William C. Bowen Companies, Inc.

Forced to pay the same fee twice as the manager wouldn't let me take my cleaned clothes even after payment was confirmed via bank account & bank rep.
On 11/1/12 while picking up my laundered clothes from this location I was initially told my debit card was declined. This struck me as odd as I knew my account balance was enough to cover the charge and also because I used the card for lunch that day so the magnetic strip was likely fine. I suggested they use another machine and I was then told there was an error message being displayed. My next move was to withdrawal cash from a nearby ATM but before this I contacted [redacted] to ensure no charges had been deducted. I was told by the bank representative that I was charged in the amount of $13.51, the full cost of the service, and that the transaction had just processed. At this point I placed my cell phone on speaker & asked the bank representative to repeat himself so as to allow the employees of the store to hear his statement. In addition, while still on speaker, I asked him to speak the name of the merchant collecting the debit & he then stated Bowen Cleaners. At this point the employees of the cleaners were convinced, much like myself, that the charges were paid for. They called their store manager to alert him to the situation & he instructed them to not allow me to remove my clothes from the store. I disagreed with this plan and asked to speak to him on the phone and was told that I could not because he preferred not to speak with me and the phone call was then ended. From here, the store associates, being presented with the same information I was, agreed to let me take my clothes home. Before I departed I left my cell phone number and asked that the manager contact me and was told it would be on 11/2/12 as that was the next day he was working. On this day I did not receive a phone call and because of this I returned to the cleaners that evening when I was off from work. I was told the manager was not available and also that they had not saw any notes and/or comments on my customer account & also because I was not contacted by him there was not any issues and things had resolved.
Yesterday I dropped off items to be cleaned & today, 11/13/12, I arrived at the cleaners to hear that I would not be allowed to remove my clothes from the store without paying the present charge and the previous $13.51. I then informed the employee that I was previously told by my bank that the charges had already been paid and that I had been back to the store and was told that I had no issues. He still would not allow me to take my clothes. I then, for the first time since these events occurred, logged onto my bank account from my iphone to see listed in my transactions that $13.51 had been deducted from my account by Bowen Cleaners on 11/5/12, with the actual transaction date being 11/1/12. I then gave my phone to the employee who saw this and gave my phone to the other employee in the store at the time. They then said that the best they could do was to call their manager. The call was made and the manager was told that they verified I had previously paid, with it being shown on my bank statement. The employee was told that this did not matter and that I would need to pay as their inventory reflected no payment on my part. I asked to speak to the manager & he once again said that he preferred not to speak with me. The employee went to make the case on my behalf again & the manager then hung up the phone on him. At this point I asked if I could speak to the supervisor of this manager & was told by the store employee that it would be a really bad reflection on him if he could not handle my issue and that his job would be in question. I did not want for this to be the case and I proposed that I would pay the $13.51 the second time if I could be given a refund once the error was found. He could not guarantee this and called his manager once again to see if this was feasible. His manager did pick up the phone. At this point I paid the entire fee so as to not continue to disrupt store business knowing in mind that I would file this complaint.