A complaint about Monsoon customer services

[iMum]

I am really so upset about this-it just seems so unfair....

last week I bought this dress
I wore it to a posh do but got some champagne on my frock.
The label said dry clean only so I took it along to my local dry cleaners who said that the champange would be next to impossible to clean as it is a water based stain and that only water can remove such stains, he cleaned it anyway and the stain remained-he explained that chemicals did exist to clean it (water based ones) and that they could even try dipping the dress into cold water but both options would run the risk of ruining the dress further.
I took the dress to another dry cleaners who said exactly the same-that the fabric (silk) cannot tolerate water on it (even rain) and that to remove the stains would probably lead to the colours running or. fabric damage.
I took the dress into Monsoon and explained all this-the lady phoned customer service and then came back to me and said that as I had now had the dress dry clceaned that the stain was fixed and there is nothing they are prepared to do about it!
I by this point was quite upset as this is an expensive dress which I cannot afford to wear once only.
I asked if I could speak to customer services then and there and the lady did ring them for me-I had a very lenght conversation with the woman on the end of the phone who although not outright rude was very "attitudey"

My argument was that they had made a dress that stained if got wet but that was dry clean only, and dry cleaning wouldnt remove water marks - there was no warning on the dress to tell me to avoid water on the fabric. Not being a posh frock wearer I wasnt in the know about these sorts of things. I explained that I had spent alot of money on this dress that I now cant wear.

Her response was that dry cleaning had now "set" the stain, that it was my fault as I spilt the drink that as it was not a manufacturing fault she had no responsibility to do anything.

By this time I was quite upset not crying but my voice was going a bit wobbly!

I did keep trying to ask her to explain how I should try and sort the dress out but she could only say that the dress once wet cannot be fixed as it is dry clean only-I explained what I had been told by the dry cleaners and she actually got narky with me and in a very sarcy tone was explaining what a dry cleaners was. I suggested that maybe a tag should be put on the dress to explain about the water staining issue but she just siad "we dont have too do that or refund you" I asked her what I can do about it then-she told me to go to trading standards if I wanted to.

So i bought a dress that said dry clean only, i wore it and got a bit of champange down it-not much mind yu but in a very obvious place. i followed the instructions nd took it to the dry cleaners, turns out no water based marks can be removed from the dress and monsoon bear no responsibility at all.

I know its my fault as I spilt the drink but surly making a dress out of this fabric is insane! the dry cleaners said that even if it had been rain the water would have marked the dress.

The customer services woman said her bit and I said mine I asked her if there was anything she could do to help sort the situation out and she said she had no responsibility to but if the store wanted to offer an exchange then thats down to them. The lady instore was obviously in a real fix now as all this was going on next to the cash desk instore so Customers were hearing it all-to her credit she has offered to exchange the dress.

But the more I think about this the crazier it seems!

[SkipHopJump]

I'm not sure why you're complaining tbh, surely you would know liquid would ruin a silk dress?

Anyway that dress is foul.

Not really bad customer service since she is exchanging it.

[SkipHopJump]

God, I thought I was in AIBU there- which is why I was overly harsh. Eep!

[mamatomany]

We had a dry cleaner in the family so I had years of free dry cleaning but I wouldn't pay for it.
Quite a lot of what you take in goes in the washing machine if the dry is good and knows their textiles and if it's somewhere like Johnstons or a big chain then it goes through an extremely mild chemical solution which wouldn't clean a thing, just freshens it and if there are any stains on the clothes they get highlighted to you along with the bill for £20.

[LIZS]

If you want to make a complaint then write to the relevant buyer at head office - who is responsible for selecting style/fabric, quality control , labelling etc. However given your own good outcome I doubt you will pursue it that far. It is usually at the discretion of local store managers to deal with such complaints and yes it will affect others, either way, because the item you return will have to be written off against the store's income, affecting any profit- based bonus targets.

[iMum]

point is skiphop customer services didnt give a hoot and just said it was down to store discretion-head office would authorise anything so upto store manager-basically I think that I got my exchange because i was stood in monsoon on the phone to customer services with 2 by now ratty children! lots of people overhearing my phone call (i was well spoken and polite thoughout!) I then turned to store manager (stood next to me ) and explained that it was upto her if she wanted to exchange it as goodwill or not, I think she was between a rock and a hard place tbh!

but again-I am not upset with outcome or store lady but cross with customer services woman and general disposable dress selling!

