SmallCakes Cupcakery — Restaurant in Wichita

Like many of you reading, I'm a busy mom just trying to make my daughter's birthday party happen. While multitasking, I quickly googled "Smallcakes" to place an order at my local bakery for the next day's party and tapped the phone icon, then placed my order. I went to pick it up next day  on my way to the event and they did not have my order. My stomach dropped when I realized there is more than one Smallcakes and that I had actually ordered in Wichita and I live in the Chicago suburbs 10 hours away!! My local Smallcakes saved me... they quickly made up an order for me and had me out of there in 10 minutes. I was stressed to pay $50+ again after already pre-paying $50+ over the phone the day before but they reassured me it should not be a problem, that when this has happened to them, they simply sell the cakes the next day (it was a weekend day.)

When I called Smallcakes Wichita and explained the problem, they just kept repeating that my order is ready for pick up (even when I reiterated I live 10 hours away.) I asked if they would consider a refund and sell the mini cupcakes they had made for me (I just chose a package of their most popular flavors so I'm certain they were re-sellable.) Long story short, both my husband and I called multiple times without return phone calls and when I finally connected with someone live, she refused to make any compromise with me or offer any type of refund. I made an honest mistake, and I really think they could have sold those cupcakes or at least provided a partial refund and just charged me their cost. I am very disappointed in my customer service experience with...

Today I stopped in at the east location, a place I frequent every few weeks or so. I picked out two cupcakes and the woman at the counter boxed them up. She then asked if I followed them on FB, as there was a special but she couldn't tell me what it was, I had to ask for it. So I went out to my car to fetch my phone, then read that they had a buy four get two free special. I said, sure, I'll buy four cupcakes. She reached to open my box with the two cupcakes inside and I said, oh those are ok as they are, I'm delivering them elsewhere. She refused to put the other four cupcakes in another box, she said they had to go all in one. I said, well that won't work as I need to deliver two to a separate place. I mentioned that I've had cupcakes boxed separately before, and she replied that it's because I wasn't paying full price today. I just stood there confused. She tapped my box of cupcakes and said, this box costs a dollar! I said, well I'm happy to pay the dollar for the box so I can get them boxed separately. She laughed at me and refused, so I told her to forget the extra cupcakes. I cannot believe she turned down an upsale over a box that I offered to pay for! Your cupcakes are damn near $4 each, you're quibbling over a box? I then proceeded to go to their FB page and complain about the service I received. Instead of contacting me and talking this out, they simply deleted my comment. I then went back and posted for a second time and I'm waiting on that to be deleted as well. Kudos Smallcakes...you've lost my future business over a...

I used to really enjoy this cupcakery, but the quality has gone downhill to a shocking degree. The cupcakes I bought recently were very disappointing:

The frosting had a cheap, overly fluffy texture like supermarket cupcakes.

There was a strong chemical/shortening smell that hit me as soon as I opened the box, unlike anything I’ve ever experienced from a professional bakery.

The flavorings (coconut, vanilla, cherry) tasted either fake, barely-there, or just plain low quality. Not what you’d expect at $4.25 a cupcake.

Honestly, this feels like amateur mistakes you’d expect from someone just starting out, not from a business that was once featured on Cupcake Wars. For the price point, I expected high-quality ingredients and craftsmanship, but what I got was overpriced, artificial-tasting, and disappointing.

I’m seriously considering throwing out the rest of the dozen I bought and going elsewhere. Very disheartening to see a place that once had great products slide into such...