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Wedding Dress cleaned at Dry Cleaners

Hi all

I wonder if anyone can help me.

I took my wedding dress into a loacl dry cleaners, not a large chain store one, as they have a sign stating specialist in wedding dress cleaning.

My wedding dress had self tan the bust area from under my arms when it went in, and the lady told me they might not be able to get it all out, but they would clean it twice anyway. I never signed anything whilst in there.

I have just had a phone call from them saying that the dress is back from cleaning, although the self tan has not come out even though it has been washed twice, and has also gone pink where they have tried to clean it with chemicals. I paid £80 for this service.

Can anyone tell me if there is anything i can do? I have not seen the dress yet as i want to get some information before collecting. But the lady who phoned me told me it was just as bad as the self tan but a different colour?

I cant believe this has happened and am really in need of some urgent advice.

Many thanks in advance. Tina
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Comments

  • I would expect your money back from the cleaning as a very minimum, is this what you would like / expect?
    Thinking critically since 1996....
  • ThumbRemote
    ThumbRemote Posts: 4,663 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Has the whole dress gone pink, or just the area that was brown previously?

    I suspect this sort of thing should be covered on the dry cleaners insurance. In my opinion they should either be fixing the damage, or paying you the value of the goods (the value when you took the dress in, not the new cost - obviously having been worn the value will be much less than new).
  • Well obvoulsy from what she has said the dress is now ruined, as i can only asssume that the pink she is referring to is that of the bleach one you sometimes find.

    I think she means that the area under the arms (on a bodice, sleeveless dress) have changed colour from the self tan to pink, meaning the self tan has not been removed, just changed colour. Even still, this will be visible, and is obvoiously not what i expected.

    Am i correct in thinking then that i should be able to claim for the cost of cleaning plus compensation for ruining the dress at the current value? If so how would i know the current value?

    Many thanks, Tina
  • ThumbRemote
    ThumbRemote Posts: 4,663 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I don't know about the cost of cleaning. I'd hope you got a refund, but they could argue that you're paying for them to attempt cleaning, they've done their best but the stains are permanent.

    As for ruining the dress, again it's going to be tricky. The key is going to be how much worse the dress is than when you took it into them. Essentially, you took in a dress with discolouration. You will be returned a dress with discolouration. Is that better,or worse than previously? Will it be easier or harder to remove than previously?

    I'd wait and see what happens when the dress comes back; how bad is it, do they offer a refund, etc? If they offer nothing and just give it back, ask them what happens now?
  • peachyprice
    peachyprice Posts: 22,346 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Without you actually having seen the dress it's impossible for anyone to say whether or not you have avalid claim.

    If they have cleaned the dress and the areas that were damaged by you and were previously brown are now faded to pink they have impoved the dress. The told you they self tan may not come out before you went ahead so have covered themselves if this is the case.

    If, in an attempt to clean the damage done by you they have further damaged the dress and it is now pink in larger areas than were previously brown, you would have a valid claim as they have caused further damage.

    Go see the dress, then come back for further advice.
    Accept your past without regret, handle your present with confidence and face your future without fear
  • gabby66
    gabby66 Posts: 14 Forumite
    My view is this, the OP has taken a dress with a stain on the fabric for a professional clean.

    In attempting to remove the stain the cleaning company has discoloured the affected area permanently damaging the fabric.

    Without seeing the dress it would be difficult to say for sure, but the fabric turning pink in this instance is almost certainly discolouration.

    If you can differentiate between staining and discolouration its difficult not to conclude this has become the dry cleaners liability and some form of compensation is due to the OP.
  • What will you do with the dress? put it in the loft? sell it on ebay? wear it to parties?
  • System
    System Posts: 178,168 Community Admin
    10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Who's to say that the self tanning stuff didn't permanently damage the dress before the cleaning attempt. The fact that they failed to remove it goes some way to supporting that hypothesis
  • ThumbRemote
    ThumbRemote Posts: 4,663 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    What will you do with the dress? put it in the loft? sell it on ebay? wear it to parties?

    Who cares. She could wear it for digging the garden if she wants. It doesn't change the facts in any way.
    !!!!!! wrote: »
    Who's to say that the self tanning stuff didn't permanently damage the dress before the cleaning attempt. The fact that they failed to remove it goes some way to supporting that hypothesis

    That's a possibility. However I'd expect them to make that obvious to the consumer BEFORE trying to clean it. It can't be the first time they've had fake tan on a wedding dress, or anything else made of similar fabric. They are the experts, not the customer.
  • gabby66
    gabby66 Posts: 14 Forumite
    None of us can say if the self tanning lotion caused permanent damage or not, especially as none of us (OP apart) inspected the dress prior to cleaning.
    Point is the pink staining is due to one of two possibilities. It's either the remains of a stain that has been reduced but not fully removed in the cleaning process. Or, its the result of the fabric being permanently "bleached" due to the cleaning solutions used.

    If its the former then the cleaning company gave no guarantee the staining would come out and that should be an end to the matter.

    If its the latter then its become the cleaning companies problem.

    OP needs to see the dress here what the cleaning company say and make an honest assessment of the situation.
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