I have this ridiculously amazing full-length tiger poncho that's become my staple winter wear. I wanted to get it cleaned to prep for this winter, and not fully understanding dry cleaning, I figured if I got the poncho dry cleaned (instead of throwing it in the machine myself), it'd still retain its lovely fluffiness. So I googled E Laundry. The website had this deal, three items for $25.95, so I was like - awesome! I'll throw in another couple of items to get fancypants drycleaned. I phoned up, told them I was a first-time customer, mentioned the three-piece deal, was super excited. I even got my items picked up by the valet service.
Long story short, my card ended up getting charged almost three times as much as I was expecting, because the poncho didn't count as "standard dry cleaning" - in fact, they chucked it through the wash like I would have done anyway, and the dirt mark I was hoping would have been removed by professionals still remained.
The website has a little asterisk next to "standard dry cleaning" and yet I've been through the site with a fine-tooth comb and can't find the fine print for that asterisk. I sent off a sadface email, got no reply for a week, sent another email, and finally engaged in some dialogue. I wasn't really happy at all with the response but they tried their best to stop me whinging by offering to clean the garment again, free of charge. Sure, that's really nice of them, but I couldn't notice a difference the second time around. read more