Here are 5 useful tips to deal with complaints from your customers.
Scenario 1: Recognise the complaint
Whenever you revive a complain, especially when it happened to me, i just wanted to hide and pretend that nothing happened.
Sometimes you might argue or try and defend your position, or just try and forget about it or offer a refund and that’s it.
Here are a few ideas on to deal with such customers:
• Thank them for their feedback, and be sincere about it.
• Acknowledge their feelings, and be sincere about it.
• If it’s over the phone, do not interrupt them. Let them talk it out,before you reply, and use that time to gather yourself. If it’s online don’t reply immediately but do so timely.
You need to figure out what you should do before you can proceed. Be honest with yourself, maybe you were you in a rush while you were making the cake or were you tired. It’s ok. Mistakes do happen.
A Great reply is to say:
“Thank you for your feedback. Please give me some time to respond in detail and will get back to you soon”.

Scenario 2: Are they right in complaining?
This might be hard for some, but think hard about their complaint. Is it justified? Ask yourself some questions: Were you happy with the cake? Did you deliver the cake that was ordered? Was the cake not your best work? Did you really forget to do or add something on the cake? Did you get the flavor, colour or size wrong? Does this client have the right to grumble and whine, or are they just want to talk?
be honest with yourself. If you’ve made a mistake, just admit it and aplogise. Just saying sorry most times is ok. It shows that you are a professional and you took their complaint seriously,that is good customer service. In the end, tell them how you are going to make changes in future so that this problem doesn’t occur again.

Scenario 3: What If you are at fault
So deep down you know that you made a grave mistake and was at fault, how are you going to make the situation better for you and your dear complaining customer.
If you are at fault, you still want to make them come back to you and order from you again. A good way to handle it, is to Imagine yourself in their shoes. How would you want your complaint to be dealt with? Would you want a refund? You might want to offer them a full refund, part refund, or free box of cupcakes as a form of apology (or a free cupcakes and a full refund if was a big mistake).
What you offer depends on the severity of the complaint.
For example, if you got the flavour wrong but they still got a great tasting cake or you forgot to write Happy Birthday on it or you spelt a name wrong? For that you can offer them a discount on their next order.
Frankly not writing Happy Birthday on a birthday cake will have no real impact on their event, but they deserve a sincere apology at the least because you didn’t meet their expectations.
But for extreme cases like if the entire cake falls because you didnt put enough dowels on the cake and so the event had no cake at their wedding or birthday party? Now that is bad. In that case, you have to refund the entire amount, and also maybe send some cupcakes and perhaps offer a discount on a future order (that is if they will come back).
You’ve got to make your customer happy, but don’t reward them too much as that’s an admission of guilt and could set up the tone of future orders.
Scenario 4: If their complaint has NO basis and you are totally innocent
Sometimes you are going to meet a very unreasonable customer. We all know them.
In this case just keep quiet. The less you say, the better. Don’t be tempted to apologise too much, defend yourself or make them feel bad.
You do not want to waste your time with such people. Just hear them out, say sorry, tell them you’re grateful for their feedback and hang up. It is not worth it to prolong the conversation.

Scenario 5: In the end learn from your experience
Whatever experience you encounter,see what lessons you can learn to make your cake business better.
Maybe you need to start informing customers of your Terms and Conditions? Ask customers to confirm their order before you go ahead or tell them to pay a deposit .
Negative feedback is horrible i know,but take a deep breath and just deal with it and learn from them.
What are your experiences with dissatisfied customers. Would love to hear your comments.
Ready to start your Cake business?
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