Wedding Dress cleaned at Dry Cleaners

gabby66

better still hear what the cleaning company have to say:o

peachyprice

gabby66 wrote: »

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.

Erm, isn't that what I said above in post #6?

andyf3050

christineperseus wrote: »

What will you do with the dress? put it in the loft? sell it on ebay? wear it to parties?

Sorry, what's your point...?

twinkel_toez

!!!!!! 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

Correct me if I'm wrong but spray tan is designed to be easily removable from skin and fabrics without causing any damage or staining... I had my spray tan done by a professional who, I'm sure, uses quality solution and not just cheap stuff you can get from superdrug, so I'd expect a cleaning professional (who advertises to be a specialist at wedding dress cleaning) to be able to clean the dress without ruining it. They don't advertise that they will 'attempt' to try and clean it so I expect them to do exactly what they state they specialise in and what I paid good money for them to do...!

Am I expecting too much?

Thanks... Tina

Forwandert

twinkel_toez wrote: »

They don't advertise that they will 'attempt' to try and clean it so I expect them to do exactly what they state they specialise in and what I paid good money for them to do...!

Am I expecting too much?

Thanks... Tina

Yes you are considering in your opening post you have already said they told you they might not be able to get the stains out.

Edit just to add, if you now consider the dress ruined because it has a pink stain it must have been ruined before when the same staining was brown so you are no better or worse off.

visidigi

twinkel_toez wrote: »

Correct me if I'm wrong but spray tan is designed to be easily removable from skin and fabrics without causing any damage or staining... I had my spray tan done by a professional who, I'm sure, uses quality solution and not just cheap stuff you can get from superdrug, so I'd expect a cleaning professional (who advertises to be a specialist at wedding dress cleaning) to be able to clean the dress without ruining it. They don't advertise that they will 'attempt' to try and clean it so I expect them to do exactly what they state they specialise in and what I paid good money for them to do...!

Am I expecting too much?

Thanks... Tina

That bring into question the liability on the dry cleaner - it could be down to the tan used - the dry cleaner may have insurance, but did they give you a receipt? was there any terms and conditions provided on a receipt or on display in the customer area?

Dry cleaners are not able to remove all contamination on clothing, our local cleaners state this on signs in the customer area, indeed, due to the method of cleaning it is a given that not all removal of contamination will be possible.

peachyprice

twinkel_toez wrote: »

Correct me if I'm wrong but spray tan is designed to be easily removable from skin and fabrics without causing any damage or staining...

I think you'll find it isn't. If it were so easily removable it would streak as soon as you sweated or it rained and you wouldn't be able to swim with it on. It's designed to stain the outer layer of your skin common sense would suggest it might also stain any fabric it comes into contact with, infact I'm suprised the girl who applied it didn't warn you as it's pretty common to find it stains clothing[/quote]

They don't advertise that they will 'attempt' to try and clean it so I expect them to do exactly what they state they specialise in and what I paid good money for them to do...!

Am I expecting too much?

They TOLD YOU when you took in in that they might not be able to remove the fake tan!

Not every wedding dress they clean will have fake tan on it and not every dress will have the same fake tan in it, which is why they said it may not come out. You decided to use fake tan while wearing a white/ivory/cream dress, you decided to let them attempt to clean it even when they said it may not come out. You have to accept some resonsibility for staining the dress in the first place.

twinkel_toez

I understand what you're saying BUT...

1) Spray tan will wash out of most clothing in a conventional wash.

2) Professional cleaners use specialist chemicals to clean garments without damaging them. What would damage one kind of fabric won't necessarily do any harm to others... and vice versa... make sense?

3) if the professional cleaner was in any doubt as to the suitability of the chemicals they intended to use, then, COMMON SENSE would dictate to "try in an inconspicuous area before commencing full cleaning"... this is common instructions on just about every household cleaning chemical available in the world.

The professional cleaner chose not to do this, in fact he tried to clean it twice with the same solution without so much as a spot test...! Sorry, but as far as I'm concerned, the professional cleaner failed to take reasonable care not to permanently damage the garment that I had paid a lot of money for them to clean. If they had taken more care, then perhaps a more suitable chemical could have been found to clean it rather than just going full steam ahead and totally ruining something which could have been cleaned using another method...!

peachyprice

Have you collected the dress now, as you know it's totally ruined?

harz99

twinkel_toez wrote: »

3) if the professional cleaner was in any doubt as to the suitability of the chemicals they intended to use, then, COMMON SENSE would dictate to "try in an inconspicuous area before commencing full cleaning"... this is common instructions on just about every household cleaning chemical available in the world.

The professional cleaner chose not to do this, in fact he tried to clean it twice with the same solution without so much as a spot test...! Sorry, but as far as I'm concerned, the professional cleaner failed to take reasonable care not to permanently damage the garment that I had paid a lot of money for them to clean. If they had taken more care, then perhaps a more suitable chemical could have been found to clean it rather than just going full steam ahead and totally ruining something which could have been cleaned using another method...!

You seem to have moved on quite a way from your original post.

As regards 3. above, given that the spray tan is in the bust area, exactly where would an "inconspicous area" be, as surely it would be pointless trying any chemical on a non stained area?

My opinion is thus; you took a used wedding dress which you had already ruined to the dry cleaning company hoping for a miracle, the cleaners told you they might not be able to get the stains out, you accepted this risk and paid the fee upfront, the cleaning company were correct in their concern, you now have a wedding dress which is still ruined albeit with pink marks instead of brown ones.

You may be lucky enough to persuade the cleaners to refund your £80, even though they have carried out the work they agreed to do and will probably be out of pocket, depends on their goodwill.

Good luck with trying to get any compensation, but quite what you can claim for I don't know, as the dress was already ruined before you handed it in, so you are in fact no worse off.