I have been a good customer of the Coast Village Road Martinizing for the 9 years I have lived in Montecito. I am also very friendly with all of the girls who work there, except with the manager, who is never personable. I brought in a dress which had a moth hole in the skirt and asked if they were still doing re-weaving (I had the same dress re-woven for a moth hole a few years ago and Martinizing charged me $50.00 at that time to re-weave). They said that they needed to "Send it out, but would contact me regarding the re-weave." They never contacted me. The dress came back and they wanted $120.00 for the re-weave. I told them that it was too much money for 1 moth hole and why had they not called me to quote me, before allowing the work to be done? If I knew ahead of time, I would have refused the work and taken the dress to another cleaners. Also, they never "re-wove" it which is what I requested, but "patched" it with 1 patch and I can see the stitches in a square. They said that they would give it to the manager and she would call the woman who re-wove it. The manager would then contact me. 1 week went by and the manager never called me. I "googled" "How much does it cost to re-weave a moth hole?" and I found out that it is between $40.00 and $50.00 per hole. I printed out the articles and took them into Martinizing. The manager was not there, but the girl behind the counter took the article to give to the manager. She commented that these prices could be from another state and CA is more expensive. Well, she could be right, so I called two other dry cleaners in Montecito: Norvell Bass & St. Paul's. I asked both how much it would cost to re-weave a moth hole. Their managers quoted me Norvell Bass: $35.00 per hole; and St. Paul's $40.00 per hole. So, I printed out their quotes and took them into Martinizing to show the manager. She was there this morning, so we spoke. At first she said that the re-weaver told her there were 2 moth holes that she patched. But, there was only 1 patch.... I repeat, 1 patch only. So, that does not make any sense. I knew there was only 1 moth hole and the proof is that, if there were 2 moth holes, there would be 2 patches. The manager agreed that there was only 1 patch, not 2. Also, I did not ask for a patch, but a re-weave. It is easy and cheaper to do a patch, and it looks ridiculous. So, the manager said that she would reduce the sum from $120.00 to $100.00 and if I didn't want to pay it, they would send the dress back to the re-weaver and have her undo what she did. I told her that would compromise the fabric, weakening it. She said it would not. But, I know fabric and I know processes, so I know that it would. I said no... That I would pay, but under protest and I wanted the owner of the dry cleaners to know that I did not agree. I just want my dress back and to end this aggravation. Then, I reminded the manager that it was not good business practice to never tell the customer how much a custom weave would cost, but to just charge anything you think that you can get away with in a community of basically wealthy people. It isn't ethical. Not every person living in Montecito is wealthy... and I believe that the re-weaver is taking advantage of that assumption. Clearly, Norvell Bass and St. Paul's, which are only 5 minutes up the road are not doing business that way. So, the manager told me that I should not have assumed that the dry cleaner should tell me how much the re-weaving would cost! I reminded her that she was supposed to call me to tell me what the special order would cost, because the girls didn't know and said they would have to wait for the re-weaver to quote them, and the manager would get in touch with me. That never happened! Then, the manager said that "It's always like this with you! You have us re-do your dry cleaning!" So, I asked her how many times in 9 years of giving Martinizing my cleaning, have I asked them to re-do my cleaning?" She said "A couple of times!" I said, "A couple of times is 2 times, let's say 3 times and so in 9 years, I have asked you to re-do a blouse or a skirt 3 times. Are you saying that never happens? Are you telling me that none of your other clients have ever asked you to re-do their cleaning, because you missed a spot?" She said, "No. But, you wore the garment and a you asked us to re-do it." I said, "No. I never wore the garment, but put it on in the morning and looked in the mirror and saw a spot on the front of the blouse that you missed. I immediately took it off and brought it into your dry cleaner to show you the missed spot and ask that you re-do it. " The manager then said, "You wore it." I then said, "So, you are calling me a liar." She said, "No. I'm not saying you are lying." I replied, "By contradicting me, that is exactly what you said." Then she said, "Maybe you will be happier with another dry cleaner." read more
