curtains damaged by dry cleaners.. what can i expect?

M

micksaddress

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hi folks,

left our curtains in to be cleaned last week to dry cleaners. They were hand made and about 5 years old. Cost us over 600 euro at the time. Two pairs. Anyway it cost 75 euro to get them cleaned.. but when they came back the colours had faded (they are cream yellow vertical stripes with redish toned vertical stripes...) the red had also run into the lining of the curtain so when we hung them again when light shone into the room it lit up a lovely shade of pink! Also there was an unreal smell of washing detergent/powder off them.. So much so that my hands broke out in a rash hanging them up again. They also seemed to have shrunk by an inch or two as they didnt hang down as far as before.. not a huge issue on one of the windows.. but the other is a patio door.. so its important they cover the full length

Anyway we brought them back to the cleaners who took them and said they'd clean them again and repair them.. We're due to get them back again today but to be honest i'm not sure what they can do with them...

If they dont come back fixed - what should we reasonably expect? I would be hoping for a refund of the cleaning charges.. plus a reasonable amount to put towards new curtains.

Anyone have any experience of this in the past?

Cheers,
Mick
 
Re: curtains damged by dry cleaners.. what can i expect?

quick update.. cleaners phoned back again to say they are going to try and clean the curtains for a 3rd time.. and if that fails.. they are going to replace the lining.. id rather they cut their losses now and give us a refund as the curtains are obviously beyond repair and we're not going to be happy putting them back up again anyway
 
Re: curtains damged by dry cleaners.. what can i expect?

I think they are being very fair and seem to be very good at trying to rectify the problem.

When you say a refund - do you mean for the dry cleaning or for the curtains??
 
Re: curtains damged by dry cleaners.. what can i expect?

i would expect a refund on the dry cleaning bill.. but also a contribution to go towards the cost of replacing the curtains.. i wouldnt expect anywhere near the full cost of the curtains as they are over 5 years old.. but at the same time.. i dont think its acceptable that if they damaged them that i would have to pay the full amount for new curtains.. after all the reason i brought them to a dry cleaners was because i was afraid we'd damage them if we washed them ourselves

sam h said:
I think they are being very fair and seem to be very good at trying to rectify the problem.

When you say a refund - do you mean for the dry cleaning or for the curtains??
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Re: curtains damged by dry cleaners.. what can i expect?

micksaddress said:
i would expect a refund on the dry cleaning bill.. But also a contribution to go towards the cost of replacing the curtains.. I wouldnt expect anywhere near the full cost of the curtains as they are over 5 years old.. But at the same time.. I dont think its acceptable that if they damaged them that i would have to pay the full amount for new curtains.. After all the reason i brought them to a dry cleaners was because i was afraid we'd damage them if we washed them ourselves
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+1
 
Re: curtains damged by dry cleaners.. what can i expect?

All the indications are that the curtains have been machine-washed / laundered and not dry-cleaned. Are the curtains labelled "dry-clean only" or did you specifically ask that they be dry-cleaned?

Most lined curtains require dry-cleaning as otherwise the curtain colours will fade and the linings will shrink at different rates when washed.
 
Re: curtains damged by dry cleaners.. what can i expect?

no markings/labels on the curtains as they were hand made.. we did specifically request dry cleaning.. the girl made a point of it in the shop when my wife brought them in.. she said.. 'oh they are expensive curtains' so they will definetly have to be dry cleaned... '

my suspicion is that they were washed though.. no word yet today will keep the thread updated with how we get on..
 
Re: curtains damged by dry cleaners.. what can i expect?

If they have shrunk then I guess they were washed.
I would request a contribution towards a new pair and I would stress that the curtains have shrunk.
Regardless of whether they were 5 yrs old you wern't planning on on buying a new pair. The cleaners are at fault it is up to them to rectify the matter and I don't know how they can fix shrunken curtains! I would ask them if you pick out a suitable replacement can you send them the bill.
 
Re: curtains damged by dry cleaners.. what can i expect?

was back onto the laundrette again.. as it turns out they are just the middle men really.. they send out all their stuff to a dry cleaner to get cleaned..

anyway the curtains still arent back.. so i said to him how i dont think we'll be happy with relined curtains as the colours have faded on the curtains and they are never going to be the same no matter what they do.. he says its up to the cleaner really and that he's probably going to say its a fault of the material if it couldnt be dry cleaned and that we will have to go back to the manfacturer with it.. Now thats probably not going to happen as we had the curtains made in a shop cork.. which is still there.. but i cant see how they will entertain a query on something they sold over 5 years ago..

