What would YOU have done?

[Eliza22]

Am I being unreasonable...?

It was my son's 12th birthday on Tuesday. He doesn't "do" parties (last one was aged 9 and the only kid not featuring in the photos, was him). He has high functioning autism and OCD. He has been really, really ill for the past 18 months+ and so, because we couldnt do a party at home, we decided to ask his school if we could take a birthday cake in, so he'd have the experience of his peers singing Happy Birthday and blowing out candles. Nice surprise!

Instead of getting it from a supermarket and to celebrate that he WANTED to celebrate this year, we ordered a special cake from a local professional cake maker. It cost £50 which I thought very reasonable. This lady has a business and a website and came highly recommended.

I collected the cake. It was in a tatty sort of "tray" ... One of those you'd see yogurts stacked on at a supermarket, with a load of cling film around it. She apologised for the lack of a cake box, she didn't have any "in stock".

So, I take the cake to school and inform them to be careful, the packaging was flimsy; I'd almost dropped the bloody thing, getting it out of the car.

Twenty minutes later, the teacher rings... "Erm, do you know it says "Happy Birthday JAMES" on it? My son is not called James. The only thing we could do was take the James off and hope he didn't notice. Either that, or no cake, no surprise. Just another "day at school".

I contacted the cake maker. She was mortified. Said "I have no idea why I put JAMES on it when the order clearly says XXXXXXXX". I said "well never mind but, perhaps some sort of refund might be in order?" She agreed and we parted with her jokingly saying "good job he didn't notice!"

Yesterday, I came home to a card posted through my door with £5 in it.

My DH was fuming. I laughed it off and said "we'll, that's an insult and we won't go there again!" I think, in view of our ordering a personalised cake and it having the wrong person's name on it, that at least 25% of the cost should have been returned.

AIBU? What would you have done/expect?

[Eliza22]

I saw the cake and didn't notice. In my defence:

I had arranged to collect it the night before but was then told it wasn't ready and could I collect it on the morning of his birthday. I said ok but knew it'd be a tight timetable as the school had given me a time slot. I was therefore in a massive hurry.

The lady had asked for cash which I'd had the night before (ready for collection) but then paid for something else and had to go to the bank on the way. A cheque/credit card payment was declined by the lady. I can understand why.

The icing had a particular feature on it which I was so focused on, I failed to notice the wrong lettering. My son's name has similar letters within it. I glanced at it, took a photo of it, gave her the cash and then drove the half hour to school, knowing I'd be late. I WAS late.

Either way, I would have had to HAVE the damned cake because with ten minutes to drive a half hour journey, where would I have gotten a replacement? Perhaps she would have done a better job of removing "JAMES" than the teacher did. Who knows. But it was STILL the wrong name.


I HAD LEFT MYSELF SUFFICIENT TIME THE NIGHT BEFORE TO COLLECT and be on time, at school, the following morning.

So, I guess some may argue it was my fault also, for not checking thoroughly enough. You know what? I will do, in future. I have learned a lesson. That said, I still think it's disgraceful in how I was dealt with. A £5 refund and then being ignored. Her Facebook page is full of comments and praise so, I'm sure she's very good at what she does usually but I have been treated with contempt. Clearly, my paltry £50 birthday cake was not sufficient business enough for her to be concerned about losing. Her website states that she was a highly successful corporate business woman, before going into cakes. I'm just very surprised to be treated so shabbily.

Shame in her.

[girlsyearapart]

Has she replied to your e mail yet?

[kerala]

I would be so tempted to write calmly and honestly your views on her website to counteract the glowing testimonials.

We still laugh at my dad being given a birthday cake in a dodgy restaurant which said "happy birthday Denise" (obviously not his name!) but that was given free as it happened to be his birthday I would be hopping if I were you the paltry refund makes it all worse somehow.

[Eliza22]

No. And, I directed her to this thread in an attempt to show her what other fair, rational minded ladies consider "good (and bad) form". Clearly, not in the least bit concerned that she has caused such distress. I feel like she may as well have answered my email with "you are NOT worth my wasting my time".

I should add, I have not at any time alluded to her PERSONALLY. Not her company name. Nor geographical location.

I really think I, we (my son and myself) deserved better. She did not agree, it seems.

[Sianilaa]

Eliza,
I have started a celebration cake decorating business which I run from home. £50 for a large personalised cake is about right due to the time it takes. This kind of thing should never happen -

1. All orders should be confirmed and signed off by the customer.
   
2. I triple-check the message/name wanted before going anywhere near the cake!
   
3. You should have ample time to view the cake before you take it away.
   

It was completely unacceptable for her (a) to not provide you with a proper, secure cake box, (b) not follow her own procedures to prevent mistakes (c) getting the name wrong (d) changing your pick up time at the last minute if it wasn't convenient for you and (e) to laugh it off and offer you £5. Now she's ignoring you, which is a dangerous game for her to play considering the damage bad feedback can cause.

If it was me, I make sure I have all my kit at least a week in advance. I'd never not have a cake box. So she should have refunded you that charge - the cost of the box would have been included in the £50 you paid. So that £5 is a JOKE. She did not provide you with the service you paid for.

If it was me, I'd offer to refund everything except cost of ingredients alone (and to be fair, the cake was eaten so it wasn't a quality issue) - so usually 50%-60% of the cost of the cake should be refunded IMO.

I would say that you should have taken 5 minutes to check the cake over and so yes you should have spotted it before - but it was still her mistake and not yours AND there was no time for her to correct it anyway. My customers are sent a photo of the finished cake when it's done, usually the day before, to check it over.

If you were my customer, and it had got to this stage I'd be apologising profusely and would offer you a 60% refund on the spot AND for goodwill I'd have delivered a dozen cupcakes to your son.

