Fashion Flair Cleaners

Review: On Dec. 18, I left a pink Cashmere [redacted] sweater to be dry cleaned. On Dec 20, I picked up a pink sweater and paid for cleaning. On Christmas Day, Dec 25, I removed the sweater from the bag as I planned to wear it. I then realized this was not my sweater. It was a synthetic material (not cashmere) and a brand that I have never bought. On Dec 26, my husband went back to the cleaners to return the sweater and let them know they gave me the wrong sweater. They told him that it was my sweater and that my sweater had not been cashmere because if it had been it would have said so on the ticket. (Of course, the ticket did not say cashmere because the sweater they gave me was not cashmere.) He asked that they look for my sweater and he would be back. He returned to the store a couple of hours later and they indicated that there was no need to look because they had given me my sweater. After much discussion, they finally returned the money that I had paid for the cleaning and he left the sweater with them. I went in the following day to ask if they had had any luck in finding my sweater. The woman then indicated to me that she would not do anything to look since they couldn't possibly have made such a mistake. I was lectured on their honesty and the honesty of their customers. I told her that since their customers were basically honest, someone might realize they had the wrong sweater and return it to them. I asked that she contact me if it was returned. I also suggested that she look through her records to see if someone else had cleaned a pink sweater during that time frame and to contact them and let me know what they found. I have not complained to you before, because I thought that I would give them extra time due to the holidays, but I have still not heard anything from them.Desired Settlement: The cleaners should check with other customers who picked up sweaters during that time frame and try to find my sweater. If they are unable to locate it, I believe that financial compensation is appropriate. The cost of the sweater was approximately $140. Unfortunately, it is too late in the season and II have not been able to purchase a replacement. So, I would actually prefer to get my sweater back than to have the money. However, if they can't find the sweater, then I believe they owe me the money.

My anger at losing the sweater is made even worse by the fact that the woman refused to believe me and, by her own admission, was not going to make any attempt to locate it (implying that I was lying to her). I would appreciate anything you can do to resolve.

Business

Response:

January 20, 2014

On December 18, the customer dropped off a pink sweater to be cleaned, and picked up the sweater on December 20th. Then a few days later, the customer's husband brought back the sweater claiming that his wife was given the wrong sweater. We explained to him our drop off process, where each dry clean item is inspected and coded properly per item. For example, a cashmere sweater would have been noted on the ticket with an upcharge for special care, We showed him how the ticket number on the receipt matched the dry clean ticket number On the sweater. The items are inspected one by one by the owners and are never mixed with other garments until they are all tagged. After some discussion, the husband returned and asked for a refund for the dry cleaning service. We finally complied and returned the payment for the cleaning, and he left the sweater with us. The customer returned next day looking for her sweater. We informed her that it is very improbable that a mistake happened as the ticket numbers matched the ticket number on the invoice as we had explained to her husband and that in our over 20 years of experience in dry cleaning, mistake like this has never happened. After much discussion and her insisting that we made a mistake, we told her that if a customer received a wrong item, they would bring back the item to us and we would give her a call. She insisted that nobody would bring back a cashmere sweater. We explained that is not true and that we have very honest customers and most of the garments we receive are of high quality and value! That is one of the main reasons why we inspect each item prior to cleaning.

After she left, we did check our records and found that this customer had previously dropped off a pink turtleneck (not cashmere) sweater on 12/13 and picked it up on 12/18. We believe that this sweater is the same as the one she had previously dropped off on the 13th and picked up on 18th. She is mistaken about the item she dropped off. Attached are copies of this customers invoice for previous orders with the description of the garment. In our over 20 year experience in dry cleaning service, we have never had an issue like this with matching tag number and ticket number.

Thank you,

Fashion Flair Cleaners