Would You Refund A Customer After Cake Falls Apart (Post Delivery)?
Baking By JamP Updated 12 Mar 2018 , 3:21pm by SandraSmiley
Hi everyone. So I baked and decorated a buttercreamed “naked” cake for a wedding and delivered it to the destination requested. During delivery, I notified the customer that buttercream cakes (with fresh flowers) are super sensitive and requires cool climate at all times. When I got to the destination, the climate was warm and the customer’s family members were actively cooking in the home (causing a warm climate). Fast forward a few hours, the customer takes the cake to the wedding destination and opens the box. I get a text stating that the customer is not happy as the buttercream starts to melt which causes a crack in the cake and the fresh flowers are starting to fall out (due to melting).
It has not been requested, however, I’m considering a partial refund. I feel terrible that this is happening and guilty (despite me warning the customer of the sensitivity of buttercream). Should I give a partial refund? If so, what percentage? What would you do?
I personally would not. None of the issues that she had were the result of anything you did. She simply did not follow the instructions you gave her.
If you told her how to correctly store and transport the cake then as far as I am concerned (and talking from the perspective of the customer - I don't have a business) your responsibility stops there.
I would definitely talk to the customer and reiterate that you are sorry that happened but as you previously advised the cake needed to be kept in a cool environment or they risked something like this happening.
What happened is not your fault. The only thing that would cast a shadow of a doubt on that for me is if you dropped the cake off to someone other than the person you had given the instructions to and failed to mention the warm environment not being cake friendly..... even then it was still the customers responsibility to endure the person taking delivery of the cake knew how to properly handle and store the cake if they were not there to personally care for it.
You can only tell people so much, after that it's up to them to do the right thing.
First of all (in my opinion), you did nothing wrong and no refund is required. I have a lot more sympathy for your customer, however, since she has not requested a refund. This indicates that she is accepting at least part of the responsibility for the situation. Because you are feeling some stress and your customer has been polite, why not offer a first year anniversary cake at no charge? Beyond that, you should do no more than express how sorry you are that it happened and reiterate the temperature issues. On second thought, don't even mention the temp, just be sympathetic.
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