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AIBU?

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Original poster

Birthday cake disaster, what would you do?

156 replies

Cakeybreakyheart · 01/03/2015 21:41

I bought DP a birthday cake for a v special birthday, we didn't have a chance to cut it at his party.

We cut it today to start giving it out to people.

The cake itself looks fab but it's totally inedible. Dry, very very heavy consistency almost bread-like.

It doesn't taste very nice at all and I'm just gutted about it. You really couldn't even force a piece down.

Would you tell the person who made it? I paid over £50.

What would you expect them to say/do?

OP posts:
slithytove · 03/03/2015 10:30

I made that cake as a wedding present btw. £50 worth of actual costs was nothing compared to what I saved my friend.

I want cake now.

Original poster
Cakeybreakyheart · 03/03/2015 12:12

Sorry IronGnome I misunderstood your point.

I won't be putting a pic up as I don't want to be unfair to the seller. It was just a 12 inch square iced cake with a design drawn on it.

OP posts:
OTheHugeManatee · 03/03/2015 12:45

Take the refund, spend it on nice cakes, stuff your faces, shrug your shoulders and move on.

OTheHugeManatee · 03/03/2015 12:47

Why am I so obsessed with cake threads?

Cake
Original poster
Cakeybreakyheart · 03/03/2015 12:48

They've offered £40.

OP posts:
Debinaround · 03/03/2015 12:58

That sounds fair. Are you happy to accept that?

GooodMythicalMorning · 03/03/2015 13:00

Id take it tbh.

ClaudetteWyms · 03/03/2015 13:02

How much did you pay originally OP?

You said over £50: if it was £51 I'd take the £40 for a quiet life, but if it was say £60+ I'd be querying this "late fee" that you weren't advised of earlier and demand a full refund.

You have effectively had no cake - the whole point of cake is to eat it!

Original poster
Cakeybreakyheart · 03/03/2015 13:10

I paid £55. Just annoyed that we've ended up out of pocket, no cake, no fault of ours.

OP posts:
WhatchaMaCalllit · 03/03/2015 13:11

If I were you, I'd write them an email stating (where it is factually accurate, as we don't have access to the invoice they gave you or what you agreed to at the time):

  1. You arranged for a 12 inch square cake (maderia/victoria sponge/fruit/chocolate biscuit cake) with X design drawn on it ordered on X date for delivery on Y date.
  1. At the time of this arrangement you were not made aware of the "Late Fee" due to the short turn around time from the date of ordering to the date of delivery.
  1. If there was a 'Late Fee', it was not specified as an additional charge at the time of ordering.
  1. When the cake was delivered on Y date, you were told not to store it in a particular way (e.g. in the fridge) which you complied with as it was for a celebration that day/the next day.
  1. When it came time to serve the cake, the cake crumbled (which you would not expect from a maderia/victoria sponge/whatever) and you tasted a small portion of it to make sure it was supposed to taste of lemon/orange/strawberry/chocolate/whatever and it didn't.
  1. You are therefore not able to accept their offer of a 40 pound refund as the cake cost X amount and as you were unable to serve it or eat it and as it was a child's birthday cake there was therefore no cake at the party. You expect a full refund (what you agreed to pay for the cake when you ordered it) and nothing else. The cake was not fit for the purpose intended and under the Sale of Goods Act all items must be of merchantable quality and fit for the purpose intended. This wasn't.

Surely a freshly made cake (as in one made within a 10 day turnaround timescale) would not be crumbly and be bland to the taste. It reads to me as though they had a pre-made cake that they had frozen and when they took it out of the freezer it had lost some (or all) of it's flavour and didn't hold together once cut.

See if they argue with that.

Original poster
Cakeybreakyheart · 03/03/2015 13:33

Thanks everyone. To clarify I was quoted £55 and told this included a late fee but they didn't say at the time how much that was. But I was happy with total cost.

It wasn't a child's birthday, it was DP Grin

OP posts:
DeliciousMonster · 03/03/2015 13:48

What has a late fee got to do with providing an inedible cake?

Please don't accept the partial refund.

ClaudetteWyms · 03/03/2015 14:05

I don't think I would accept a partial refund in this instance - it doesn't matter how "late" it was ordered, it should still be an edible cake.

You're obviously not happy - push for a full refund.

WhatchaMaCalllit · 03/03/2015 14:20

I'd push for the full refund too at this stage.

Fleurdebleurgh · 03/03/2015 14:27

I cut up a wedding cake for a bride a couple of weeks ago, and it was raw throughout. She had paid £350 for it.
We couldnt serve any of it at all.
She has been in contact with the lady who made it, has been refused a refund and is going to small claims court! Shock

Waitingonasunnyday · 03/03/2015 14:56

You paid for an edible cake and didn't get one - its not like a mix up over the colour of the icing or something like that. I would expect a full refund.

CrystalCove · 03/03/2015 16:36

Just because it was ordered though 10 days before event doesn't mean to say it was made then. I would push for a full refund to.

Whatcamacallit, I agree with your post apart from saying it sounds like it came out of the freezer and lost its taste and fell apart. If cakes are properly baked before you freeze them this won't happen. I always freeze my cakes, generally bake them a week or two before I need to decorate them. It's much easier to do a crumb coat of buttercream to on a partially frozen cake before putting the fondant icing on and it's also much easier to carve I to whatever shapes you need to.

SweetValentine · 03/03/2015 16:56

I suppose what they're saying is they provided something by giving you a decorative cake, which they think is worth 15. Saying that because it was pretty it still had value, and they did provide it to you in a rush. I can understand the logic in that.

To be honest i would probably accept their offer merely so i would still feel able to spread the news of how bad they were to as many people as possible. If they were very nice about it and full refund etc I'd feel a lot guiltier.

Messygirl · 03/03/2015 17:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Nativity3 · 03/03/2015 17:22

Fleurdebleurgh forget small claims... Tell her to go on Judge Rinder!! Grin

miniavenger · 03/03/2015 18:30

It was inedible they should refund the whole thing. It depends on how much you can be bothered with the stress of complaining, depending on my mood I might choose to demand the full back (which i think they should) but if I settled, I would be clear in my review of how disappointed I was.

DoJo · 03/03/2015 18:37

So the late fee was nearly a third of the total cost?! BULLSHIT! I think they are trying it on but you have to work out how much the fight is worth to you.

Osmiornica · 03/03/2015 19:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
Cakeybreakyheart · 03/03/2015 19:14

We've said we're disappointed with the offer of a partial refund for the reasons quite a few of you have mentioned - as we're left with an inedible cake. It's going in the bin whatever happens.

We've basically said the ball is in their court and we've sent our address for them to send the refund.

Thanks everybody. Now I need to make DP a lemon drizzle cake with a candle in to make up for it Grin Cake

OP posts:
quietbatperson · 03/03/2015 20:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.