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

I think she should have refunded you the delivery fee. I also think she should have offered/given you the cake as you had paid for it. No way would I be happy to pay for something her neighbour ended up receiving.

Absolutely no way it wasn’t iced the day before. It would need to set before should could add toppers etc.

I think you should get a discount on the next cake. But you can't expect it to be free.

I don't think OP is being completely unreasonable but do agree it's surprising all the other suppliers have changed without charge - at the end of the day sickness is probably the no.1 reason anyone would need to cancel an event (particularly kids parties!) - I can't imagine many people do it because they can't be bothered last minute or whatever. So it would seem reasonable to me to build in some sort of charge regardless of the reason and only consider not implementing it if it was a really unusual or tragic circumstance like the person dying.

In her case I think it would be reasonable for her to charge you something, even up to about half price, given she could potentially have had another customer in the second slot.

However she is also BU because she told you she would freeze the cake and then didn't - if she's asking you to pay the full amount twice she owes you two (fully decorated) cakes. If she didn't think the cake would freeze well or didn't have space or whatever she should have said that at the time and either offered it to you at half price with the understanding you'd then have to pay again if you wanted a new one, or left it up to you to say you weren't bothered if it didn't taste 100%. She absolutely cannot expect you to pay full decorated price for a non decorated cake that she gave to her neighbour AND full decorated price again for a second cake.

Then the cake maker should have made the cake and delivered to the OP. If she paid for it, she was entitled to have it.

but I agree with above, she should have offered YOU the cake you are paying for. If it's too late to cancel and you pay full price, you should get the cake. Then up to you what you do with it.

And order another one for the other date.

She lost another booking by giving you her time and that slot.
Don't think you paid for a sponge with or without icing, you are paying for that slot.

You want another slot, you pay again.

Sounds reasonable.

The problem is, you are booking out 2 sets of her time.

I find it surprising and unusual that all the others are honouring bookings as they too have lost what they could have got for the second slot.

Well that changes things slightly, but only slightly. You should have made it clear you were wanting the date of pick up delayed to the new party date. If she couldn’t do that, then she should have 1000% offered you the cake for pick up on the original date if the date wasn’t able to be moved. I’d be very angry that I paid £200 for a cake I didn’t even get.

Yes, but. In that case she shouldn't sound like offering to freeze the sponge (implying potential future usage) and should had been clear about not transfering any part of the price, so the OP could decide to get her paid-for cake on the original date.

Cake maker here. There are a lot of factors at play here. For me personally if the sponge could be used for another order or I had room in my freezer to store I would do just that. If I had availability for your new date I would probably charge a very nominal fee for the short notice. But if you requested to cancel NOT rearrange at such short notice (the day before) I would probably not refund as I have already booked out my time and supplies for you (especially if I have turned down other orders for you) so I would offer to deliver your cake as arranged but I would not offer a refund. Although I do understand your bakers stance in that she may have turned down orders for your cake so has lost money if you expect her to block out more time for you for ‘free’ effectively. But she definitely should have discussed all this with you at the time you cancelled.

I would definitely tell her that she should have given you the option of still having the cake completed.

To be fair if it was the day before she wouldn’t get a new booking BUT she would have started the cake at that stage so I don’t see why she didn’t deliver the cake to you. Im also seriously impressed you managed to move the date for everything else.

It’s fair enough that she’s charging you again, she wouldn’t have been able to take on another booking at such short notice. Although some discount would be nice I don’t think you can expect it.

Its a tricky one. I can see both sides, as she has already used up her time and ingredients to bake the sponges, and raw ingredients are not cheap. If she was not willing to rearrange without charging you, or not willing to freeze it (her preference) then I would have told her to finish the cake as planned.

In your scneario I would have picked up a cheap supermarket cake for the rearranged party. I know it isn't quite the same., but i don't like wasting money.

I think she was wrong to give the sponge to her neighbour though.

I was all set set to say Yabu but if she charged you, suggested the cake was still usable at a later date, but then gave it away without offering it to you then YAnbu. That was your cake, albeit undecorated, and she should have delivered it to you just like if it was the actual cake (or at least asked if you wanted that) if full price was going to be charged.

Yes, that's a fair point, the baker should have been clear and said the cake is available, take it or leave it.

Also how exactly did you word the cancelling.

Sorry to be a pain but we don’t need the cake anymore vs hey daughter’s sick is there any chance the cake be changed to another date?

and then her response.

but not if she couldnt rebook for another cake that weekend.

if she's trying to charge you for a new cake she should have given you the old sponge.