To think the dry cleaner needs to refund the cost of my ruined jacket!

[ziggiestardust]

I bought a lovely new blazer from Zara for £79.99 a few weeks ago, but it still had that shoppy smell so I took it to the dry cleaners. I've not long lived here so I used the one closest to me. DH had his suit done at the same time.

We went in to pick the stuff up; DH's suit was ready but my blazer wasn't going to be ready for another 2 days. Ok. We go in to pick it up today and it looks like the jacket's outer lining has been damaged; fraying and bobbly and awful, threads hanging off and I spotted one or two ladders as well. I explained to the man behind the till I wasn't happy and that the jacket had been brand new; he didn't speak English as a first language so just kept pulling threads off the jacket and saying 'is bad material, very bad, not us.' He also said he'd cleaned it 3 times, but it was bad. I asked him to stop, and if I could speak to the manager. The manager isn't in until tomorrow. I left the jacket with him and kept my ticket so no one could say I'd damaged it between today and tomorrow.

What on earth do I do now?? It was brand new and I have the receipt to prove it; I'm so irritated! I hate bad service! I think the wrong chemical has been used, as the care label has a circle with a P in it. I'm so upset! That was my one treat to myself for getting a new job in a new city, and it's spoiled

Yep, definitely demand a refund. Take in your receipt. They have a duty of care.

Oh no! Congrats on your new job. They may eventually refund you. OTOH they make a living with dry cleaning and presumably know what they're doing and want to keep their customers.

I've never bought anything from Zara. Nothing ever. I find the quality and cut poor. There may be something in that.

Take the receipt in and demand a refund, that's appalling service.

The quality of a jacket from Zara is neither here nor there, if I bought a jacket from primark or a charity shop and had it cleaned I'd expect to find it in the same condition as when I took it in!! (Except cleaner )

If they had such reservations about the material they should have told you when they took it from you.

And find a new dry cleaner!!

That sounds terrible.

And why on earth was it cleaned three times??

Take in proof of when you bought it and demand a refund. As has been said, they should have said something before cleaning it if the material is that bad! That is what you pay them for!

And yes, find a new dry cleaner.

Thank you everyone for all the advice; glad I'm not being unreasonable by asking for a refund for the jacket. Luckily I have proof that I only bought it a couple of weeks ago!

I'm so disappointed! Hopefully they aren't going to protest at giving a refund for it, but I have a horrible feeling that they will

Once took my jacket into our local dry cleaners (part of a chain) and the service was just appalling. When I went to collect it, the coat smelt and looked worse than when I'd left it. And, there was a button missing. The assistant told me 'it wasn't their responsibility!'

When I got home I contacted their customer service department, who agreed the button was their responsibility but that they couldn't really do anything about it. They ended the call by saying they hoped I'd use them again. No chance! They closed down about a year later and, no, I'm not surprised!

Really hope you get a refund though, OP. I agree with others that it's totally irrelevant where the coat came from/what it cost. You don't expect to pick it up and find it in that state!

I had this problem with a coat, the dry cleaners claimed it had followed the instructions on the care label so to take to problem up with Debenhams (where I bought it). I did and after debenhams sent it away for 'testing' I got a refund from them.

So just saying it's not necessarily the dry cleaners if the jacket wasn't made well x

I have to add... I had a leather coat and a back panel got ripped. I took it into a well known chain for a repair.

When I got it back the replacement panel had a defect, it wasn't the soft expensive leather of the rest of the coat and it had had a vein running through it. The line of the vein was identical to the tear that I took it in to replace. Effectively the coat still looked torn, but now badly repaired.

The manager couldn't see it. The panel had been replaced. I wrote to Head Office (long time ago). HO said a replacement had been carried out. I got not further with them. So I wrote again, this time I told them I had joined Which! specifically to get the matter sorted and wasn't going to go away until they had done the repair I had paid good money for.

The coat was taken away and brought back after 2 weeks, fully repaired.

All you have to work out these days is, who is today's equivalent of Which? Martin Lewis? Watchdog?

Gary

I would ask for a refund for the dry cleaning and then return the blazer to Zara. The blazer does sound faulty.