My latest experience with Edgars was not acceptable and why I am writing this review. Keep in mind this is not about the taste or quality of what Edgars produces. This is about their customer service or lack thereof.
Our experience started with my daughter picking up our family birthday cake at the Tuscaloosa location 2 days after ordering. At a quick glance it appeared to acceptable however when we went to remove the cake from its box it was evident that the icing on the back side was separating from the cake. I attempted to repair it the best I could for our party. Not great but acceptable. Then after cutting the first 2 pieces the cake began to split down the middle and fall apart. Embarassing and NOT acceptable. This is not a Publix cake and not a Publix price so anyone should expect better. At this point our experience only got worse. It was night and Edgars was closed but I encouraged my daughter to call the next day which she did. The customer service lady agreed that there was a problem and not something we should expect. She asks my daughter to send pictures which we had taken after the cake fell apart. She did and was told that the manager would call her which he did on Monday. This was the customer service mgr Brent, not the manager at the Tuscaloosa. My daughter was camping that next week so was not able to call him back until the next week.
At this point it became evident that we were dealing with someone who has little experience with customer service, does not put the customer first, and instead hides behind what he says is corporate policy (which if it is the case needs a real overhaul). We were first told that she didn't call back soon enough (though she had originally called the next day and did as she was told in sending them the pictures), then that she didn't return the cake (this was improbable and impossible since it was served over an hour away at night when Edgars was closed and after it was partially eaten which we had no other option to do), then that anytime you buy anything like shoes or pants or dress you have to return them so the same for a cake (Ridiculous...given the fact that we were an hour away, the cake was partially eaten, and it certainly wasn't pratical to ship the cake back to them). I think you get the picture. This was more about a flawed corporate policy than about satisfying the customer....putting the customer FIRST. Again, this is not really about the cake itself as imperfect as it was. We had previously ordered a cake for my daughters birthday back in March which was excellent and enjoyed with her friends and have been willing to pay a bit extra for Edgars before in expectation of greater quality which we have received.
I then posted a comment on the contact tab of the Edgars website. Within an hour I received a call from the manager of the Tuscaloosa location who listened to our story and though he believed the cake was okay when it was picked up, acknowledged that our experience with cake (icing falling off, cake cracking) was not acceptable and apologized. He then said that a response to our situation (whether refund, gift card or whatever) was out of his hands and under their corporate customer service which I would question as being best of the customer (I have read other complaints about this practice). He also acknowledged the unreasonableness of the response we had received regarding returning the cake in our situation, timing of our call, the evidence of the photos, and mostly in putting the customer first. I have worked for many years in jobs involved in some way with customer relations and Brent's response to our experience is lacking greatly in understanding what it truly means to serve the customer with excellence and graciously make things right when we have produced something that was not acceptable. I told them I would post this review and many others given their response to our complaint, and we are unlikely to visit Edgars in the future. read more