Don’t get caught without THIS

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Happy New Year - and I hope that you have been having fun over the festive season.

Now it’s back to work and some hints and tips for you on your cake business journey.

I hope that you find them useful.

Here is the story.

A decorator had a $160 chargeback on a completed cake 2 months after delivery.

There was zero communication that anything was wrong. No complaint upon delivery. Nothing else was ever said. She just waited.

It was as if the customer was short of money and decided her cake purchase 8 weeks previously was a good target to get herself some extra Xmas cash.

And so the bank believed the customer and the decorator was totally out of pocket.

What should she now do?

Now this decorator was in trouble. She needed an address for her customer.

The small claims court needs an address to proceed with a claim.

The decorator only had a name and a phone number. That was it.

This is why it is super important to get ALL the details of your customer. Even if that detail seems irrelevant at the time.

Why do you need an address from a customer, if they are picking up an order from you?

For exactly the challenge as outlined above. Should something go wrong and a dispute is started, then an address is essential.

It is outrageous that the banks side with customers. Without giving the business owner a chance to explain the scenario.

I have heard of technical glitches on systems that should have granted a promised discount, but didn't. And led to the customer putting the entire transaction into dispute. Not just the slight overpayment. And the banks always side with the customer.

If you have all the details including an address, official letters can be written by legal people and delivered to addresses via the postal system.

If you only have social media message systems, the "customer" can delete their account and disappear.

Cover all your bases and get all their information just as a professional company should. In this way, any claim you need to proceed with already has the information required to proceed.

We’ve designed affordable physical Customer Order Pads especially for cake decorators – where there is space to include the customer’s address. Plus lots of other information that acts as a great reminder of the questions you need clarity on too.