Dry cleaning dilemna: Valet Service Cleaners didn't deliver my shirt

[teddieriley]

Gentleman,

An outside cleaning service offers a pick up and drop of dry cleaning/laundering service at my office. I get a shirt made, wear it once, and have it laundered so I can bring it back to get refitted to account for shrinkage, etc. I drop it off Tuesday, check our closet on Friday, shirt is not there. Wait and check the next two drop/off pick up days, still not there. I call the guy, and he swears his brought it in and says he "remembers" the shirt because I usually bring in a number of shirts to clean at once (true), so he found it odd I only brought in one (obviously NO proof he brought anything back). I send an e-mail around the office asking people to double check whether they inadvertently grabbed my one off shirt by mistake. I put up signs in the closet reminding people to check. No one has it, and they keep asking me whether I got my shirt back (it's nice to be known around here as that missing shirt guy).

I call the cleaner guy who services our office, leave a VM, and put a copy of the receipt for $185 (the sufficiency of which he questions because it is handwritten and has no phone number - fine, but I explained to him, this ain't no Macy's shirt, this was made for me).

He calls me back sounding pretty pathethic, but bottom line is, he doesn't think it's "fair" he has to pay for the shirt, although he acknowledges it isn't "fair" I didn't receive it. He is being nice about it, at least. There is no written policy disclaiming liability that I know of, nor is there anything formalized with our office. They just use the closet as a pick up and drop off spot. He says he's checked with his other clients, and none of them have informed him they have an unidentified shirt in their items.

He has the nerve to ask me, "are you sure every single person told you they didn't pick up the shirt by accident?" I said I'd send another e-mail out, but not only is that embarassing, the more I think about it, he should be making sure no one else picked it up. I don't have time for this **** (although I do have time to draft this post). He has a good relationship with our office, and I still use the service until we resolve this thing. Cleaning is dirt cheap, and they do an excellent job with the pressing, so I hate to ruin the relationship.

However, I want to get reimbursed. I'm at a law firm for crying out loud, and he thinks he can not pay? I don't know the law in this area at all, besides basic contract principles, so if any of you do, I'd appreciate hearing from you (I'm in CA btw). I'm sure he is liable, I just don't want to muscle him with legal talk....yet.

Any suggestions? Sorry for the long post. Just wanted to be thorough with the facts.

 

[texas_jack]

Originally Posted by teddieriley

Gentleman,

An outside cleaning service offers a pick up and drop of dry cleaning/laundering service at my office. I get a shirt made, wear it once, and have it laundered so I can bring it back to get refitted to account for shrinkage, etc. I drop it off Tuesday, check our closet on Friday, shirt is not there. Wait and check the next two drop/off pick up days, still not there. I call the guy, and he swears his brought it in and says he "remembers" the shirt because I usually bring in a number of shirts to clean at once (true), so he found it odd I only brought in one (obviously NO proof he brought anything back). I send an e-mail around the office asking people to double check whether they inadvertently grabbed my one off shirt by mistake. I put up signs in the closet reminding people to check. No one has it, and they keep asking me whether I got my shirt back (it's nice to be known around here as that missing shirt guy).

I call the cleaner guy who services our office, leave a VM, and put a copy of the receipt for $185 (the sufficiency of which he questions because it is handwritten and has no phone number - fine, but I explained to him, this ain't no Macy's shirt, this was made for me).

He calls me back sounding pretty pathethic, but bottom line is, he doesn't think it's "fair" he has to pay for the shirt, although he acknowledges it isn't "fair" I didn't receive it. He is being nice about it, at least. There is no written policy disclaiming liability that I know of, nor is there anything formalized with our office. They just use the closet as a pick up and drop off spot. He says he's checked with his other clients, and none of them have informed him they have an unidentified shirt in their items.

