Wendell’s Laundromat

We are not currently a member of the Revdex.com but in an effort to correct the situation, my?? I have reviewed the video footage from 01 February to ensure we had our facts straight. ***
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*** We do our best to ensure that any equipment is clearly marked out of order whenever we are aware there is a problem, although we have had occasions where equipment is not working without our awareness or where customers have removed the signs. After reviewing the footage, it was clear that the customer had a full load of laundry in the washer in question, and which in our opinion was more than the washing machine was designed to handle. The customers, two women, arrived at approximately 2:00 pm and filled the washers. We watched the replay as they put in full loads then walked around to add in the leftover clothes into the already full washers. I came over immediately upon receiving the phone call at 2:50 pm to try to help. I instantly realized the washer was more full than it should be and that those clothes did not go through the spin cycle properly. My intention was to inform the customer that there were too many clothes to avoid the issue in the future as well as aid her by placing the clothes in two separate washers for another round at my expense. However, the customer was very confrontational and threatening. When I realized that her friend was now behind me and she was in front of me, both of them raising their voices at me that I was wrong, I quickly moved out from between them and told them that I refused to engage in an argument with them. There seemed to be no way to reason with them and I felt physically threatened by their demeanor so I left the laundromat. You should know that I am a small woman, 77 years old, and a widow. I run this business by myself and in this situation I felt that the best option was to get away from them. I do not cuss but I have raised my voice in the past and probably did so in this situation as I was very upset by the whole ordeal. After I left, I watched the video from my personal spaces until they left, then went to clean up the mess. They had taken the wet clothes from the washer and placed them in a basket then let them drip over the floor for some time before they decided to leave. They left a large puddle of water on my floor in the main pathway causing a safety hazard that had to be cleaned up right away to avoid any injuries to other customers. The earliest I could get a repairman was on Monday, 03 February. He found that the agitator was broken as well as the transmission. The agitator is about a $*** part plus repair cost, and we cannot yet afford to get the transmission fixed. While there is a chance that the washer was malfunctioning prior to the incident, the number one reason an agitator or transmission will fail is due to overloading. The fact that they were both broken leads me to believe that my assessment of the situation, that the washer was overloaded, is correct. So as you can imagine, I am very sensitive to having the equipment overloaded, and customers do not typically appreciate the cost associated with repairing the equipment, nor do they typically understand that their clothes just won't get clean if it is overloaded. We are looking at different options to replace some of the older washers with newer models that won't be as susceptible to breaking down from being overloaded, but it is very costly and honestly we're just trying to get by. The letter states that I ran her clothes through the washer again and she had to contact me a second time. This is untrue, she did not contact me a second time but her and her friend did pull all of their clothes out of all the washers and dryers and they drove off. Based on video footage, they may have spent $*** together, but by no means did the customer spend $*** on only her clothes. I think the whole situation is very unfortunate as I felt physically threatened while she felt as though I was trying to cheat her. So in my honest opinion this was an extreme case of miscommunication. My two concerns that day were to save my equipment and to help my customer, but I was unfortunately not able to do either. I'm not sure what resolution the Revdex.com would suggest based on the information I provided but as a result of that day, I am out hundreds of dollars that I don't have - the washer will stay broken for the time being and I will be out of income for this equipment until we save up enough to fix or replace it. Very Respec;tfully, Shelva S