Having the original woman who did intake tell me her life's story, unsolicited, with impacts of homelessness and finding no work, issues with Hillcrest Familiy Services, and being from the Pacific Northwest, was--OK--I could've taken it as an unwelcome purge, but it wasn't as bad as bringing a brand new, White shirt(, which I couldn't find anywhere, for temporary, work-related purposes, but finally did,) into the location I've been loyal to, when back in Dubuque, since its inception, for basic Dry Cleaning, coming back to pick it up in time to wear it to work immediately, & it had not even been addressed. Over the course of the days, that turned into weeks, literally, every pick-up was met with another major, stress-inducing error, on their part, including by Tony, the Owner, and his "veteran" front-of-house employee, which included a new stain on the collar that I did not put there and, in fact, had originally brought there stating "No stains" to speak of, which is why the 1st woman mentioned didn't fill out a form for it, apparently. When I finally did get to pick it up, it was not even Dry Cleaned, as I had instructed, but washed, instead, the stain still evident. Tony admitted he had noticed it 1st but thought I had brought it in that way & was quick to say they'd "redo" it but outside of my permitted timeframes for needing it back, inconveniencing me & copping attitude about how much they were doing to give customer service when, bottom line, they'd stained my new shirt, forgot to clean it, made me late for work, continued to "try again" but failed to remove the stain, failed to remove basic dirt from the sleeves I'm also fairly positive I had not put there, stating that kind of "ground-in" dirt was "impossible to remove" (It's important to note that on the last attempt they made to remove the collar stain, with additional procedures, I made a point to point out to them they'd somehow made the sleeve dirt disappear). Old Navy, where someone had tipped me off to find said shirt, was clear, when I told them the situation, to get the full value of the shirt since at the end of July, the sale on it changed regularly. Eventually, Tony agreed, after I was over being way too nice since I had since come up with an alternative plan to borrow my father's oversized, White button-down to alleviate dealing with Courtesy Cleaners at all, during this period where this temporary shirt need existed, and the shirt I had purchased had become, literally, a tortured example of incompetency & lack of professionalism in United States of American business, especially in Dubuqueland, I put my foot down and demanded replacement payment when that one last shot still came back with the stain on the collar. Subsequent follow-ups, all but one or two I drove, not them, in spite of promises, told me to come at a certain time to pick up not replacement cost but the price of the shirt at the sale price I paid for it at (I was transparent & dropped off my receipt), in spite of Old Navy's insistence even they would ask for orig. price--The shirt was now less on sale, if I needed to get a not-dirty one, at which point Tony & the veteran worker who continued to get the story messed up (One shot at cleaning it, she cleaned the wrong side, accidentally, so there went more days with an M.I.A. shirt) gave me the run-around at the counter. He had the check, but now he wanted the shirt, which I still needed to wear until official uniform Tops showed up. I was furious. He was going to hold my shirt hostage until I brought the button-down in, & I did not have a better time, in all of this chaos they were creating, to deal with this further or keep making trips there. I made it back to my apartment & grabbed the shirt, just to rid myself of them, period, & returned to the location just to finish the deal...at which point, in front of another customer, both he and the woman continued to dance around and not come up to serve me, ignoring my calling his name, even, as I realized they were simply dragging out their drama, making me late for stated work. Fortunately, my "fun summer job" was understanding of the chunk of minutes (They'd been made aware of what was going on, far before that, & "got" how I was being treated). I don't know, even now, looking back, that they did anything right on perhaps the simplest job they could've gotten from anyone, given the industry they're in, & stop screwing up, but it was literally one mistake after endless 'nother, no apologies, & expectation of the customer to bear the brunt of it...trying to make themselves look like heroes. Bottom line: Where is my shirt? One of them is probably wearing it. Businesses like this are a shame to Business in this country and should be brought to the public's attention. The ONLY positive thing I had to say to them, during this horrifying experience, was, "At least you're not the corrupt Cleaners up in Red Wing." (See Archives at www.WhatItIsPowerYoga.blogspot.com). read more