He has the nerve to ask me, "are you sure every single person told you they didn't pick up the shirt by accident?" I said I'd send another e-mail out, but not only is that embarassing, the more I think about it, he should be making sure no one else picked it up. I don't have time for this **** (although I do have time to draft this post). He has a good relationship with our office, and I still use the service until we resolve this thing. Cleaning is dirt cheap, and they do an excellent job with the pressing, so I hate to ruin the relationship.

However, I want to get reimbursed. I'm at a law firm for crying out loud, and he thinks he can not pay? I don't know the law in this area at all, besides basic contract principles, so if any of you do, I'd appreciate hearing from you. I'm sure he is liable, I just don't want to muscle him with legal talk....yet.

Any suggestions? Sorry for the long post. Just wanted to be thorough with the facts.
Well, this is probably not helpful but you could threaten him with changing services for your whole office. He might consider the cost benefit ratio and decide to pay.

 

[teddieriley]

Originally Posted by texas_jack

Well, this is probably not helpful but you could threaten him with changing services for your whole office. He might consider the cost benefit ratio and decide to pay.

I definitely don't have the power to do that, and he might know it since he's been servicing us I guess 9 years now. Plus, he might be the only one in town that does the valet service. Besides, the cleaners is really cheap, and other people in the office wouldn't go for changing the cleaners out if it came down to it. Supposedly, this hasn't happened all his time servicing us. I highly doubt that.

 

[Tarmac]

I'm guessing someone else took your shirt or otherwise has it, and you don't know yet.

Dry cleaning has to be one of the shittiest jobs on the planet. As a dry cleaner he has *absolutely* no interest in cheating the buyer. It's not even like a car mechanic where he prescribes "upgrades" and can pretend to have replaced something when he didn't in order to make more money. No cleaner pilfers shirts to sell somewhere else. No customer is every really happy, yet plenty get pissed off.

anyway, I'm sure you can come to an eventual agreement. If you are not satisfied, just take your business elsewhere.

 

[teddieriley]

I might be willing to do that, although guy charges $1.25 for laundering and pressing per dress shirt. Dirt cheap, and pressing is tops.

I'm not saying he stole the shirt. I'm saying he had it, and there is no evidence he delivered it for whatever reason, despite what he claims. And of course, he has to claim otherwise or else he eats the $185. That's the question, who eats it? If I make him eat it, I wouldn't feel uncomfortable using him still, but then that will be up to him. But i think i rather have my money, and find another alternative, rather than to keep using him, and being out $185. I told my shirtmaker to go ahead and make the exact same shirt to replace it!

 

[gumercindo]

Sue them for $65M

 

[teddieriley]

Originally Posted by gumercindo

Sue them for $65M

Complaint's sitting on my desk waiting to be served hombre. Having him to file an answer is going to cost more than the price of the shirt (I suppose with filing fees, same goes for me).

 

[Tarmac]

Originally Posted by teddieriley

I'm at a law firm for crying out loud, and he thinks he can not pay? I don't know the law in this area at all...

i found this really funny

 

[teddieriley]

Originally Posted by Tarmac

i found this really funny

Seriously. I don't practice in this area, so hence my lack of knowledge. I don't want to seem like I'm muscling him with the fact we're a large law firm, since he's so nice about everything, but just hearing him today makes me think I'm going to have to just say no bro, you're paying for that shirt. I just want to know if anyone, with experience or otherwise, can advise me whether there is something to the contrary precluding that approach.

 

[NoVaguy]

the funny part isn't that you don't know the law in this area, but that fact that you don't know the law and you still said "he thinks he can not pay?"

 

[teddieriley]

Originally Posted by NoVaguy

the funny part isn't that you don't know the law in this area, but that fact that you don't know the law and you still said "he thinks he can not pay?"

Sorry. I wrote initial post in haste. What I meant to communicate was that there is nothing I can definitively cite to, but based on a general understanding, there is some theory of liability putting him on the hook. The fact that he thinks "it's not fair" that he has to pay serves as a reasonable basis for not having to pay is, in my opinion, ridiculous. Rather than trying to point to any disclaimer or some sort of policy, his stance is, I don't think it's fair for me to pay, so I won't. Part of my point was, I'm at a law firm, come up with something better than that (not necessarily more sophisticated).

