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

Apologies. I must have read it wrong as I thought she was looking full price again. That I think was a good compromise.

She should’ve offered the cake to you since she’s charged you. She shouldn’t charge twice. But should charge you something for the cancellation.

So you would also give away a customer has paid for?
That is very unprofessional. I hope that's in your t&cs

My T&Cs say that customers cannot cancel within 1 month of the date the cake is required. If they did cancel, I'd always offer them the completed cake anyway, but if they didn't want it, then yes, I'd give away a cake that the customer has paid for. What else would I do with it? I would refund any items that could be reused or hadn't been used yet, such as icing or boards/boxed, and refund delivery, but that would purely be as a gesture of goodwill.

Given that the cake maker in this instance has offered a 50% refund, I think it's perfectly reasonable for her to do whatever she wants with the unused cake.

I did once have someone cancel a wedding cake the night before the big day. The cake was already completed, so the groom came and collected it - very sad to seem him driving away with his wedding cake - I believe he gave it to a care home to use.

So you would also give away a customer has paid for?

That is very unprofessional. I hope that's in your t&cs.

There was no reason for the cake maker to give the cake away when the OP had paid in full for it.
she should have offered it to the OP, decorated or not!

can’t believe she gave the cake away !

She’s not charging for two whole cakes. She’s charging 50% for the next cake. Or a 50% refund on the first. I’m a cake maker and she’s being far more generous than I would be,

But she didn’t decorate it so if anything perhaps 1/2 again. But to charge for two whole cakes I feel is unfair. And I own my own business .

I think a number of people aren’t disputing the hours were booked and it’s lost work - but the baker did not supply the goods and gave the sponge away. If the time was booked and cake paid for then if the baker couldn’t change dates they should have just supplied the goods on the original date given the goods were paid for.
Not suggest that the sponge can be frozen and omit to say that they couldn’t move date.
If I paid £200 for a cake and then needed to change date and this wasn’t possible I would accept it’s not the bakers fault but I was absolutely then expect the product I paid for to be produced under the terms of the agreement. The agreement was £200 for a finished cake!

YABVU

You cancelled the party with no mention of re-arranging it, she said she'd pop the cake in the freezer to use another time, which is why she would be able to give you 50% back, which is what she has offered. You should have spoken options at the time of cancellation, so you could make an informed decision at the time.

It is nothing to do with you what happened to that sponge, at that point you had cancelled for good in her opinion, so knowing she will offer a partial refund, that is now her cake to do with as she wishes, she couldn't sell it, and didn't want to freeze it for whatever reason, so she gave it away to stop it being wasted. You need to stop being annoyed at that, she didn't make any more money on it and what happened to it is nothing to do with you, I'm sure if she knew you were likely to re-arrange she would have kept it for you, but you didn't say anything, you just cancelled, so she disposed as she saw fit.

The alternative she has given is to keep the previous payment and re-do the new cake at half price, I think that is absolutely fair to be honest. Unfortunately it is your lack of communication and your assumption that lost you the sponge from the first one, so she will need to buy the ingredients and make it again anyway. So you are covering her out of pocket expenses on the first one due to cancellation, and paying for the cake which you will receive the second time.

OP YANBU not to expect to pay for a whole new cake, when she hadn’t even decorated the first one!

She's not being expected to pay for a whole new cake. She's being asked to pay for 50% of a new cake, or being offered a 50% refund on the one she cancelled. This sounds very fair to me.

Sadly in this case I think the cake lady is right to charge you again. Although as you bought the other cake why didn't she give you it as you paid for it. Did laugh loud at that clever person comment. .you want your cake and eat it. I'd go back and have a chat with her as you didn't get the cake you bought. Totally understandable you need to pay something here though. Hope your daughter is feeling better

Why so nasty? She’s had a child with D and V, she hasn’t strangled a puppy.

OP YANBU not to expect to pay for a whole new cake, when she hadn’t even decorated the first one! It would be reasonable to expect to pay for any extra effort she has to go to because of the cancellation. She should have offered you the sponge, and only if you refused that and asked her to do another one should she be charging for that.

She shouldn’t be charging twice for decoration she hadn’t even done in the first place. I hope pps aren’t seriously suggesting that!

I think you should be paying a partial rate for the one you couldn't have, on top of the full rate for the finished one. We make bespoke jewellery, our T'S & C's are that if you cancel we can charge for time on design and labour, and materials used. She still had to make the sponge and block out time in her diary that could have gone to another customer.

what should have happened is the baker should have said “ok, when you want to reschedule, let me know and I’ll only charge 50% for that one”
at the moment the OP is £200 down for a cake that was made but not received and needs to pay £100 for a second cake

That's effectively what has happened, although it took a couple of days to come to that arrangement. The cake maker has also offered a 50% refund if the OP prefers. That seems fair to me

The OP paid in full for the first cake, including a delivery fee.
called to cancel the morning before - cake was already made
baker said she’d “freeze it for a later date” OP took that to mean for her, baker should’ve been clearer

OP has now asked for the cake
baker has given it away but will charge 50% for the new cake

what should have happened is the baker should have said “ok, when you want to reschedule, let me know and I’ll only charge 50% for that one”

at the moment the OP is £200 down for a cake that was made but not received and needs to pay £100 for a second cake

The op didn’t pay in full for the first cake. She was charged 50% for the late cancellation.

im wondering if the ‘don’t worry, I can freeze it’ was a kind, if ill thought through, attempt at quickly reassuring the op who was worried about her dd, not to worry that she’s lost the cake maker money, not realising that the exact opposite was on the ops mind.

The OP could have had the cake, if she hadn't cancelled it. Instead she's got a 50% refund. I think that's a decent outcome.

no, but you would have the cake that you paid in full for. The OP didn’t have that

But if you ordered a personalised cake from M&S, you wouldn't be able to cancel last minute and get your money back. So why should a 'home' baker be any different?

And if you think some of the 'home bakes' are dubious quality, you wouldn't order with them in the first place, surely? You'd check reviews, go by word of mouth etc. A decent hand made cake will always beat a supermarket cake, in my opinion. Plus it gives you so much more choice on design, size etc, you can have it made to your exact specifications.

@Gossipisgood
this is one of those threads where you need to spend quite a while reading all of the ops posts unfortunately, as the implication from her first post was that she was going to be charged full price twice. But she never was. Turns out it was 50% for the first cake. So quite generous of the cake maker. So the op has piles of posts saying the sponge was hers, when actually that 50% would just cover some of her time lost as opposed to the ingredients/sponge. The cake maker communicated badly, but was quite fair in the end.

You are a million percent being unreasonable. She may have turned down other jobs as she had you booked in. Even if she hadn't decorated the cake at that point, she was going to be would have all the ingredients ready to go arranged delivery etc. If you cant understand she's operating a business then go and buy a supermarket cake. Imagine if she had someone doing this to her multiple times a week. How could she sustain a business!!

I think in this situation I'd offer to pay half of the cost for her time. Really she should have frozen the sponge or gave it to you as you'd paid for it. It was your cake she gave away to her neighbour which was her choice & didn't ask you if it was ok. However, you cancelled it with short notice so in effect it's been a waste of her time & if you're wanting another cake at a different time then she's spent double the time on it. If she's adamant on charging you full price for the first cake , then full price again for the second cake explain that because you've already paid for one cake you expect two cakes to be given to you. One decorated & one just sponge.