beware of this company. from all online reviews you can see how people feel about their experience. i made a stupid mistake by just randomly calling and asking for help for a cake order that i want to place for my baby shower - my bad for not reading any reviews. veronica who i believe the business owner took my phone, we discussed the design of the cake i want. she sent me a text message from a cell number, i said i am interested and this design may work. then she told me to pay a 50% deposit to hold my place and i can cancel until the end of the day. at this point, she did not direct me to her website or discuss any cancellation policies. she just said "call until the end of the business to cancel, no problem." i called the business at 4:08pm to cancel nobody picked up - i got the voicemail that states their business hours are between 7:30am till 5pm. i called a few more times, no answer. at this point, i also checked their website which also states that the business hours are between 7:30am to 5pm. then i immediately called the cell number that i received the image of a cake design. a female employee answers and says the business is closed for the day, she is home and she cannot do anything about it, i need to speak to veronica. so not knowing what else to do i emailed veronica at 4:21pm. at this point i am still 5 days away from the delivery date that we discussed.
the next day veronica emails me saying, it is too late to cancel because i called after business hours which is not true as it can be seen in the attached images so she cannot refund the full amount to me and i should have read their policies on their website. unfortunate on veronica's side, veronica did not direct me to the policies on her website or volunteer any information about cancellation policies while on the phone with me. she assured me that cancellation is no issue. after further communications with her and understanding how sugar bender bakery business is run, now i personally believe she purposefully did not inform me of her policies or she did not direct me to her website before taking a deposit from me. any good, ethical company would inform you before doing that. instead she immediately proceeded with asking my credit card information to hold my place.
after back and forth for 3 days, she emails me this note: "your deposit was $75.00, due to cancellation 50% of your deposit is forfeited($37.50) as well as a $25 consultation fee, that puts you at $62.50, so $75 minus $62.50 would give you a $12.50 refund."
the charge on my credit card is $79.50 not $75. her website states "cancelled more than 4 days scheduled before pickup/delivery - $25 fee, cancelled 4 or 3 days days before scheduled pickup/delivery - 50% of your deposit". due to her irresponsibility for not getting back to me and closing her business early that day, she is now charging me not only the $25.00 but also another 50%.
what can i say, my first big mistake is not reading reviews for this company before i called. my second mistake is just taking her word on being able to cancel the order by end of the day.
my final comments are, please please please talk to other bakeries in the area before giving your credit card information to this company. you will quickly realize that others have a more upfront, honest approach as they are consulting you and they are much more open and clear about what it means to pay a deposit and what cancellation looks like (as opposed to veronica just saying oh yeah call by the end of the day and you can cancel). do your homework, read reviews, understand this business. other bakeries that i called mentioned they have heard similar complaints from other clients. again beware of this company.