[stubbornhubby]

iMum I think you must be well hard! Max respect - I wish I had you to do all family's complaining for us..... after you left the Monsoon manageress must have been scratching her head thinking 'how on earth did I agree to that???'

OK, I am betting you even managed to bring the original dress home with you so that you could wear it again? Am I right?

[stressheaderic]

Love the dress.
In fact, I'm sure Arlene was sporting it on Loose Women today (along with her new facelift). If it wasn't that one, it was very similar.
Think you got a very good outcome to be honest.

[bishboschone]

I am a dry cleaner , i can talk to you if you want, I am on my phone so can't read the thread v well.

[iMum]

thankyou Bish! but I think I will abandon the dress and go in and change it tomorrow for something more "durable"
My mum tho thinks i should just cold hand wash it!

[bishboschone]

I am a dry cleaner , i can talk to you if you want, I am on my phone so can't read the thread v well.

[bishboschone]

Sorry , I posted twice. We see this day in day out , we also wash dry clean dresses that have marks on(at customers say so) on a daily basis. In 20 years I haven't ruined one so if you are careful you can pretty much wash anything. Truly I have to say monsoon have been more than fair exchanging it as I undrstand you are upset but the stains are your fault . It would be different if the beads melted, that would be monsoons fault for example. Most monsoon labels do say be careful with perfumes etc so I do believe they have been very fair. I always say to people don't buy expensive items unless you can afford to replace them
because one evening out can ruin a dress. Don't feel bad though , I can't count the times I have been shouted at because drink spills don't come our, I think people are mostly cross with themselves but take it out on me.

[SoupDragon]

personally, i think they've offered good customer service. You ruined a dress, they are exchanging it. The lady on the phone was quite right, they have no obligation to do anything.

Silk is a delicate fabric. It thought everyone knew that. Given that i'd already ruined the dress, I would have washed it though. I've certainly had washable pure silk clothes before.

[iMum]

Oh bish I am happy with my exchange more the principle of the thing that has left me wrankled and I promise you I didnt shout at anyone!

[iMum]

Oh bish I am happy with my exchange more the principle of the thing that has left me wrankled and I promise you I didnt shout at anyone!

[iMum]

Soup, I knew it was delicate and was prepared to foot the dry cleaning bill with a smile I just didnt know it was buggered if it got wet and wouldnt have bought it had I known that!

Lesson learned!

[Tn0g]

what principle?

[bishboschone]

Yeah I understand, I too wish the labels said please font enjoy yourself in this dress because your local dry cleaner won't be able to fix it! Would make my life easier

[iMum]

selling a dress that can be buggered by water for £75 and not making your customers aware that water will bugger it!

Obviously not being the type to glam it up often and not having owned silk before I was totally unaware of this!

[anchovies]

I had a similar thing with a silk dress from monsoon recently, I had no idea that water marks wouldn't come out of silk through dry cleaning. Monsoon offered a 50% refund and I got to keep the dress to see if it survived a cold wash. Worked out fab because I got the dress half price and it goes through the machines hand wash cycle no problem!

[iMum]

Ohh anchovies thats great! so I'm not the only silk ignoramus out there then!

[LIZS]

but it wasn't the principle was it . Your op started with "... it seems so unfair ...." when in fact they have been more than fair

[MacMomo]

"Silk is a delicate fabric. I thought everyone knew that." What a truly pompous thing to say. We're not born knowing these things. I expect iMum knows plenty that you don't (such as how to proof read your posts). I hope we'd all be more polite than to tell you how ignorant you are.

[iMum]

My op was messy LIZS but I dont think i said i wasnt happy with the outcome just that it had to come to that iyswim!

[iMum]

Anchovies, how did you wash it in the end then?

[bishboschone]

Best way to wash these dressed us to use hand wash setting on your washing machine , using a delicate colour liquid detergent. Get it out the wash straight away and hang, preferably in front of a fan( get it dry asap) . Never ruined one yet!