I have always seen funny ‘What I Ordered vs What I Got’ memes online and laughed my heart out. Especially where ladies order dresses and jumpsuits, but ‘forget to order the body type’ or where guys order home furniture and end up receiving toy-sized furniture.
Despite the fact that some people get raw deals out there, we still have to try out new things or take risks at some point.
My daughter’s birthday was fast approaching and I had to keep my promise of ordering an Elsa cake for her special day.
As fate would have it, my favorite baker was fully booked.
After making several enquiries, one baker stood out. I went through her Facebook page and was convinced that she was ideal.
Red Flags
Three contacts had been provided on their Facebook page but no call went through. All my calls went unanswered.
I tried calling the baker’s number thrice without getting an answer, sent a WhatsApp image of the cake and still got no feedback two hours later.
That was a red flag to me but my friend convinced me that her friend, the baker, was the best person for this cake design. She promised to help me contact her and assured me that I would not be disappointed. I finally managed to get hold of her through my friend’s phone.
Also Read: https://customerschampion.com/debt-free/
Long story short, she could pull that design and so I paid the deposit and we agreed on the message on the cake and date and time of delivery. So I made the booking two weeks prior to the birthday.
First Baker Lessons
- Communication is very important in any line of business.
My cake was not delivered on the agreed time and no one bothered to contact me and notify me of the delay.
I initiated communication thrice trying to find out how many more minutes I had to keep the children waiting.
At some point they had even forgotten where the cake was to be delivered.
If you are not going to deliver a product or service in time, it is only courteous to notify your client. - Make promises which you can deliver
The cake was delivered two hours late.
What I ordered was definitely what I got, you should have seen the disappointment in my daughter’s eyes.
She asked why there was no message and I had to find a way to convince her that the name did not really matter.
And her face expression when she tasted the cake also said a lot. The cake was not moist enough and was too sugary.
Also Read Keeping Service Promises
To avoid a repeat of the same, I ordered my son’s cake a month prior from a different baker.
I initially wanted a cement-mixer shaped cake but the baker was honest enough to admit that he could not pull that shape. I convinced my son and we settled for a simpler design.
This is what I ordered.
This is what was delivered.
Second Baker Lessons
With the second baker, I enjoyed my experience from the word go.
She was very honest and told me that she could not pull a cement-mixer design but was willing to do something else instead. So my son and I looked for a simpler design online.
She confirmed receipt of my deposit.
She contacted me three days before the agreed date and confirmed that she was now working on the order.
On the agreed date, she contacted me thrice updating me on the progress.
Cake was delivered three hours before the agreed time.
