The Patissier's Chronicle

Customers who purchase regularly enough from us will be aware of our admin fee policy. Even for those who are buying from us for the first time, they are made aware of this (a) via a notice on the Home page of our website prior to their online purchase, and (b) as detailed in the order confirmation that they will receive upon successful placement of their orders (both online & offline).  Our admin fee policy is not something new, just that we have become quite the stickler when imposing it these days. Having said that, we do not hide our admin fee policy under some small/obscure print. We make it known to our customers before they order and even remind them after they have placed their orders. But whether everyone choose to read/take notice is something that we have no control over. For customers who call us and wish to place an order way ahead, our staff also make it a point to check with the customer that he/she is certain of the required date and inform him/her of the admin ...

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 ...

For a start, it is not our business mission to piss off customer. Else we will already be out of business by now. And more often than not, we will try to accommodate customers' requests as best we can. Our regular customers will probably attest to this. However, we are also quite the stickler when comes to business policy. The imposition of an admin fee for change requests after an order is made is one example. We do know of cake shops that will absolutely not entertain changes or cancellations once the order is placed. For us, all change requests within 24 hours after an order is placed will be made without charge. An admin charge of $10.70 will apply for all such requests made after the 24 hour period. Our policy is clearly communicated on the main page of our website, i.e. prior to customer placing an order. The policy is also reflected on the order confirmation that customer will receive after an order is placed. However, we can only do so much in terms of communication. Whethe...