Words cannot express how disappointed, embarrassed, and angry I was with this experience. To give you all some background:
I went in with my expecting friend to taste test and quote a baby shower cake - an entire month in advance. The staff was very nice and professional in the beginning. We eventually settled on a two tiered, elephant, baby boy blue and gray design (and a friend added cake pops to the order). The total came out to $200 and some change and the date for pick up was set for Friday, July 29, 2016. In time for the shower scheduled for Saturday, July 30, 2016 at 12pm.
Fast forward to the week of. Our order was knocked out of place. Meaning, another order took precedence over ours and the new pick up time was Saturday, July 30, 2016 at 11am. That's the day of the shower, an hour before the shower, and it takes an hour to get to the shower venue from the bakery. Do the math.
The day of the shower arrived and in order to get the venue space ready - the expecting mother will now have to pick up the cake herself. What's even more inconvenient is that the cake was not ready at 11am as mentioned, it was ready by noon. Staff at the bakery text her asking that she contact them 45 minutes before she heads out to pick up the cake - they text her this a few minutes before 11am. The new time set was 11:30am. It still wasn't ready when she arrived by then.
The mother, who the shower is for, is now late for her own baby shower by 1.5 to two hours. To my understanding, they claimed to have an issue with the oven. As unfortunate as that may be - that wasn't our fault. Here's the even more embarrassing part that also lessened my sympathy for this bakery.
The cake and mother arrive to the shower around 1:30-2:00pm. We put the cake on display - it's lopsided at the base, the icing and fondant is sliding off. Everyone at the shower is taking pictures and questioning why the cake looks the way it does. We were forced to cut the cake way early and in the process - it all fell apart. All of it. The icing slid off, the tiers slid off. It was a disaster. The cake was not set at all. It's like it was literally baked (not well - I guess that's the issue with the over?), iced, put in a box and given to us. It was not refrigerated prior to at all.
I'm very big on promoting small businesses and we wanted to give this place a chance. The reviews on Facebook were very good. But what I experienced here was atrocious. And for a half-assed cake, I need (at the very least), half our money back.
I'm hoping the owner will reach out to resolve this. No one, no customer, should have to go through this on a special day. I will not promote this business or make recommendations until this has been made right.
Update: The owner did contact me. He offered me half a refund and blamed everyone and every element, but for the fact their their bakery provided bad service and bad business. He also seemed more concerned that I posted negative reviews w/ proof on their Facebook and/or Yelp site - thus prompting a sudden surge of 5 star FB reviews after the fact. As we don't intend to use this vendor again - we'll let them have the $175 and will take our losses. Lesson learned. read more