Cake maker refusing to make my cake!

[fartoobiled]

Unless I pay £15 more than o originally agreed

I paid a £15 nonrefundable deposit and now she wants another £15 on top of the £50 I was due to pay for the Cake so a total of £80 instead of the £65 I was going to pay in total

Am I being unreasonable to think this is really unfair? She says this is due to the increase in cost of living for example petrol prices and the price of ingredients

Thing is though I paid the £15 which is nonrefundable. So if I don't pay the extra I lose my money

Good news and the right thing has been done.

move on now and find another cake maker. I would be keen to know how much they quote in comparison for the same cake…

tell you’ll see her in small claims.
whats stopping her trying to ask for more money on collection?
this is disgusting.

That is a result....of sorts...because you're now without a baker (unless you were looking for an alternative while she was getting all upset over how you 'messed her books up') and without a cake.

What type of cake were you looking for? Was it a specific flavour/type and were you going for one iced or with a buttercream topping? Lastly, approximately, what area in the UK are you in and we can see if there is an alternative that we can recommend (if you're stuck).

As I look at my shopping I can see costs spiralling, eg butter was £1:75 up from £1:49 last week. But as this baker had given a price and taken a deposit it's bad busibess practice to do this. OP has taught her a valuable lesson.

Never do business with people who call you hun. Rule for life, that is!

Tbh I would be wary of small cake sellers like this.m and s have a good selection and waitrose have a selection for order. She is being very unreasonable indeed.im not sure this is even legal!

Sod that for a game of doormats.

Shit like this harms my business by association. It is worth fighting for, it is my livelihood.

There has to be a backstop for customers of the self employed, sole traders, very small businesses. We all have to know the law and work within it. You only have to see the utter crap posted here about trades asking to be paid in cash. It's always a tax fiddle, never an issues with accounts at suppliers needing too much security of funding for small businesses to keep turning over a trade card, so cash makes buying large quantities easier. Never a real world thing, always a fiddle.

That rubs off on all of us. I don't take cash, ever. I sell a service. But the number of times some smarmy get asks "How much for cash?" with a smirk.

Good news. Hopefully you'll get a lovely cake elsewhere and she will have learned a lesson!

See what I mean @Dillydollydingdong

Dottie is wary, probably for good reason. And that harms all the other small businesses, local trades, close to her.

If the cake was £50 and the deposit £15, the deposit comes OFF the total so you would have been asked to pay the remainder ie: £35. Now she asks for another £15 the total is £65.
The deposit always reduces the bill unless you cancel, then you forfeit all or part of the deposit depending on the business.
I often wonder how people budget if they don't understand simple maths. 🙄

Glad you got your money back. She may have realised that she risked upsetting a group of repeat customers. I think its awful that she didn't do the cake, but at least you aren't out of pocket.

I think you are legally in the right, but also if the prices have gone up that much that she would be losing money or working for free, then thats shit for her too as a small business

Then she shouldn’t be working as a small business if she doesn’t know what she’s doing- she is probably breaking all sorts of other laws and regulations as well.

Then she should have gone about refusing the contract legally. Or simply having a conversation and seeing if OP would agree to a price increase.

She’s broken the contract and should refund your money. The deposit was made on the basis of the final price - that’s the contract. She has broken it by increasing the price and as a professional she should know that.

Try again to get your money back and if she refuses tell her you will be contacting Trading Standards. If you go on their website there are template letters you can use to put things in writing and then escalate as appropriate. Not suggesting you should consider Small Claims process for £15 but the threat of it may be enough to get her to cough up your deposit.

@Rosscameasdoody if you use the SEE All blue clicky link thingy on OPs post you will get all she has posted.

Including the update that the deposit was returned overnight.

It's one of the better additions to functionality here

Great news. I'd still review her.

Her behaviour is absolutely shocking, and she doesn't sound cut out to be an entrepreneur. People need to be warned - the stress she put you through was unnecessary, and she's making herself out to be the victim!

She sounds SO unprofessional. I'm self employed and I raised my prices a few months ago. All of my customers were given a months notice, in writing.

You entered into a contract where the cake was an agreed price as advertised. If she subsequently changes the price and demands the higher price, she is in breach of contract, not you.

I would say as much and ask for the refund or you will make a stink on both social media and may consider small claims.

That's really wrong of her to try and take more money from you. Whether ingredient prices have gone up in the last two weeks or not, she should have honoured the price that she told you and then start charging more for future orders.

She knows it was wrong, that's why she's refunded you. I like a person who can realise when they're wrong and try and rectify it.

I'd be asking her what her vat number is as you'll be reporting her to trading standards.

She likely won't have one and is working for cash and she'll adjust the cost.

Just a thought.

Your cake maker needs a little lesson in contract law. Essentially she is wrong - she is changing the offer (so it is no longer what you accepted) so the agreement has either been changed (which she can't do without agreement_ or, if she insists its due to events outside her contract, has been frustrated - in which case it's void and you should each be put in the position you would have been in without it (i.e. she doesn't have to make the cake, and you get your money back).

You've not cancelled anything.

What a silly post.

It is highly unlikely that a sole trader cake maker has the turnover to require being registered for VAT.

Your maths, or understanding, is wrong …. that'll be £65. If you could pay £15 deposit now, non refundable, then £50 at collection …

Glad it’s all sorted OP.

Oh, and her breach isn't trying to change the price, it's refusing to make the cake under the original price (when she is not entitled to vary the price without agreement). Just to be pendantic :)