[girlsyearapart]

If she has a Facebook testimonial page & she doesn't seem to want to reply to your e mail it looks to me like you will have to add a comment on her Facebook page...

And Cake Lady if you are reading this shame on you!

[Theicingontop]

I have a small business making cakes, and I've done something similar to the lady in your story, OP, though it wasn't for a child.

The lady wanted a great pair of boobies, frilly bra, with a tattoo on the left boob baring her brother's name. I got the name wrong , she noticed before she'd driven away and came back. I offered her a cup of tea while she waited, corrected it there and then and offered to partially refund her (the 'tattoo' was in black royal icing on pale 'flesh' so it wasn't pristine anymore) but she loved the cake so let it slide.

In your cake maker's position, I'd a) be absolutely mortified that I was sending a cake away without proper packaging, b) offer at least a 25% refund if I didn't have the opportunity to fix the mistake. You are definitely not being unreasonable to expect more than £5.

Ingredients aren't cheap (the price of butter makes me shudder), no, neither are cakeboards, equipment and gas and electricity. Not to mention the collective hours it takes to bake and decorate a cake, but there is always profit margin and she should have sacrificed some of it to make up for her mistake.

[Eliza22]

It's such a rotten feeling to be ignored. It's like this incident and our feelings don't count.

I feel (ridiculously) sad about the way we've been treated.

[YuleBritannia]

You took a photograph of it. What about the Small Claims Court. Your cakemaker has admitted her mistake.

If the name 'James' was on it, could it be that the cake was already made for someone called James and her offering it to you enabled her not to make a fresh one for you?

[roses2]

It's easy to configure a website and facebook only to show positive comments. For all you know, there are hundreds of customers out there as unhappy as you.

I think you should name and shame her now and also give trading standards a call tomorrow morning to see if there is anything they say you can do.

Is she a registered company or is everything cash in hand?

[cumfy]

a load of cling film around it. She apologised for the lack of a cake box



She knew.

I bet she isn't the one who does the cakes.

[longingforsomesleep]

A few years ago I ordered a cake from M and S for my son's christening. The cake I chose had space for some wording and a decoration. I didn't want the decoration (I think it was something baby related and he was a toddler so it didn't seem appropriate) and asked them to leave it off. I assumed that they would move the wording across so it sat in the middle of the cake. When I went to pick it up, the wording was at one side and there was an obvious gap where the decoration would have been. It looked odd. I was upset. The shop assistant was very apologetic and asked me to leave it with her.

The next day the cake was delivered to me by someone from M and S. They had taken it to a local cake maker who had iced a tasteful decoration in the gap. They did all this AND gave me a full refund.

And that was for a misunderstanding not an outright mistake!

[THERhubarb]

Just wondering if there is a update on this? Intrigued to know if cake maker has responded.

[Iheartpasties]

shame on you cake making lady.

[Rhinestone]

If she's advertising this business via facebook and makes the cakes at her house AND asks for cash then I'd be willing to bet that she doesn't have a food hygiene certificate, her kitchen isn't licensed to make food for sale to the public and she isn't declaring the income to HMRC and therefore isn't paying tax.

A threat to call your local Trading Standards might yield a refund!

[bringbacksideburns]

I think up to 50% refund is fair.

£5 back on a fifty quid is an insult cake lady if you are reading this.

You sound very nice Eliza and she has got a cheek.

[ImperialSantaKnickers]

Did she ever deign to reply OP?

[lljkk]

Honestly? I would accept the £5 and forget about it. Suing people is very stressful (have done it). And no harm done because your son is just as happy with this cake as he would have been had the cake been as perfect as you wanted.

I might not buy a cake from her again, though.

[AndiMac]

If there is anywhere to leave feedback for her business (her website, google reviews) I'd write a bad review, sticking to the facts about the cake and leave it at that. You aren't likely to see more of your money back from this tightwad, certainly not without a lot more effort, and it still won't take away your disappointment about it.

I'd be pissed off too, without the additional SN birthday background to make it even more upsetting. But it's not going to change things now, so do what you can review/feedback wise and move on. Glad your son enjoyed it at least. :)

[NagooHoHoHo]

I would have expected a 50% refund if they ate the cake.

TBF she didn't leave you much option but to use it though, did she?

[jen127]

Post a link to this thread on her facebook page !
That should get a reaction - she is well out of order and I agree the clingfilm was to cover the mistake !
Shame on her!

[THERhubarb]

I think it's very British to advise someone to just get over it and move on. We aren't a nation of complainers.

However, not supplying a box, not having it ready for the agreed collection day and not getting the name right are bad enough in itself without the frankly crap customer care Eliza is getting right now.

Yes the lady admitted she was at fault and put a fiver in a card to make up for it. She might think that was all she needed to do as Eliza was so nice and even joked about it on the phone with her. But she now realises from Eliza's email that this didn't make up for the discrepancies.

To ignore emails and phone calls is really quite bad customer service.

Feedback on Facebook can and will be removed. I would go down the official route of calling Trading Standards and having them advise you of what to do next. A phone message left with her, stating your intention to contact Trading Standards might solicit a response.

This was her chance to rectify a wrong, to be amazing and win the praise of a customer. When things do go wrong it can be tempting to just think 'sod it' but when approached the right way, it's a chance to prove just how wonderful you are and there can be no higher praise than from a customer who received tremendous customer care.

Even if the OP doesn't do anything now, this lady will drive herself out of business soon enough with this attitude.

[lljkk]

How funny, considering the laid back Californian seems to the only one advising OP just take the money & forget about it.

Must be my adopted Britishness. Makes me more British than those of you born to it.

[AndiMac]

I think it's just not worth the hassle of following up for the sake of the money.

[JustFabulous]

You got the wrong person's cake. No doubt about it.