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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Cleaner ironed a massive hole in my new dress!

42 replies

angeltattoo · 17/04/2012 17:35

Hi People,
I bought a new dress last week because I am going on an annual trip with family to the races next Saturday and depressingly, none of my other dresses fit :-(

Am a bit skint so bought a cheap dress (£32) and left it for my cleaner, who visits every 2 weeks, to iron, BUT the is a massive iron-shaped hole in the left boob bit now!

Her manager rang me and left me a voice mail to apologise, saying that the cleaner (she has a name of course but won't use it here just incase) was very sorry and would replace the dress is I wanted her to.

I'm sure it was an honest mistake and it could just as easily have been me, but I'm really gutted beacuse it is brand new (I literally took the tag off it this morning and hung it up for ironing) and I acually really NEED the dress for the races next week!

Have been online to order another, but they are sold out in my new, massive size. :-(

The bloody iron is ruined too.

What would you do? The cleaner only costs £60 a month and is my only treat - I have two jobs - so it's not a case of 'well you have a cleaner so can afford a new dress' and actually, her cleaning isn't that great (I pay for three hrs, but she is never here that long as it's a small one-bed flat. I truly don't mind her not staying 3 hrs, but I would like the place to be cleaner, i.e. if a door is open, she doesn't clean behind it and this drives me mad!)

My heart is telling me to say 'please don't worry, it was a mistake' but I really do not know what to do about a dress for the races now?!

OP posts:
CailinDana · 17/04/2012 17:37

Ask her to replace it. She should have read the tag and checked that it was ok to iron it. That's part of her job. Also, get a new cleaner, she sounds shit.

valiumredhead · 17/04/2012 17:38

If she is good, I would treat it as one of those things that can happen to anyone.

Her paying for a new one won't sort out your dress dilemma though - that's a separate issue.

Very annoying though as now you have to re plan what to wear.

Sarcalogos · 17/04/2012 17:39

Ask her to replace it and the iron! Surely this is what cleaning companies have insurance FOR?

You don't have to be nasty about it so no need to feel guilty.

reliablemillipede · 17/04/2012 17:39

Couple of options:-

  1. sack the cleaner and get a new one.
  2. wear something else to the races
  3. wear the dress with the hole and buy a cardi to cover it up.

You can't cry over spilt milk, what's done is done, get over it and move on.

Bonsoir · 17/04/2012 17:40

She sounds like a crap cleaner!

ZillionChocolate · 17/04/2012 17:40

My cleaner is good and reliable so I'd let it go. Maybe with yours I wouldn't. If it was ironed hotter than the care label advised, then you could pursue it. If it's an agency, they night well have insurance. Someone has to pay to replace it, not sure it should be you.

LadySybilDeChocolate · 17/04/2012 17:41

Tell them to replace it, then sack the cleaner.

Rhinestone · 17/04/2012 17:41

If she has a manager then she's obviously part of a company - they'll have insurance so definitely ask them to replace the dress.

And use this as an opportunity to talk to her manager about her job performance as she sounds rubbish.

Original poster
angeltattoo · 17/04/2012 17:58

Thanks.

Am gutted about the dress and don't know what to do (a wrap is agood idea but the hole is entire-boob size so likely too big to cover up!) but as someone said I suppose that's another issue.

I think I'll only be happy if I get a cleaner who actually mops the corners of the floors etc...

...so I'll just have to grow a pair and stop being sich a wuss.

OP posts:
fedupofnamechanging · 17/04/2012 19:30

I would contact the manager and ask for both the dress and the iron to be replaced..You shouldn't be out of pocket I would also ask for a different cleaner. There really is no point in paying for a service that you are not receiving. If you are giving someone money to clean your home, then it ought to be properly cleaned.

boringnickname · 17/04/2012 19:35

"Hi People,
I bought a new dress last week because I am going on an annual trip with family to the races next Saturday and depressingly, none of my other dresses fit :-(

Am a bit skint so bought a cheap dress (£32) and left it for my cleaner, who visits every 2 weeks, to iron, BUT the is a massive iron-shaped hole in the left boob bit now!
"

Am i the only one to spot the problem with this paragraph? cearly not THAT skint then. (sorry just irritates when people plead poverty and then go on to say things like, day at the races, cleaner and cheap dress (£32 - not cheap).

BUT YANBU, she works for a company and therefore the company should refund you the price of the dress. They cream off part of that womans wages to cover things like that. I would say that if she was an independant cleaner id be less incined to force the issue, although if i had done it i would have offered to replace, but that would have been a large amount of money to me, because to me, £32 for a dress IS expensive. Hey ho

HandMadeTail · 17/04/2012 19:37

If its a company, then ask for reimbursement. Also, complain about the standard of cleaning.

The dress problem is trickier. Try Shopstyle to see if you can find something suitable.

