Rude vendor or me being unprepared?

meowcat84

I use my phone most for internet. In between working and home I try to squeeze in wedding info. I go on to see vendors website for a cake recommended by my venue. I couldn't see any images on her website. So I called to see what her availability was and she asked if I saw her cakes and I said I couldn't see the images. I just wanted to know some pricing differences.

She was telling me how unprepared I was and I should do some research and pick a cake I like.
And telling me some of the cake options and said she's trying to 'educate' me on filling and frosting and to look at the site again. I almost hung up on her. But am I being too sensitive or should I just try to find another vendor.

CTYankeeBride

Sounds plenty rude to me. They are in business to make money, and that means providing customer service.  It's fine for them to "educate" you on the different fillings and frosting if you don't know fondant from your elbow because this is how you, the customer, get the information you need in order to make informed choices and get an accurate estimate but they should do so politely. It sounds as if she does business by having clients pick from a series of cakes (almost like picking something from a catalog), and while that is how some bakeries do things, it sounds like that's not the experience you are after.  I would choose another baker- they would have lost my business at telling me I am unprepared and should "do some research"- um, isn't that what you're doing by calling to ask these questions??

I do advise having some idea as to what you want and the number of guests you'll be having so that the bakery can give an accurate estimate (estimates can change based on how many tiers, whether or not you want fondant or fresh flowers, and how elaborate the cake will be overall among other factors). 

hyechica81

who is this baker is is a well know bakery? or someplace you have never heard of before.

i am a cupcake baker as a hobby and if someone wanted cupcakes or cake pops i do stuff on the side for friends family and word of mouth. i ask them will they have other things at the party such as cake or cookies so i can get a feel for how much they would need. 

i also make sure to ask them what kinds of base flavor they like such as vanilla chocolate or red velet i have over 30 custom cupcake flavors to choose from.  the only thing i dont do is custom designs like fondont i do sugar designs and piping designs

a good bakery baker meets with you to come up with a design or has a portfolio of designs you can choose from or alter you then have the options to go over flavors do some cake tasting 

how are you to know your cake is going to be good if you have never tasted it before 

meowcat84

It was cakesbydonna.com

hyechica81

@meowcat84 her cakes are good i was at a bridal show she was at and let me tell you every flavor was so amazing.


but she should have not been rude to you and should have gone over things with you


the raspberry mouse on chocolate and the lemon were very good

bl327

we are using her for our upcoming wedding, we had a tasting with her and the flavors were amazing like hyechica said. we are going with the strawberry shortcake. 

Knottie1457784023

Donna was incredibly rude to me at two different bridal shows. I would not order from her.

Mona8

Having been around the boards for a couple years now, I can tell you that I've seen many posts about Donna's rudeness. Her cakes may be good and pretty, but there are a lot of bakers out there who can provide just as good of a product. I purposely did not meet with her when I was planning because I had seen several posts about how difficult she was to deal with. I figured I had enough things to worry about and dealing with a rude vendor should not be one of them. But it's your choice to make. If you're looking for other bakers to check out, I highly recommend J Cakes (North Branford). Good luck!

LabyrinthRat

I would be put off to further inquiry with her after that conversation. This is concerning as I’m getting married at The Riverhouse in Sept. 2014. The cake is included in my package by either Donna or Kim’s Cottage Confections . Please let us know what you decide on and good luck!

 

Ohashes11

I wouldn't use a vendor that talked to me that way. You are paying them, good money at that! The least she could do was be polite and helpful!

meowcat84

Yeah I'm not going to her. This is my first wedding I don't know what exactly to do research for until I talk to them. I do actually live 10 miles from JCAKES in North Branford so I will have to give them a call. Thanks everyone!

VadersValkyrie

My fiance used to work at St. Clement's Castle and there were lots of Cakes by Donna coming through.  He was thoroughly unimpressed with the flavors and the people who came in.

