The Cake Lady

Review: I ordered a Mickey Mouse cake for my sons 2nd birthday. I brought in pictures and had a consultation about what I wanted colors and everything. I had ordered cakes before from there and was happy with their service. My mother picked up the prepaid cake due to me being out of town during pick up time. After I received the cake and got home I opened the cake and it was pink!!! I called the cake lady which was already closed. So I left message on there Facebook page. No one ever contacted me. I went in first thing this morning with the entire section of the cake that was pink. I let the owner [redacted] know that I always order cakes from them and I didn't want this to end in a problem but this is not what I asked for. She then went to try and convince me that the cake she had made was red. I explained to her that it was not red. She said well that's the best we could do, this is our red. I then said to her that I did not pay her $100 for the best she could do cake. I told her she needs to let her customers know that she does not have red but a dark pink she uses for red. She practically told me I was being unreasonable and that I should appreciate the cake because it was a beautiful cake. I found this inappropriate being that I brought in pictures which shows red. I have a boy so why would I need to appreciate a pink cake even if it was nice??? If I'd known I was going to get a pink cake I would've never ordered it. Then she goes to tell me well I'm not giving you any money off so..... I never asked for money just for the situation to be rectified. Maybe half off on my next order, free cupcakes something. What happened to customer satisfaction and the customer is always right. She was too busy being defensive she never even asked me what she could to fix the situation. I guess it's only all good when their being praised for the cakes they make. Everyone can't be satisfied, someone is not going to be happy and they need the proper training over there to deal with situations like this.

Product_Or_Service: Cake

Desired Settlement: I would like an apology for the rude and inappropriate service I received. I never asked for a refund I was expecting as a business owner they would come up with a solution. Being that the owner was too busy being defensive I would like my money back. I guess my expectations were to high. I would have liked for them to at least offered me their service of cake making free of charge or half off my next order. Being that this matter was never resolved I am not planning on ever using their service.

Business

Response:

Business Response /* (1000, 11, 2013/05/05) */

[redacted]'s cake was picked up on a Saturday. The woman who picked it up gave no indication that she was unhappy with the color of the cake. My staff and I left the shop that day around 6:30 pm and had not heard of [redacted]'s complaint. When we reopened for business of Tuesday morning [redacted] came into the shop to ask for a copy of her receipt. It was then that she told me she was unhappy with the cake because it was pink and not red.

I immediately apologized for her feeling dissatisfied and stated I wish I had known. If I had known this at pick up or before the shop closed that day, I would have made the corrections to the cake to make her satisfied.

To help the situation I tried to clarify by showing her the difference between our red and pink icings. [redacted] still insisted both were pink. I also mentioned that the exact same red was used to ice and decorate other cakes that same day without complaint.She pointed to a maroon and said that was red. I explained that was red with traces of brown to make maroon. I then explained that we use a professional grade 'bright red' liquid gel icing color. She was still unconvinced.

I again said "I'm sorry you are unhappy with the red color. We always do the best we can to make our customers happy." To which she replied "I didn't pay for your best you could do. I paid for a red cake, not a pink one."

[redacted] said she did not want a refund. That she ate the cake and was pleased with the taste and although it was nicely decorated it was pink. When I asked what I could do she said it was too late. Her son's birthday party had passed. I didn't know how to respond further. I had apologized. She didn't want a refund for a cake she admitted was delicious and consumed. The only thing I could think of to make her happy was to agree with her. So I said "Ok. From now on I will tell all of my customers that we do not make red buttercream since you think its pink. Would that make you happy?". She called me unprofessional and left.

After she left I took a picture of a bucket of the left over red icing that was used to ice her cake. I also took a picture of a bag of the same red next to a bag of our pink icing. The day [redacted]'s cake was picked up, an employee had taken a picture of the cake. [redacted] also posted her own photo of the cake on our Yelp page. All photos clearly show the top layer was red. Maybe not the exact red she has envisioned but red nonetheless.

When I received the letter from Revdex.com I used the phone number listed to try to contact [redacted] to offer another apology but she did not answer and her voicemail was not set up to leave a message.

[redacted]'s cake took over four hours of total labor. My staff and I work very hard to please everyone. We were all saddened to hear of a customers disappointment as we put care and pride in to each one of our cakes. I would like to again offer my apologies to [redacted] for not only feeling unhappy with the color of her cake but also for her feeling that I and/or my staff neglected to handle the complaint to her liking.

I will be mailing the photos I mentioned to the Revdex.com.

Sincerely,

Owner, The Cake Lady LLC