Magic Dry Cleaners

Review: The owner told their employees to refuse future service to me unless I purchase cleaning and ironing. This was conveyed in a derogative manner.

On Thursday, November 21st, I dropped of about 11 garments to Magic Dry Cleaners to be ironed. [redacted], one of the owners, was at the front desk and accepted the garments. I clearly expressed that I just wanted ironing and that I had just recently washed the clothes but didn't have time to iron them. She looked at me, then the clothes and said, "Are you sure, only ironing?" in a condescending tone. I replied, "yes, only ironing, please."

The following Tuesday, I showed up to the store to pick up the garments. [redacted] informed me that the shirts were done, but that the pants were not and needed to be washed first. I told her again, that the pants had been washed and only needed ironing. She then said, "Oh, I thought they needed to be washed. So, they are not ready." Despite my ticket stub expressing 'iron only' for 11 garments.

I returned the next day, Wednesday, November 27, to pick up the pants. This time [redacted] was not there and one of her employees met me at the counter. I gave the stub to the employee who gathered my pants and then she told me, "My boss told me to tell you that we are not accepting any pants from you in the future unless you purchase washing wither or not you have washed them." When I ask why, she replied, "Because all of your pants smell like urine. When we were ironing your pants, all of our staff got nauseated because of the smell of pee coming from your pants."

I told her that I remembered washing all of them shortly before bringing them to their store. The store employee then smirked at me with a half smile and said, "No, all of them. They all smelled like urine."

I personally believe this is driven by the fact that I am a foreign born citizen in a small all-white city. They wanted to humiliate me so that I would not go there again, and rather than saying something racist, they chose to treat me horribly instead. Therefore, I cannot push charges for racism but the poor customer service and personal attack is unacceptable.Desired Settlement: A personal apology to my face with witnesses.

Business

Response:

My first response to this complaint was to apologize--nothing worse than an unhappy customer! But after re-reading this fiction it became apparent Mr [redacted] was going to go to any length including untruths, fabrications, anything, to prove he was wronged.

I will try to set the record straight with what we know as the facts:

Mr [redacted] DID NOT come into our store to drop off garments. A woman dropped off garments for "press only" on Nov 21st-so his story of a condescending tone and questioning the press only procedure was in his mind only. I'd like to note that quite a few customers take advantage of our "press or clean only" and we are happy to do so. The store owner, whom he names, does not work at that location, did not wait on Mr [redacted] OR the lady, and never spoke to either-but since he wasn't actually there, he wouldn't know that.

The garments were promised for Tuesday Nov 26th at 5:00pm. That's printed on his invoice. The same woman, not Mr [redacted], came in at about 1:30pm to pick up the order, and it was explained the order wasn't ready yet but would be ready at the agreed to time of 5pm. The entire conversation he recounts of the pants weren't ready because we had to wash them is fabrication. The employee did not tell Mr [redacted] OR the woman any story about having to wash the pants, and in fact, the order was ready at 5pm.

The same lady came in the next day, Nov 27th and picked up the order. I had already called our employee to relay our request about cleaning the pants in the future. In this instance, Mr [redacted] is correct--the employees did leave the work area after steam hit the urine in his pants. I must note that over the years this has happened a number of times--pants brought in by wives, caretakers and even employees of men who have personal problems concerning urine. Yes, it is embarrassing to the person at the counter, and realize its also very embarrassing to our employees as well, but at some point we have to inform the customer. In hindsight, I realize I shouldn't put my employees into a situation where embarrassment can put them into the line of fire for hostility.Everyone in the past have been understanding, but Mr [redacted] has proven that not everyone will.

The woman stated that Mr [redacted] had spilled a urine sample at work, and that she had soaked the pants.I've no reason to doubt that. Except the smell was in ALL the pants, so that just means the urine contaminated all of the pants and we're right back to the original problem. Knowing the lady was upset, our employee gave her my phone so she could complain or just vent--it was my hope to remove the young employee from this situation.

Later, the same woman called Magic Cleaners,again not us, and asked to make an appointment to talk to us. Our employee again stated we weren't there daily but would be happy to talk to them--just call the number she had already given them and we would try to make everyone understand the problem-and to satisfy them.

No phone call, but a day or two later a man(we are just assuming it was Mr [redacted] because he wouldn't identify himself)came in, said he was furious(employee confirms this), demanded to talk to the owner, and finished with "this is all racist and somebody is going to pay!" At this my young employee was scared to the point of tears. She quickly gave him our phone number, for the third time, and who to ask for. He continued to just stand there and glare until finally she backed away from the counter. She is terrified he will return, and I'm strongly asking that he does not.

Why didn't they just call and settle this days earlier. I honestly thought if they couldn't see the necessity of washing the pants first, they would call. I was unaware of the severity of the problem until my employee called after he left. When he came in there wasn't one word about the pants smelling of urine, just racism. Where in heaven's name did racism come from? When she repeated what he had shouted at her I asked what race or color was he? At least I would have an idea of what the problem was--she said she thought he was white, but she really couldn't say for sure because that's just something that doesn't resister with her. I asked my employee about the woman who brought the garments in, and her precise answer was,"I really can't say but I think she was white also. She looked like anyone else, but I was already upset at having to tell her about the pants." I thanked her and apologized for her having to go through this.

I would now like to apologize to the lady, whoever she is,for being put in the middle of an unfortunate situation-we certainly didn't intend any embarrassment on your part and assuredly no personal intent.

Mr [redacted], attempting to concoct a story with lies and innuendos("a smirk and a half smile"? Really?) should be beneath you. To try to convince others of racism on the part of a young innocent employee, to sacrifice her job just to help sooth your need for revenge will not be forgotten-or forgiven.