The last big thing we have to do is find a cake or cupcakes. A friend of mine (we’ll call her Kim) recommended the bakery that she used for her wedding and several other events. So I talked to the owner (we’ll just call her Sandy) and scheduled a drive-by tasting. Basically I stopped by on a Saturday morning and picked up a box complete with 6 slices of unfrosted cake, 2 containers of frosting and 2 chocolate truffles. Note that Sandy wasn’t there at the time.
Well Kim, who recommended me happened to be picking up a cake for a baby shower that very same day. So I went back to the bakery later on in the day with her to pick up her cake. Mass disappointment ensued.
At an earlier meeting Kim and Sandy had decided on the design for the cake. Sandy had lots of pictures available of cakes she’d done in the past, but was very convinced that the cake would really be stellar if she modeled off of the baby shower invitation. Kim wasn’t so sure, but because she’d worked with Sandy several times in the past she trusted her judgement, went out on a limb and paid extra for the custom design.
Fast forward to cake pick up day. Kim and I went to pick up the cake around 12:30. The cake looked awful. Instead of being a soft baby pink, it was bright flourescent. The lines and borders that were supposed to be straight were extra jagged. Really it was just bad all around. The ladies who were there said that there wasn’t much they could do but that they would have Sandy call Kim to come to a resolution.
Sandy called and admitted that the decorator who’d worked on the cake didn’t do a good job and that the cake wasn’t up to par. She agreed to do what she could to fix the cake and that we could come back and pick it up that afternoon.
Keep in mind that my friend Kim was nothing but nice this entire time. She made it clear that she wasn’t mad but that she came to expect a certain quality from the bakery and that this cake fell short of that threshold.
When Sandy called and told us that the cake was ready and that we could come pick it up, we had to go in through the back door and we found ourselves in their kitchen. Sandy revealed the newly fixed cake and while it did look neater, it was still very disappointing. Kim said it best: “It looks like something my little brother could’ve done at home.”
Sandy made excuse upon excuse, never once apologizing for the inconvenience of Kim having to return or for the fact that she fell short of her expectations for the custom cake. There was no, “sorry”, no “let me give you a few dollars off”, and no “I’ll redo it for you”
Because the bakery was closed and it was a Saturday, Sandy had to do a delivery for a wedding. So I understand that she had to leave right then, but as the owner of a small business, she should have made it her business to make sure this customer was happy, especially since she’d already given her so much business.
Here’s the straw that broke the camels back for me. When we walked in the back door, we found ourselves surrounded by Duncan Hines boxed cake mix! Now I don’t know if this is normal, but I feel like a bakery should not be using box caked mix. I feel like I’ve been hoodwinked!
At the time, Sandy didn’t realize that I was the bride who did the drive by tasting earlier in the day. But I hope she did eventually realize that, no matter how good the cake taste, she lost my business and anyone else I might refer based on her treatment of my friend and her customer.
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Technorati Tags: Baker, Bakery, Cake, customer service, wedding cake
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