I'm not sure whats the best way to approach this really.. i told the guy on the phone that i'd be at least looking for a refund on the cleaning bill and a contribution towards new curtains.. but he didnt seem to be to bothered about it.. he seemed to keep saying that it would be up to the cleaner etc...

Sounds like its going to be messy

Cheers,
Mick
 
Re: curtains damged by dry cleaners.. what can i expect?

Your contract is with the laundrette. It's up to him to make good your damages, and he can then go after the cleaner for his costs.
 
Re: curtains damged by dry cleaners.. what can i expect?

I would get on to the NCA and have some facts and legislation to quote at him, if he keeps messing you around and chancing his arm like that.
 
Re: curtains damged by dry cleaners.. what can i expect?

It sounds like the laundrette acts as an agent / bailee for the dry-cleaner and that the laundrette may have no liability in this matter as they had no contract with you and did no work for you.
 
Re: curtains damged by dry cleaners.. what can i expect?

Maybe as these were "made up" curtains there was no label with washing instructions on them and so the fact you took the curtains to the drycleaners would mean you had known they were able to be drycleaned when you purchased the materials/curtains from the maker?

If there was no label Can't see how the dry cleaners are liable though they should have pointed this out to you before cleaning them. Not all material is suitable to be dry cleaned.
 
Re: curtains damged by dry cleaners.. what can i expect?

mathepac said:
It sounds like the laundrette acts as an agent / bailee for the dry-cleaner and that the laundrette may have no liability in this matter as they had no contract with you and did no work for you.
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Would they not need to make this clear at the time, though? Surely customers should be entitled to know who they're dealing with and who's liable if anything goes wrong.
 
Re: curtains damged by dry cleaners.. what can i expect?

Well just to update this... got the curtains back last friday.. lining still pink and colours still washed out.. i outlined my position to the laundrette.. that they were damaged beyond use.. and how i'd be looking for a refund on the dry cleaning bill and a contribution towards new curtains.. He seemed very flipant about the whole thing.. didnt even want to debate it with me.. said oh that would be up to the cleaner.. and if i wanted to go to smalll claims etc.. that he would just be passing it onto the cleaner.. i told him i had spoke to the consumer association and how they had told me that my contract was with him as i had paid him for the service.. which again he didnt seem to bothered about.. he reckoned the dry cleaner would have cleaned them the same way he does all curtains and maintained the material was faulty line...

anyway i took my curtains home.. they are in the shed now as they smell so 'chemical' that they would actually make you sick and they caused my hands to break out in a rash from handling them.. the laundrette says the smell is the 'pert' used by the cleaners for all materials.. but to me... its a really strong powder type smell..

so on Tuesday i wrote my letter as advised by the consumer agency.. i outlined our position and asked for a refund of the dry cleaning bill and a contribution towards our new curtains.. the new curtains cost 179 euro per pair.. but i thought we'd be reasonable and ask them to cover just the cost of 1 pair.. I sent the letter by registered post and asked if they could respond within 10 working days and if not that I would be bringing the matter to the small claims court for resolution there.

I guess we'll see what comes of it.. I dont mind going through the process

Thanks for your help and I'll let you know if anything comes of it.

Not sure what will come with it to be honest.
 
Re: curtains damged by dry cleaners.. what can i expect?

I would like to have my handmade interlined curtains drycleaned, so after following this thread asked our local drycleaner about them and he asked if he could come to the house to have a look at the curtains first, which he did last night.

Firstly he checked the lining on all the sets of curtains to see if it was still strong and that the sunlight had'nt weakened it which thankfully it had'nt and said that he would be able to do them no problem. He did tell me that the lining will be two slightly different colours (where out to the daylight and hidden in the fold of the curtain) due to the fading from daylight/sunlight but when they are hung again they will be back into the same folds as they are now.

He said that he would collect them from me whenever I wanted them done and I said that there was no need that I could drop them over to him (in same town) and he told me that he would actually take them down for me and re-hang them back up for me again - so naturally i said yes please! My curtains are 8' in length and each pair is 7' wide and it would be a nightmare taking them down and rehanging with those spikey hooks and the weight of the curtains.

I might get the first 3 pairs done next week, I will let you all know how I got on, I am sorry now that I did'nt get them done last month before the clocks went back.
 
Re: curtains damged by dry cleaners.. what can i expect?

no word back yet from the laundrette.. will wait for another week and continue on then to claims court
 
Re: curtains damged by dry cleaners.. what can i expect?

NHG said:
I might get the first 3 pairs done next week, I will let you all know how I got on, I am sorry now that I did'nt get them done last month before the clocks went back.
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I would get only one pair done initially as a test case.
 
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