 

[NoVaguy]

Originally Posted by teddieriley

Sorry. I wrote initial post in haste. What I meant to communicate was that there is nothing I can definitively cite to, but based on a general understanding, there is some theory of liability putting him on the hook. The fact that he thinks "it's not fair" that he has to pay serves as a reasonable basis for not having to pay is, in my opinion, ridiculous. Rather than trying to point to any disclaimer or some sort of policy, his stance is, I don't think it's fair for me to pay, so I won't. Part of my point was, I'm at a law firm, come up with something better than that (not necessarily more sophisticated).

yeah, i know - there's probably something in the great book of UCC(k) that covers this situation.

but the statement is still funny as hell. you managed, with just one phrase, to exactly capture the sense of self-entitlement virtually every lawyer possesses.

 

[teddieriley]

You're right. I am entitled to my shirt the cleaners lost. I don't think I am self-entitled otherwise. I've busted ****** in life, so in some respects, there are certain things I am "entitled" to, but that is neither here nor there. I tried to leave the law firm part out, but figured it was a twist of irony that I'm not getting anywhere with this guy.

 

[Tarmac]

yeah, but do you know "he" lost it? I presume everyone throws all their clothes in the same closet in your office? who a higher chance of misplacing/mis-stealing a shirt, a guy who has no interest in having your shirt and every interest in doing a good job bringing it back to you? or the summer intern who owns 3 ties and a pair of rockports and wants to give his brother a $185 birthday present.

It sounds like you don't tag the shirts, you don't keep receipts, you basically go off an honor system and when someone yells "yo the shirts are here" everyone goes in and grabs whatever they want. correct me if Im wrong. also into this very inexact system you introduced your very exactly made precious MTM shirt.

anyway, if "he" lost it, it is incredibly likely that it will turn up. It's just that simple, there aren't many places in a dry cleaners for a shirt to "disappear". you saw what happened with the $65 million pants. If it doesn't turn up, I think its more likely someone else took it

 

[teddieriley]

Thanks for your comments Tarmac. Seems like you're cleaners friendly. The question then becomes, what is more likely: (1) someone inadvertently grabbed the shirt as part of his/her pickup, and after one month failed to realize it despite the e-mail I sent around and posted signs; (2) there is a dishonest attorney/staff member who is willing to take a shirt not knowing whether it is going to fit him or her bf/spouse/friend/whatever (summer associates weren't around yet), or (3) that in this one instance, the cleaner basically just fucked up and has no clue where the shirt is. To me, it is more likely that the staff is honest than it is that the cleaner is incapable of making a mistake (I'm in a smaller office where I know who most people are at least). No one is grabbing whatever they want. You pick up the hangers banded together with your name on the invoice. Additionally, no one knew at the time it was a $185 shirt, so that person could have been taking a $40 shirt for all that person knew, assuming someone wanted to steal it. Another point, I was one of the first people in that closet after the drop-off. Typically people pick up their clothes later in the afternoon prior to leaving for the day, and I went looking for that shirt not long after lunch. The closet was still full of clothes as people have a tendency just to leave stuff in there a week or two. Yes, it's not a full proof service, but there is no assumption of risk on my part. This is the service the guy is offering. He is taking the risk by doing this so he can obtain more business. Is it possible this shirt shows up? Maybe, but that is on his ass, not mine - it's been over a month. He should be the one trying to track it down, not me. As far as I'm concerned, it hasn't been delivered. Let's say it got sandwiched in between someone's order without the invoice with my name on it - it's obviously delivered to the wrong person, and again, his bad, not mine. There are a number reasons that the shirt could disappear. Hell, he could have dropped the bag with it when loading his van. He could have delivered it at his other client's site, and his customers there could either not care to verify whether the shirt was accidentally delivered to them or decided just to keep it or toss it out because they had no clue who it belonged to.