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)?

I wouldn't expect there to be no further charge at all but I wouldn't expect to pay full whack twice to receive only one cake. Most suppliers would have some flexibility and do some kind of goodwill gesture on the price of a second cake, I also don't think it's professional to give away the cake that's been paid for to a 3rd party without consulting the customer first. If I had to pay twice I'd make sure the second fee was going to a more reliable baker.

I have no idea how much she will be charging me. I have asked but not yet had a reply.

Yabu
However she shouldnt have said freeze then not done it implying you wouldnt need to repay full price.
But honestly if the new party date was more than a few days how would she have freezer space etc.

Its a pity you saved her the time but have paod full price anyway. You should get back the delivery charge.
She should have said before giving it away

You are being incredibly unreasonable and it is entitled people like you that ruin small businesses. Imagine your employer calling you up and saying don't come in to work tomorrow, we aren't going to pay you for it, but don't worry, you're in work again the day after so that makes up for loss of days pay.

The issue is OP has no cake and no money.

The baker should at least have offered her the cake.

Oh behave. She gave my cake to her neighbour after saying she would freeze it.

So why have you implied she’s charging you another £200 on top of the £200 you paid?

would you pay £200 for something, not receive it due to illness/cancellation, and then pay full price again for that same item at a later date?
Granted OP cancelled the Order, but as she had paid in full for a cake, then the baker should have supplied the cake, not said i will freeze it for you and then give it to the neighbour.
I get she is running a small business, but she has effectively had £200 for a cake off one person, and gave that cake to someone else. I completely understand the late timing etc and yes, the baker should not be out of pocket for the work she has done - which is why she should have offered the full cake, decorated etc to OP before doing anything else with it.

Unreasonableness and entitled works both way

That’s a bit harsh on the OP. The baker shouldn’t have offered to freeze the sponge, which implies that it could be reused for OP’s cake at a later date. She absolutely shouldn’t have gifted it to the neighbour without consulting the OP, that’s completely unprofessional.

Agree there should be some charge for time lost, but if she was intending to charge full price, she should have offered to finish the cake for the OP or at least give her the sponge. As it stands, the OP paid £200 for the neighbour’s cake.

Where have I said that?

YABU. You should’ve just taken the cake.

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?!

This sound very much like you being outraged that she expects you to pay again.

In effect, £400 for a cake? Truthfully?

if I paid for a cake and then my party was cancelled, I would still want a cake so I can slice it up and give it to family and neighbours.

Of course you pay. You cancelled one day before

This is fascinating. How did she just drop that into conversation without making it clear if she expected you to pay again? Why did her neighbour need a cake? That feels like a baffling decision.

hmm, I doubt it went to a neighbor tbh, it would have been used. I had a friend of a friend and if someone cancelled she would use that cake for someone else - or make a generic iced and sell it as that via her FB page.

Off-topic but did anyone else have to lookup S&D? Has this acronym replaced D&V?

I think she was cheeky to give away your cake without checking with you. You might have potentially frozen it yourself if she didn’t have space. She could at least have asked you. I am petty so I would not give her another £200: I would figure out something else for the cake. Good luck!

In the context that she'd given away the first one without offering it to me

Sorry for the confusion. I tend to verbally say sickness and diarrhea, rather than diarrhea and vomiting so that's why I did it that way :)

I think of posters, me including are reading this that the baker has said you need to pay another £200 on top.

You seem to be raging at something that hasn’t yet happened. She may well waive most of the fee and you’ll still get the cake you paid for with a small charge for the last minute changes 🤷🏻‍♀️

As a self employed person, she booked out her diary to make your cake, presumably she could have made for someone else had she not took your bookings... at short notice she cannot re-sell that time, so yes she might not have spent time doing the cake, but it prevented her from doing other people's. The cost of the ingredients is probably a lot lower than her time

She said she would stick the sponge in the freezer. Then two days later when I got a new date I messaged her and asked how long it would last in the freezer and if it would still be good for the new date. She said she didn't bother with the freezer in the end and just gave it to Doris next door 😂. So I effectively thought she was holding it for me. Had she frozen it and my date been beyond the date in which it would be okay to consume then that would be fair enough, but she instead has repurposed the cake I'd paid for.

In your OP, you clearly said she expects you to pay again for a new cake.

I think you're unreasonable to expect the date to be changed at short notice without extra charge (which was the title of your post). But I think the cake maker was unreasonable to give the cake to her neighbour - she should have given it to you!