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I love happy endings. My faith in indie retailers has been restored by Lachlan Oliver, the proprietor of Heaven Sent Desserts in the North Park neighborhood of San Diego.

My last entry was a full-on venting about my misplaced birthday cake order at Heaven Sent Desserts.

Now venting is fine and can give one a sense of relief. But venting to everyone one knows is a form of cowardice if the party one is venting about does not know firsthand of the grievances laid about them. Everyone should have an opportunity to defend themselves or give an explanation.

I wrote a separate e-mail to the owner and GM of Heaven Sent Desserts outlining what I complained about in my blog. I had read enough positive press about their new business to hope that my lost birthday cake experience was an isolated incident and not a true reflection on the quality product and service that they strived to present.

Mr. Oliver rose above and beyond my expectations. Here is his response:

Dear Jennifer Valente, November 1st, 2006

I wanted to apologize for your experience at Heaven Sent Desserts. We do strive to make each customers experience enjoyable. I am sorry we have fallen short with your experience here.

I can only imagine how disappointed you & your family were when the birthday cake for your twin sons was not ready on the 21st. There is absolutely no excuse for this. All I can offer is the explanation why it happened and how I have rectified the problem.

Our ordering system is set up so that when a cake order is placed the employee places it in a folder, which the chefs go through each morning. Your order was placed in the accordion folder but then placed in the wrong date.

Due to this miss-hap each employee will pass it onto a manager who will initial the bottom and file it accordingly.

As for the customer service, I have spoken to that employee who did not realize the importance of the situation or that she is “empowered” to make changes and offer substitutions. I have a monthly staff meeting, which this will be brought up in. I believe the key to any good restaurant is quality of food, clean environment and great customer care.

I assure you this is not the standard that I want here at Heaven Sent Desserts.

My goal with Heaven Sent Desserts is to have a place that is comfortable and warm to all. My brother and I have seen the dark side of life with our military background (he flew helicopters and I was a medic for 9 years), and we strive to create a place of happiness, friendship, life, and vibrancy. We live nearby and love the North Park neighborhood. We enjoy being a part of it. We simply want to live in a nice place and have an excellent neighborhood dessert restaurant. I hope our restaurant adds to the renaissance of North Park and we do what we can to make North Park a better place.

I am sorry your experience here was not what you expected or wanted. I would like to give you a $xxxxx gift card for you and your family.
This is not to make up for what a disappointment it must have been for you on your son’s birthday, but instead to show you that I see the mistake HSD had made and sincerely appreciate the communication you have extended to me in-order to rectify the situation.

Please let me know if there is anything I can do to change your impression of Heaven Sent Desserts.

Sincerely,

Lachlan Oliver
Owner

Mr. Oliver took time off from his busy schedule to personally drop off his giftcards at my storefront.

Mr. Oliver listened, checked into the problem, corrected the glitch in their procedures, and gave me an incentive, in the form of a giftcard, to come back to enjoy his product.

He has won me over as a customer. I will not only frequent his business, but I will sing his praises often, not only in my personal life but through my business. Independent retailers of such honorable standards should be encouraged and supported.

Heaven Sent Desserts is a class act!