AIBU to expect the birthday cake booking date changed without extra charge?

I'm on your side in the other aspects - especially as she suggested freezing the sponge and didn't offer to get the cake anyway, but this time argument doesn't work.

She pencilmarked the time as working time for your order. If she didn't have your order and didn't have another one, she could have operate completely freely with her time - booked a gym class, not book in her babysitter, plan a meeting with friend who wouldn't be available at the short notice, have the previous evening off and do her material orders in that slot, ....

But she reserved the time for you and didn't get it back until the very last moment, so it isn't unreasonable to expect some kind of compensation for her time.

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I'd express that when she mentioned freezing you hoped at least part of the costs could be saved and that had she been clear about full price you might got the cake on the original date as well, and ask her, whether there is some space for agreement - for example half the costs. And see what happens.

Maybe she has turned down other jobs to be able to do yours? So she would have been out of pocket if she’d either agreed to do your new cake for no additional cost.

Then there’s the costs to her incurred so far you seem dismissive of - ingredients, electricity and time. Even if she only spent an hour prepping, cooking and cleaning up for the sponge, would you be happy to work an hour for free? Or would you expect to be paid?

You are coming across as extremely entitled. I think you’re incredibly lucky that no one else charged you again… either that or you’re incredibly bolshy and a CF who forced the issue with the suppliers. You could always use a different supplier if you don’t want to pay her again… I’m sure she’ll be happy to pass you over as a customer.

People like you are the reason small businesses that incur up front costs charge up front.

That’s so much money to lose. I think she has communicated poorly to you. When you cancelled she should have said that you would be charged again. You could have then just accepted the cake and picked it up a day or two later as it would keep for a few days (cake with no party is still better than no cake).

I get why she does it that way. I bake cakes for family birthdays and I do a lot of prep the day before (baking the sponges, planning the decoration and making any fondant shapes) so cancelling that late is after a lot of the work is already done. It’s not right that she didn’t tell you though.

Thats very rude when you’ve asked for opinions on AIBU. £200 and a free cake implies she has £200 now, and a free cake, which she obviously doesn’t. She may have ended up with £100 and a free cake after ingredients and labour, but the cake didn’t manage to generate itself for free.

That's not the same. You've outlined a scenario with just a service. OP's situation has goods to be delivered.

My take is that OP would have no problem paying for a new cake service if she'd got the original one. At the moment she's paid and the neighbour has the cake and the baker wants her to pay full price for a new one. So she has paid for 2 cakes/ slots but is only able to get one!

You say she's saved time by not decorating the cake but she actually wasted time. She could have taken another booking in that time and may have turned other orders down. That is the time you have paid for.

no that's not the point at all.

Even if she wasn't working because she didn't need to decorate, it was far too late to accept another booking. She lost earnings. She couldn't accept another booking because she had booked you.

You want a professional cake maker, at least respect their time.

If you cancel your hairdresser at the last minute, you still pay for the full appointment, and you dont' get the products he would have used even if you basically pay for them.

It's fair to ask you to pay, but I agree with above, you should get the cake because you paid for it.

Telling you to pay is normal, telling you "oh I gave it to my neighbour" is not 😂

@JavSurge

i don’t agree she got her time back - for all you know she turned down a day out with mates or turned down another booking down. She allocated the time to you , you chose not to use the time.

The real issue is you should have had the first cake as you paid for it.

Did you think she would do the new one for free?

She obviously didn’t have ‘£200 and a free sponge cake’ the cake wasn’t free, it took ingredients and paid time which was out of that £200. She might have also made the icing and turned bookings down. You seem to think her time and effort is worth nothing. I think you should get a decent discount on the next cake, but I just think you are quite dismissive of this persons business really

She wasn’t working, but she thought she would be.

I wouldn’t expect the cake for free but I would react in absolute shock if she said she’d given the cake to her neighbour. What did you say when you heard that, OP?

You paid for the cake, and it was “half” made already. She should’ve frozen it, or offered it to you / your wider family. I find it very cheeky that she just thought, great, this is my cake now to do with as I wish?

Obviously you wouldn’t have been thinking about arranging that at the time, what with your child being ill. She should have offered the cake or asked if there’s an aunt or friend she could drop it off with. I would at the very least expect free delivery for the next cake, seeing as how she didn’t deliver anything this time.

I think it’s poor communication on both parts.

The cake seller could have said ‘ Sorry to hear your family are unwell but at such short notice I will have to charge you anyway. So do you want me to deliver it to you as arranged as you have paid for it? (If it could freeze she could add it will be okay in the freezer for a week)’

With her actual response about freezing - You could have clarified - if you freeze the sponge how much will you charge me for the finishing of the cake later this month?

Instead you both avoided an uncomfortable conversation but are now in uncomfortable situation and the conversation is going to be worse. Because yes I’d be pissed she gave it to a neighbour.

You cancelled short notice, when that happens you should expect no refunds. The baker had to give away the cake as presumably she didn't have another order she could use it for. It's only right you pay again. You could have of course still collected the cake to have at home and just bought a shop bought one for the new date

I think it’s reasonable for her to charge you again. She’ll have to buy new ingredients, plus labour time etc. it’s not her fault you cancelled. Maybe could give you a discount as it’s repeated business.

I think that’s just the gamble we take when we organise parties.

Party insurance (along the lines of wedding insurance) just isn’t something most of us think of.

I think we have to look at it as that we take a risk once or twice a year, depending on how many parties we organise, suppliers simply couldn’t afford to repeatedly redo things for free for multiple people a year.

I think it's a tricky one, but I am probably on the OP's side. So I think she SHOULD charge you for a new cake for the new date as others have mentioned she's booked out the time for you and lost out on income.

But if I were you, I'd want two cakes to show for it!

Have you said, "oh ok let me know when I can collect the first cake that you've made then and we'll do something different for the party"

I’m shocked at how much a cake costs!

Her giving the sponge to her neighbour confuses things imo as you had paid for that cake.

it's irrelevant really.

Suppliers dont' have to prove they turn down something, they booked a slot for you, and you pay for that slot.

It would be very rude to turn round "you can't be that busy, so I want another slot for free" 😂

It doesn't work like that.

I know you were dealing with a poorly child but did you not think to ask at this point how the money side of it was going to work?

£200 for a cake and you didn't even check what the plan was?

I'd go back to the cake maker, appeal to her "goodwill" and see if she can meet you half way? Points I'd concentrate on are 1) she said she was freezing your cake hence the expectation it would be available at a later date 2) She confirmed it wasn't yet decorated and 3) you have received absolutely nothing for £200 already paid.

If no joy then I wouldn't pay her the full £200 again, I'd ask for a partial refund on the basis of the points above.