Wwyd cake delivered too late

[piraterach]

Wwyd lovely MNers. It was my daughters christening yesterday, luckily it went ahead despite the best efforts of the "beast from the east"!

I ordered a christening cake from a shop several hundred miles away (they deliver all around the country routinely) a few weeks before the date.

I emailed them on Monday to ask if they would still be ok to send despite the predicted weather, they replied to say it would be dispatched Tuesday and arrive on Wednesday. That is when the snow hit. My cake was stuck at a depot around 10 miles from my house. Parcelforce kept "attempting" delivery but despite all the roads being driveable told me it was returned to depot due to adverse weather.

They are attempting to deliver again today, the cake is no good to me now as it's too late and I had to rush out and buy another yesterday morning. I am now out of pocket but don't feel it was the bakery's fault. Would you complain to parcelforce or chalk it up as just one of those things??

Complain the bakery who should refund and get back off patcel force. Youve no need for the cake now. You phoned to check.

Sounds like bad luck generally.

Id ring the bakers and explain that the cake hasn't yet been delivered, you know it's not their fault, but can they help with a solution.

Usually I'd say Parcelforce was useless, but with red weather warnings everywhere and police telling people not to drive I wouldn't criticise Parcelforce for not sending lorries out. We live on a trans Pennine route and there were stuck lorries everywhere that blocked all roads in the area. They really shouldn't have been out in those conditions.

Logically it seems unfair to ask the bakery to take the hit when it fulfilled its part of the bargain

No, they haven’t. The OP did not pay for a cake to be delivered to Parcel Forces Depot. Her contract was with the Bakery to supply and deliver a cake. The delivery is their responsibility.

The bakery is only going to get the delivery cost refunded if anything (most couriers will have some clause about force majeure and things outside their control etc), not the whole amount you paid. Not the time they spent baking and decorating it.

But, your payment processor if Paypal or credit card will side with you if it comes to that...

I honestly don't know what I would do in your situation. Either way someone loses out.

And they arranged for the delivery and despatched the cake in time. It's disingenuous in the extreme to say PF isn't to blame. It was obvious from the outset that the bakery wasn't going to subcontract the delivery.

I can't believe I'm arguing over someone else's cake - I need to get a life!

Was going to subcontract even!

I had a major nightmare with ParcelForce recently - they "delivered" my parcel to a house down the road with a similar name, no one was home so they left it out the back near the door and "signed" for it in my name! I was actually at home all day, as I had my granddaughter and I knew that I hadn't signed for it, but proving it was an absolute joke. Eventually a week later, this lady from down the road appeared with a soaking wet cardboard box (thank god it was china inside albeit expensive china) and very bewildered why she'd just got back off holiday and a parcel for me was outside her back door. I've had no reply at all from Parcelforce over it, other than the parcel was signed for by me. I was beyond fuming and only had my goods due to the honesty of the person they were delivered to. I wouldn't have had that had we not lived in a village where everyone knows each other.
I wouldn't trust a word that comes out of their mouth frankly. Your complaint is with them and not the bakery but I would contact both, if only to make the bakery aware of how crap PF are.

Check the ts&cs you agreed to. If it has a clause saying 'in bad weather we won't take responsibility for non delivery' or something similar then you've no chance (but they still might do something for the sake of good will).

If it doesn't have a clause like that ask for your money back. They haven't delivered the goods you paid for. No need to feel guilty - it's just business.

How is that the bakers fault

I think you just have to forget it. It was a total freak storm which loads of people have suffered in various ways. I think actually you would be unreasonable to expect a parcel force van driver to be out in that weather for the sake of a cake (but I was under red weather warning where everything ground to a halt and it was very dangerous to be outside in so depends on where you are).

I'm confused how you were able to buy an alternative christening cake within walking distance yesterday.
And if it wasn't within walking distance then why didn't you collect the cake direct from PF instead of buying a different cake from somewhere else?
I know collecting from the depot wasn't your original plan but the weather wasn't in anyone's original plan.

Even if the area being delivered to wasn't under snow, if the cake was coming 200 miles it would've passed through some serious snow at some point. Like I said before, it was just bad luck, it wasn't anyone's fault. We haven't had post since last Monday, that's just the way it is when it snows like this. It's just unfortunate something important to you was stuck.

If you can't eat the cake now, why not do something amazing and donate it to a local homeless charity in your daughter's name?

I'm surprised you didnt go to pick the cake up on Saturday morning, but as they didn't put a card through your door, you might have struggled to do that.

I would ask for a refund from the bakery. They knew the location of where you live, and felt they could deliver on time. You contacted them on Monday to check, and at that point they still wanted to go ahead with your order. You gave them an opportunity to cancel the order before dispatch.

Is it just me that gets fed up of everyone looking for someone to blame? I'm not talking about the OP either.

Sometimes shit just happens, it doesn't always have to be someones fault. We had expected poor weather but the scale and length it lasted was pretty unprecidented. The shop probably couldn't have dispatched earlier as the cake maybe wasn't ready to go. They would have no idea that, even with the poor weather forecast, it wouldn't arrive by the weekend. Some areas were barely effected and if you were in one of those you maybe wouldn't realise the extent of the issues. PF tried to deliver and then for safety reasons wasn't able to get back in time. I wouldn't want a member of my family risking their safety for a cake.

My DH was actually out in it all driving every day including the red warning but he is an ambulance driver and took the risk along with many many others as people still needed to get for dialisis and cancer treatments etc as well as emergencies. I can't say i was particularly happy about it but it's understandable that he was working. Parcels can wait.

I'm glad you had a nice day regardless OP.

YANBU

You paid for a cake to delivered on a certain day. That's your contract. It didn't arrive, so you reclaim your money from the baker.

They paid PF to deliver your cake on a certain day. That's their contract. It didn't arrive, so they claim the money back from PF.

That's a shame op but there's nothing you can do about it now. I'd slice it up and share it amongst family, friends and close neighbours. It'll be a shame to waste such a lovely cake.

What Jax said, essentially.

I would let it go, but if you really do want or need the refund then go through the baker. As others have said, it is up to them to pursue it through PF. Hope you all had a lovely day

But surely ten miles isn't that far to travel there by yourself and pick it up

Parcelforce don’t let you poke around in their depot looking for your parcel . Plus by the sound of it, the cake was out for delivery (ie in a van, not in the depot).

I’d be worried the cake would be upside down after being delivered by parcelforce! How on earth can the cake company guarantee they will handle it carefully (in sure they do just wondering)

Just one of those things, I think. It was no one fault apart from the Beast from the East! You could ask for a partial refund out of goodwill from the company but I don't think you can expect them to definitely give you one.
Accept the delivery though. It's still cake! Eat it, share it out with your friends and neighbours, stick some in the freezer. You'll laugh about it when your DD grown up!

I think it’s just bad luck but I think you were a bit mad buying a cake that had to be delivered from hundreds of miles away when there would certainly be a baker or bakery nearby you could have used...

Chalk it up and eat the cake.

It’s not often we get extreme weather, a lot of people have lost out on money due to it (including me as I am self employed and was unable to work), lots of deliveries were late, it’s just one of those things that’s no ones fault.