WARNING: caketinsmith.com
Just want to warn other cakers out there about this cake pan seller. They have several kinds of pans that they have all named the same thing and, as a result, you may not get what you ordered from them. I found their pans on ebay.com in the UK and contacted them directly because there wasn’t a way to combine shipping on a large order through ebay. They asked me to contact them via whatsapp (international texting) and to place my order that way. Ordered the items as they were named on Ebay and told them that was my reference. Took over a week for them to generate a Paypal invoice which was correct based on my reference so I paid it immediately. Pans shipped out and when they arrived, two sets of them were the wrong ones. When I researched their website, I found that they had named several different sets the same thing and only a code number differentiates them when you order through their website. I tried to contact them several times via whatsapp, email and the return function on the website and they won’t respond at all. I just wanted to get the correct pans. Shipping for the two sets to the USA was only $13 GSB (about $16) but shipping back to the UK is over $100 by the cheapest method. Paypal won’t refund until I pay the return shipping for them which is more than twice what the pans cost. So, I’m stuck with two sets of pans that I don’t want (I had a similar set from CK for years) and can’t get rid of because shipping them here is more expensive than they can ship them. Even selling them on Ebay is at a loss because of the shipping. My only hope is to take them to the next ICES meeting and see if anyone wants to buy them direct from me.
4 Replies
You have to be very careful when purchasing items on EBay. I’ve lost a lot of money due to unscrupulous sellers. The sad thing is that despite filing a claim EBay is not always on your side. EBay is just as unscrupulous as a lot of those EBay sellers. You may looking on Amazon for future purchases.
What an aweful experience, especially when you’ve been so careful. I’m pretty savvy and careful with ordering and had a bad experience purchasing a few small items from eBay , not much, but still waiting for parts of the order, which was made beginning of November!!
I agree with WhisperingMoonlight , I use Amazon for most things, it’s never let me down. Where I have friends selling via eBay, I use them only as I know them.
Hope you get it all resolved soon. Thanks for the heads up with these people.
You must never limit your challenges, instead you must challenge your limits
I also use Amazon – stopped using ebay totally some years ago due to similar problems – recommend amazon 100%
Life is too sweet to be bitter
Just wanted to update everyone on how this company has acted since I posted this warning, especially since they have doubled down on their non-existent customer service. About ten days after the post, they contacted me for the first time via whatsapp and wanted to know what they could do to fix the issue. I told them that I received the wrong pans and I just wanted the right pans (the wrong ones still sit in the box that would cost me $100+ to return to the UK). They wanted me to sell the wrong pans to someone I know or on ebay. I explained that I had already tried that and couldn’t sell them on a 30 day listing for what they cost me (I have since listed them again at a loss to just get rid of them and still haven’t sold them as the lowest priced set on ebay). To be honest, these pans are out of date and I haven’t had a request for a plain (non-tapered) topsy turvy cake in almost three years. They also wanted me to pay half price for the wrong pans in order to get the correct pans. They said they would ship the correct ones for free but that I still needed to pay more to get them. I explained that I had already paid for the correct pans and the shipping for them and that I didn’t feel that I should have to pay anything for pans I didn’t order or want. I asked them to send a paid return authorization for the wrong pans to be returned and either send the correct pans or return my money. That was the end of the conversation and they have not done anything else since.
Or at least I thought they hadn’t until I tried to pull up their website yesterday. They have since closed down the domain caketinsmith.com and it is no longer working. A little searching revealed that they have 19 alias websites with the same products and logos, some of which I’ve listed below.
Caketinsuk.com
Wonkycaketins.com
wonkycaketins.co.uk
topsyturvycaketins.com
topsyturvycaketins.co.uk
wonkycakepans.com
wonkycakepans.co.uk
When you pull up these pages, their old name is on the tab and their logo is also all over the sites. If you go to their contact page on caketinsuk.com, you’ll see that they push everyone to order via email which is how they can mess with you if you don’t have the exact product numbers you really want (not that I’m convinced even this would insure receiving the correct items). The pans are all still named the same thing, wonky topsy turvy, regardless of whether they have straight or tapered sides.
Their ebay ID is blue-ocean2013 which is how I first found them and you can see on their feedback that anyone who posts negative feedback is called a liar, selfish, discourteous, etc. My own experience is that they are more willing to abandon a domain name than they are willing to send you what you paid for in the first place or give you a refund.
