Cocoa Bean Fine Desserts — Restaurant in Geneva Township

My now-wife and I had a cake made from the Cocoa Bean for our wedding last June, and everything went well, at first. We had previously enjoyed their quiches and other assortment of goodies. The tasting went fine, and we chose our cake. The owner and proprietor was very helpful in helping us select a cake type, filling, and working with us to handle the design. There was one small issue that came up; the form that they sent us to confirm our cake type and location showed the wrong wedding venue and wrong flavor cake. My wife emailed the gal that we had been working with (one of the owners) and let her know of the mistakes. She sent a reply that she was sorry and would take care of it.

Well, the cake made it to our wedding, but as we cut into the cake, we realized that it was the wrong type of cake! You can actually SEE the moment that my wife notices the issue in OUR WEDDING VIDEO DURING THE CAKE CUTTING!

When you pay $800 for wedding cake, you expect a lot out of the establishment that creates it. Not only is it expensive, but this a memory that will be with you for the rest of your life.

Upon speaking to the owner that we were working with, and asking for what we thought would be a fair reimbursement for such a mix-up (half of the price of the cake refunded), we were met with hostility.

They actually said to us, "You ate the cake, didn't you?" UNBELIEVABLE.

After arguing with her for some time, she offered a $50 check or a $100 gift card. Not sure why she thought that we would want a gift card to this place after the colossal screw up that had just occurred. We didn't think that this was a reasonable refund given the situation, and held to our original request of half the price of the cake. We explained that we understood that there was overhead, and that we wanted to support local business in our area, so half was extremely reasonable in our estimation. She told us that $400 that would be left for her would not even come close to covering the overhead. Those must be some premium ingredients! We persisted, asking to talk to the chef (also one of the owners), and did actually speak to him. He asked what it would take to make this thing go away. We again explained that we were asking for half the price of the cake. He said he would get back to us, but HUGE surprise, he never called once in the span of a week. Again, we contacted them, tried to talk to the chef, and only got the owner that we had dealt with originally. She told us that her final offer was a $285 check, and beyond that, we would have to speak to her lawyer.

We thought about trying to take them to small claims court, but ultimately took the $285. Terrible way to handle an obvious screw up on their part, horrible customer service, and just a bad way to run a business in general. It seems like our experience isn't necessarily out of the ordinary at the Cocoa Bean, sadly.

Bottom line, in our opinion, there are PLENTY of other places in the area that you can get a great wedding cake at that have much better customer service, and will handle problems way better than this, you don't need the hassle that comes along with this place, especially when you're dealing with a wedding, which is already stressful enough.

Don't bother shopping at...

I went into Coco Bean in early January to order a cake for our wedding. Something small, but special, that my husband and I could cut, and save the rest for our 1 year anniversary. I received poor customer service in person. I was asked very few and non specific questions about what I wanted to order. I referenced their website, where listed underneath their “Cakes for Any Occassion”, was Almond. I ordered the almond cake, tried to best describe what I wanted, and asked whatever questions I could think of at the time (I was also 9 months pregnant). I don’t make cakes for a living, so I was hoping for a little assistance or suggestion of what I maybe would want the cake to look like, I did not receive that. I wasn’t too worried, since I had ordered cakes in the past from Coco Bean, and they were always delicious.

Cut to our wedding day, my husband and I are cutting the cake, I can tell right away it’s not an almond flavored cake, and the cake itself just was not good. Luckily we had other desserts. I called and spoke with Inga, who looked up my receipt and told me I had ordered an Almond Flour Cake, not an almond flavored cake, as they do not make almond flavored cakes. She offered me 50% of my money back. I discussed with her my poor customer service and how it was not explained to me that I was ordering an almond flour cake, when I ordered the Almond cake in person, at the bakery. On their website “Carrot” is the next cake listed after “Almond” (not Almond Flour), so why would I have assumed it was an almond flour cake, not an almond flavored cake? Especially when “Flourless Chocolate Cake” is another cake they have listed. Why specify the flour with one cake, and not another? She told me she would speak with Chef, and have him call me back. I never got a call back. Almost a week later I had to call them back. I wasn’t even angry at this point, just upset. I finally got on the phone with the Chef, and he continued to argue with me, telling me that “we made what you wanted”. I explained to him the situation calmly, he refused to give me my money back, still only offering me 50% back. He made zero effort to make the situation right, he offered no other solutions that would leave me feeling better. I finally told him if that’s all he could do, then I guess I’ll take it, but he should consider changing the website to make it more clear for other customers what kind of cake they’re ordering.

It’s been 2 months, they still have not changed their website. I’m disappointed with the customer service at Coco Bean. Now when I look at the pictures and think of the memories of my wedding day, I will constantly be reminded of my awful experience with them. I work in customer service myself, and I would never treat someone the way I was treated, especially...

i hate leaving bad reviews, and to be honest i never have. but i have to rate this bakery a 1/5. honestly wish it could be a 0/5. i ordered two custom cakes for my sister’s bridal event. I spent $94 and was told they could do what i had asked for. i confirmed that white frosting would be used, as it if for a bridal event. the inspiration that i had emailed them, they then viewed, AND THEY CONFIRMED they could do it for me. what i received just absolutely speaks for itself. it is a yellow messy cake that looks like it took 1 minute to write the wording and piping on. It was done so rushed and sloppily even though i ordered 5 days in advance. They should have told me they could not do what i had asked. instead of rush me on the phone during the ordering process. not even did the cake look so incredibly bad, but it tasted very dry and old. the frosting tasted mostly of butter. $94 was just absolutely mind boggling to ask. i had also called and asked for a manager was was told that the person on the phone was the manager, when it was not. when i actually got ahold of the manager he was so not understanding and offered a whopping 10% back. being so upset he said 20% was all he could do… i still have not received the refund as i talked to him 5 days ago. what a joke. $9 and .4 cents back for this. lets just have the photos speak for themselves. DO NOT ORDER CUSTOM CAKES HERE. just a fore warning you will be lied to and given a sloppy...