Oh Yum Yumm customer: ‘I forgive her’

Although she says she will never buy a cake from local baking company Oh Yum Yumm again, Dana Pierre says she forgives the baker. Pierre’s post expressing dissatisfaction with a cake she bought from Shania Moonsammy – owner of Oh Yum Yumm – recently went viral.

She ordered a basketball-themed cake for her partner’s birthday but received one with cheese balls used as decorative balls and paper as the net. It did not look like the cake she wanted replicated. The order, including delivery fees and 12 mini cupcakes, cost $550.

But Moonsammy later claimed Pierre saw pictures of the cake and still agreed to buy it. She said Pierre only complained after her friends began laughing at the cake.

Speaking with Newsday on Monday afternoon, Pierre, 22, said she stands by her story but agreed there might have been some miscommunication. She said her friend suggested the business and she trusted her word. She did not look at the business’s social media pages to see previous work.

“I wasn’t getting anybody to make the cake and obviously, (it was) Christmas time and I wasn’t getting the type of cake that I wanted. “I said it is a small business and I am the type of person to give small businesses a try rather than to give the business that already making a lot of money. I said since it’s Christmas, let me try to give this business a little money.”

She said she told Moonsammy, “You can do what you want. Just make it exactly like the picture. I don’t care about the cost because I have money.” She said the only changes she approved were changing the colour of the cake to blue and using buttercream instead of fondant.

The cake was supposed to be a surprise for her boyfriend. Because of this, she said, she deleted the messages after every conversation with Moonsammy. Moonsammy told Newsday that Pierre was made aware cheese balls would be used on the cake.

Asked about this, Pierre said, “When she messaged, sometimes I didn’t even read messages properly. She probably did tell it to me and I didn’t realise. “But I am not thinking anybody in their right mind would put cheese balls on a cake.

She said if she had read the messages properly, she would have said no. “I honestly take full blame for the corn curls (cheese balls) part. But the paper? And the Styrofoam ball?”

She said while she did see the picture of the cake, that Moonsammy posted to Facebook, she said it looked different in person.

She said it was covered with plastic wrap so she was unable to see it clearly when she collected it. “When she sent the picture, I didn’t really like it but I told her I like it because it wasn’t looking that bad. And in the picture, the cake looked big.

“Then I didn’t tell her anything when I saw it (in person) because I said ‘Dana, maybe it tasting good.’ The carrot cupcakes did taste really well. But the cake itself, it was displeasing so nobody wanted to eat it.” She said when she got home, she took her son to see the cake.

“When we opened the box, everyone was like” ‘That’s cheese balls on the cake?’ I said ‘no, that’s butter cream.’ I was denying it. But my boyfriend came and picked one up, ate it – and it was stale.”

She said her mother-in-law asked if the entire cake was edible and tried to cut the “basketball.” They then realised it was styrofoam. Pierre said she began to cry.

She said she messaged Moonsammy, saying she was dissatisfied and would post a review on Facebook if she was not refunded in full. “I said I would put up my review and however the people in Trinidad want to carry on, they will. And so said, so done.” Moonsammy was relentlessly trolled by people mocking her cake and her baking abilities.

But Pierre said she believes a lot of people were going overboard and it turned into cyberbullying. She said several people also accused her of cyberbullying.

But, she said, “If she knew she could not have done the cake, she should not have accepted my request or my money. She could have just said she doesn’t know how to do that, or try something she was good at.”

Nevertheless, Pierre told Newsday she forgives Moonsammy. She said she understands she is not a professional and is new to the business.

“If she is sorry for what she did and is willing to make up for it, I honestly don’t mind. I didn’t even expect it to go viral.”

On Monday, Moonsammy told Newsday she will use the criticism to work on her craft. She has since received numerous offers of free tuition. Asked if she would ever buy from Oh Yum Yumm again, Pierre said no because she felt Moonsammy handled the situation unprofessionally.

The two have since exchanged banking information and Moonsammy promised to refund Pierre in full. Pierre said once she gets the refund, she will post on Facebook asking users to “ease up” on the negative comments.