HappyAsEyeAm · 17/04/2012 19:44

If the cleaning company is claiming the cost of the dress and iron from its insurance company, find out whetehr there is an excess and if so, who pays it.

A friend of mine claimed for the cost of a new dressing table on the insurance for the cleaning agency which she uses after her cleaner broke it. It was in the region of £500, so a bigger claim than yours. She ended up paying the excess of about £50. I don't know why. I also don't know why she didn't claim off her own insurance. But I do know that she ended up paying the agency's insurance company's excess.

EnjoyResponsibly · 17/04/2012 19:46

I think it's wrong of the cleaning company to approach you in this manner.

Their role, surely, is to reimburse you and dock the cleaners salary (sorry I know she's probably not awfully well paid, but it's her job to do ironing effectively) for the value fvthe dress and a replacement iron. The company will presumably have insurance for such eventualities, and if not why bother with them acting as middle man?

You in turn should have already raised the issue of her not cleaning properly with her manager.

This isn't the first thread this week where the OP has used one problem as an excuse to sack a cleaner for another problem and it's starting to make me quite ragey.

If you can't manage people that work for you don't bloody hire them.

claudedebussy · 17/04/2012 19:55

i don't get it. i've ironed for close on 25 years now and never burnt a whole in anything. to do that you'd have to leave the iron on the dress surely?

well that's just shoddy ironing imo!

as to what to do, well i'd move on - get another dress, get another iron. and get another cleaner.

claudedebussy · 17/04/2012 19:55

whole? hole hole hole holey hole

scuzy · 17/04/2012 20:00

burn the other boob in the same fashion ... a new ORIGINAL ONE OF A KIND dress.

poor cleaners are getting an awful doing on here lately, though in your case OP it was a genuine mistake. just suck it up (nicely) and you'll find something else.

maybe take to seamstress and maybe something they can do ... extra material on lining and sew it on perhaps ...

Original poster
angeltattoo · 17/04/2012 20:25

Blush @ scuzy you may be onto something there. Best dressed here I come!

I know for some £32 is a lot of money, and i assume it may be for the cleaner (of course i may be wrong) and as I'm sure it was accidental then I wouldn't ask her to pay. I am more gutted that it's unwearable (no lining and she melted the belt too!) because it was bought for a specific event and they have sold out online so i'm buggered dress wise. That particular dress, I mean.

The mgt company have not offered to pay, omly told me that the cleaner had offered. If it was any other item of clothing I woudn't be upset, I'm just sad I won't get to wear the dress. ah well.

OP posts:
FeeltheBeeranddoitanyway · 17/04/2012 20:25

sew a rafflesia arnoldii on it

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 17/04/2012 20:31

Does it say on the dress that it can be safely ironed?

If it does, then it's her fault and she should pay for the dress and the iron. If it doesn't then it's your fault for giving her something to iron that isn't ironable, so should leave it.

londonlottie · 17/04/2012 20:35

Sorry, £32 is NOT a lot for a dress... god how I hate the fact that if you say you eat anything other than powdered egg every day you have to justify yourself up to the tits so as to avoid being called an over-indulgent cow Hmm

OP - your cleaner sounds rubbish, why do you put up with it? Why do you pay 3 hours for a one bed flat if it doesn't need it? Why if you suspect she leaves early do you not say anything? In the past if a cleaner has made a mistake with my stuff (eg. messing up doing laundry) I've left it, but that's because overall I've had a long-running relationship with them and really like them and don't think it's worth getting upset about. So I think this is where the issue lies - you have a crap cleaner so are not inclined to forgive, and nor can you afford to - despite having the unbelievable RICHES required to have an annual trip to the races and a dress worth over 5p! Wink

Callisto · 17/04/2012 20:42

No, £32 is not much for a dress, but having a cleaner and saying you're skint in the same sentence is a bit of a piss take imo.

londonlottie · 17/04/2012 20:44

Yes, but that may be YOUR set of priorities and not someone else's. You may think there's no way you'd let yourself get skint whilst having a cleaner. I would rather wear cardboard boxes for shoes than give mine up.

Original poster
angeltattoo · 17/04/2012 20:49

londonlottie thanks for that!

3 hrs was their minimum and i'm more than happy to pay this for a clean home, so if it only takes 2 hrs I don't mind. But you're right, I'm not happy with the service. So to be reasonable, I may just have to speak to her nicely about what I'd like doing i.e. Behind doors, skirting boards and feel free to pick things up and dust under them instead of dusting around them.

I'd rather do that than let her go, as that wouldn't be fair. I also hardly ever leave ironing...that'll teach me, ha! Trouble is, because I am always out working, earning my billions of pounds I never see her and she doesn't understand my notes (or just refuses to clean the skirting boards!) as her English isn't good.

OP posts:
Original poster
angeltattoo · 17/04/2012 20:51

lottie me too, is your cleaner free for 3 hours a fortnight?! Wink

OP posts:
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