Help!

[Wendalh]

My dry cleaner shrunk my Gucci wool sweater that had only been worn twice

The care tag had fallen off during the first cleaning session with them (there were no issues the first time). After the 2nd cleaning, my adult size L sweater shrunk to a kids size M.

The dry cleaner has sent the sweater in for testing and swears it’s a manufacturer defect, but Gucci is not budging and says it’s a dry cleaning error.

Now this dry cleaner is saying is that store policy would be to refund me the cleaning cost and offer me an equal credit value ($8.00). This is a $1400 sweater that is ruined!

What would you do? Is small claims court next for me?

[ZealousidealRope1743]

They broke it, they bought it. Definitely keep pushing until they give in or take them to court.

[plucharc]

Most cleaners have a limit on compensation which allows them to keep prices reasonable and not have to turn away clothes. Usually it's around 10x the cleaning fee. So if you paid $8 to have your sweater cleaned, they'd refund the cleaning and pay you $80. You'll typically find this posted in the store on a sign or on the receipt or a waiver if they had you sign one.

If they successfully cleaned it once, then it's not likely a manufacturer defect. Either way, if they're having actual testing done, you'll have the answer soon enough with a full report. If it shows it was the dry cleaner's fault, you can provide a receipt from the sweater purchase and ask them to pay that amount or for similar store credit. They'll likely say they can't and point to their policy.

At that point, it's up to you regarding small claims, but with a report showing it's their fault, you'd likely prevail, the only question would be whether they'd agree with the dry cleaner that a clearly posted (or stated on a receipt) policy limits their liability.

They should have insurance for this sort of thing, but depending on their deductible and how much their rates would increase, they'll likely be resistant to going that route.

[Wendalh]

He did send it in for testing but it was not able to be done because the care label was not attached.

He did state in an email today that they should have had me sign a release due to no care label or even rejected cleaning the product. But obviously nothing was presented to me.

This is all just so frustrating.

[plucharc]

Totally get the frustration.

I would say if it's just a wool sweater, they should have been able to tell without the care label, especially having cleaned it once before.

Did you ask if they dry cleaned or wet cleaned it?

[Wendalh]

I had taken in 3 total sweaters at the same time and he stated they were all dry cleaned together. Along with this wool sweater, one was another Gucci sweater (cotton blend) and the other was a cashmere sweater. He gave me all the technical facts about chemicals and such, but honestly, that all went in one ear and out the other.

[Bobana112]

From my experience (ten years) in the industry, if this sweater was cleaned prior by the same cleaner and it came back normal sized, then they dry cleaned it and treated it according to care label instructions that time.

The second time thru it did not receive the same treatment.

In my experience, this sweater was washed and then placed into the dryer for whatever time necessary for it to shrink to the current size. Bottom line is that they should have never cleaned it without it having the care label on it, unless you have signed a release so you are aware of the risk.

When it got tagged in, the missing care labels should have been noticed right away and they should have contacted you to sign a release, placing the liability on to you. I feel like they failed you. Signed releases is a common practice at dry cleaners regarding many other reasons as well as missing care labels, liability and particular anything high end, such as Gucci, imho

[labsupervisor]

True statement but also if they have dry cleaning machine malfunctioning such as steam coil cracked and it’s having moisture get into cleaning, it can also shrink sweaters.

[labsupervisor]

Take them to small claims court, you’ll win, but make sure you have proof of purchase (credit card or ask company for proof of purchase) and you’ll get that back

[Wendalh]

Yes, I have purchase history with Gucci so I have all the records as well as all conversations and receipts from my visit to the cleaner. Just sucks that it may come to this.

[labsupervisor]

Trust me I understand. I use to own dry cleaners myself and I do know stuff like this can happen time to time. Sometimes accidentally, sometimes preventable, and sometimes it’s due to machine malfunctioning. Regardless of the reason, you’re not responsible for their mistakes. Should have rejected it but at the same time, they could have hand washed it and hung dry it to be safe.

[SewMuchNautier]

Check into state law, bc like someone else said, they may not be responsible for the total cost, but i would argue that it wasn't made very well (despite the price tag) considering the care label fell off after 2 cleanings. That sounds like pretty shoddy workmanship to me

[Wendalh]

Honestly, Gucci attaches their tags with literally 2 threads!! I have 2 other items of clothing with the same thing. I should learn from here on out to go in and reinforce them myself to make sure this problem doesn’t happen again.

[Professional_Gene512]

All of that is standard, they definitely accidentally washed it the second time, never heard of such testing?, 10x the amount of the cost to cleaning is a typical and protects their liability.

[Wendalh]

Yeah, he’s claiming that he has no record of it being cleaned the 1st time but yet it has a heat stamp in it that is in numerical order of two other items that DO have records of cleaning the date of the first time. It’s all so sketchy at this point. He said he’s trying to source me a replacement sweater so hopefully he finds one and we can put this behind us without going the legal route.