Bronwyn Z

Disasterous service, but so full of themselves

I went to King Cake Party City in Table View to order a cake for my daughter's 7th birthday. We were looking at various cakes and when told the prices were quite shocked, however eventually decided on a design that we liked and Tutsi (the person assisting us) told us the cost which we agreed to. After paying the deposit and then going in the following day to pay the outstanding balance I realised over the weekend that Tutsi had not asked what flavour we wanted the cake to be. With it being the new year weekend the first thing I did when I got to work on Tuesday was email both the Parklands & Table View stores to make sure the message was received stating that we weren't asked what flavour the cake was to be and please could we have a chocolate one and to please confirm receipt of the change. I then phoned the Table View branch just after 9am on the same day to make sure that the order was correct as it was due to be collected on the 3rd at 1pm and I didn't want a mixup. I had a heated discussion with Tutsi as he said they told me it was a vanilla SPONGE cake (they said nothing of the sort, in fact they didn't talk about anything but the design we wanted) and that that was what was ordered. I told him I didn't want a vanilla sponge cake but a chocolate cake, he then proceeded to tell me that the chocolate one would cost R85 more at which I was completely shocked, R85 for cocoa? He then told me the chocolate cake was a different texture. I realise now what he was saying is that it would be a chocolate CAKE and not a chocolate sponge (quite frankly I don't know why anyone would use a sponge cake for anything but trifle!!!) and we were NEVER ONCE TOLD when ordering the cake that it was a SPONGE cake, only that it was a cake. In my opinion (which is of no interest to Kind Cake) sponge is not a cake. Long story short he said he would contact the bakery the following morning (the 3rd) as they weren't open that day and let me know what they said and would call me back. The following morning I waited until 09h40 for a call from Tutsi and nothing, so I called him. He said that the bakery said they could do the chocolate cake but it would cost more. I told him it was their mistake that we had a ****** vanilla cake in the first place, I would never have ordered that so they must suck up the extra cost (a whole R85). He said he would call the bakery and get back to me. As the call finished I saw I had an email from Megan who started her email with ... sorry the emails were unattened until that morning and that I had emailed the wrong store (I'd actually emailed both!). She stated that we had ordered the vanilla sponge (cost R360) {we were never told it was SPONGE let alone vanilla} and that they were unable to assist with the chocolate ganache but could do the chocolate at a cost of R445. She also proceeded to tell us that we had paid the deposit of R200 and therefore had to pay a balance of R225 on collection. (I had paid the full amount by the 28/12/2017 this was now the 03/01/2018 so even this they got wrong, but no apology from them). I then shortly afterwards I got another email from Megan stating that Tutsi had called her and that I did not want to pay the additional cost (of course not it was their error) and proceeded to tell me that the two cakes are different and how wonderful they both were. I was so angry I did not even realise that yes they were different as the one was a sponge and the other was a cake! I was also told that should I wish to cancel my order (as I had said to Tutsi if the chocolate could not be supplied at the same price) I could collect a full refund from the store. So they are not even prepared to forgo R85 when they make a mistake, if they are doing so well how can they not afford to write off R85 when they made an error. Definitely no policy of the customer is EVER right, let alone the customer is always right!!!! My husband went to the store to collect the refund and Tutsi told him the extra cost was for cut-outs on the cake, which is a total lie as I have emails stating that the extra cost is for the change in flavour and make of the cake i.e. a proper cake and not sponge neither mentioned when the order was made. So after all the above and various emails backwards and forwards to Megan. We did collect the cake and OMG. My 7yr old daughter could do a better job for a third of the cost. It really was NOTHING to write home about at all and considering the cost and how Megan carried on about their high quality product blah blah blah!!! A plain dry vanilla sponge, with JAM filling and the icing cannot be anything more than icing sugar, colourant, and perhaps water or milk. It was by far the worst cake I have ever had. Those R100 cakes from checkers are six million times better. I will never ever ever ever buy from them again. The icing is so sweet that you can't even eat more than a mouthful of it, I had to sc**** it off my piece of cake so that I can eat the cake and then had to down two glasses of water to have any moisture in my mouth at all. And as for the cut-outs ... there were a few that were obviously commercially made (stick on) the ones that were hand drawn looked like it had been done by someone with serious tremors. To add insult to injury with all of the emails to and from Megan, not once did I receive any kind of apology that their MAY have been a mistake on their part at all!!! It was wholly me that had ordered the wrong cake!!! And all she was interested in was basically telling me that I was wrong (in having ordered the vanilla cake {never mind they didn't tell me that is what it was or that it was SPONGE, I was under the impression that the cake design we chose was R360 and we could choose a flavor} and that the chocolate cake is a different cake) and they have lovely wonderful cakes and it is not a service issue on their side (so basically saying I am lying and they did tell me it was a vanilla sponge) and I quote: "Thank you for your email. This issue has nothing to do with service. Our vanilla cake and chocolate cake are two entirely different recipes, mixtures, consistencies, etc, and it is not simply a matter of adding cocoa to the vanilla recipe. We are a commercial bakery, and our prices are well within the range for the quality of the product that we offer. We pride ourselves on offering a high quality product, made using fresh ingredients; and on excellent customer service, and have built our family run business on these principles." I got no response when I replied basically that we were not happy with the service and she can't just tell me that they pride themselves on their excellent customer service, if I haven't received excellent customer service then that is my right to say so and as for the quality of their product that is for their customers to decide and not them. Suffice to say I now have a huge cake that is absolutely awful and I'll probably land up giving it to the beggars as we sure as hell won't eat it. Next year for her birthday I'll make a cake myself, 20 million times better and I can also put a picture on etc and it will be less than half the cost even with inflation going the way it is!!!!