Why Bake

Why Bake?
Online Business Review

Why bake when you can order homemade pies online? Mr. Tod's Pie Factory uses fine spices, butter and other natural ingredients in their pies. According to the company website, Why Bake dot com, the small pies "fit in the palm of your hand, but the taste is big enough to satisfy the sweetest of sweet tooths." Sweet Potato Pie, Pecan Pie, Blueberry Cobbler, French Apple Pie, Raspberry Cheesecake are some flavors available to mix or match in a box of ten four inch mini-pies currently available for $39.99 plus shipping and handling.

A customer might prefer to order a ten inch deep dish large pie or eight inch cheesecake. Four large  Banana Nut, Red Velvet, Pumpkin or Carrot Muffins sell for $19..99. Shipping is via Fed Ex.

Mr. Tod's Pie Factory has two New Jersey retail locations; one in Somerset, the other in Englewood. The pies and Mr. Tod himself have gotten raving reviews and awards from various sources. Mr. Tod's was mentioned on a CBS news segment after super storm Sandy left much of New York and New Jersey without power. Tod's Englewood shop was open, filled with customers charging their phones while using their laptop computers, or as the website proclaims Mr. Tod was providing "power and pies."

The website promised shipment within 48 hours after order was received. There was no cutoff date for orders to arrive for Christmas delivery. With such glowing reviews, including comments from satisfied customers on Mr. Tod's Facebook page, I ordered with confidence. I live 3,000 miles away from the company, but the shipment was going to my daughter's family, some 60 miles from the pie factory.

I would like to report that Why Bake lives up to its hype about the quality of its pies. Unfortunately the pies did not arrive, thus my daughter's fussy family could not report back on how tasty the pies are. I was disappointed but not upset when the family did not get a surprise gift from Mom/Grandmom who could not bring her own homemade pies to their Christmas celebration.

When the pies did not arrive during the week after Christmas, I returned to the website to check progress of my order. Even though I "joined" Why Bake's website, there was no way to log on to check the status of my order. I used the site link to send an e-mail to inquire. There was no reply. Holidays are a busy time for everyone, so I waited until after New Year's Day before contacting the company again.  Several e-mails to various website links later, I got a reply that promised the pies would ship the week of January 7, 2013 and Mr. Tod would have a tracking number for me "tomorrow."

Neither of those two things happened. In the meantime, I noticed comments on Mr. Tod's Facebook page. Several other customers complained about non-delivery of orders, that the phone message system was filled or, if able to leave a message, no reply at all. What kind of customer service is that? Poor, very poor.

Mr. Tod or a representative from his company never responded to my complaint to the Better Business Bureau. The BBB suggested I contact the state of New Jersey's Bureau of Consumer Affairs,  Attorney General. When I mentioned I was going to do so, I finally heard back from Mr. Tod.  He whined about the unforeseen volume of orders, running out of supplies, said he would refund my money and send the order at no expense to me.

To date my refund has not been processed nor has my daughter's family received the pies.

Mr. Tod's aspiration is to build his business so that it becomes as well known as companies such as  Sara Lee or Entenmann's. I would have liked to have been a part of helping him achieve that goal with a review about his delicious pies. Why Bake will never become a household word when the company not only does not deliver, but makes promise after promise to right the wrong but does not follow through.   Both Why Bake dot com and Mr. Tod's Pie Factory get a big thumbs down for professionalism and customer service.