Wedding Dress cleaned at Dry Cleaners

meer53

You took a stained dress to the dry cleaners, you still have a stained dress, they warned you they may not be able to get the stains out, what exactly do you want them to do ? It was a risk you took, it failed. What were you planning to do with the dress ?

ThumbRemote

harz99 wrote: »

My opinion is thus; you took a used wedding dress which you had already ruined to the dry cleaning company hoping for a miracle

...

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.

Rather bizarre statements there. In what sense is something stained and taken to the dry cleaners 'ruined'? By your description dry cleaners are 'miracle' workers if they clean 'ruined' clothing.

What you actually mean, without the use of hyperbole, is the OP took a stained dress to the dry cleaners. The dry cleaners have done something to the dress that has either
a) caused brown stains to become pink
b) damaged the fabric of the dress

We don't know which it is, as the OP hasn't yet clarified whether the dry cleaners have simply failed to remove the stains, or whether they have caused further damage through the application of the chemicals they used.

gabby66

I don't think you can say spray tan would readily wash out of most clothing, it has to depend on the type of fake tan. Some are wash off others are more durable typically lasting up to week or longer. Common sense would tell you a more durable product would be more difficult to remove. Paying top dollar at a salon rather than some cheaper do-it-yourself product bought at a chemists is of no relevance.

Whether the dry cleaners cleaned the dress once, twice or more than twice if the only area with pink staining is where the fake tan originally was it not likely to be as a result of overall cleaning.
It's either the end result of cleaning it without fully removing the original staining, or there has been an attempt at spot cleaning the affected area and the harsher solutions have caused an adverse reaction.

My guess is the dry cleaners have tried to spot clean the fake tan and therefore the damage is of their making.

However I wouldn't be too quick to criticise the company. The easiest thing they could have done bearing in mind no guarantee the spray tan would come out, would have been to clean it once and say, " we tried but to no avail. "

If the cleaning company accept the damage is of their making and they are ethically run they will offer you compensation that reflects the garments loss in value, and as a reasonable person I'm sure you would give it due consideration.

squeaky

Hi,

I can't really help with your rights here, but I can make a suggestion that may help.

You could try dipping (or soaking) a very small area, which for preference is out of sight, in a net curtain whitener like this one:-

http://www.peaseofgarforth.co.uk/products/net-curtain-whitener

It doesn't do just net, it does voile and muslin too.

If that works - you can do the remaining areas. If it doesn't - well you'll be able to clean your net curtains next time they need it

Techhead_2

twinkel_toez wrote: »

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...!

You are making a lot of assumptions. Stick to facts or you'll make things more complicated.

meer53

squeaky wrote: »

Hi,

I can't really help with your rights here, but I can make a suggestion that may help.

You could try dipping (or soaking) a very small area, which for preference is out of sight, in a net curtain whitener like this one:-

http://www.peaseofgarforth.co.uk/products/net-curtain-whitener

It doesn't do just net, it does voile and muslin too.

If that works - you can do the remaining areas. If it doesn't - well you'll be able to clean your net curtains next time they need it

Net curtains :eek:

Do they still sell net curtains ?

squeaky

Google net curtains

Nope

meer53

Very 60's though aren't they ?

twinkel_toez

I went to the dry cleaners yesterday and when I saw the damage it is pink on the bits that sit just under the armpits. It's pink... very pink...! When I asked whether it could be sorted out the owner changed what they originally told me by saying there could be a chemical reaction when they clean it. They told me when I dropped it off to them that they 'can't guarantee' getting the stains out. There was no mention of any chemical reaction so I asked them if they did any kind of spot tests and they couldn't give me a straight answer. They only offered to clean the dress a third time to see if it rectifies it.

I'm just really annoyed that they advertise themselves as "wedding dress specialists" but don't carry out any kind of cautionary testing on garments to see if their cleaning methods are suitable. Also, because the location of the spray tan stains are already in a quite an inconspicuous area, a spot test could have been done without too much damage being caused and I could have looked into other options for cleaning. As it stands now, I am now faced with picking up a ruined dress which, IMHO, could have been cleaned without damaging it if more care had been taken on behalf of the professional who I paid good money to for a service that they advertise as "specialising in"...!

unholyangel

twinkel_toez wrote: »

I went to the dry cleaners yesterday and when I saw the damage it is pink on the bits that sit just under the armpits. It's pink... very pink...! When I asked whether it could be sorted out the owner changed what they originally told me by saying there could be a chemical reaction when they clean it. They told me when I dropped it off to them that they 'can't guarantee' getting the stains out. There was no mention of any chemical reaction so I asked them if they did any kind of spot tests and they couldn't give me a straight answer. They only offered to clean the dress a third time to see if it rectifies it.

I'm just really annoyed that they advertise themselves as "wedding dress specialists" but don't carry out any kind of cautionary testing on garments to see if their cleaning methods are suitable. Also, because the location of the spray tan stains are already in a quite an inconspicuous area, a spot test could have been done without too much damage being caused and I could have looked into other options for cleaning. As it stands now, I am now faced with picking up a ruined dress which, IMHO, could have been cleaned without damaging it if more care had been taken on behalf of the professional who I paid good money to for a service that they advertise as "specialising in"...!

I don't mean to sound overly harsh but.......did you carry out a spot test on the dress with the fake tan to make sure it wouldnt stain and if it did, it could be cleaned?

At the end of the day, any successful claim you may have will rest on you being able to prove they were negligent and that the fake tan would have came off if they had not been negligent.