Saturday, August 09, 2008

Cupcake Craze.

Today I had A Fight with A Crazy Cupcake Lady.

For The Wedding, we are serving Cupcakes rather than Cake. I heart Cupcakes and always have Cupcakes at Special Events. I have been doing this for Years – long before The Cupcake Bakery Craze started. Cupcakes are Cute! After all, they are just Little Tiny Cakes! And Little Tiny Things are Adorable! Like Babies! Well, okay. Like Baby Clothes. Babies poop and stuff. Anyhow, I am A Cupcake Serving Trendsetter!

And so, Totally Awesome Fiancé and I went around and tasted Every Cupcake In Los Angeles. We are serious Cupcake Connoisseurs now. And we have Our Favorites. I favor Yummy Cupcakes because I like How Sweet The Icing Is. Totally Awesome Fiancé prefers Vanilla Bake Shop because he likes How Moist The Cake Part Is. These two Cupcake Shops are across the street from one another. Neither Shop is The One We Eventually Booked. I would say Cupcake Bakeries are A Dime A Dozen these days. Except that they are usually $20 A Dozen. Cupcakes can be Costly.

Which brings me to My Cupcake Cagematch. We have Thirty More People coming to The Wedding. We really thought A Thursday Night Celebration would make people stay away. But, we are Wrong. Everyone is Coming. When we booked Our Cupcake Order back in February, we contracted for enough cupcakes to feed 50 People. We had to increase Our Order! And so, today I called to deliver The Happy News and find out Our New Balance. Instead, I was told The Added On Cupcakes would also be More Expensive than The Original Order because they Raised Their Prices in March. I asked to speak to The Owner.

The Owner called me back and was Very Rude. She told me All The Others Weddings That Have Increased Their Order Didn’t Complain About The Increase In Price. I told her, “That’s Nice For Them. But, I have A Problem with it. You never informed us of A Rate Increase (yet you did inform us of A Change In The Cake Stand Rental Fee a few weeks ago) and The Contract Says Nothing About What Happens If There Is A Change In Rates After We Book. Furthermore, I am holding The Rate Sheet you gave me! It clearly States The Cost of The Cupcakes We Ordered.” Her reply was Terse. She told me that she didn’t have to Inform Me Of Rate Increases. And regarding The Contract, she told me, “Our Contract doesn’t state Anything. It goes Both Ways.” And regarding The Rate Sheet? “We have A New Rate Sheet now.” She flatly explained she would not make A Profit otherwise.

The Cupcake Lady put me on Hold so that she could figure out Our New Balance. While I was on Hold, I relayed the conversation to Totally Awesome Fiancé who was sitting next to me. A few minutes later when she came back she said, “Do you want to talk to Your Fiancé now or would you like to talk to Me?”

I didn’t know what to say. Me! The Daily Randi! Speechless!!??

I took A Giant Breath. And then I went Bridezilla on her! I told her I was Quite Disappointed in her Customer Service. I told her I thought she should honor The Original Rates since we were simply Increasing Our Order, not Placing A New Order. I told her I found it hard to believe she wouldn’t make A Profit on Our Additional 90 Cupcakes unless she Charged Us The Higher Amount since we were adding 90 Freaking Cupcakes. And I told her I would remember all of this when it came time to write A Vendor Review. Which is, by the way, How I Booked Every Single One Of My Vendors. I went by Reviews and Referrals for nearly everything. I had never Planned A Wedding before! How else am I supposed to know Who To Book? She has some Crazy Cupcake Karma coming her way.

But, now Totally Awesome Fiancé thinks she is going to Go Cuckoo On Our Cupcakes. I think it will all be Okay. I don’t think The Cupcake Place would purposely cause A Cupcake Catastrophe.

Suddenly Cupcakes don’t seem So Cute anymore.

Maybe it is time to move on to Cake.

8 comments:

Nanette said...

So is she charging you the original rate or is she sticking by her jacked-up rate?

Randi said...

She is charging me The Original Rate on The Original Order and The Crazy Jacked-Up Rate on The Additional Order.

That's F'd U! Right?

Green said...

It is fucked up of her. As not-a-lawyer, I say she has no obligation to offer you the extra cupcakes at the old rate, and it's simply really poor customer service on her part.

Write a really REALLY bad review, everywhere you can review her.

I wish there'd been other cupcakes you liked somewhere else so you could have told her to shove her cupcakes up her ass and taken your business elsewhere.

Have you considered serving cannolis instead?

Randi said...

I don't think she necessarily has any Obligation, either. But, I think her customer service skills were Whack. I don't like being made to feel like I am An Annoyance and Cheap when I am giving someone A Lot Of Business. In this market, I think she should be Really Grateful I Booked Her In The First Place!

xoxo,
TDR

Anonymous said...

She's not gonna spit on the cupcakes is she? What shop is this, btw.

Cybele said...

I'd tell her to forget the extra 90, stuff her higher rates where the sun don't shine, and get 90 cupcakes from one of the two shops across the street from each other. Or 45 from each. Why reward bad service?

Hilary said...

Oy. Another crazy cupcake lady. I'm sorry you are having a bad experience with them--they have a great product, but apparently their customer service leaves a lot to be desired.

Jax said...

argh! I would walk. Of course, that would make one more thing you need to deal with and be stressed about, but i have a THING about bad customer service. Especially when speaking to a bride! That's rule number one!