A cakery with a sour taste
About 2 weeks ago I started contacting Charlottesville cakeries with the hope of scheduling a tasting this coming weekend. My fiance starts his Spring Break this weekend, so the timing was right and I'll be completely absorbed by work next month as it's the month right before my work event (and May just seemed like it was getting much too close to the wedding...*stifling mild scream of anxiety*). I contacted Cakes Unlimited LLC, True Confections by Carlotta, and Albemarle Baking Co. as they were the vendors recommended by Keswick. The first two were wonderful in responding, being open, welcoming, and helpful. We are so excited to meet with them next week. However my experience with Albemarle Baking Co. was very disappointing. ABC said that they had an opening at 8AM or 8:30AM. I asked if they had an opening later in the day as we were driving from 2 hours away and my mother was driving from 3.5 hours away. (And a cake tasting at the crack of dawn just did not sound appetizing at all.) Her response:
Since we start early in the morning, 8:30AM is my last appointment. If you are serious about meeting that day, I can come back to the bakery later that day to meet you around 2PM. Will that work for you?
I was very surprised by her response but gave her the benefit of the doubt, maybe she was having a bad morning, even though it seemed very inappropriate to me. My response:
Good afternoon X,
I am definitely seriously considering Albemarle Baking Company for our wedding cake, that is, if you are not yet booked for August 2, 2009.
I have confirmed with my mother and fiance and you are still available, 2 pm would be a great time to meet. I'm afraid that 8:30 AM would be too early for us to taste the cake and I wouldn't want the early time to affect how we receive it. However, if you much prefer to meet with us on another day, I can let you know when we will be returning to Charlottesville. It will most likely not be until mid-May as I also work events and the last 3 weekends in April are booked for me. . .
I can send you an email later this week with more specifics as to what we are looking for in the cake. Right now, we prefer the square tiers over round and some exotic flavors, like mango, passion fruit, and coffee (but not in the same layer!). . .
ABC responded that they could meet at 2PM but there would be no cake to taste at the bakery. (What kind of bakery doesn't have cake on hand?) BUT, if I wanted to order a cake to sample, it would cost $20-$30. I understand that it's quite expensive to put together a tasting. However, the tone of her response and the overall manner in which she treated me left me with a very sour taste in my mouth. In the end, a hair and makeup artist I'd contacted said she was available to meet at 1:00PM, so we ended up taking her appointment. I let ABC know that our plans had changed, but if we were still looking for cake bakers in mid-May, perhaps I would contact her when our schedules better align.
Hopefully things will work out this weekend . . . but now I have minor cake another minor crisis to tend to. . .
Since we start early in the morning, 8:30AM is my last appointment. If you are serious about meeting that day, I can come back to the bakery later that day to meet you around 2PM. Will that work for you?
I was very surprised by her response but gave her the benefit of the doubt, maybe she was having a bad morning, even though it seemed very inappropriate to me. My response:
Good afternoon X,
I am definitely seriously considering Albemarle Baking Company for our wedding cake, that is, if you are not yet booked for August 2, 2009.
I have confirmed with my mother and fiance and you are still available, 2 pm would be a great time to meet. I'm afraid that 8:30 AM would be too early for us to taste the cake and I wouldn't want the early time to affect how we receive it. However, if you much prefer to meet with us on another day, I can let you know when we will be returning to Charlottesville. It will most likely not be until mid-May as I also work events and the last 3 weekends in April are booked for me. . .
I can send you an email later this week with more specifics as to what we are looking for in the cake. Right now, we prefer the square tiers over round and some exotic flavors, like mango, passion fruit, and coffee (but not in the same layer!). . .
ABC responded that they could meet at 2PM but there would be no cake to taste at the bakery. (What kind of bakery doesn't have cake on hand?) BUT, if I wanted to order a cake to sample, it would cost $20-$30. I understand that it's quite expensive to put together a tasting. However, the tone of her response and the overall manner in which she treated me left me with a very sour taste in my mouth. In the end, a hair and makeup artist I'd contacted said she was available to meet at 1:00PM, so we ended up taking her appointment. I let ABC know that our plans had changed, but if we were still looking for cake bakers in mid-May, perhaps I would contact her when our schedules better align.
Hopefully things will work out this weekend . . . but now I have minor cake another minor crisis to tend to. . .
Labels: Miss Keswick, Vendors, wedding cake
posted by Miss Keswick at 11:23 PM
2 Comments:
no matter how wonderful the product there are just too many vendors out there to deal with the ones that don't provide good customer service. if she's this stubborn with setting up a cake tasting imagine how hard she might be to work with on the day of! i would completely cross her off my list and move on. like i said, there are too many options out there to settle... and i don't belive in rewarding bad service.
I completely agree! We won't be meeting with here. Even though she treated me with disrespect, I didn't want to lower myself to her level. BUT I can tell the public about my experiences so they can make an informed decision . . . and hopefully not waste their time.
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