I have heard great things about the actual cakes at Sugarland but not so great things about their customer service. I found what I have heard to be true this weekend.
I saw Mary’s post about their winter special for wedding cakes in 2011 which is a GREAT deal. Even though I had heard their customer service wasn’t great (from a friend and one of my other vendors who also is my FI’s friend) I thought it would still be worth checking into it.
I called Sugarland and booked a tasting. When I called I spoke to the owner about the special and our wedding date. She said she still had availability for that day. I asked if I needed to put down a deposit since the tasting was about 2 weeks away (it was also fully refundable if we decided not to go with them). She said that wasn’t necessary.
We went in yesterday and the cake was delicious. My friend used them and I knew I liked their cake. When we started to talk to the girl she noticed our date (which they already had) and said she was pretty sure they were booked that day. I told her the conversation I had with the owner and she went to get the owner. The owner said she remembered talking to me but that wasn’t the conversation we had. She said I was making it up.
I was really frustrated at that point. She said that weekend was one that has a $500 minimum and even if we wanted to pay that she had no availability. I was frustrated that she told me one thing and then denied it. I was also frustrated that if they knew they didn’t have availability for my wedding date then why they didn’t they call to cancel our tasting.
We are obviously not going with them. I think the owner knew they didn’t need our business and didn’t have incentive to provide us with a deal that they probably aren’t making much if any money on. I get that but I am huge on customer service and believe that you should stand behind what you say. Again their cake is really good but I just didn’t get a good feeling overall.
Also in all fairness my friend's cake came out great from them last June. everyone loved it! She had problems getting in contact with them a few times and the owners husband who delivered the cake was really rude. He was complaining about why people order buttermilk cakes for Summer weddings even though they had a walk in cooler to keep it in. Even with the trouble they had the cake was delivered when it was suppose to and it tasted good.