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)?

She lost another booking by giving you her time and that slot.
Don't think you paid for a sponge with or without icing, you are paying for that slot.

You want another slot, you pay again.

Sounds reasonable.

At that point I didn't know what would be happening in terms of future dates with the hall. All I wanted to know was let everyone know asap so that she could down tools and nobody turned up. I had to wait until this morning to speak to the hall.

but I agree with above, she should have offered YOU the cake you are paying for. If it's too late to cancel and you pay full price, you should get the cake. Then up to you what you do with it.

And order another one for the other date.

Then the cake maker should have made the cake and delivered to the OP. If she paid for it, she was entitled to have it.

Especially after saying no worries I'll just pop it in me freezer.

I don't think OP is being completely unreasonable but do agree it's surprising all the other suppliers have changed without charge - at the end of the day sickness is probably the no.1 reason anyone would need to cancel an event (particularly kids parties!) - I can't imagine many people do it because they can't be bothered last minute or whatever. So it would seem reasonable to me to build in some sort of charge regardless of the reason and only consider not implementing it if it was a really unusual or tragic circumstance like the person dying.

In her case I think it would be reasonable for her to charge you something, even up to about half price, given she could potentially have had another customer in the second slot.

However she is also BU because she told you she would freeze the cake and then didn't - if she's asking you to pay the full amount twice she owes you two (fully decorated) cakes. If she didn't think the cake would freeze well or didn't have space or whatever she should have said that at the time and either offered it to you at half price with the understanding you'd then have to pay again if you wanted a new one, or left it up to you to say you weren't bothered if it didn't taste 100%. She absolutely cannot expect you to pay full decorated price for a non decorated cake that she gave to her neighbour AND full decorated price again for a second cake.

I think you should get a discount on the next cake. But you can't expect it to be free.

Absolutely no way it wasn’t iced the day before. It would need to set before should could add toppers etc.

I think she should have refunded you the delivery fee. I also think she should have offered/given you the cake as you had paid for it. No way would I be happy to pay for something her neighbour ended up receiving.

But that doesn't take into account the last minute cancellation does it? I've turned people away because I've been booked, it would have been highly unlikely she could have had anyone else to fill the space

Basically what should have happened if you'd had to cancel but didn't rebook or she couldn't fit you in, because I think the same applies here.

Either she says 'Don't worry, I can use the cake for someone else (whether freezing it or whatever), so won't charge you.' = fair.
Or she could have said. 'I've made the cake so still need full payment sorry. I'll bring the cake over' = fair.

'I want full payment for the cake but you can't have the cake,' is ridiculous!

Fair enough, but that wasn’t my point. My point was that she didn’t refund OP because of the late cancellation and that’s fine. But OP should have received the cake she paid for. That’s not okay.

Sorry what? She said it wasn't iced. Why would she say otherwise?! It as a late afternoon party, and I had told her the morning of the day before.

She should have said no cancellation at the time you contacted her and allowed you to collect the cake. Or she should have been upfront about a reduced fee as not decorated yet

You say last minute cancellation like I just didn't fancy the party.

I feel like she owes you a cake! You paid for a cake, you should have received a cake.

Yes this!! The cake maker should have made it crystal clear from the second OP said the party was not happening that she wouldn’t be getting the cake but would still be charged and if she wanted another cake at a later date it would be full price.

The baker assumed that op just didn’t want the cake at all and essentially stole £200 off her. The baker should have delivered the cake as agreed.

You mean sponges appear out of thin air and don't have to be made? I have never heard of this. It took her time to make the sponge and she decided against freezing it to use later. She should offer you a partial rate but you have already used her time and are going to use it again. So pay for the new sponge.

OP paid for the sponges ? But they were given to a neighbour 🤔

Well 50% of a sponge cake is air, so in a way..

Why does everyone assume that the suppliers (including the cake baker) turned down other bookings to reserve the original party date? They might have done, but given that OP lives in a village, it’s quite possible that their bookings are few and far between.

As I've seen others comment, if she intended to charge you in full she should have at least offered the cake ordered. She absolutely is entitled to some compensation for her time, as she could have taken another booking for that day. But full price again, if she didn't use all the materials ordered previously, feels a little steep.

As she didn't offer you the original cake, I would say half price for the rearranged time seems reasonable, £100 to compensate her time for the first booking and the full price for the second.

It may well end up as a lesson learned to check any cancellation policies more carefully, even with social media messaged bookings.

How long did you leave it until you got in contact again with the new date? £200 on a child’s cake for a village hall party is insane

If i were you, I’d have gone and collected the finished cake and had a mini birthday party just to cheer her up. I wouldn’t have been happy with a frozen cake but that’s just me. You could have always gone and got a Colin the Caterpillar for the new party.

Ahahahaha!