The day we decided to forgo an order... over $2

Customer placed an order online and opted for a generic Happy Birthday tag. Then called the shop insisting that we provide her with a customized message tag FOC, despite knowing that we charge an extra $2 for this. Her rationale was "I already paid over $70 for the cake with delivery so you cannot charge me for the customized message".

We have come to realize that there is "selective incomprehension" on the concept of customization with some folks. In the case of message on cake, our chefs will prepare generic message tags (e.g. Happy Birthday, Happy Anniversary etc.) and these are provided FOC to customers who requested for them. However, if the required message is something outside of our generic options, we need to ensure that this is specially done for the customer concerned. And as with all customization, there is an additional fee involved - in this case $2+gst. This we make known to customers before they place their orders, so that they can make an informed decision on whether to stick with the generic message or pay extra for a customized one. There was a time when we used to do customized messages for free. But the ever-increasing number of such requests have added to the work load of our chefs. Many a times they will need to stay back after their official working hours just to complete writing all customized messages for the next day. And this represents a real additional cost to us (because we need to pay our chefs for the overtime). Majority of our customers are aware and understanding towards the customization charge. Then there are the minority. But back to our original story...

So the customer insisted that we do her customized message FOC else she wanted to cancel her order. Many cake shop will probably bend over upon hearing this. But we stuck to our guns and allowed her to cancel her order. A cash refund was made after deducting for admin fee (to cover the online payment charges).

Some may feel that we have "missed the forest for a single tree" by forgoing a $70+ order over $2. Yes, it may seem a tad unwise. Bordering on stupidity even. Then again, we have always been quite the stickler with our business principles. Maybe we will lose a few orders because of this. Or maybe a couple of customers even. But it is something important that we need to take a stand on. We always strive to be fair and ethical when doing business with our customers. In return, we need our customers to respect our terms and conditions of sale, which we expressly communicate to all customers prior to them placing orders. And as we have said many a time, we will not hesitate to forgo doing business with those who cannot respect/agree with our trading terms. While one may deem this stupid, we deem this being principled. But we can always agree to disagree...

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