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)?

Yeah, but can you see now that it was easy to read as something the baker said?

I'm afraid it broke the thread a bit, as many replies read it that way, but maybe it doesn't matter that much in this case, you in the end you'd have to talk to her and reach some agreement.

It doesn't say she expects me to pay full price. Just that she wants more money. You are repeatedly challenging me on things I've not said, it's getting boring now 🥱

I'm raging she gave my cake to the neighbour when she said she was freezing it.

I asked her how much I would need to pay but she's not come back to me.

What about the time she set aside to do it for Saturday? What about the other customers she’s turned away as she already had this job? I’m always surprised how many threads there are like this where so many people can’t work out that they need to pay if they’ve booked a slot in a small business, that they need to pay for that time slot. It surely isn’t that difficult to work it out?

imagine op if you work in an office. You turn up to work one day. ‘No you’re not needed today, you won’t get paid for it though. Never mind, maybe turn up next week and we’ll see if you get paid this time. I mean, who knows though, you might not.’

Yeah that’s not what’s happening. And I'm not the only person that read it that was. You said she told you she didn’t freeze it, gave it to a neighbour and now expects you to pay for a new cake.

I'd just go to M&S and order one of their extra large Colin the Caterpillar cakes (serves around 50). They are about £50 but you do have to order them. I'd forget about paying another £200 to this lady. I wouldn't expect her to just not charge anything additional in these circumstances, given that cakes are perishable (unlike bouncy castles or whatever) but I would expect her not to give away to her neighbour, a cake she expects you to pay for. If she wants to charge you full price, she should at least have offered the cake to you first.

I don't blame her for not wanting to produce a birthday cake that she's had to freeze the sponge, as it will be subpar and she has her reputation to think of

This happened to me, ordered a cake and paid for it and had to postpone the event so the provider offered to put it in her freezer. When it came out it was definitely below standard so she baked another, which I also paid for.
None of it was her fault.

Who are these customers she's turned away?

I would certainly tell her that you want the first cake back that she gave to her neighbour. If you pay for 2 cakes, you want 2 cakes.

Genuinely, I know I should read further on and someone will have patiently explained, but how can you have to ask people to understand that she blocked out a time to make it, and that time is now lost? It’s obvious.

But it's not the cake makers fault your child was ill, you didn't make it clear you still wanted the cake and it's only right you pay again.

Mm... tricky because theres no clear contract, and your message to her wasn't exactly clear that you intended to rebook, just couldn't say when at the point of postponing the cake...

But she did offer to freeze it - and for those thinking that means a deteriorated cake, it doesn't, in fact it is standard practice to freeze the cake so you can make multiple elements and then ice it whilst its still very firm and cold, its also standard to ice it the morning of the event for certain sorts of icing/decoration too...

And then handed the cake you'd paid for to a neighbour... that doesn't sound v professional, she should have asked what your plans were or done as she'd said she would do.

If she had frozen the cake - i would expect to pay again for the time it takes to decorate, as she'd booked that time out and couldn't use it for another cake potentially - but would not expect to pay again for cake or icing ingredients.

As she has given the cake away... and now needs to make another cake... and that is partly your fault for not being clear that you intended to postpone rather than fully cancel... but also her choice to give it away after telling you she'd freeze it... you should be covering half the cake ingredients costs and the decorating time.

Whether she sees it that way though... another matter entirely!

Yeah but I suppose she may have turned down other work?

I'd love to do that but DD is allergic to milk and eggs. We do normally make do with vegan supermarket ones but they're never as nice and don't have kiddy decorated ones usually.

That's not how the majority of people have read what you've been saying.

How about instead of being snotty to posters saying they understood something different from your posts (most of us?), you say oops wasn't I clear? XYZ is the situation.

These things happen but there is some confusion.
She offered to freeze the cake - then it transpires she didn’t.

She actually told you she had given the cake to a neighbour- that you had paid for. She should have given you the sponge cake if not freezing it as you had paid for it.

I can see why you are a bit peeved, but you don’t actually know what she is intending to charge you for a new cake on your new date. This is rather key here as it might be a token amount or it might not. Until you have this information it’s all rather difficult to judge.

I am actually on your side. I think it is unfair of her to have charged you £200 for both the cake and prep time and she has a cake either in her freezer or in her neighbour and you have nothing but the option to pay again and I think, in fairness, you shouldn't need to pay in full a second time. What I do have a problem with is how you are addressing people on this forum you came to for help. They are advising you, asking you questions and trying to help you find a resolution without a conflict. Especially since, if you both live in this small village, it could blow up much worse.You are frankly being rude and confrontational without cause and if you approach a service provider with the attitude you have shown on here, expect to see yourself on reddit Karens. Curb your (justified) frustration, remember your manners answer their questions, use their advice and stop attacking them.

We had a party cancelled the week of the first lockdown. I couldn’t cancel the food or the cake (and I didn’t have the heart to…and I didn’t think I’d get my money back) but was able to rearrange or get a refund on everything else. That was a relief. In any case, in your situation with a late notice need to cancel the party, I would have expected to lose my money on the cake BUT instead of telling the cake maker this and getting her to stop making part way through, I would have just collected the cake. Most cake freezes really well. Even sponge. The comments above about it being subpar - I’ve never ever found that to be the case. Also this was a massive cake - two tiers for about 40 people. There are 4 of us in my family and we somehow managed to eat it all… 🤣

In summary, I would expect that I would not be getting a refund from a cake maker that late in the day, so I’d would just collect the cake. Better to have a cake you don’t need for £200 (that you can share with others or store) than to have spent £200 on nothing. I hope she does give you a discount if you re-book. I agree that you need to factor in the time and ingredients that she had already spent. Also think she should have given you the cake. Strange all round.

You should have just let her decorate the cake you paid for and had it delivered. Surely your DC would have eaten some when the s&d was gone. You could have cut it up and given it to your own family.

I completely agree!

It just sucks having to pay more when it's nobody's fault and was something completely unpredictable.

The time is lost but a cake was made and paid for in full by OP.

The cake maker offered to freeze the sponge and didn't.
She should have then offered the cake to the OP on the date anyway.
If OP didn't want it, then that's different.

I agree that it would be reasonable to go back to her and say that 'because she saved time and ingredients with not having to decorate the cake, and because there was no delivery also, you would expect to just be charged extra for the sponge cake only (not the other bits). It is definitely worth negotiating that with her.

She didn't offer but I also think it might have been a bit sad when the party was cancelled. She had immediately come back saying she'd freeze the sponge which led me to believe it was going to be wasted. I didn't pursue them the route of collecting it anyway as I assumed I'd done her a favour in letting her know before she'd personalised it and that she'd just repurpose it or save it for me. The freezing of the sponge was ambiguous.

And yes, you should have been offered that cake if she was unable to freeze it due to lack of space!

She didn't "save time", she had booked out the time that you paid for her to decorate it. She wouldn't have been able to get a new booking in that time at such short notice. She didn't decorate because you you cancelled.