HELP!! CUSTOMER BLOCKED ME??

Hi alizeh,

Please don’t be worried, the fact is this happens a lot. I could tell you countless stories how this same situation happen to me. You do learn from you mistakes(ex. getting all contact info besides social media accounts) but this not your fault by any means. Facebook has had a lot of problems with accounts being hacked and misleading faces.
Just out of curiosity, how long would it take you to make the cake and finish it by the 23rd? That’s how long I would wait until no contact was made by the client before I say no. Also did you give your house address to them or meeting the client somewhere else?
Personally like i stated before, if there is no contact made before a specific date when to start the project i would not do it, the last thing you want is to waste money on ingredients.

This must be very frustrating for you. Do you take a deposit?
I make it very clear to customers that if a deposit is not paid there will be no cake.
I do this because I did a similar thing to you once, I was just about to start making a cake and thought I’ll just message her and confirm delivery and she wrote back “don’t need it anymore”. Just the 4 words, nothing else. If I hadn’t of contacted her she would have let me make it and never turned up.
People are very strange.

I think if you don’t hear from her you can’t make it. The time and energy that go in to them its such a risk.

PS, I think she has removed her account. Normally If she had blocked you on Facebook you would be able to see her at all. ‘Facebook user’ normally means they have come off or been kicked off. I might be wrong though.

Thanks guys! The cakes are pretty easy. Its 2 6" cakes with buttercream rosettes and 25 cookies. What i’m thinking is to make the cakes just in case she shows up but leave the cookies as they are wayy to much work. If she doesn’t show up then i might just post it on my page and see if someone wants to pick the cakes up for the price as the cost it was for me to make them.

We are agree with CakesWorth,you should always take a deposit.How did things go in the end?

As well as being a member of Cakes Decor, I belong to a few Facebook groups for cake artists, and something that keeps popping up is the battle that Facebook orders can turn into. :(
It seems fairly common that people make an order enquiry via private Facebook page message, and when the times comes for payment details or getting further information for collection – the person either doesn’t respond, or has blocked the cake artist completely! :/
I have had a Facebook page for my baking business for a number of years, as well as a website, and Twitter and Instagram accounts, but the only way I take/ confirm/ quote/ discuss any order enquiry is via email – and then I only actually make the order if I have received a payment.
I have even disabled the direct message button on my Facebook page!
There is a “contact us” button on my Facebook page, and my phone number is listed there too. And in order to place and pay for an order I have to have the person’s contact details – including a phone number.
I have an “info” email address that is linked to my website, but its easy enough to set up a Gmail account with your business name – then you won’t come short again or have to worry about someone turning up for an order you weren’t able to properly confirm!

Interesting points here. I never make a cake unless it’s been fully paid for in advance. A bakery I used to work for was continually losing money by making cakes that were never collected. The owner was afraid of losing custom by asking for money up front, but instead she lost the money for materials, time, utilities, additional staffing and sometimes lost custom by having to turn away paying customers. I have loads of people who ask for quotes and then make out as if they’re going to order a cake because they’re embarrassed to admit that they thought a cake to feed 70 cake was going to cost £50. Real customers are perfectly happy to pay up front, they know they will be paying sometime anyway. I’d absolutely not make anything for this customer. I think she’s made it perfectly clear that she’s not expecting cake and you’d be throwing away money. I have many tales of crazy customers (like the woman who phoned up and declared that she wanted a “unicorn cake”. She put the phone down before we could get any details, including the date of delivery, then turned up in the shop a few weeks later demanding that we instantly produce her unicorn cake! :) ). You can’t worry too much about them, you’d exhaust yourself. x

When a call, message, or text comes in for information/price, etc., it is an inquiry.

When a call, message or text, comes in with payment arrangements, like a credit card, check or cash dropped by, it is an order. Do not turn on the oven without a deposit or payment.

Thanks everyone for the help! She contacted me a 2 days before the delivery date and told me she doesn’t want it. I typically don’t cancel orders on such short notice but I didn’t even try with her. Thanks again for all the help, I definitely will be taking a deposit from now on.