The big cake day for the bakery is usually Saturday. Makes sense given that parties are often planned for weekends. So, here I was yesterday, hanging out with kids at home, making brunch, when I happened to check my email on my smartphone. A customer who had picked up a cake on Saturday wrote a glowing “thank you” note – making sure to name the person who had made the cake, because it tasted delicious and looked fabulous – plus he raved about how great our customer service had been.
Then not 2 hours later, I check the email again (should just leave it all unchecked until Monday to have a mental break) and am met with a very angry email. The subject line was actually titled “Angry”. Seems someone else who also picked up a cake on Saturday was not happy at all. She didn’t like the design and said that the cake was “disgusting….” and “ugly” and worse.
The Angry Cake
So my question is, how am I supposed to process these two conflicting pieces of information? As a business owner, I certainly want everyone we sell to to be satisfied. Our customers are our bread and butter, literally. And we will make sure that the unhappy customer receives compensation for her disappointment.
But the irony is that the cake and buttercream that the two emails both mentioned was from the same batch. The flavor combination’s were different, granted, but the cake itself was mixed and baked by the same person at the same time. It’s a recipe that we’ve been using for years. From a chunk of leftover cake (from the same batch), I had put together a cake for the family – coconut buttercream with buttermilk cake & coconut simple syrup. It tasted perfect…
A Not Angry Cake
So, all I could do was refund the unhappy person and write the happy person a “thank you note”, thanking them for their positive feedback. I shared the good and bad feedback with the staff, hoping that we will figure out where the discrepancy lies. Such diverse responses to the same product make me wary about continuing on with the cake end of the business at all….
Tags: angry, cake, customer service, negative comments, positive comments
Blackmarketbakery's Blog
Mixed Messages: Customer Service
22 NovThe big cake day for the bakery is usually Saturday. Makes sense given that parties are often planned for weekends. So, here I was yesterday, hanging out with kids at home, making brunch, when I happened to check my email on my smartphone. A customer who had picked up a cake on Saturday wrote a glowing “thank you” note – making sure to name the person who had made the cake, because it tasted delicious and looked fabulous – plus he raved about how great our customer service had been.
Then not 2 hours later, I check the email again (should just leave it all unchecked until Monday to have a mental break) and am met with a very angry email. The subject line was actually titled “Angry”. Seems someone else who also picked up a cake on Saturday was not happy at all. She didn’t like the design and said that the cake was “disgusting….” and “ugly” and worse.
The Angry Cake
So my question is, how am I supposed to process these two conflicting pieces of information? As a business owner, I certainly want everyone we sell to to be satisfied. Our customers are our bread and butter, literally. And we will make sure that the unhappy customer receives compensation for her disappointment.
But the irony is that the cake and buttercream that the two emails both mentioned was from the same batch. The flavor combination’s were different, granted, but the cake itself was mixed and baked by the same person at the same time. It’s a recipe that we’ve been using for years. From a chunk of leftover cake (from the same batch), I had put together a cake for the family – coconut buttercream with buttermilk cake & coconut simple syrup. It tasted perfect…
A Not Angry Cake
So, all I could do was refund the unhappy person and write the happy person a “thank you note”, thanking them for their positive feedback. I shared the good and bad feedback with the staff, hoping that we will figure out where the discrepancy lies. Such diverse responses to the same product make me wary about continuing on with the cake end of the business at all….
Tags: angry, cake, customer service, negative comments, positive comments