Wedding dress destroyed in laundrette fire

Amywhitey

Hi. New to the forum. I took my wedding dress to our local laundrette for cleaning, between June and September 2022, no date on receipt. Cleaning was to be paid for on collection of dress. I was told there would be a wait for the dress to be cleaned as they had quite a back-log, which was fine. 

On 13th December the laundrette posted on Facebook to advise there had been a fire. I private messaged the owner and said she would be in touch regarding the state of the dress and they were waiting for their insurance to come back.

No word, so I private messaged the owner again on 22nd Feb and she advised there is nothing she can go regarding compensation for my dress as her insurance doesnt cover customers items. 

Surely this can’t be correct? The owner has stated in her messages that goods are left at customers own risk, but this was never communicated to me verbally or non verbally at the time of my visit.

HillStreetBlues

This might be helpful
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/somethings-gone-wrong-with-a-purchase/dry-cleaner/

DullGreyGuy

Amywhitey said:

Surely this can’t be correct? The owner has stated in her messages that goods are left at customers own risk, but this was never communicated to me verbally or non verbally at the time of my visit.

Do you know what the cause of the fire was?
If she is insured or not is irrelevant, there is no legal requirement for them to have any insurance other than Employers Liability.

As per the link above, they had a duty to take reasonable care of your goods irrespective of the signage/message but you cannot hold them liable if some local scrot decided to set fire to the place for kicks... fault in their machinary/electrics then maybe

km1500

You could check if your house contents insurance covers it eg 'items temporarily off premises'

pinkshoes

Amywhitey said:

Hi. New to the forum. I took my wedding dress to our local laundrette for cleaning, between June and September 2022, no date on receipt. Cleaning was to be paid for on collection of dress. I was told there would be a wait for the dress to be cleaned as they had quite a back-log, which was fine. 

On 13th December the laundrette posted on Facebook to advise there had been a fire. I private messaged the owner and said she would be in touch regarding the state of the dress and they were waiting for their insurance to come back.

No word, so I private messaged the owner again on 22nd Feb and she advised there is nothing she can go regarding compensation for my dress as her insurance doesnt cover customers items. 

Surely this can’t be correct? The owner has stated in her messages that goods are left at customers own risk, but this was never communicated to me verbally or non verbally at the time of my visit.

"Goods left at a customer's own risk" would be an unfair T&C. They legally have a duty of care for your item. How else are you meant to get your item dry cleaned without leaving it?!?

They should have insurance against fire. 

You will need to decide what the dress is worth. I'm assuming you have already had the wedding? Were you getting it dry cleaned to store it or sell it? You will need to establish the value of a second hand wedding dress and claim this amount. I think typically it's around 30% to 50% depending on the original quality, and designer dresses can fetch a slightly higher amount. 

You cannot claim for sentimental loss.

You will need to do some digging into the business and find out who owns it, then potentially send a letter before action to the owner giving them 28 days to pay out for the dress. 

Going on the date of the fire and Google, is this a laundrette in Dorset?

m0bov

If they left a heater on, they should be covering the cost. But if they were targeted by an arsonist, then you would have no claim, other then your own insurance.

Given their lack of co operation, I would be asking for the cause of the fire to help decide liability. Or you could LBA them, or you could claim on your insurance/legal helping and then let them deal with it. Did you have insurance cover on the item whilst away from home?

The fact they have not contacted customers sounds very dubious.

user1977

They're liable if the cause was their own negligence (whether or not they happen to have insurance for it).

Undervalued

user1977 said:

They're liable if the cause was their own negligence (whether or not they happen to have insurance for it).

Indeed.

However the wedding dress aspect of this is a bit emotive. If the owner is liable, which would require negligence on their part, then it would only be for the commercial value of the item and not any sentimental aspect.

km1500

Yes, the 'value' of a second hand dress is likely to be quite low.

DullGreyGuy

pinkshoes said:
They should have insurance against fire. 

By the sounds of it they do for buildings, fixtures, fittings, machines, maybe stock but not for customers goods left on site. 

Business insurance, even SME, is far more nuanced that consumer insurance with many more options to include or exclude. 

km1500

Probably because they expect customers to have their own contents insurance with 'personal possessions out-and-about' cover to protect their possessions against loss, damage, destruction etc whilst out of the house.