Poor Leadership

I’m not one to take to public platforms to vent my frustrations however as an extremely tolerant individual I only find it fair to share the most dreadful experience I’ve ever encountered. As you all may know The Baking Pan - Overport is one of the most renowned bakeries and famous for the delicious cakes for many many years, with all this being said my family and I have been purchasing their cakes ever since I can remember and we’ve never had any issues prior to this. On Saturday 18/05 I had called in to order a birthday cake, however in these COVID-19 conditions I was told that I had to go into the store and place the order, so I did. Upon my arrival into the shop the elderly lady at the front desk advised me to wait for someone else to help as she couldn’t take my order for some reason. I had then waited for the person who came after me to get served and then myself as the supposed person who was meant to help me was helping her first. I then gave the consultant my order upon which she had noted it on my till slip along with the pick up time but she herself seemed very distracted and did not note it down wherever she was supposed to and because of my long time purchases with them I trusted the process. The next day when my family member had gone to fetch the cake as per the stipulated time as I was still at work , to our dismay the cake had been “forgotten” about and the baker was not in. Fair enough we all make mistakes, my family member then requested to speak to the manager who was then reportedly on an important phone call and refused to come out his office. The rest of the staff then scurried off to get a baker and bake the cake(which was all good) but they could have been courteous enough to deliver it to us as this was their mistake but we could not speak to anyone as the a manager had still been on a call 20 minutes later. I then had to call up the store only for the consultant to make another excuse that the “boss” was supposedly very sick and no longer on a phone call now, clearly he had been avoiding us as he knew it was an error on their side , however no one was going to attack him but as an owner of the store it was his duty to hear out his customers who clearly have brought him to where he is today. 50 mins had gone past and despite our adamance he refused to come out his “office”. This is a clear example of the people we support to reach great heights but they don’t remember where they have come from at the end of the day. I had then called and the store back after my family member had taken the cake as we were running out of time and the owner refused to come out at all costs, only for the consultant to inform me the “boss” had left which was not even minutes after my family member had left. This in itself insinuates the type of person we had been dealing with. I don’t think it is fair to support people who cannot take accountability for their actions and hide behind closed doors. I also work with people on a daily basis and therefore I’m the last to complain about such things but this kind of customer service from such a big company is pathetic by all means. There are many small businesses which deliver fantastic services and during these trying times we should aim to support them because clearly big companies like The Baking Pan- Overport who’s baked cakes for Nelson Mandela etc clearly don’t need the support from us meager people.