Costco Put On Blast For Refusing To Decorate A Kid's Birthday Cake
Costco is the place to go when you absolutely need a 78-count package of toilet tissue, but the retail warehouse chain offers a lot more than that. If you're feeling peckish, swing by the food court for pizza or hot dogs. If you're more in the mood for a light snack, locate one of the store's many free sample kiosks. And if you're in the market for a birthday cake, head over to the bakery. The chain features a selection of cakes in various sizes, including massive sheet cakes capable of feeding up to 48 people. Additionally, you can ask the staff to decorate your cake in honor of a loved one's birthday. However, results can vary, at least according to one customer.
Imagine going to pick up a custom cake from a bakery and finding it to be completely blank. Just white icing as far as the eye can see and zero decoration or accoutrement, despite your detailed instructions on how the cake should be decorated. This experience is no doubt frustrating, especially when you're left scrambling to decorate the cake on your own. However, like many things in life, the truth is a little more complicated when you dig into the great cake fail.
Lack of bakers or a licensing snafu?
A video uploaded to TikTok shows one mom's harrowing experience trying to get her young son a Sesame Street-themed birthday cake. In the clip, the woman lays out her story: Upon arriving to pick up the cake, she found it blank. All the decorators had gone home for the day, so the woman was unable to determine why the cake wasn't decorated. She surmised that it may have resulted from a licensing issue since she requested the cake be adorned with the iconic street sign synonymous with Sesame Street.
@katelanterman #Costcofail Without explanation, Costco didnt decorate my son’s birthday cake so I had to do it at 9pm the night before his party. #nailedit BUT SERIOUSLY, you thought leaving it blank was a good idea??? Do the best you can offer and thats my problem after, but them leaving it blank was a horribly petty plan. I normally LOVE Costco, we still spent bought all of our party food there tonight because that was my plan and I didnt need the added stress of changing plans over this. I’ll still shop there, but i will NEVER order a custom cake again #cakefail And i hate my writing on it but at least its something
After speaking with a staff member at the store, the woman was given icing and told to decorate the cake on her own. She was also offered a $5 discount, which she declined. She ultimately decorated the cake at home, but she still questions why the cake wasn't decorated at all. Sure, the offending licensed graphic could have been left off, but where were the colorful borders? Where was the happy birthday? Like often happens on the popular social media site, TikTok commenters had the perfect response to these queries.
Does Costco actually make custom cakes?
Digging through the comments of the TikTok video exposing Costco's birthday-ruining antics, you'll find many people stating that Costco doesn't do custom cakes. One commenter who claimed to be an employee at Costco stated that the store asks customers to choose from approved designs. The commenter adds that the store should reach out to customers in the event they can't design a cake to their specifications, as it's just good service, but that the original poster was wrong in thinking that they could stipulate a design that fell outside of Costco's selection.
So, does the chain actually customize designs for their cakes? Let's consult the store's helpful customer service page for answers. The chain requests that customers give bakers at least two days' notice when ordering cakes. Customers must also complete an order form, which features a list of design options. Information on customizing cakes is conspicuously absent, which leads one to believe that Costco doesn't offer the service. Whether the customer was misinformed or simply stuck in her preferred cake design, that remains to be seen. What is certain is that citizens of the internet love nothing more than some cake drama.