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

[JavSurge]

We had to cancel DD's birthday party the day before due to her having S&D. We'd have gone through with it if it was a runny nose but not S&D, as much for our guests as well as her.

Anyway, most of the vendors (hall, entertainment etc) have honoured bookings in changing the date without charge given the circumstances.

As for the cake, she wants to charge us again. Now, for context, she had not finished the cake, had not started icing or decorating it. What's more, once I informed her the party couldn't go ahead, she said she'd pop the sponge in the freezer to be used for another time.

Now we have a new date arranged I have contacted her (2 days later) and asked if the sponge will last (Google says it will) until the party in a couple of weeks and if she's available to decorate it and deliver it on that date.

She's come back saying she didn't freeze it in the end and instead gave it to her neighbour, and now expects us to pay again for a new cake?!
If she'd iced it and it was ready to go then I would completely understand. However, given that it's just a change of date, am I being unreasonable to have expected her to just to use the sponge for us, or even used the sponge for another customer and then made it fresh. Either way to me seems reasonable as she'd not be using extra resources or time.
I can of course understand she might have got an extra customer (money) on the later date but it wouldn't have caused her extra costs.

Am I being being completely unreasonable?
If the cake was decorated I'd have never asked her to redo the whole thing for free but given that she said she was freezing the sponge surely it would be reasonable for her to do it free of charge (or a nominal fee if anything extra is needed)?

So why should the OP pay for 2 cakes when she will have only received 1 because the first one was given to someone else?

The OP has paid for a cake to be made and decorated.

the cake was made but not decorated

OP was told the cake would be frozen to use another time (OP presumed this meant her party as she had paid for it)

OP was then told the cake has been given away.

the OP is now out £200 for a cake she has not received (decorated or not) and is expected to pay the same again? That’s ridiculous!

the cake maker should have offered the OP the cake as it was at the time of cancellation or should be offering a new cake at a reduced price.

technically the cake maker has given away a cake a customer has paid for to someone else, is that not technically theft?

Contract…. For a birthday cake?!

No one has said she should pay full price twice.

Well yeah it’s a £200 cake

The cake maker is

No she isn’t

It says in the OP “now expects us to pay again for a new cake”

I agree, it’s misleading, but that’s not what’s happening. OP doesn’t no if the baker wants her to pay again or how much, she’s waiting for a reply

I missed that post, apologies.

Love to know how old the child was whose birthday is in question

Um. You’ve made that bit up. Well, with some inferring from a misleading op. The op has confirmed that the cake maker has not yet confirmed what she will be charging.

I thought the OP had said she didnt want to be charged full price but yes I do agree looking back at the title, to not want to pay a penny extra feels wrong too. I will be honest I read the thread again but I didnt look back at the title again and didnt pay that much attenion to the title once I was reading the thread.

I think its poor communication on both their parts. The OP hasnt actually been told yet how much they are expected to pay so it may not even be a problem but the baker should not have expected to keep the full amount and just give away the cake.

Honestly this is what I thought too but on the OP posting more they actually dont know whats expected yet

Well I didn’t “make it up” I took it directly from the OP.
i missed a later post where she confirmed she hadn’t heard back from the cake maker

A baker will charge for the ingredients, their time and expertise, overheads, and profit. In op’s case = £200. The op has already paid for it all - it was the baker’s decision to give away (or sell) the cake she’d made with the ingredients op had already paid for, when she could have frozen it and used it later. In effect, it was the op’s property which was given away or sold. She shouldn’t have to buy it again!
I would have thought, in any case, the majority of time and expertise is spent on the decoration of the cake, which hadn’t been started when the op cancelled. Any extra charge is just trying it on.

I think both sides are a but unreasonable. I think a discount would be reasonable but not the cake done for no charge. However, the cake maker sounds quite unprofessional. She should have had a contact and she should have offered you something at the time such as the cake as ordered, a partial decorated cake or undecorated cake alongside a partial refund or money off a future order subject to availability. Paying £200 and getting nothing should not happen. I'm also surprised she hasn't done any decorating at the point it was cancelled. She will have lost money though because she had time set aside for the cake which probably couldn't be filled. It is normally possible to recoup some costs of an uncollected cake though by posting on local sites.

would have thought, in any case, the majority of time and expertise is spent on the decoration of the cake, which hadn’t been started when the op cancelled. Any extra charge is just trying it on.

as always, on any small own business thread, of any type, I am baffled by the huge numbers of people who don’t understand that your cancelling has lost that small business a profit making time slot. You need to pay for the time they had reserved for you. This type of job is time reliant - you need a cake ready at X so they need to make it at Y. This is their job. They have allocated eg 3pm to 4pm on Monday, I’ll be making a cake for Sandra. You can’t just cancel and expect them to just suck up that hour that they’ll no longer make any money in. This applies to so many own businesses - whether it’s a PT, or a physio appointment, or a hairdressers, or a cake maker, a driving lesson. They have allocated an hour (or whatever) of their WORKING day for you, you can’t just cancel with not enough notice for them to get another job. This is surely common sense? I normally find MN fairly clever and sensible, this is one of the only types of threads where a far too high number don’t understand a simple concept.

Except in a lot of those examples they would absolutely allow you to rearrange free of charge because of a sick child.

Who’s to say the cake maker didn’t find another job? OP cancelled on Fri morning for a cake late Sat afternoon. Plenty of time to take on last minute orders (which tend to come in on a Friday). Or she can just have an easy Saturday - I know you said you found this ridiculous but personally I love it. The cake maker has already been paid and the work will be done at a later date.

That’s absolutely fine, she shouldn’t be out of pocket. What is wrong is she gave that cake that was fully paid for to someone else - she made it ready, fair enough, the person she should have give the cake to is the one who paid for it!

She’d already made the cake and bought the ingredients. 24 hours is not long enough to cancel something like that. Get a cake from the supermarket or make your own.

No they wouldn’t! Neither would I expect them to, as I respect their time. For example I recently couldn’t make a massage I had booked. I texted her ‘so sorry I can’t make tomorrow, family emergency. I will of course pay you for your time. I’ll book another when I’m sorted.’ She said ‘no worries at all, let me know when you’re free, hope all ok’ . It’s just respect for other people and their time.

The cake maker then gave away the cake the OP had paid for…

the cake wasn’t uncollected, it was supposed to be delivered (also paid the delivery fee)

the OP isn’t expecting to have a cake for free. They’re expecting to have the cake they paid for and were told it would be frozen to use another time.
OP was then told the cake they had paid for had been given away - that is theft

I absolutely agree with you.

it’s just the time slot reserved bit im trying to explain to people who don’t get it.