Poor service at Hilltop Dry Cleaners

I recently dropped two fairly new coats (mine and partner's) to these dry cleaners. Mine had a few stains from sauce, the other was fine, just a bit dusty and had fluffs all over- all it needed was freshening up. Despite a huge sign outside stating that the service should be completed the same day, I was told to wait a few days. I came to pick them up and looked and them at home. To my surprise, they looked exactly the same as when I dropped them off- crinkly, with stains, with fluffs, even with crumbs that came off when I brushed them with a hand (surely their machine was more powerful than that?). It looked as if someone has forgotten about them and then just wrapped them up- but no-one even mentioned to me, when I picked them up, that there was any problem with some stains, or anything. Came back the next day, calmly asking for an explanation. The older lady that I spoke to quickly became very rude, literally telling me off, saying that the stains are MY RESPONSIBILITY (not quite sure what she meant snce I paid for removing them), started pointing at the sign saying that all items are left at a customer's responisilibty (which would make sense if my coats were damaged, maybe, and even in this case the law would only protect them in very few cases- once the customer proves that the damage was caused by the cleaner's fault, he is due a refund/compensation). She kept repeating "I didn't put these stains there! You did! It's your responsibility!". She also was pulling faces at whatever I tried to say. Then she tried to convince me that "The coats were in pretty bad mess when they came in" (even though she was not the one to receive them) and I replied "They look exactly as when they came in" and she became more and more angry and sarcastic- there were moments when she was laughing at what I said. Then she tried to convince me that some people have chewing gum stuck and they don't realize that, to which I replied that I don't even chew gum, and that I know what the stains are. Finally, she agreed to reclean them. Not having much hope in their skills anymore, I asked about a refund policy in case they don't get any better. Then she started shouting about "my responsibility" again, that they don't give refunds, and then started moaning how the machine costs them £25 every time she runs it (surely, there are other items to go in at the same time, not just mine, plus I am confident that at that moment my coats have not even seen the machine yet). I asked her about another ticket to be able to pick my coats up again, to which she stared at me angrily, took my old ticket and smacked the table in front of me with it, not saying a word, just continuing to stare. I said "goodbye" and left. I came back 2 days later, as I was told. Unfortunately, had to deal with the same older woman. When she saw me, she shouted to a man (who I assume must have been her husband) "Look! This is the lady I told you about! The one that wanted me to run the machine for nothing!" and basically started gossiping about me, in front of me. I was given the coats wrapped up, so I unwrapped them (in assistance of them pulling faces to each other) and started examining in the sunlight. Some of the stains of my coat came off, some small ones were left here and there, and while I was looking over them, the woman said sarcastically "What? Can't you find any stains?" and laughed. I told her that there are few left, and she said that you can't get rid of paint (!) from clothes- and I told her again, that it is not paint, it's just sauce. I looked at the other coat, which was still in the same state- all covered in fluffs. I asked whether they couldn't do anything about it. She said that the fluffs are coming from the lining (!) and she can't do anything about it. So I asked whether she thinks that the lining is red, and pointed at the collar, which clearly had just fluffs from a scarf. She ignored the question.I continued to examine the coats, they continued to pull the faces and laugh. Then they said that it's actually the coat's fault, as "NEXT is terrible and makes coats in Japan and not England". Having heard enough, I left the shop confident I will not use them again, complain to try and get a refund- and pass on the word. And to people who want to use dry cleaners- there's a good one in Netherfield, I regret I went to the Hilltop on this occasaion just because it was convenient. And to those who are not sure whether they have any rights against dry cleaners from hell- I hope you will find these links helpful. www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/c_dry_cleaning.pdf http://www.consumerline.org/fs/doc/documents/Check_your_rihts_Dry_Clean.pdf

Sylwia Dalkiewicz - 20/10/2011 | report this review