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)?

It expect to pay her again for all of her time (including time she hadn’t yet spent eg decorating, as she won’t be able to get another customer who wants a short notice cake), which is presumably a substantial amount of the bill.
I wouldn’t expect to pay again for icing ingredients as they will keep.
But if she’s charging me again for the cake, I’d want the cake she gave away. But that is probably a minimal amount of the overall cost.

I’d offer to pay for ingredients and time of sponge (so partial payment). Then expect to pay full whack for new cake.

That was your £200 cake. You paid for it. You also made it clear you still wanted it and discussed freezing. She should not have given it away for free to someone else without asking you. I mean, I’d have sent a cab to collect it rather than lose the whole thing! I’d tell her that you’re shocked that your whole cake was disposed of (in a stranger’s gob) without your permission given that you’d discussed freezing. I wouldn’t be surprised if she sold it to someone else, just iced to their taste.

If you booked a hairdresser to come and do your hair and 2 of your friends on a monday and you cancelled on sunday, yes she loses out on that money as she cant now book any other clients in that short notice so yes you should have paid for the haircuts, its the same with the cake, shes running a business and you pay for her time, i dont know why you are moaning

Tbh I think it’s a lesson in getting proper contracts and being very clear if postponing is needed rather then cancelling, both for you and the cake maker.

If £200 is all it’s going to cost to rearrange a full party at short notice then I’d consider yourself very lucky. When we had to cancel a party with 48 hours notice because one of my children was critically ill in ICU we lost deposits from all of the suppliers. Only the church hall allowed us to rebook on a different date at no cost.

It’s the slot PLUS the cake that’s paid for. What had been made belongs to the OP.

very true too!

I agree. I think if someone cancels and expects a refund then absolutely not, the baker has spent time and ingredients. But to say they are freezing the cake and then just give it away and expect you to pay full price is awful. She should have given the cake to you if she realised it wouldn't fit in the freezer.

Yes exactly. I don't think she even has multiple on the same day.
The hall definitely didn't turn anyone down, they offered me other Saturdays sooner than the Sunday I accepted in fact. It's not a big city and people get business from word of mouth, and tend to have repeat bookings (which the hall definitely will get!).

I know you were dealing with a poorly child but did you not think to ask at this point how the money side of it was going to work?

£200 for a cake and you didn't even check what the plan was?

I'd go back to the cake maker, appeal to her "goodwill" and see if she can meet you half way? Points I'd concentrate on are 1) she said she was freezing your cake hence the expectation it would be available at a later date 2) She confirmed it wasn't yet decorated and 3) you have received absolutely nothing for £200 already paid.

If no joy then I wouldn't pay her the full £200 again, I'd ask for a partial refund on the basis of the points above.

Sorry to hear that.
We will of course lose out with other costs like a nice helium balloon display etc and other food we bought. It's very tricky because when your child is ill it's not your fault, but will still lose out financially.

it's irrelevant really.

Suppliers dont' have to prove they turn down something, they booked a slot for you, and you pay for that slot.

It would be very rude to turn round "you can't be that busy, so I want another slot for free" 😂

It doesn't work like that.

I’m shocked at how much a cake costs!

Her giving the sponge to her neighbour confuses things imo as you had paid for that cake.

I think it's a tricky one, but I am probably on the OP's side. So I think she SHOULD charge you for a new cake for the new date as others have mentioned she's booked out the time for you and lost out on income.

But if I were you, I'd want two cakes to show for it!

Have you said, "oh ok let me know when I can collect the first cake that you've made then and we'll do something different for the party"

The point is, she wasn't working in that slot or using the resources because she didn't need to decorate the cake. If she's not turned down any bookings then she's in no different of a position except £200 and a free sponge cake.

I think that’s just the gamble we take when we organise parties.

Party insurance (along the lines of wedding insurance) just isn’t something most of us think of.

I think we have to look at it as that we take a risk once or twice a year, depending on how many parties we organise, suppliers simply couldn’t afford to repeatedly redo things for free for multiple people a year.

I think it’s reasonable for her to charge you again. She’ll have to buy new ingredients, plus labour time etc. it’s not her fault you cancelled. Maybe could give you a discount as it’s repeated business.

You cancelled short notice, when that happens you should expect no refunds. The baker had to give away the cake as presumably she didn't have another order she could use it for. It's only right you pay again. You could have of course still collected the cake to have at home and just bought a shop bought one for the new date

I think it’s poor communication on both parts.

The cake seller could have said ‘ Sorry to hear your family are unwell but at such short notice I will have to charge you anyway. So do you want me to deliver it to you as arranged as you have paid for it? (If it could freeze she could add it will be okay in the freezer for a week)’

With her actual response about freezing - You could have clarified - if you freeze the sponge how much will you charge me for the finishing of the cake later this month?

Instead you both avoided an uncomfortable conversation but are now in uncomfortable situation and the conversation is going to be worse. Because yes I’d be pissed she gave it to a neighbour.

I wouldn’t expect the cake for free but I would react in absolute shock if she said she’d given the cake to her neighbour. What did you say when you heard that, OP?

You paid for the cake, and it was “half” made already. She should’ve frozen it, or offered it to you / your wider family. I find it very cheeky that she just thought, great, this is my cake now to do with as I wish?

Obviously you wouldn’t have been thinking about arranging that at the time, what with your child being ill. She should have offered the cake or asked if there’s an aunt or friend she could drop it off with. I would at the very least expect free delivery for the next cake, seeing as how she didn’t deliver anything this time.

She wasn’t working, but she thought she would be.

She obviously didn’t have ‘£200 and a free sponge cake’ the cake wasn’t free, it took ingredients and paid time which was out of that £200. She might have also made the icing and turned bookings down. You seem to think her time and effort is worth nothing. I think you should get a decent discount on the next cake, but I just think you are quite dismissive of this persons business really

Let me just check I've got this right?
Did I not think when my child had S&D and I had a whole party to cancel, including guests, some of whom were leaving or had already left because they were travelling, to immediately discuss the financial side?
No, I waited two days once things weren't so hectic. DD was so poorly she needed to see an emergency doctor twice between Friday night and yesterday morning as it turned out her illness is bacterial. She's quite poorly and had a temp of 40. Trying to recoup costs was not the immediate priority.

@JavSurge

i don’t agree she got her time back - for all you know she turned down a day out with mates or turned down another booking down. She allocated the time to you , you chose not to use the time.

The real issue is you should have had the first cake as you paid for it.

Did you think she would do the new one for free?

Please can you direct me to where I've said her time and effort is worth nothing?
It was £200 and a free sponge cake because I paid £200 and she kept the cake. It's not hard to grasp. You'll need physio for that reach.