Carebear62584

Go with JCakes, I promise you won't be disappointed!  We chose them for our wedding cake and ended up eating the top layer that week.  We never ended up freezing it because we wanted to enjoy it instead of eating freezer-burnt cake.  We didn't have to deal with the payment aspect of the cake though because it was included in our package so I can't speak to that part of the professionalism.

pineappleprincess410

As soon as I started reading about a rude cake person, I immediately knew you were talking about Donna.

She put a severely bad taste in my mouth when I was talking to her about cake ideas for my October 2013 wedding. She kept telling me I didn't want what I wanted, or that it was going to be "expensive". She kept going on and on about how I wasn't having a large wedding (she kept mentioning how she had 300 at her own wedding, and we were only having 75). She just kept insinuating that I couldn't "afford" a nice cake. It was very insulting and unprofessional. The last conversation I had with her, I basically said, thanks but no thanks, and went with Kim's Cottage Confections. Kim never made me feel unimportant, took her time with my ideas, and did the exact cake I wanted, and there were no hidden costs (which I would have gladly paid regardless).

I would suggest going elsewhere for your cake. While on occasion Donna's staff (the people that actually make the cakes) do a nice job decoration wise, she charges more per slice than everyone else, and the cakes end up pretty dry, as they are really a conveyer belt of cakes.

If anyone has the option, Kim's Cottage Confections won't let you down!

Amazing817

First I have heard wonderful things about Kim's cakes!

Second, talk to the Riverhouse and see if they will credit you so you can then purchase a cake from J-Cake if that is who you would like to use. Our venue gave us a $4.00 credit back per person because I didn't want the included cake, they knew that we wanted pies for our Fall wedding!

Also, as you have been reading she has been rude to many of us so don't think its you!

Goodluck!

ac411020

We're using jcakes for our wedding too! Their cakes are great and very nice.

rehtaeh41

Mystic Market has the most amazing cakes.  So yummy!

Mandafly84

pineappleprincess410 said:

As soon as I started reading about a rude cake person, I immediately knew you were talking about Donna.

She put a severely bad taste in my mouth when I was talking to her about cake ideas for my October 2013 wedding. She kept telling me I didn't want what I wanted, or that it was going to be "expensive". She kept going on and on about how I wasn't having a large wedding (she kept mentioning how she had 300 at her own wedding, and we were only having 75). She just kept insinuating that I couldn't "afford" a nice cake. It was very insulting and unprofessional. The last conversation I had with her, I basically said, thanks but no thanks, and went with Kim's Cottage Confections. Kim never made me feel unimportant, took her time with my ideas, and did the exact cake I wanted, and there were no hidden costs (which I would have gladly paid regardless).

I would suggest going elsewhere for your cake. While on occasion Donna's staff (the people that actually make the cakes) do a nice job decoration wise, she charges more per slice than everyone else, and the cakes end up pretty dry, as they are really a conveyer belt of cakes.

If anyone has the option, Kim's Cottage Confections won't let you down!

Lol yup.  Same here.

meowcat84

Update: went with Jcakes and they were very nice and didn't put in any pressure. I asked about sheet cake and having the third tier be fake. Which she told me yes they can do. So they were very helpful. They even accommodated my fiancé and I when we came to our tasting an hr early...yeah I got my vendor times mixed up. It happens. Lol

katytagle

what's jcakes website? @meowcat84

meowcat84

www.j-cakes.com

lisa83014

I'm going with Icing on the Cake in Stratford.  Have been eating their baked goods for so many years and I'm never disappointed.  They do amazing work and I can't say enough good things about them.

rswed072014

We are going with Sugarbelle, they have locations in Glastonbury and South Windsor. Most of our interaction has been with Kitten, the owner, and MJ, a manager. They have been very helpful and accommodating.

id012

We went with jcakes for our wedding in Aug 12. It was fantastic ans beautiful! They were ao easy to work with