks @Apti ‍ , I really appreciate that!  xxoo

I had a lady that kept contacting me about paying the deposit later and later every time I told her deposit secures that date no deposit means no order we don't hold dates open without deposit we have very CLEAR terms  she knew exactly what are terms were I wrote  them a dozen times.  About a month before the order would have been due she asked if she could pay the whole balance about 1-2 weeks before the due date I seriously copied and pasted my previous response to her and decided that I was going wait a few days and tell her we are no longer available to take her order bc I knew she wasn't going to pay the deposit. I emailed her and said sorry we are now booked for the date your inquired about. Her true colors came out and I was never more glad that I decided to do that. She said I'll never order from you again and I politely said the deposit was never paid the order was never placed. Had the deposit been paid the date would have been secured for your order. People with payment issues whether it be the deposit due date or final payments usually are more work than they are worth. I'll pass on them too good job jinkies sounds like you dodged a similar bullet :) 

@Webake2gether ‍   Isn't it sad when you have to do that?  I felt really bad, but I just had a weird feeling about her.  I've read enough horror stories on here to see the signs of potential disaster.  Thanks, but no thanks. :)

It is sad :( 

But I've learned to trust my gut and if people are doing the payment runaround I'm done with them. You won't see me stuck with a cake someone didn't pay for lol. a lady I know a repeat customer even mailed a check for full payment it didn't come by the date it was due I told her no payment no cake she paid by credit card that day and no joke I get the check 2 days later and it's postmarked for the date it was due. So people you know will try to pull stuff on you. I have no idea when she mailed it but my guess is she was mailing it the day it was due hoping I would accept it late nope sorry  due date is set for a reason and I won't waiver from it. People probably think I'm mean ;)

My wording was: "Your deposit puts you on my calendar.  Your final payment turns on the oven."

Maybe its different because i work in a bakery, but most people pay when they come to pick up the cake. We've always given the option to pay now or when you pick up. Large wedding orders we obviously require 50% deposit, but we've never had many issues with people paying and picking up. Occasionally we'll have an order postponed (recently had one where we only had prebaked the cake) or cancelled, but we usually havent started on the cake (aside from maybe baking the cake) so it hasnt been much of an issue. 

The  Bakery down the block requires a deposit when you order any cake. When I drop off my dry cleaning they require a deposit.

I pay, upfront, in full, school tuition for my kid.........you get the idea. If I walk into the ER, the first thing they ask for is my insurance....I might bleed out while I fill out the paper work....

What is a prebaked cake?

I might be way off on this, but if I bake the cake, then yes I have started to work on it.

Sorry if I come across as harsh, but this is the kind of mis-information that causes grief for people running a business.

And I am a hobbyist!!!

Yes pre baking is technically starting it, but since we do a bunch of them at a time, its not usually much of an issue because we can use it for cake pops or make a premade cake for sale in the case from it. And even that has happened only a few times. Usually when i say starting it i mean frosting and decorating or premaking deco for it. As we usually decorate the same day for pick up or the day before if its an AM pickup when we open.  Its not my business so i dont set the rules or lack of. 

From what I see on here most of us are are small businesses not necessarily having storefronts so a large storefront or commercially ran bakery is a different situation. I require a nonrefundable deposits on all orders when the order is placed and payment to be made in full for orders under $50 when the order is placed. You will never ever see me selling a cake that someone didn't pay for. It's a totally different game for those of us who are by custom order only without the opportunity to put it in a case to sell if someone happens to walk in to buy it or use it for other orders bc I know I carefully plan and orchestrate all my orders to work out a certain way and I don't take last minute orders. Also if someone cancels or postpones we are guaranteed something for the time we've spent planning bc planning is the work done before the oven is turned on. Every cake is planned for in one way or another. for us small businesses we shoulder all the responsibility the cakes are ours from start to finish so deposits, cancellations and postponements affect us in a different way I think. Deposits and upfront payments also eliminate payment disputes bc they know up front and have agreed to it that leaves no room for the I didn't know it cost that much or that's not what I was told nope you knew and signed off on it. We have a commercial kitchen and run a legitimate business if we ever decide to move into a storefront nothing will change no money no cake :)

Oh i totally get the difference between small business home ones vs stores. I actually work in a small cupcake shop but we do a lot of cakes as well. 1-2 employee shop.

Ive actually wanted for us to do deposits, but that isnt really up to me and we havent had much issue with it like i said. Theres some stuff i would like to do better, but...

Like i know a lot of times we under price our cakes, especially anything that requires fondant work or anything other than a basic cake imbc cake. 

Our customers are pretty decent with everything. Or maybe we've been lucky. Lol. 

I guarantee they've been decent bc  they've been under paying ;)

Most people won't complain if they know there getting more for less lol. Notice I said most bc there are a special group of people who will complain just to hear themselves complain!! As long as you get your paycheck let the owner deal with it thats the beauty of being an employee!