dry cleaner gave my suit away

halibut2209

arenaman wrote: »

And accidentally taking something and failing to return it is also theft.

No it isn't. Accidentally taking something and refusing to allow the owner to get it back might be, but "failing to return" isn't theft by any definition

CoolHotCold

Definition of Theft

A person is guilty of theft if they: dishonestly appropriate property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it.

Reference: Section 1 of the Theft Act 1968.

That is the definition, right now you can't say exactly what the situation is with the dry cleaning as there is clearly not enough information in the OP's posts to say one way or another. The op should take it up with the Dry Cleaning company to provide a reasonable solution (either recover the suit within a reasonable time or pay compensation towards the lost suit).

arcon5

arenaman wrote: »

No, the dry cleaners isn't the loser in this though they could provide vital info as to the circumstances.

Yes they are.

The dry cleaners as bailees have a duty of care, they have breached this, thus are responsible for either recovering goods are reimbursing op the value of the goods.

fluffnutter

arcon5 wrote: »

It's likely they will be liable for the value of the old suit, not the price of the new suit.

The value of the old suit will be based on the original price less any value lost over time due to wear and tear. Anything more would either be betterment or consequential loss depending on what the claim is for (e.g. transportation).

Their terms and conditions and wholly relevant, it should outline each parties obligations and liabilities, it should if drawn up professionally outline a procedure for making a claim and how that claim would be calculated. These terms should be fair to both parties of course.

I'm not sure about this. Realistically you won't be able to buy a suit for the same value; you'll only be able to replace it with new. I think you'd have a great case for arguing that they need to reimburse you for a new suit (of similar quality of course - you can't go in with your Asda £35 suit and expect them to fork out for a Savile Row tailor-made one).

That's the concept of insurance after all - new for old. And the dry cleaners should be insured against this (they're fools if they're not).

CoolHotCold

You can't say the dry cleaners have to give monetary compensation automatically. The OP probably never asked or enquired what to do if the husband needed a suit.

You can't just purchase a new suit without talking to the dry cleaners first. It could be a logistical problem that the Dry Cleaners were having retrieving the suit and they would of provided either a loan or rented one until the original one is retrieved.

arcon5

CoolHotCold wrote: »

You can't say the dry cleaners have to give monetary compensation automatically. The OP probably never asked or enquired what to do if the husband needed a suit.

You can't just purchase a new suit without talking to the dry cleaners first. It could be a logistical problem that the Dry Cleaners were having retrieving the suit and they would of provided either a loan or rented one until the original one is retrieved.

Hence why I said they are responsible for recovering the goods or the value of the goods. If the former isn't an option then the latter is the only remaining option

arcon5

fluffnutter wrote: »

I'm not sure about this. Realistically you won't be able to buy a suit for the same value; you'll only be able to replace it with new. I think you'd have a great case for arguing that they need to reimburse you for a new suit (of similar quality of course - you can't go in with your Asda £35 suit and expect them to fork out for a Savile Row tailor-made one).

That's the concept of insurance after all - new for old. And the dry cleaners should be insured against this (they're fools if they're not).

Then op will need to contribute to a new suit, this contribution should represent the use prior to the item going missing (being taken). Nothing unfair about this. If I buy a £20k car and it gets written off after 50k miles, I wouldn't expect the insurance company to buy me a brand new car