Wedding Cakes…The Importance Of A Written Guarantee From Your Wedding Cake Baker
Wedding Cakes…Protect Yourself By Asking For a Written Guarantee
From Your Wedding Cake Baker
Our research study has revealed that a little over 99% of independent wedding cake baker/creative designers do not offer a written guarantee with their wedding cakes.
They declare their guarantee is a “verbal” one, which is, an assertion they stand behind their products.
Our study did not involve grocery store bakeries, because they are most likely to stand behind their products under any circumstances.
We interviewed 143 brides who had troubles with their wedding cakes and asked them how those problems have been resolved.
About 80% of the time the wedding cake baker handled them in a mutually helpful manner.
Having said that, the remaining 20% of the time, these bakers did not take responsibility for the difficulties. Because of this, refunds ranged from minimal in-store credits to full refunds.
Here’s something to remember. In the event of a problem, you don’t want to find out how far a “verbal” guarantee could get you.
Why? We interviewed a bride that sued her wedding cake baker claiming the cake was not decorated to her specifications.
The judge asked for the order form that spelled-out how the cake was to be decorated, along with a photograph of the cake.
The bride informed the judge she believed the vertical stripes on the cake were crooked. The judge admitted some of the stripes were a bit crooked, but not enough to side with the bride’s claim.
The judge after that stated that if the order form (contract) had acknowledged all the stripes shall be straight, or if she had a written guarantee, he would have sided with her.
This incident demonstrates that if the bride had only asked for and obtained a written guarantee…the entire courtroom sideshow could have been prevented.
Since our research signifies a high percentage of wedding cake baker/designers are unwilling to take responsibility for their actions…we believe you should request a written guarantee, including provisions which clearly declare what the monetary compensation should be for the top 16 wedding cake issues. They are:
- The wedding cake wasn’t made.
- The cake was the wrong design.
- The cake fell apart or tumbled over.
- The cake was leaning severely.
- The cake was not the correct shape.
- The cake was not made for the exact amount of servings.
- The cake was delivered more than one hour after the reception began.
- The cake was not made with the correct flavor(s).
- The cake did not contain the correct filling(s).
- The cake was decorated in the wrong color.
- The cake exhibited an improper number of tiers.
- The wrong frosting was used.
- The cake was lacking decorative, hand-made decorations.
- The cake exhibited poor execution of design.
- The selected topper was not exhibited on the cake.
- The cake was not displayed using the plateau or stand that was ordered.
Of course, you can’t force a wedding cake baker to give you a written guarantee.
Initially, you must request a written guarantee and then decide if you are prepared to take the calculated risk of working with someone who won’t back what they sell.
If you ask why a baker won’t guarantee their work…you’re asking an excellent question.
The main reason is simple. Quite a few small business owners, which includes bakery and cake shop owners, think most of their bridal customers might ask for some type of refund.
These bakers believe it opens a window for the bride-to-be to take advantage of them by purposely finding something wrong with their wedding cake.
The real truth is this:
- Studies show that less than 1 in 20 customers will ask for any money back. Only 1 in 33 will attempt to get a full refund.
- Owners of most bakeries are regrettably mistaken. When a wedding cake baker provides their wedding cake, a buyer like you assumes there is an understood guarantee anyway. It just comes down to arguing if anything does go wrong with the wedding cake, rather than making it crystal clear up-front.
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A written guarantee in fact helps a wedding cake baker appear to be more qualified and trustworthy…wouldn’t you agree?
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