Damaged Wedding Dress - After Dry cleaning

The Flumps

I am looking for an unbiased neutral opinion.

I am feeling very hard done by after leaving my wedding dress in for professional dry clean as per the care label.

To cut to the chase of the details:
Dress was left with dry cleaners – Dry cleaners accepted they could clean it and took it in.
It was never explained that I ran the risk of damaging the beading on the dress.
Upon collection the detail beading was handed back to me a plastic bag disintegrated in bits.
The detailing to the middle of the dress again is missing beads
The dress is being returned to me a lesser quality then was handed in.
I feel my property has been damaged, and will now cost me to have the problem rectified.
Cleaners accepting no responsibility – They say they followed the care label.
CARE LABEL: Professional Dry Clean only, there is also a note saying except trims
I have paid for the cleaning process – with a token 10 Euro Discount
I have also asked the cleaner to compromise and pay for the re-stitching of the beads on – I have had a no to this suggestion.
I would be really interested in hearing people’s opinion, on this.

Feeling hard done by!

GrPa

My wife had the same problem with a well established dry cleaners on south william st. Not only did the beading on the wedding dress get damaged they did not clean it properly and did not press it properly. It still had marks on it and was crumpled. My wife demanded they pay the cost of getting the dress fedexed to the designer in london who agreed to fix it free of charge but the dry cleaner flatly refused pointing out that my wife had signed a waiver regarding the beading.

The cleaners have advertising outside there shop stating that they realise how important a wedding dress is and that they will take the utmost care and complete the process by hand. They admitted that they used a machine in the process. They also state they are experts in cleaning wedding dress from the designer who made my wifes dress.

When my wife stated she wasn't going to pay for the service the dry cleaner owner threatened to call the gardai and reefed the dress from her and hung it up and stood by the phone. Unbelievable.

My wife got very upset and angry but he would not budge. She had to pay 50 euro to get the dress back in a completely worse state than it went going in. When she said she would be telling all her friends not to use him he claimed that "bad business is better than no business" !!

It was shocking behaviour. He did offer a 25% discount but as far as we are concerned we should not pay anything for getting a worse off dress than when it went in. Also to offer to clean it again as not good enough as it risked further damage.

Small claims court is an option I think. The only other way to get satisfaction is to tell as many people as possible this experience and hope people vote with their feet.

Das Kitty

Unfortunately if there is a sign up in the dry cleaners that is clearly visible stating that damage may occur and/or it's on your receipt and/or they just tell you, you have no right to a refund or replacement. It's a classic case of an exemption clause and it's actually the dry cleaner example they use when teaching exemption clauses in Contract Law.

By rights they should have outlined the risk verbally as well but they're not required to.

GrPa

Das Kitty wrote: »

Unfortunately if there is a sign up in the dry cleaners that is clearly visible stating that damage may occur and/or it's on your receipt and/or they just tell you, you have no right to a refund or replacement. It's a classic case of an exemption clause and it's actually the dry cleaner example they use when teaching exemption clauses in Contract Law.

By rights they should have outlined the risk verbally as well but they're not required to.

I do understand that. Really my example above is just venting some frustration. Because the waiver is signed and the dry cleaner did all that they were required to do does not mean they cannot exercise some decency or discretion. To resolve a dispute with a valued customer (god knows how much money my wife has spent in that place as it is just around the corner from her work) in that fashion by threatening the gardai on her is just ridiculous. My wife works in a large company within a department full of women who all use that dry cleaners and I would not be surprised if the dry cleaners loses all that business aswell. Instead of losing the moeny from the dry cleaning bill (€100) he has lost so much more in business.

Oryx

Personally, I would have called his bluff on the gardai threat. Have a feeling that all they could or would be willing to do was make your wife leave the premises. I would ABSOLUTELY pursue a SCC claim on this guy for refund of the bill at least. He may be covered by a waiver for the damage, but your wife feels he did not do his job in cleaning the dress, which is another matter.

The Flumps

Hello GrPa, Das Kitty and Oryx

Thank you so much for your valued comments and thoughts. Great to read them, they are helping make my mind up about my next move.

I would be keen to get the opinion of a neutral Professional Dry Cleaner. Are there any Dry Cleaners who may be able to shed light on this?

For now thank you all for your help and time.:)

tatli_lokma

I'm afraid I can't give too much advice on the process for dry cleaning etc, but from experience where dry cleaning is concerned they do not take responsibility for trims/beading etc - it is the fabric they clean and if it states on the label that care must be taken, then personally I wouldn't get the item dry cleaned. I have even chosen not to buy some dresses etc because it says dry clean only and had beading etc,.

Just as info for others thinking of getting their wedding dress dry cleaned - the shop I bought mine in said they do not, under any circumstances recommend dry cleaning. I rang them enquiring if there was a particular dry cleaners they use, as the label on my dress said Dry clean only. They said that they almost never recommend dry cleaning for wedding dresses (with the exception of one or two specific designs or certain fabrics which may stain with water, such as certain taffetas - check with the manufacturer or shop you bought in).

