■ If the cleaner is, in fact, at fault, the amount you receive will be based on factors such as the original price of the garment, how old it and how worn it is. The Drycleaning and Laundry Institute's lab test, for example, is $36. ■ If you think the cleaner is at fault and the cleaner disagrees, send the garment to an independent lab for test. You agreed to let them try to clean the garment, even though the cleaner said it was risky. ■ If you signed a waiver, you're out of luck. Often, it limits the amount of money the cleaner will pay out to eight or 10 times the cost of the cleaning - about $100. ■ Read the fine print on the claim ticket. If so, return the clothing to the retailer you bought it from. ■ Determine whether the problem was the care-instructions label. That coverage is in case clothing in their store or plant are damaged, like during a fire.Ĭontact Zlati Meyer: 31 or Follow her on Twitter to do if your clothes are damaged at the dry cleaner Yes, they do have insurance, but it's not for what would be called malpractice in the medical profession. It tends to be eight or 10 times the cost, so they're capped out at about $100. That's why some cleaners have a damages limited warning printed on their claim tickets. Our exposure is far greater than what you pay us." Really? We're taking a risk - a $900 risk -for a $6 ticket. "That sweater you brought in could've been $900 and we charged you $6 to clean it. "If we make a mistake, we stand behind it," my dry cleaner told me - and yes, I continued to use them until I moved. It is, after all, a $9-billion-a-year industry, according to IBIS World. Or a dry cleaner might take the hit in an effort to keep you coming back. She advised those arguing with their dry cleaner to go back to the retailer where the clothing was purchased, because stores may offer a refund for their now-damaged merchandise. The evaluation costs $36 and usually is paid for by the dry cleaner, according to spokeswoman Mary Scalco. If a customer believes the dry cleaner is at fault, the garment may be sent to an independent testing lab, like the Drycleaning and Laundry Institute, a Maryland-based national trade association. Nor should you have high expectations for a pullover with moth holes. If the tag instructions are correct, then the question becomes: How old and serviceable was the garment? A 12-year-old dress shirt might not make it through yet another dry cleaning. The Federal Trade Commission will sometimes go after companies with faulty labels for example, in 2003, Pelle Pelle of Rochester Hills agreed to pay a $40,000 civil penalty for care labels on some men's pants and jackets that said they could be machine-washed or dry cleaned, but the latter damaged them. (The label is usually inserted by the company that made the basic garment.) In some cases, the article of clothing's care-instructions label is wrong - or doesn't account for aftermarket decorations. The first step is determining who's at fault. So what is the right way to handle it when something goes wrong? The Better Business Bureau reported receiving 2,691 complaints against dry cleaners nationally last year. That was OK with me, but not every mishap ends as smoothly. I thought I could resurrect it, but I was told it was needed for insurance purposes - an answer I later found out wasn't correct. And she did.Īfter the dry cleaner assessed the age of the sweater, its original price and its current state, I got a $27 credit, $7.05 of which was the cleaning charge. When I pointed out the ribbon, the busy counter attendant offered to follow up with me later. (My only other experience with dry cleaning errors was when as a teenager, my 1990s-hip white summer dress, made out of crinkled silk, came back smooth and hangdog, looking like Emily Dickinson's nightgown.) The ribbon was ruined - and with it, the sweater. This was a simple job, until I picked it up. The sweater, from Target, hardly merited signing a release that cleaners make you sign with more complicated garments, perhaps one decorated with leather accents or extensive beading. But an errant penne pasta landed it at an Oakland County dry cleaner. Its tan Mister Rogersness was cutesied up with the matching ribbon that trimmed the edges of the cotton item. The ribbon on the sweater was what had caught my eye, though it turned out to be anything but a winner.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |