I sent my designer wedding dress to Johnsons dry cleaners/Timpson for a post-wedding clean which cost £250 – but it’s now unwearable with chemical discolouration to the front and back.
I had bought it for £2,300 in a sample sale and paid £175 for alterations. I sent the company these receipts. Firstly, I did not receive an apology. Then it offered 50% of the cost as, according to correspondence, the “dress’s primary purpose has been fulfilled”. That is not the point. It has huge sentimental value and I may pass it on to my children which is why I had it cleaned and boxed for protection.
The life expectancy of the dress was “forever”. Johnsons has since offered a further £100 goodwill payment but I’m not convinced this is fair. SP, London
Under the Consumer Rights Act a dry cleaner must treat your items with reasonable care and skill and within a reasonable time. That also means if it loses an item or fails to clean it properly, it should compensate you. That should be based on the item’s value, with a deduction for the use you had out of it.
The cleaner only needs to pay what an item was worth when you left it, which inevitably may be hard to calculate. Johnsons says it follows compensation guidelines provided by trade body the Textiles Services Association. However, we struggled to find any helpful information on its website and agree the point about the dress having “fulfilled” its purpose seems irrelevant.
However, Chris Haan, a solicitor in Leigh Day’s consumer law and product safety team (admitting your case sounded like a law exam question), says: “It’s harsh, given how special the dress was, but the compensation offered is likely within the range she might get if she took it to court.
“The dry cleaner appears to admit liability, so the issue is how much compensation she is entitled to. That largely depends on how she planned to use the dress after having it cleaned. If it had been damaged before the wedding she could have claimed for a replacement, as well as a refund of the cleaning bill. If she planned to sell it after the wedding she could claim the market value of the dress plus a refund of the cleaning bill.”
If you took this to the small claims court he thinks you might be able to recover an amount for the lost sentimental value and a refund for the cleaning bill, although this would be up to the judge as “it’s impossible to put a price on sentimental value”.
The company still refuses to up its earlier offer but has offered a bunch of flowers and a written apology for “the distress” you have been caused.
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