I need to vent about a client. Sure, it's a cake thing, not flowers.. but I feel SO held back in that I really can't tweet or blog about this. My medium may be different, but I'm sure you guys can relate to this.
Last year, I took a last minute birthday cake order for a famous local pro athlete. It came from his team's liaison, but I ended up dealing partially with his live-in gf, with whom he has several kids. In the end, they THREW OUT a couple hundred dollars worth of our custom made acrylic stands/interior support, etc... this is regardless of the fact that they had signed off on a very clear security deposit agreement on the equipment, spelling out the due date, etc etc.
It took months for them to admit that they didn't even HAVE the equipment anymore (we had a whole lot of "well, we can't meet up this week because we're away at ____, call us next Monday" crap). After a lot of arm twisting, the team liaison finally paid for the tossed equipment.
Flash forward to right before Christmas. The girlfriend calls, wants a birthday cake for him again. No dealing with the liaison, who was the one who'd screwed up the bases issue last year, so I took the order. Went to meet with her.
She wanted a cake to look like a Bentley. I had to wedge between their Land Rover, Hummer, and Escalade to get pics of this stupid Bentley in their garage (which was HUGE, in their HUGE monster of a gorgeous house, too). Did up the contract on the spot, was going to email it to her to print off there (I had my laptop with me), but her email was down, so she wanted me to come by the next morning. Asked me to call first thing.
So I called the next morning, no answer. Left a message, never heard back. This is for a very last minute order, mind you.
So I called the NEXT day. She said something about her phone not working, asked if I could come back the NEXT day at 10am to do the contract, as she was busy that day. Fine.
So I show up at 10 am, as arranged.. she wasn't there. She was actually halfway across the country, her flight had been canceled THE NIGHT BEFORE. I knew this, because her maid (?) told me this when I showed up.
She TEXTED ME a few HOURS later to say that she wouldn't be able to make our appointment, can I come by first thing the NEXT morning. Sigh. Fine. I tell her I'll call first (holding my tongue on the snarky comments I wanted to make along the lines of "TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE THERE THIS TIME!!").
So I call the next morning, FIRST THING, like discussed. This is CHRISTMAS EVE, mind you, so I wanted to get it done with, I had stuff to do. There was also a HIGHLY custom acrylic base that had to be made for this order, one that involved several hours of computer work for me, then cutting/assembling it for my husband's part. It was due just slightly over a week after Christmas.
She wants to meet... AFTER 3PM. I tell her it'll have to be no later than 3pm for me, as it's Christmas eve. Fine. Btw I do the first consult/site visit for free, then it's $25 each additional time (excluding delivery, which is included). This is clearly spelled out in my contract. Added the additional visits into her contract, and onto her total.
So I go over, she signs the contract... and asks if she can POST DATE THE CHECK FOR MONDAY. YES. Did I mention the house and cars? I didn't feel like coming back again, so I said sure, whatever.
Sunday night after business banking hours, I deposit the check.. and no less than an hour later, I get a TEXT from her, saying - and I quote - "Hey Marie! Can I meet with u in the mornin to give u a ck from (her boyfriend)'s acct. So I can void the one I gave u! Thanks! Sorry for the inconveniences"
AARGH! I tell her sorry, no, just deposited it. Her reply: "K! Will c what I can do!"
Wtf. Spent the next week wondering if we should make the base, the cake, whatever.. will it bounce? Augh. Did all of that work, crossing our fingers that it would not bounce. Went to deliver the cake.
Hubby comes along to take pics, because it's been SUCH a problem client, whatever. The whole way there, I tell him that there is NO WAY I'm ever taking an order from them again. Ever. He tries to tell me that oh, but they order nice cakes/ it's profitable / etc. I don't place such a low price on my sanity, whatever.
So we show up.. and they have a BIG NASTY GROCERY STORE SHEETCAKE out. Yes. This is even though they signed my contract which CLEARLY states an exclusivity clause. If we show up to an event where there is cake provided by any other outside vendor, we do NOT have to leave our cake there, client loses it without reimbursement. This is for quality control, liability, and reputation reasons. OMG! It was ugly, too!
