I brought in a tailored three-piece woollen suit (my wedding suit), a red suede jacket, and two white dress shirts for dry cleaning at Raeburn Laundrette. When I returned to pick them up, all the items had been washed, together, in the industrial washing machines. The white shirts are pink and stained, the jacket is ruined, and the suit/waistcoat/trousers are shrunk and ruined (overall ~£1600 worth).
All the clothes had been wrapped up in plastic bags to hide their condition, and the owner handed them over to me without comment. When I opened the bags to inspect them and
discovered the damage, he claimed that I had simply asked for all the clothes to be washed, so that's what he had done.
I said that no, I had asked for them to be dry-cleaned, and asked why would anyone would want a formal woollen wedding suit put in the washing machine and ii) ask for white dress shirts and a red jacket to be washed together? The owner replied that it's their policy not to check any labels when asked to wash anything, and continued to demand that I pay for the ruined clothes. He also couldn't provide any evidence of my original order, and refused to discuss compensation. The conversation ended with the owner threatening to call the police if I didn't leave, but refusing to take my contact details so that the police could in fact contact me. (I would be happy to speak with them.) I'll be taking the matter up with the consumer council, but in the meantime, I would warn you not to bring any items of value to Raeburn Laundrette. read more