Gwendolyn Lee Cakery — Local services in Indianapolis

We haven’t even had the cake yet so I can’t comment on that. This is solely about their customer service. We ordered a Cars movie themed cake for my son’s birthday. It was a 30 min drive each way from our home. I was handed the cake and given zero instructions. I held the cake on my lap the entire drive in an air conditioned car. Within 10 minutes of leaving the store, I noticed the top half of the 3 was bending backwards (falling over). Once we got home I tried to, very gently, get the 3 propped back up before placing it in the fridge, and it instantly broke off (as seen in the photo). This 3 alone was $10.

I reached out to the bakery with photos to let them know. They replied back telling me they weren’t responsible once the cake leaves. They did offer to make a new 3 if I wanted to drive the hour round trip for it, but never an apology. Instead, they made it seem like it was my issue and my fault when I couldn’t have been more careful. I was just hoping for a refund for the number part, and at the very minimum a simple apology, but no luck. Instead they went even further and indirectly accused me of lying about a different issue with the cake sticking that I wasn’t even going to bring up to them until they were so rude. So now I’m trying to overnight something from Amazon to deal with this issue and spend even more.

Horrific and RUDE customer service. Never again and I recommend others stay away from getting a custom cake here.

*Update after the businesses comment to give even more clarification since they continue to accuse me of lying.

We didn’t drive back because we had to get back home since you already gave us a limited time window to pick up the cake because the “sugar (aka the number 3) wouldn’t be dry” before noon. It’s good to know that I should have videoed the entire interaction and drive to try and show I wasn’t lying I guess. What a business! And yep the cake did look perfect when I picked it up, never said it didn’t????? Also, it would be a conversation to reply back with some instructions after I said that, but literally there was a smile and ok and that’s it. So it’s now my fault nothing further was said and the customer is responsible for asking for instructions??? Just bonkers. And yes the 3 was bending, I tried to prop it up and it instantly snapped off, guess I should have just left it slumped over????

Your responses continue to surprise me in the worst way. You’re really digging in over this 3. Which fyi everyone the cake was $102, the number 3 was $10. I literally asked for the $10 to be returned as they continue to act as if I wanted the whole cake refunded. I have all of this over email. Which I HIGHLY recommend everyone’s interactions with this business be over email vs phone since clearly you need to document it alllllllll! I am absolutely flabbergasted at the way the owner continues to treat me and respond to a situation that frankly shouldn’t have been that big of a deal if there would have been a simple apology instead of being treated like garbage and the problem from the very first reply.

Oh yeah! And this owner also in the midst of the email correspondence prioritized finding me on Facebook and blocking me to try and prevent me from leaving a bad review! BEWARE! Everyone we have told about this so far instantly stated this is clearly something this business has done before the avoid bad reviews, so shady, but tracks with how I’ve...

Amateur craftsmanship was very disappointing, the 5 stars & supposedly amazing pictures were very misleading. It looks like it was drawn on by an elementary school student. 0 stars on the artwork but at least the cake itself tasted decent. I mean it doesn't even look close to what was expected, it was actually embarrassing to present this in front of friends and family. I wouldn't say it ruined my son's very 1st birthday party but it definitely didn't make it any more special. Not ordering from here anymore.

Response to owner: I left in a hurry & didn't have time to look at it closely nor argue with you about your shoddy work. I don't have time to review every restaurant either unless they wow me or are disappointing, which you fall into the latter. No I didn't wanna pay for a 3D cake but you could've at least treated it like it mattered since you took my money anyway. Now the whole community sees how you treat your supposedly lower end customers & your business will suffer for it, especially how you responded by attacking a paying customer instead of acting like you care.

Response from the owner 5 hours ago I'm sorry you were disappointed in your cake. When we handed it to you we asked if it was OK and you said, "looks good" and left. I would've been happy to fix what you didn't like but you didn't even give us the chance. Yes, it's a jersey on a sheet cake, I'm not sure what you were expecting but this is what you asked for. We quoted a 2D jersey for you which would've looked more like a jersey and the sides could've been done like the jersey but you did not want to pay for that. Looking through your numerous reviews on places it seems that no one in the food industry can meet your standards which is unfortunate. My wish for you is that you do not return to my establishment as I do not feel we would ever be able to please you. The next time you need a custom cake there is a Walmart and Kroger...

We encountered this business by chance as we were attending a bridal shower in the adjacent tea room. We consider ourselves so lucky! They did a phenomenal job with our wedding cake! It was true to the reference photo we gave them with slight creative liberties to make it their own—and it was even more beautiful than the reference. Everyone was blown away by how pretty it was.

Better yet, it tasted as good as it looked! I don’t usually like chocolate cake but their raspberry chocolate cake is my #1 favorite now. Same with buttercream—I’m not usually a fan but I could eat theirs straight up! Our guests went crazy for the lemon cake, it ran out almost immediately! Good thing we had a lemon topper to save some for ourselves haha.

You can’t go wrong with any of the flavors, it was one of the hardest parts of wedding planning choosing just three. (Our third was marble with cookies and cream filling). We will definitely come back if we ever need a special cake and we recommend Gwendolyn Lee to all the engaged couples we encounter...