We try to ignore it, and leave the cake anyway. She signs off on our delivery slip to say that the cake was delivered finished, stable, and in good condition, and we leave. Fine.
So her base was due back on Tuesday. PER THE SECURITY AGREEMENT, it's $25/day rental on any overdue dates.
She calls me this morning (Thursday) to ask if I'm going to come pick it up. I tell her I can do another visit to do so, but it'll be another $25 site visit. She tells me she'll get her driver to deliver it, in that case... but not today, as it's snowing (?? not much!)
I point out that's ok, BUT that this was due back a few days ago, "here, let me check your contract and see what the due date was".. and she starts flipping out at me. Says I never told her that (I actually DID, when I told her that the $100 security deposit would be returned to her when the base was received back on X day, when we did up the contract initially)... never mind the fact that she signed a WHOLE SEPARATE AGREEMENT for that base, very clearly spelling out the return date, the fees, etc. Very clear. Important areas bolded, etc.
She accuses me of giving her the RUNAROUND (WHOA! WHAT?!!? Runaround!?? After all that crap trying to get the contract signed??), then tells me to keep the deposit, because she was SO unhappy with the cake, blah blah.. "We ordered another BIG cake, and it wasn't no $800!"... yeah. The cake wasn't $800. It was $700... took a day of labor on just the custom base, plus 2 full (extra long) days worth of work on the cake itself.. plus tax, plus SITE VISITS. Said she would NEVER order from me again (whew!), and HUNG UP ON ME!!!!!
Oh my god. Seriously. I called back, she'd turned her phone off. So, I left a message calmly explaining that the contract was very clear about everything she seemed to be upset about, and that I'd explained the deposit the first day. Said that as far as site visits go, my time is valuable to me, this is a busy time of year, and I can't afford the time to drop everything, drive to a client's house, only to find out that they were not going to be there. Again, spelled out in my contract. Told her that she wasn't clear as to whether or not her driver was going to drop it off or not, but that we need to make arrangements to get that base back.
AAAAUGH!!! Some people's children!
I'm really glad that hubby and I already discussed the likelihood that we'll never see that base back again. I really don't think we will
Last year, I took a last minute birthday cake order for a famous local pro athlete. It came from his team's liaison, but I ended up dealing partially with his live-in gf, with whom he has several kids. In the end, they THREW OUT a couple hundred dollars worth of our custom made acrylic stands/interior support, etc... this is regardless of the fact that they had signed off on a very clear security deposit agreement on the equipment, spelling out the due date, etc etc.
It took months for them to admit that they didn't even HAVE the equipment anymore (we had a whole lot of "well, we can't meet up this week because we're away at ____, call us next Monday" crap). After a lot of arm twisting, the team liaison finally paid for the tossed equipment.
Flash forward to right before Christmas. The girlfriend calls, wants a birthday cake for him again. No dealing with the liaison, who was the one who'd screwed up the bases issue last year, so I took the order. Went to meet with her.
She wanted a cake to look like a Bentley. I had to wedge between their Land Rover, Hummer, and Escalade to get pics of this stupid Bentley in their garage (which was HUGE, in their HUGE monster of a gorgeous house, too). Did up the contract on the spot, was going to email it to her to print off there (I had my laptop with me), but her email was down, so she wanted me to come by the next morning. Asked me to call first thing.
So I called the next morning, no answer. Left a message, never heard back. This is for a very last minute order, mind you.
So I called the NEXT day. She said something about her phone not working, asked if I could come back the NEXT day at 10am to do the contract, as she was busy that day. Fine.
So I show up at 10 am, as arranged.. she wasn't there. She was actually halfway across the country, her flight had been canceled THE NIGHT BEFORE. I knew this, because her maid (?) told me this when I showed up.
She TEXTED ME a few HOURS later to say that she wouldn't be able to make our appointment, can I come by first thing the NEXT morning. Sigh. Fine. I tell her I'll call first (holding my tongue on the snarky comments I wanted to make along the lines of "TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE THERE THIS TIME!!").
