Advice needed please

Tuhula

Here's my query...I recently bought a dress for €30. When I went to wash it the label said it was dry clean only so as I did love the dress I decided to bring it to my local dry cleaners instead of trying to wash it myself. I brought the dress to the dry cleaners and on dropping it off they said that it would cost €16 to clean. I thought this was a bit expensive since the dress only cost €30 but I felt that I would get plenty of wears out of it over Christmas so I would go ahead with the cleaning. Today I went back to collect the dress. The dry cleaners said that they encountered a problem when cleaning it. Bascially the black dye on the cotton bottom half of the dress had ran into the cream silk top part of the dress. They washed it 3 times but the colour still looks off. What was once cream is now a darker shade due to the dye running. The guy in the dry cleaners gave me two options:

1. The manager of the dry cleaners would write a letter for me stating what had happen to the material when it was dry cleaned. I would then bring this to Forever 21 where they expected that I would recieve a full refund.
2. The would attempted to wash the dress again with a specific chemical. The result would either be that the dress would be further damaged or it would be fixed.

Either way I would still have to pay the €16 dry cleaning charge.

I told them that I would call back tomorrow for the dress and the letter as I thought that this would be my best option.

My main query therefore is whether you think that I will get my full refund from the clothes shop upon presenting the dress and the letter from the dry cleaners AND what should I do about the dry cleaning charge? Should I still pay the dry cleaners even though the dress is now in a worse condition or should I pay the charge and bring this matter up with clothes shop? I cant believe im paying someone for a job that nots done. Should the shop/company be responsible for my dry cleaning charge since the dress is now ruined when the label on the dress said to dry clean the item?

Oryx

I would refuse to pay the drycleaning charge as they have not done the job as requested. Youre getting back soiled or damaged goods, and they cant guarantee another treatment will fix it.

Tuhula

thanks oryx. im worried that when I go to collect the letter that they'll refuse to give it to me if I dont pay the dry cleaning charge. I rang consumer rights agency and I'v emailed them but I'm still waiting for a response. I'd get over the dress being damaged and getting my money back from the shop (hopefully) but its the dry cleaning charge that has me annoyed :mad:

dudara

The manufacturer put a label in the clothes stating that they were dry-clean. As long as the dry-cleaners used the correct chemicals, as per the label, then they did nothing wrong. Again, assuming that they did everything correctly, they deserve to be paid for the job they performed (to cover chemicals & labour).

Therefore, I would lay the fault with the retailer. So I would definitely be taking the dress back to Forever 21, along with the letter from the drycleaner. However, I would expect Forever 21 to pay for the drycleaning charge.

Tuhula

Thanks dudara - I'l do that so - really appreciate your reply!!

wmpdd3

Yes in a clothing shop this would be the usual, refund the cost of the item and refund the dry cleaning bill. The dress may have to be sent away for examination by the brands buyers, but forever 21 may not bother with this.

Usually within 5 days of receiving delivery of an item an quality issues are flagged either in my store or somewhere else in the company, the stock is removed from sale and instructions are sent to stores about what action to take when the item is returned to store.

Tuhula

I collected the dress and the letter from the dry cleaners and in fairness to them they had changed their mind and didnt charge me so my main worry is now gone.