Local woman upset after she says she was fooled with custom cake from local bakery
(Seguin) — The old phrase “let the buyer beware” is ringing true again right here in Seguin. At least, that’s the case for a local woman, who learned this lesson the hard way when she went to a local baker to get a cake for her son’s birthday party, but what she got instead was a repackaged product from a big box store that likely would have cost her a lot less if she had not put her trust into the bakery. This story all unfolded on Saturday, Feb. 29 for local resident Amy Glenewinkel.
After placing a cake order for her son’s 11th birthday at Superior Cakes and Bakery located at 1400 N. Austin St., Glenewinkel says she happened to run into the owner of the bakery, Sergio Herrera Sr., on the day of her son’s birthday party while shopping at the Seguin Walmart store.
Glenewinkel says when she crossed paths with Herrera at the store, she couldn’t help but notice the sheet cake he was purchasing. She says it not only was a sheet cake with green icing but it also included the same name as her son, Dylan.
While she admits the whole thing could have been a coincidence, she couldn’t help but question Herrera about whether or not that cake was hers.
“When I approached him, I was nice about it — nice and firm I asked him — I said ‘Sergio, please tell me this is not my cake. The cake for 4 o’clock today’ and I said ‘if it is, please let me know now’ and he looked me straight in the eye and he said ‘no ma’am.’ He said ‘your cake is at the bakery right now being made’ and I said ‘okay.’ I said ‘if I find out that you are lying to me, I told him I’m going to go to social media and let everybody know that you are selling me a Walmart cake. He said ‘no ma’am, no ma’am, your cake is at the bakery.’ I said ‘okay.’ I let it be. I walked back to the bakery department to clarify that that was the one — that I was seeing everything correctly and then I left and drove to the bakery,” said Glenewinkel.
Upon arriving to the bakery, Glenewinkel says that’s when things just didn’t getting better.
“That’s when I was told by the worker working that morning that my cake was at the New Braunfels location being made and when I told him that well I’ll drive out to New Braunfels to go see it, the story changed and he said ‘no, you know actually the cake is being brought here by Sergio.’ I said, ‘okay,” said Glenewinkel.
Even though her patience was weighing thin on that Saturday, Glenewinkel says she was still holding out on hope — hope that she was wrong and that everything was just a big misunderstanding.
“That’s what they handed me. He said (other bakery employee), ‘I don’t know anything about this of what’s going on ma’am. The kid said ‘I apologize. I don’t know what’s going on. I know that Sergio is on his way with the cake.’ I stepped out to make a phone call. When I came back into his bakery, the cake was sitting on the counter. It was the same green cake that I had seen him with at Walmart and I said ‘let me speak to Sergio please?’ And he said, ‘he already left’ and I said, ‘okay!’ He didn’t have the audacity to face me. He left and that was it and that was the last time I heard from him,” said Glenewinkel.
Glenewinkel unleashed her frustration that day on social media just like she had warned. Now two weeks later, she says she’s still pretty upset that she gave the bakery owner an opportunity to come clean and he has yet to make it right.
“I’m upset still. I’m more upset that I was taken advantage of and that no one reached out to apologize or explain why it took place, why they ordered it from Walmart. That’s what makes me more upset is that nobody has reached out to apologize,” said Glenewinkel.
On top of ordering a Walmart cake from the downtown business at almost three times the price, Glenewinkel said the custom cake, itself, ended up being totally wrong. The requested green icing was incorrect and instead of chocolate, half of the cake was marble. Topping it all off, instead of her requested pineapple filling, the cake was filled with lemon. According to a bakery order form obtained by Glenewinkel that day, Walmart used the marble mix after running out of chocolate. Plus, the bakery, at this time, is not providing pineapple filling to any of its customers.
All in all, Glenewinkel says the cake as a whole was wrong. She says luckily after arguing with employees at the bakery, Glenewinkel was able to get back her $20 deposit. The cost for a custom cake half sheet is currently $22 at Walmart. The total price quoted for her son’s cake at Superior Cakes and Bakery was $65.
Seguin Radio KWED and the Seguin Daily News did reach out to talk to Herrera. Herrera via phone stated that his lawyer did not want him to talk to anyone. When asked to provide us with his lawyer’s name and contact information, Herrera stated that he could not disclose that information.
Despite the cake chaos, Glenewinkel says family and friends still helped to make her son’s 11th birthday a success and warns others to use caution when purchasing cakes or other products or services from any business.
She says if you pay for something, then you should get what you paid for.
She says she knows that even those who weren’t so nice to her and who still showed their support for the bakery on social media would also be upset if the shoe was on the other foot. Nonetheless, she says she hopes that lessons were learned and may they never be repeated.