So I call the next morning, FIRST THING, like discussed. This is CHRISTMAS EVE, mind you, so I wanted to get it done with, I had stuff to do. There was also a HIGHLY custom acrylic base that had to be made for this order, one that involved several hours of computer work for me, then cutting/assembling it for my husband's part. It was due just slightly over a week after Christmas.
She wants to meet... AFTER 3PM. I tell her it'll have to be no later than 3pm for me, as it's Christmas eve. Fine. Btw I do the first consult/site visit for free, then it's $25 each additional time (excluding delivery, which is included). This is clearly spelled out in my contract. Added the additional visits into her contract, and onto her total.
So I go over, she signs the contract... and asks if she can POST DATE THE CHECK FOR MONDAY. YES. Did I mention the house and cars? I didn't feel like coming back again, so I said sure, whatever.
Sunday night after business banking hours, I deposit the check.. and no less than an hour later, I get a TEXT from her, saying - and I quote - "Hey Marie! Can I meet with u in the mornin to give u a ck from (her boyfriend)'s acct. So I can void the one I gave u! Thanks! Sorry for the inconveniences"
AARGH! I tell her sorry, no, just deposited it. Her reply: "K! Will c what I can do!"
Wtf. Spent the next week wondering if we should make the base, the cake, whatever.. will it bounce? Augh. Did all of that work, crossing our fingers that it would not bounce. Went to deliver the cake.
Hubby comes along to take pics, because it's been SUCH a problem client, whatever. The whole way there, I tell him that there is NO WAY I'm ever taking an order from them again. Ever. He tries to tell me that oh, but they order nice cakes/ it's profitable / etc. I don't place such a low price on my sanity, whatever.
So we show up.. and they have a BIG NASTY GROCERY STORE SHEETCAKE out. Yes. This is even though they signed my contract which CLEARLY states an exclusivity clause. If we show up to an event where there is cake provided by any other outside vendor, we do NOT have to leave our cake there, client loses it without reimbursement. This is for quality control, liability, and reputation reasons. OMG! It was ugly, too!
We try to ignore it, and leave the cake anyway. She signs off on our delivery slip to say that the cake was delivered finished, stable, and in good condition, and we leave. Fine.
So her base was due back on Tuesday. PER THE SECURITY AGREEMENT, it's $25/day rental on any overdue dates.
She calls me this morning (Thursday) to ask if I'm going to come pick it up. I tell her I can do another visit to do so, but it'll be another $25 site visit. She tells me she'll get her driver to deliver it, in that case... but not today, as it's snowing (?? not much!)
I point out that's ok, BUT that this was due back a few days ago, "here, let me check your contract and see what the due date was".. and she starts flipping out at me. Says I never told her that (I actually DID, when I told her that the $100 security deposit would be returned to her when the base was received back on X day, when we did up the contract initially)... never mind the fact that she signed a WHOLE SEPARATE AGREEMENT for that base, very clearly spelling out the return date, the fees, etc. Very clear. Important areas bolded, etc.
She accuses me of giving her the RUNAROUND (WHOA! WHAT?!!? Runaround!?? After all that crap trying to get the contract signed??), then tells me to keep the deposit, because she was SO unhappy with the cake, blah blah.. "We ordered another BIG cake, and it wasn't no $800!"... yeah. The cake wasn't $800. It was $700... took a day of labor on just the custom base, plus 2 full (extra long) days worth of work on the cake itself.. plus tax, plus SITE VISITS. Said she would NEVER order from me again (whew!), and HUNG UP ON ME!!!!!
Oh my god. Seriously. I called back, she'd turned her phone off. So, I left a message calmly explaining that the contract was very clear about everything she seemed to be upset about, and that I'd explained the deposit the first day. Said that as far as site visits go, my time is valuable to me, this is a busy time of year, and I can't afford the time to drop everything, drive to a client's house, only to find out that they were not going to be there. Again, spelled out in my contract. Told her that she wasn't clear as to whether or not her driver was going to drop it off or not, but that we need to make arrangements to get that base back.
AAAAUGH!!! Some people's children!
I'm really glad that hubby and I already discussed the likelihood that we'll never see that base back again. I really don't think we will
