Money Moral Dilemma: My daughter delivered a wedding cake an hour late - should she fully refund?

IrishRose12

WorcesterParkWoman said:

Let me get this right- on her wedding day, our bride, between seeing her auntie who she hasn’t seen in ages, and meeting her new cousins in law, has actually had to ask where the cake is, dealt with it arriving an hour late, naffing up the schedule, and is expected to think that it’s OK to refund a few quid?? There will have been real anxiety here, on her wedding day. 

Just refund the lot, and send flowers. 

What kind of stupid bride orders a wedding cake to be delivered at 6pm on the night of their wedding? It should have been there long before the wedding guests arrived.  That's down to the bride and groom.  They should have had it arrive that morning or just before the wedding happened.  Not hours after for goodness sake. 

Gazzaholt

When you’re charging £450 for a cake you should get it right. 

If you don’t, professional pride should move you to take the hit and accept the loss. 

When I had a business, if we got it wrong the customer got it free. 

catprofit

Wedding preparations are stressful. I think the bride would have been beside herself when the cake didn't arrive on time.
Of course she took the cake... What bride would refuse it although it was late I'm sure she was relieved when it arrived but not happy.
My opinion is give a refund asap.
Put it down to a learning experince, protect your business reputation from bad reviews

ripongrammargirl

Was there a signed contract with explanations of what would happen in event of death, accident, wedding called off, cake being dropped, cake being delivered late due to unexpected event etc! I would say it’s really not the end of the world as nobody died and their wedding was not a disaster by it being delivered an hour late (it could have been delivered the next day!). This is obviously a “bridezilla” who needs a stiff talking to and a dose of common sense/empathy for others’ situations thrown in! So no refund unless it’s specified in a written contract. An hour late…. Really???!!

Also, Seriously, £450 for a cake???? I sure hope it was a proper fruit cake and not sponge as I will make anyone a cake with flour, butter, sugar, jam and moulding icing for far less than that!! Get a grip on finance (MSE FORUM!!) and be sensible as that is an obscene amount. People are literally starving and she has spent half a grand on a cake??! What was I saying about common sense? If it meant that much to her then she should have made it herself, got her mum or in-laws to bake it or had it delivered the day before just in case of any problem arising. My wedding day including EVERYTHING ( venue, reception, dress, outfits, car, food, cake etc cost us £2500, (spent the real cash-£6000- on 3 week honeymoon to Australia) so I’m still reeling and going to keep mentioning….. £450 for a CAKE???!!!

peepo321a

Terrible mistake for such a sensitive and competitive business. Look at it from the couple’s perspective- your daughter’s poor customer service cast a shadow over the main part of their most important (and expensive) day. As an absolute minimum 50% refund, but really she should call it quits at 100%. The reputational damage of a cockup and then a failure to fully accept responsibility will do her no favours at all. 

Groom

roubiliac said:

Sue them. Some people try to swindle anyone.

How can she sue them, baker already has the money for the cake, the bridal party is asking for it back. They could sue the baker for not keeping her side of the contract, it was really up to her to check the timing and make sure it was there in good time. As they accepted and presumably ate the cake, I don’t think they can expect a full refund, but probably 50%. 

rollingmoon

If this is the worst thing that ever happens in the bliss of their newly-wedded life, then they won't have much to complain about. The bride should accept the generous offer of £100 and crack on.

ImogenR

It's probably too late in this case, but the baker should have this kind of eventuality covered in the T&Cs of a written contract. My daughter makes cakes like this and this is just the kind of thing I was worried about when she started doing weddings. If this had happened to her (before she started using a contract) I would have advised her to offer a full refund, because it was her mistake. Yes, she'd lose money, and many hours of work, but she might also avoid having her reputation trashed by the customer and it's a valuable learning experience. With the memory of that loss she might be more careful with her diary in the future!

PHK

IrishRose12 said:

WorcesterParkWoman said:

Let me get this right- on her wedding day, our bride, between seeing her auntie who she hasn’t seen in ages, and meeting her new cousins in law, has actually had to ask where the cake is, dealt with it arriving an hour late, naffing up the schedule, and is expected to think that it’s OK to refund a few quid?? There will have been real anxiety here, on her wedding day. 

Just refund the lot, and send flowers. 

What kind of stupid bride orders a wedding cake to be delivered at 6pm on the night of their wedding? It should have been there long before the wedding guests arrived.  That's down to the bride and groom.  They should have had it arrive that morning or just before the wedding happened.  Not hours after for goodness sake. 

We don’t know that’s the case. The OP could be  read as the cake was needed at 6pm, so would have needed to be delivered a few hours early. 

Any reasonable business that has got in a muddle (through obvious poor record keeping) should put things right. If I was the baker I would be sending flowers and a refund if the difference between ingredients cost and price paid (because they’ve eaten the cake) 

marcia_

  Would not give them the full cost back because they took the cake and still had their service albeit a little late. If they wanted a full refund they should have rejected delivery. Your offer is very reasonable imo.