She said basically dry cleaning can in some cases just push the dirt further into the fabric - it is just suitable really for freshening up a garment, not actually "cleaning" it. My dress was quite grubby on the hem and train. The advice I was given was to fill a bath with warm water and put non-bio, plain white detergent (i.e not one with blue bits, or fabric softener, just plain non-bio). Once the powder has dissolved, let the water go cold, and then place the dress in the cold water. (the water has to be warm initially to ensure the powder dissolves - do not put the dress in unless the powder is fully dissolved or it could leave white marks). Gently sponge and pat the dress clean. Some areas may take a few goes, but do not rub or scrub it, just keep repeating the process. Then drain the water and rinse the dress well. Leave it in the bath to drain off for a few hours. Some dresses can even be placed in a duvet cover and put on a gentle spin in the washing machine to wring out the excess wather (depending on beading etc).

My dress had a good bit of beading and was quite grubby along the hem - I did as above, and did the process of filling the bath and sponging it 3 times. The dress came out spotless and looked great. It did take a bit of patience working on the hem, cos as I said it was quite dirty but I resisted the temptation to give it a scrub and just gently sponged and rinsed it.

I was nervous about it, but the shop said that this was much less risky than a dry cleaners. They said they have had more horror stories with dry cleaners than they could mention, but this is how they clean dresses themselves (sample stock for example). the dress came out perfect in the end, and saved me a good few quid too.

I know its a bit late for you OP, but it is worth considering for other people.

padz

seams a bit mad to dry clean a wedding dress, are you selling it on or renewing your vows?

seams to be a lot of chancer dry cleaners out there these days

'let the dryer be ware'

emeldc

I might be a bit late with this but I'll try and clear up a few things. I am a specialist dry cleaner and have been in the business since 1987.
First up, a competant, confidant dry cleaner will not ask you to sign a disclaimer/waiver. In any case it does not give him the right to be negligent and I doubt if it would stand up in a small claims court.
Without seeing the dress in question I wont be specific but I will generalise.
If the label says dry clean only 'excluding trim' It does not mean it can't be dry cleaned, but it should alert the cleaner to possible problems with the beading.
What happened to the beading? Did it melt? Did it break? Did it just fall off?
If it melted it shouldn't have been dry cleaned at all. This could have been tested prior to cleaning.
If it broke up then it was probably glass beading in which case you turn the garment inside out and place in a net bag to cushion.
If it simply fell off, then some of the blame should lie with the manufacturer. It wont fall off if it's sewn on properly in the first place. It is generally accepted that some beading will fall off as threads holding the beads on can be snagged by the wearer but will only become apparent after cleaning. Remember, once the garment is placed in the machine the dry cleaner is a spectator ..... just like you. So prior examination and consultation with the customer is vital.
By the way all garments are cleaned in a machine. Hand cleaning refers to stain removal as not all stains can be removed by the machine alone.
Having said all that, I think the dry cleaner might have been a bit more helpful. If it were me I would try to replace as much beading as possible and maybe offer a voucher for some future dry cleaning.
I hope this is of some help and I am happy to answer any questions you might have.

carerra

bought in june 2006 in london
roberto cavalli €8000 white silk gown beautiful ! worn by victoria b on the runway !

asked the advice of couture section in a well known store on Grafton street Dublin where they send their high designer gear to be cared for they recommended a place on dame lane Dublin so i took the advice brought it there in Feb 2009
spent an hour discussing with the owner dry cleaner the value of the dress and it had only been worn once! ! mint condition apart from a little tan ....
he gave me his word he would care for the item himself he also

did not make me sign anything

out of habit he put a waiver down in front of me but i asked him whats that for if he promised me i would get it back in mint condition and he tore it up and said i was right there was no need for it......

when i came to collect the dress i took a look to make sure it was all ok and all the front of the dress was all snagged

when i asked to speak with the man who i handed the dress over to originally he was not available when i went to take the item and not pay i was threatened with " we will call the gardai

the two women and one guy who were present in the shop tried to get me to leave the item with them so they could attempt a repair !!! lol how did they hope to repair snagged pulled silk ! i was terrified to leave it with them and reluctant to pay for the terrible job they did to it


i got a call from the owner the next day and he tried the ... go back to the manufacturer card ..... really nasty man very defensive unprofessional

it seems as though the dress may have been snagged inside the machine ?:eek: thats how i think it happened !

after the phone call i realized i was at nothing talking to him and expecting anything .

i spoke with a solicitor who advised me you have 7 years to chase it down .... and after seeking the advice of another dry cleaner in naas they pleaded with me not to let it go !

so i guess this guy think hes got away with it ... little does he know whats coming

karma

emeldc

Hi Carrera, I got an email about this from 'boards' so I'll see if I can offer any assistance.

1. Did the dry cleaner offer any explanation for the snagging.
2. Has he accepted that the snagging wasn't there to begin with.
3. What kind of silk was damaged, ie. was it the light chiffon type.
4. What kind of beading is on the dress. ie. are they the glass type set in a metal claw.

The object of the exercise here is to work out how the dress was damaged and if the dry cleaner was negligent or if it could have been avoided.
Im not sure if I have pm privileges here as I don't have enough posts but if I could see a picture of the dress it might help.
Don't dismiss the repair, it might be possible to do something.

Cabaal

padz wrote: »

seams a bit mad to dry clean a wedding dress, are you selling it on or renewing your vows?

Not really that mad, on the wedding day a dress can get alot of marks and stuff from being pulled along the ground.

Some people want to keep them but have them clean others will clean them to sell them on, its certainly not "strange" or mad to have one cleaned though....perfectly normal infact.