I understand that mistakes happen, but this was really bad. My brother-in-law who was in hospice care, with not much longer to live, loved chocolate and asked for a chocolate cake. Due to his condition, he couldn't have sugar, so we asked for a 6" round sugar free chocolate cake. I also asked for sugar free chocolate icing/filling. They said they could only do sugar free vanilla icing/filling, but the chocolate cake could be done. I wasn't sure my brother-in-law was going to like that, so I said I would get back to them, but asked how much the cake would be. I was quoted $74, which seemed high, but thought maybe it costs more to make a sugar free cake and I just wanted to get it to make him happy before he passed.
After checking with him, my brother-in-law said vanilla icing/filling was ok, but could it be a thin layer of icing/filling. I called ABC back to put in the order and pay for it. We asked for the message on the cake to be written in green (his favorite color) with standard decor also in green. The message was to say "Happy Chocolate Party!" The ABC employee said they could accommodate the requests, but the previous employee was new and quoted the price wrong. It ended up being $62.42, which still seemed expensive, but I didn't complain because it was less than the original quote.
We picked up the cake 48 hours later, but saved it for dinner, after ABC had closed for the day. The cake looked good. It had the right message and decor in the right color, but when we cut into it, it was a white cake and the icing/filling was at least 1/2 inch thick. To the disappointment of my dying brother-in-law, it was not the chocolate cake with a thin layer of icing/filling that he asked for. I felt horrible.
When I called to inquire about what happened with our order, I left a message. Someone returned my call and said the our order references a white cake. I said that was incorrect. In response, the ABC employee said, but we always go over the order with customers at time of pick up and you accepted it and you didn't call us when it happened. I said they were closed and I left a message the next day. I also said that I never heard them say white cake when I picked it up.... Maybe they said white icing/filling, but I did not hear them say white cake. I then said that the message on the cake said " Happy CHOCOLATE Party!". It doesn't take much common sense to know that some part of the cake had to be chocolate. Since they only make vanilla icing/filling, the only other part of the cake had to be chocolate.
After I said this, she repeated her original response that we went over this when you picked it up. No acknowledgement that it could have been their mistake and essentially absolving any responsibility on their part and telling me it was my mistake for accepting it. The call ended with the employee saying she would talk to the owner and get back to me. It's been almost 2 weeks, my brother-in-law has passed, and I have yet to get a call back from anyone. The cake also tasted like cardboard, which I thought was due to it being sugar-free, which I was fine with.
The lack of any empathy, acceptance of any responsibility, or a call back was inexcusable, hence my negative review... read more