Rug damaged by dry cleaners

marmitez

We had a hand woven late 1980s Moroccan rug which was a gift from a late parent dry cleaning my Johnson’s and it has come back damaged irreparable, they have offered us £500 compensation. The rug holds a lot of sentimental value to us and feel the offer doesn’t reflect this, what should we do ?

MyRealNameToo

marmitez said:

We had a hand woven late 1980s Moroccan rug which was a gift from a late parent dry cleaning my Johnson’s and it has come back damaged irreparable, they have offered us £500 compensation. The rug holds a lot of sentimental value to us and feel the offer doesn’t reflect this, what should we do ?

Sentimentality doesnt have a value unfortunately and very surprised they are offering £500 - most just point to their T&Cs that damage is a risk of the service especially if its something without a label identifying what its made of, care instructions etc. 

Obviously the damage cannot be undone so realistically what do you want? In principle if they accept they are liable for the damage they would owe you the difference in what you could have sold it for immediately before the cleaning and what you could sell it for now plus the cleaning fee. 

ripplyuk

I’m surprised they’re offering £500 tbh. When my dry cleaners ruined my expensive sheepskins they offered £20 for cheap replacements from Ikea. 

Would the rug cost more than £500 to replace? If so, you could show them some examples and see if they’ll increase the offer. Sadly, sentimentality doesn’t come into it. Did the cleaners give any sort of guarantee that the rug would not be damaged? 

MyRealNameToo

ripplyuk said:

Would the rug cost more than £500 to replace? If so, you could show them some examples and see if they’ll increase the offer. Sadly, sentimentality doesn’t come into it. Did the cleaners give any sort of guarantee that the rug would not be damaged? 

Technically it would be to replace it with another secondhand rug.... depending on the nature of the rug some may become more expensive with age but the vast majority won't. 

born_again

https://www.ebay.co.uk/b/bn_7026567511

Aylesbury_Duck

What do you think it's worth?

PHK

born_again said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/b/bn_7026567511

Yes, I was going to point out similar. They are definitely of their time, there are lots out there and even dealers don't go above £400 for a good example.