Would you pay this bill?

[sunshinehunter9]

Its not my AIBU but my sisters. Just wanted to see what others would do. It's a long one so apologies.

Due to a close family sudden illness my Dsis moved her wedding from next year to a very small ceremony in June just passed with only a couple of weeks to plan it.

She bought a wedding dress from a high street shop for herself and a silk bridesmaid one for her daughter, hers needed little alterations so took it to a local at home seamstress who did an okay job at alterations.
The seamstress would also steam her daughters dress however when she picked it up she noticed a wet patch on the top the dress, assuming it was still drying she took it home and hung it up. The next day the wet mark was still there so she took it back. The woman said she couldn't fix it herself but would take it to a drycleaners in the nearest city to sort it. She did that and it was sorted, the mark came off and my DSis got the dresses back. All good.
However the seamstress has now got back in touch saying my Dsis owes for the drycleaning as she obviously marked the dress when she was taking it home.
Would you pay it?

No

No I wouldn’t. If she’s confident the mark was there on collection then she should be firm on that point with the seamstress. Why would the seamstress have organised the dry cleaning if she didn’t believe it was her responsibility?

Absolutely not.

But, did your sister mention it when she collected the dress? It would be easier to refuse if she did

The only reason the seamstress would have taken the dress to the dry cleaners would have been because it was her responsibility to get the stain removed. To suggest it was an additional service because your sister had stained the dress makes no sense. She would have just suggested dry cleaning. She shouldn’t pay the bill but send an email explaining her position to deter the seamstress from taking it further.

I think everyone needs to take photographs of every single problem now because there are a lot of people and businesses who can’t be trusted to do the right thing or even keep their word.

She's 100% confident it was there when she picked up the dress. She said it was a bit of a nightmare as the lady was elderly and seemed to be really lonely and she was in her house every night from the Monday to the Friday 3-4 hours at a time (only having the dress on for 15 mins max) as the woman just wanted a chat and talked constantly, taking out photo albums to show her. The alterations needed did not justify the amount of hours she was there so when she was leaving with the dress she just wanted out of the house asap and she assumed it was just still wet and needed to dry.

The problem is she never pointed it out when she collected the dress do the seamstress would be under the impression there was no problems

The seamstress's logic doesn't really hold up. The chain of events was:

1. Seamstress steamed the dress
2. Wet mark appeared while in the seamstress's care
3. Dsis noticed it after picking it up, assumed drying, took it home
4. Mark still there next day, so she took it straight back
5. Seamstress couldn't fix it herself and had to send it to a drycleaner in the nearest city
6. Now wants Dsis to pay for that

The obvious problem here: the mark appeared before Dsis ever left with the dress, while it was being steamed. Dsis didn't do anything to the dress in between — she just hung it up overnight, which isn't exactly reckless handling of a garment. There's no version of events where "hanging a dress up" caused or worsened a wet mark. If anything, the seamstress's own explanation is a bit of a stretch — how would taking a slightly damp dress home and hanging it cause a mark that wasn't fixable without professional drycleaning? The much more likely explanation is that the steaming itself either caused the mark (product residue, water spotting, whatever) or failed to remove a mark that was already there, and the seamstress is now trying to pass the cost of fixing her own mistake onto the customer. So no — I wouldn't pay it. A few things I'd say back to her (or that your sister could):

• The mark was present and pointed out before the dress ever left the shop
• Dsis acted reasonably by bringing it straight back the next day rather than doing anything herself
• The dress was in the seamstress's possession/care when the issue arose and when the "fix" was arranged — she chose to send it to the drycleaner, Dsis didn't ask her to or agree to cover costs
• If the seamstress believed Dsis caused it, she should have raised that before arranging and paying for the drycleaning, not after the fact once it's a done deal

If the seamstress wants to argue it was pre-existing damage from elsewhere, that's on her to prove, not on your Dsis to disprove. I think most of AIBU would come down firmly on "the woman is trying it on."