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!

[iMum]

I have put it in a pillow case in the machine on a cold handwash setting-fingers crossed

[bishboschone]

let us know how you get on...I didn't realise you still had it..(trying to read on phone!)

P.s If anyone is planning to do this, a squirt of spray vanish is a good idea, but to reduce the risk of colour loss/run only do it just before you put in the machine.

Hate to throw a spanner in the works IMUM but I know the way these companies work, are they going to exchange it because I wouldn't have thought they would after you have washed it. I may have read some of your posts wrong so ignore me if this isn't the case.

[HurleySatOnMe]

What?? So you got them to agree to an exchange but have taken the dress home as well?

[iMum]

Hiya Bish-they offered to exchange it and I askd could I come back tomorrow to do that as the 2 little ones were howling by this point-she endorsed my receipt and I took the dress home.
It is currently in front of a fan drying and the colours are perfect, the stains are gone!

If the dress is fine after this wash then I have no intention of taking it back as I do love it! There certainly is no obvious "ive washed it" signs other than the stains are gone.

[iMum]

And thankyou Bish and Anchovies!

[iMum]

So far-dress looks good!

[MagalyZz]

I was recently disgusted with their customer services too. I bought a pair of sun glasses from them and they 'loosened' and fell off my face. I'd only had them a week and worn them once. I took them back. I was told that I had damaged them!!!! They just wouldn't agree that 25e for a pair of sun glasses that lasted a week was unreasonable, and I didn't even want my money back. I just wanted another pair of sun glasses. The manager (stroppy cow) even admitted that she had the authorised discretion to allow exchanges,but in my case had decided NOT to exchange them. HOW RUDE IS THAT!??!!??!!?

I won't shop there again. Accesorize or Monsoon. Too pissed off with them. I used to shop there fairly often.

[MrsSeanBean]

I've gone off Monsoon lately (well longer ago really, about 4 years ago) due to poor product quality. I think the woman you spoke to OP should have had a nicer attitude, considering she was in a 'customer service' role.

I also think however, that all care labels need to be taken with a pinch of salt. I have often washed silk, in fact when DH once ruined a silk slip with a colour run, I even soaked it with industrial strength colour run remover. It got the stains out, admittedly the texture is not as silky, but I reasoned that it was ruined anyway so I had nothing to lose.

[bishboschone]

Oh great I mum,pls be careful if you want to iron it ,these dresses can burn very easily with domestic irons or go shiny ,if you are unsure take it back tithe original dry cleaners who you paid and I am sure they will press it for you free of charge.( I would if you were my customer) .I would hate for you to ruin it at the last hurdle.

[bishboschone]

Oh great I mum,pls be careful if you want to iron it ,these dresses can burn very easily with domestic irons or go shiny ,if you are unsure take it back tithe original dry cleaners who you paid and I am sure they will press it for you free of charge.( I would if you were my customer) .I would hate for you to ruin it at the last hurdle.

[bishboschone]

Oopsy,damn I phone

[bishboschone]

Sean bean,the reason they put dry clean on everything is to reduce the returns .seriously alot of people are rubbish at washing ( i have seen some horrors!) and if this type of dress if it said 30 degree wash would be bunged in with a load of other stuff with a detergent with bleach and it would be ruined. Monsoon would have to refund as it costs more to test to prove fault .therefore d clean labels save the company money.

[bodenbore]

How much do you think the product cost Monsoon - a fiver to make??

[bishboschone]

probably not much more than that but if they actually told customers to wash they would have significantly more returns. NOt just Monsoon, all shops do it.

[Bousy]

I agree with you iMum, I think it is unfair of Monsoon to make a dress that can be ruined by rainwater and not warn customers of this. Not much point saying 'dry clean only' if you can't actually dry clean it! Hope it dries OK, I think it's really pretty

[lidofabiro]

I would write to them to suggest they warn other customers of this potential problem.

[iMum]

TBH i'mquite surprised at the number of people on here that think seeling a very delicate dress for quite alot of money with misleading care instructions is ok and that a customer asking for reimbursement when a dress seems to be damaged through normal wearing (and only 1 wear) is unreasonable.

Shouldn't even fancy clothes be fit for purpose?

[iMum]

TBH i'mquite surprised at the number of people on here that think seeling a very delicate dress for quite alot of money with misleading care instructions is ok and that a customer asking for reimbursement when a dress seems to be damaged through normal wearing (and only 1 wear) is unreasonable.

Shouldn't even fancy clothes be fit for purpose?

[beanlet]

Exactly, bishboschone -- far too many shops are overly cautious with putting "dryclean only" on their clothes simply in order to cover their backs, when they could very easily be washed at home with the right instructions.

I've put plenty of supposedly "dryclean only" things through the washing machine, or hand washed them, and they've come out perfectly fine -- but then, I know how to wash different kinds of fabrics because my excessively thrifty mother taught me. Not everyone has this kind of knowledge, especially not anymore.

[beanlet]

In fact, you could argue that Monsoon's instructions were at fault, because the dress would be damaged by drycleaning.

[SoupDragon]

The care instructions weren't misleading IMO. The dress wasn't damaged after one wear - you ruined it with a drink, it didn't fall apart! Perhaps you could complain to the venue that they didn't serve the champagne in a non spill beaker and ask for a refund. The care instructions didn't say "do not climb trees in this dress" but I assume you didn't think that was OK?

And people whine about the ever increasing
Nanny State. [sheesh]

[MargaretAtwood3660]

I think the exchange is REALLY reasonable of them.

Yes they made a mistake not putting a warning on the labei but tbh most people realise silk doesn't respond too well to water etc.

I am impressed that they did offer an exchange.

[MargaretAtwood3660]

What I mean is, you could spill curry on it or tomato sauce and it still might not come out...often clothes like this DO get ruined very easily, and there's nothing you can do about it.

Basically it's up to you to be careful with a delicate garment. Sorry.

[iMum]

But soup-is it not to be expected that if a frock is DRY CLEAN ONLY then it can indeed be cleaned!
regarding the venue/non spill beaker I think you are missing the point slightly.

[MargaretAtwood3660]

No, as I said it isn't to be expected.

It means dry cleaning won't damage the item, that's all.

It does NOT mean that dry cleaning will get anything out.