La Jolla Cleaners & Alterations

On 9/9/we received a first time customer, Ms [redacted] , who needed a same day service for her business attireLater that afternoon my employee called her to ask if we could keep one her white blouses longer to work on the tough stains until MondayShe called back on 9/12/asking about the status of her blouseAs I always do, I cheerfully told her that it looked much better, but that there was still a faint markingI told her that it might not be to her liking, but that it was the best we could doShe then condescendingly says: “What did you say to me?” I was taken aback, and questionably said: “We did the best we could?” The customer continues to reprimand me and told me, “You didn’t need to say that; I expect you to do the best you canI’ve been to many cleaners.” I quickly and excitedly replied: “Excuse me, but that is what I say when discussing tough stainsYou have no business telling me what I can, and can’t say.” From this point onward our conversation escalated into an argumentI informed her that her clothes were ready for pickup, and hung upI never at any point used the word “crap” during our conversationShe immediately called back and asked how much the bill wasIn addition, she asked to speak to a manager/ownerI informed her that I was the manager/owner; and that there wasn’t anyone else she could speak to about the issueShe again stated in a reprimanding fashion that this was not acceptable, and that she was going to do something about thisI told her to do what she wanted to doI’ll admit that at this point I wasn’t acting as politely as I could have beenWhen she asked me how much the bill was, I asked her how much she wanted the bill to beA few hours she comes in with her ticket and doesn’t speak a wordI recognized her name and politely said: “Oh, you are [redacted] ?” I informed her that I didn’t feel like apologizing for the first call, but that I did apologize for the second phone callI offered her 20% discount on her cleaningShe paid me the discounted price in cash and left without saying anythingWe are a business that prides ourselves on going above and beyond regarding customer serviceWhile I was assisting Ms [redacted] on the phone, I had three customers in my store waiting to be helpedThey patiently waited while I was attending to [redacted] ’s concernsThere were witnesses to my conversation and will attest to the fact that I was very polite and sincere initially when I said we did the best we couldOne of these customers remembers the phone conversation well, and knows that I never used the word “crap.” She acknowledges that the conversation escalated after a certain timeShe never felt I was impolite at the beginning, but quite the contraryMost dry-cleaning businesses will not go above and beyond and provide additional work on removing stains without charging for that workWe provided her that extra benefit before any of the arguments occurredLet me also emphasize that it is my belief that Ms [redacted] reacted to a statement I madeShe incorrectly judged my tone to be condescending, when in fact it was just my polite way of explaining that we can’t always remove all stainsMy tone changed as our conversation changedI believe that Ms [redacted] ’s dissatisfaction has nothing to do with the work we provided on her clothes, but rather with something she deemed incorrectly to be condescendingOne of my customers, **, who was present in the store that day is willing to attest to the conversation she overheard that dayHer phone number is [redacted] I will not issue a second apology, nor will I refund Ms [redacted] the discounted amount that she received for the quality work we provided on her clothesSincerely, [redacted]

On 9/9/we received a first time customer, Ms*** ***, who needed a same day service for her business attireLater that afternoon my employee called her to ask if we could keep one her white blouses longer to work on the tough stains until MondayShe called back on 9/12/asking about
the status of her blouseAs I always do, I cheerfully told her that it looked much better, but that there was still a faint markingI told her that it might not be to her liking, but that it was the best we could doShe then condescendingly says: “What did you say to me?” I was taken aback, and questionably said: “We did the best we could?” The customer continues to reprimand me and told me, “You didn’t need to say that; I expect you to do the best you canI’ve been to many cleaners.” I quickly and excitedly replied: “Excuse me, but that is what I say when discussing tough stainsYou have no business telling me what I can, and can’t say.” From this point onward our conversation escalated into an argumentI informed her that her clothes were ready for pickup, and hung upI never at any point used the word “crap” during our conversationShe immediately called back and asked how much the bill wasIn addition, she asked to speak to a manager/ownerI informed her that I was the manager/owner; and that there wasn’t anyone else she could speak to about the issueShe again stated in a reprimanding fashion that this was not acceptable, and that she was going to do something about thisI told her to do what she wanted to doI’ll admit that at this point I wasn’t acting as politely as I could have beenWhen she asked me how much the bill was, I asked her how much she wanted the bill to beA few hours she comes in with her ticket and doesn’t speak a wordI recognized her name and politely said: “Oh, you are ***?” I informed her that I didn’t feel like apologizing for the first call, but that I did apologize for the second phone callI offered her 20% discount on her cleaningShe paid me the discounted price in cash and left without saying anythingWe are a business that prides ourselves on going above and beyond regarding customer serviceWhile I was assisting Ms*** on the phone, I had three customers in my store waiting to be helpedThey patiently waited while I was attending to ***’s concernsThere were witnesses to my conversation and will attest to the fact that I was very polite and sincere initially when I said we did the best we couldOne of these customers remembers the phone conversation well, and knows that I never used the word “crap.” She acknowledges that the conversation escalated after a certain timeShe never felt I was impolite at the beginning, but quite the contraryMost dry-cleaning businesses will not go above and beyond and provide additional work on removing stains without charging for that workWe provided her that extra benefit before any of the arguments occurredLet me also emphasize that it is my belief that Ms*** reacted to a statement I madeShe incorrectly judged my tone to be condescending, when in fact it was just my polite way of explaining that we can’t always remove all stainsMy tone changed as our conversation changedI believe that Ms***’s dissatisfaction has nothing to do with the work we provided on her clothes, but rather with something she deemed incorrectly to be condescendingOne of my customers, **, who was present in the store that day is willing to attest to the conversation she overheard that dayHer phone number is ***I will not issue a second apology, nor will I refund Ms*** the discounted amount that she received for the quality work we provided on her clothesSincerely, ***