1200 Complaints Flood Over Crushed Strawberry Cake... Famous Japanese Department Store Finally

Expensive Christmas Cake Delivered in Messy Condition
Consumers Flood with Complaints... Ultimately Apologized in Person

A high-priced cake sold ahead of last Christmas at a famous department store in Japan was delivered to customers in a ruined state, sparking controversy. The price of this cake is equivalent to 49,000 KRW.

Local media, including Kyodo News, reported on the 27th (local time) that Takashimaya Department Store in Japan received complaints from customers regarding 1,200 out of 2,900 strawberry cakes delivered before Christmas.

Premium Japanese Christmas Cake Delivered Crushed [Image Source=X Capture]

This cake is a 5,400 yen (approximately 49,000 KRW) whole strawberry cake sold exclusively through Takashimaya’s online mall. It features several large strawberries stacked on layers of cream. Although Christmas is not designated as a public holiday in Japan, it is common to celebrate the holiday each year by eating cream cakes topped with strawberries.

The problem lies in the fact that the shape of the cake actually delivered to customers was drastically different from the promotional photos. Photos of the actual products posted by Japanese netizens on social networking services (SNS) such as X show cakes tilted completely to one side or even damaged to the point where the cream is dripping off.

As the high-priced cakes purchased to celebrate Christmas arrived in a ruined condition, local customers’ complaints surged. Some customers even attempted to form a “Collapsed Cake Victims Association,” local media reported. Eventually, the department store held a press conference around 11 a.m. that day and admitted, “Out of the 2,900 cakes sold, 807 were delivered to customers in a damaged state.”

The department store reportedly sold the same Christmas cake last year as well. At that time, the manufacturing process included a two-week freezing period, but this year, due to delayed strawberry supply, the freezing time was shortened by 20 to 25 hours. However, it is unclear whether the shorter freezing time was the cause of the problem. When the department store conducted sample inspections and preliminary tests, there were no issues with the cake’s appearance.

Kazuhisa Yokoyama, CEO of Takashimaya, bowed his head and said, “We deeply apologize for failing to meet the expectations of many customers and causing concern. We will strengthen relationships with our business partners and improve our management system to ensure that such incidents do not happen again.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.