Dry Cleaners - Fire

TonyDub

Hi

Just looking for some opinions here.

I dropped in a few items into a dry cleaners in north Dublin. When I went to collect them, the shop was closed, but there was a sign saying 'ring this number or email this address'. I rang the number (which was another branch) and was informed there had been a fire, many items had been damaged, and they were still ascertaining what had been destroyed or not. Fair enough. They promised to send me a claim form, and would be back in touch by the end of the week to let me know if my items were damaged. I also emailed them to ensure they had my details.

This was 3 weeks ago. Since then, I have rang them 3 times, and have received no communication from them. No claim form, no email, no phone call. Each time I ring, I'm told "We still don't know what was damaged" (the fire was in mid June) "we're waiting to hear from the manager" and they take my address and promise to send me a form.

Today was the straw that broke the camel's back. The items were a good suit (worth over 500e), and two dresses belonging to my wife. There are numerous other branches of this cleaners, but the main branch was the one damaged in the fire. I asked to be rang by the manager, but no-one has contacted me yet.

Just wondering what people would think the next step should be, assuming the manager doesn't contact me. Small Claims Court? Solicitor? I'm really fed up of chasing these guys. I'd send a registered letter to the head office, but that's the one that went up in smoke (and the phone number there isn't answered)!

Cheers.

RangeR

* Official letter of complaint to the store or head office detailing your complaint. Keep it factual.
* Give them 10 business days to reply [that's 14 days to you and me]
* If no reply initiate SCC.

*Edit* Do not email the official letter of complaint. Stick it in registered post to ensure you have proof that they get it.

jor el

Since the head office is the one that burned down, a registered letter may not get very far, also the Small Claims Court or a solicitor would also have trouble contacting them. They will probably have set up a mail forwarding service with the Post Office, so a registered letter should be re-directed to their new location.

You can track the registered letter anyway, and will be able to see within a day or two whether it was received or not. That'll be the best starting point.

dudara

Follow RangeR's advice. Give them a decent chance to respond to your formal communication. If they do not respond, then proceed to the SCC.

TonyDub

Cheers everyone. Will go with the plan above.