Eek! Yeah, methinks not because they did not want our business.
My uncle heard good things about Flowers, so we decided to try them out for our wedding cake (small cake and sheet cake needed this October). I called a few weeks ahead and asked if they do tastings. They do. Cool. I gave the woman on the phone my requested date, wedding date, size we were thinking, how many people were coming, and ideal look of the cake. I mentioned "rustic" and she came back to say "we have chocolate shavings" ... um ok. She also just kept saying something about chocolate mousses so I said "sure" because she would not list other things for us to try other than mousses. Mind you, I've never been to Flowers and do not even live in MoCo, so this place is riding on a good recommendation. Not good first impression #1.
About a week ahead we were trying to plan my Saturday visit to MoCo to try a few other bakeries. I called Flowers to ask if there was a fee involved with our tasting on Saturday and she said she'd have to call me back? Ok. A day went by and nothing. I called back myself and told a woman that I was waiting for a call back about a fee involved for a scheduled tasting this weekend, she asked someone else, and came back to say "no, there isn't one." I still got the call back on Friday about the tasting and she didn't even remember what her note was in regards to... "I have a note here that says to call you..." Great impression #2.
So by the time we actually went to Flowers on the 23rd I was going in with low expectations... or expecting the cakes to be really good but the service to be unorganized, rude, and untrustworthy. Surprise! I walked in on time, gave my name and said we were there for a tasting for 3 people. The man looked me in the eye after going through a few hand-written notes quickly, and said "We don't schedule tastings on Saturday, are you sure?"
No, I'm not sure. I commuted from Baltimore to meet up with my family and get here on time on a whim. I said, "Hmm, well, I spoke to several people on the phone since March and always said the 23rd." He asked who I spoke to, and went to the back. Came back out front, "Miss we don't schedule tastings for Saturday, there is nothing in our notes." WOW. So clearly you do not give a damn about a new person's business. I asked, "Why did no one tell me Saturdays are not do-able then?" He had no answer. He even said he knew about the call on Friday to me, to let me know if there was a fee or not. Did that first person ever even write down my request for SATURDAY THE 23RD? Do you own calendars? Maybe you should upgrade to computers because it's 2016 and then you wouldn't lose track of orders.
He said something about us still asking for three flavors because they'll "see what they can do," for us to try them, but hell no. He seemed annoyed and clearly just wanted me to leave. He'd probably have made me pay for the cake slices he cut up for me to take a damn bite of. I wouldn't trust Flowers to even get a birthday cake order right, let alone trust them with a wedding cake. So we left. He said Saturdays are incredibly busy (they could have been in the back, but there were about 2 customers out front). You couldn't apologize for the confusion and figure something out? You don't have icing or fillings in the back? I don't own a bakery and do not know the great lengths it takes to set up a tasting, but shit. I think you could have done something since I WANTED TO GIVE YOU BUSINESS. Business that a bunch of people would hear about since, you know, it will be seen by about 100 people. I wasn't expecting champagne and linen napkins. But whatever.
My uncle still wanted to try the cake since his friend told him about it, so he bought a small chocolate mousse cake and brought it home. The me in me didn't even want to give them the satisfaction of trying their cake since I was so frustrated, but I did anyways. It was okay. It pretty much tasted exactly like a cake you'd get from Giant.
I would not recommend Flowers to anyone that needs to order something in advance. They do not have a website, do not update their Facebook, so it seems the only way to contact them is in person or over the phone. And on the phone, you're talking to different people who seem to have no idea what is going on from one day to the next. read more