the dry cleaning dilemma

I wanted to share what has been going on with our dry cleaners, but I figured I would just post the letter I emailed to them and save the time typing. Here's the letter:

First of all, let me say that we have been loyal customers of yours for over two years. However at the end of January, I dropped off some shirts of my husbands to be laundered. One particular shirt came back with a marking on it that I have since learned was done by one of the thermal tags your company uses to put the names on the shirts. We took the shirt back to the same location and showed the marking. We were told that it would come right off and that we would not be charged to have it re-cleaned. When we picked up the shirt about a week later, the marking had been removed, but we were charged for cleaning it. I dismissed this, because I was happy that the marking had come off. However, when I went to take that same shirt out of the bag, I noticed more stains. All over the bottom half of the shirt there are red marks that hadn't been there before. I worked at an Ultra Cleaners in Glendale for over 2 years and I recognized the stains as color transfer from the press. I was so upset about this shirt, that I had my husband take it back to the same location and show them the new stains. That was February 12th. An employee there told him that since it was a weekend and no managers were there, that a manager would call him on Monday the 14th. He did not receive a call back and on Wednesday, the 16th, he called the store. He was given the excuse that they had our phone number wrong and was told that a manager would call him the next day. The excuse of having our phone number wrong frustrates me even more. Every time that we drop off the shirts, we are asked for our phone number and I give the correct number each time. The fact that this was not updated in your system is not our problem. My husband did give his correct number when they found that error and was assured that a manager would call him. By around 3:00pm on the 17th, my husband had not received a call, so I drove to the store to speak with someone in person. I spoke with a women who identified herself as Ann. Ann said that she was just told about the shirt. Mind you, the shirt had been in the store for over 5 days at this point. Ann told me that she would look at the shirt to determine if the stains could be removed. She said that if they determine that the stains cannot be removed, that the shirt would be replaced. She also told me that she would call me by the end of business that day. I gave her my correct phone number again and saw that she wrote it down correctly. I was very respectful and kind, despite my anger and frustration. I left the store with confidence that the situation would finally be resolved. It is now February 18th and neither my husband nor myself have received the call backs we were promised. This is the some of the poorest customer service that I have ever experienced. As I said, I worked at a dry cleaners for over 2 years and I know the things that can happen. I am not naïve to that reality. However, not resolving issues and flat out lying to my face, is not customer service or any way to run a business. My husband and I have already decided that we are no longer going do business with your company and we will advise all those that we know who use your company of our situation. I understand that it is only one shirt, but the fact of the matter is, the shirt was ruined and not one person seems to care. We would just like this issue to be resolved.

Update on the story: it's still unresolved. I got an message on the 18th from the manager Ann and she gave me all sorts of excuses about dialing the wrong area code. Blah blah. She said that she only found two red spots. It's all just more lies. It's red all over the bottom. I don't know what is gonna happen with it and it's still unresolved. Thank god we're moving.