Dry cleaners ruined my suit

Enigma80

Hi all,

I had my suit cleaned and pressed yesterday as I had an interview today and I'd worn it the week before.

I took it to my usual dry cleaners (Johnson's) who have cleaned this suit before on a number of occasions. However, this afternoon when I took it out of the protective cover I noticed the jacket had been ruined. It basically looks like it's been put through a normal washing machine on a hot wash or ironed too hot. It's left with wrinkles and bubbling to the material (wool/silk blend). It also feels slightly tighter than it did last week, I found it difficult to do the button on the jacket up where last week it was fine. Also the legs on the trousers felt quite tight.

I had no choice but to wear (I don't have another suit at the moment) it the interview and took it straight off as soon as I was given the opportunity.

Anyway, I called up Johnson's as soon as I realised this afternoon and I was asked for my ticket number (which also has staff name on it), and was then told to pop in with it tomorrow as the manager was going to be in the branch.

I wanted to know what my rights are and/or what I should expect from them. I don't see anyway it can be repaired as the material is ruined. It will have to be replaced, but will they likely offer this?

InsideInsurance

If it had shrunk due to heat treatment then sleeves/ legs being too short would be more noticeable than it being too tight.

They will presumably offer to take it back and try to rectify the issue however if it has shrunk and assuming it has a bonded canvas etc then there is really little they can do. If its just a pressing issue then its simple and quick to repress it.

If it cannot be rectified then it'll come down to their T&Cs and if they'd taken reasonable care or not.

Wool however hates being dry cleaned and it really should only be done in exceptional circumstances. Steam pressing is a different matter and is fine to be done regularly to ensure it looks sharp.

fluffnutter

But this suit has been cleaned by the same firm on a number of occasions with no ill effects, so that would suggest that something specific went wrong this time.

That will be your argument, OP. How old is the suit? A reasonable offer will be a cash offer taking into account the use you've already had. It's unlikely that this will be enough to completely replace the suit.

Enigma80

Thanks all. Yes it has been cleaned before. It's 80% wool and 20% silk and it does have bonded canvas.

here's a photo of it:


You can see some of the bubbling/wrinkles this image.

pendragon_arther

Looks like it's been washed not dry cleaned. The latter doesn't shrink clothes.

Enigma80

I popped in yesterday and spoke to the manager. I explained the situation, but he was adamant that it couldn't have gotten wet there.

He also accepted that the shoulder seams and collar looked all wrinkled as if it had been shrunk.

He then offered to have it sent away for inspection. So it'll be back on the 25th of Feb now.

Enigma80

pendragon_arther wrote: »

Looks like it's been washed not dry cleaned. The latter doesn't shrink clothes.

Which is exactly what I thought.

fluffnutter

Don't you get that sort of effect when something's been ironed too hot? That's what it looks like to me - heat damage, not necessarily water damage. But I'm not an expert.