I honestly wish I hadn't even called Beloved Cakes…read more
Our tasting meeting got off to a terrible start because Laura, the owner didn't bother to mention she was in Sonoma, not Santa Rosa. This could have been a simple misunderstanding, but since I told her we are getting married in Santa Rosa, I assumed she was located in Santa Rosa as she didn't say otherwise and her directions sounded very similar to downtown Santa Rosa, so I assumed incorrectly. We ended up being 45 minutes for the tasting, and she had another client lined up so there was only time to taste the cake with a quickness, and no time to discuss the design or anything. Feeling flustered I hastily decided to sign the contract and gave a $100 deposit. Take it from me: don't sign the contract right off the bat. You DO have time, even if you're only a few months away from the Big Event.
I'd also like to add that the meeting was at a Black Bear Diner in Sonoma, not in her "professional" kitchen. For some reason, that seemed odd. She says her kitchen is too small, which I understand, but I like to know where my caterers are working, see their kitchens and know that they have an actual business address.
So a couple days later I emailed her and got no response for two weeks until I sent off another email asking for a response to the 1st one. Her reply was short and generically impersonal. I don't think she really knew who I was.
Even though I'd asked for contact from her, I just didn't hear back from her. I emailed several times over two months, and nothing -- no emails, no calls, nothing. So I start getting a little panicky and finally decided it would be best to simply hire another cake maker. My last email to Beloved Cakes, telling her I'd hired someone else got a response in less than 24 hours, with the excuse that she'd been terribly ill, in the hospital, and only "just now" is well enough to email. I thought the timing was a little too convenient, and emailed her back telling her again that I'd already hired someone else and that she probably should have had her assistant check emails and reply to their clients. I asked for a refund of my deposit, given the circumstances. After hearing nothing AGAIN, I emailed again, and again asked for a refund of my deposit -- it's not like she'd done anything to cement our business relationship, after all, and then went missing for two months. So, she just refused, saying her "lawyer" feels her contract would hold up in court, blah blah blah. And I'm wondering what the F*** does her assistant do? What I remembered of him was a kind of oily, baldish guy standing there trying to act efficient. Turns out, I guess, he's just ineffectual... because you'd think this James Lipton look-alike would have at least the gumption to call their effing clients, but Nooooooo.....
You know, a bride needs to know she can rely on her vendors to keep in contact. At the very least, if something goes wrong, this woman's assistant should have contacted me. Of course I'm sure she has many clients who are perfectly happy with the service and who had only pleasant experience with Belove Cakes. Unfortunately, I didn't.
Oh, and about the cake: they were very tasty, and I initially was very enthusiastic about using Laura's service, but you know in the end. a cake is really just a cake, it's the customer service that counts. And Laura/Beloved Cakes scores a zero.
