Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

If a customer collects a cake from your house or shop that is in perfect condition that you have been working on for 3 days. You have lifted it in and out of the box onto the turntable. Put it back in the box and carried it to another room. Taken photos of it in perfect condition. The customers parents collect it. See it in perfect condition oooh and ahhh over the amazing cake you have created. Five hours later you receive an email with photos of your cake smashed beyond recognition and they ask for a refund! You know the cake was fully supported and secure when it left you. What would you do?

Sounds like a very uncomfortable an unfair position.

You have two considerations:

1. The legal position
2. Your reputation

On point one it comes down to your T&Cs. We have a generic set of cake order T&Cs in the Pro membership which would cover you. If you need clarity on your position it’s best to contact your local Trading Standards. They are very helpful and I would suspect would come down in your favour. That then allows you to go back to the customer with what Trading Standards have said. After that they are likely to realise their position and drop the claim. You’ll find that their request for a refund is driven by emotion rather than reality and usually time will dilute the emotion.

Your reputation means everything, and they likely know that. But if you cover point one with Trading Standards then they are unlikely to try and damage your reputation.

We have lessons on Trading Standards, T&Cs, dealing with Complaints and a lot more on our Pro Membership page….

Pro Online Cake Decorating Courses

Thank you so much.