Legal Question in Consumer Law in Massachusetts

Dry Cleaning Nightmare

I bought a comforter for $150.00 from a home decorating store. It's label stated that this item was dry clean only. I took it to my local cleaner that had up a 100% guarantee sign. They told me that their process involved sending it away to another location or contractor for completion and it would take two weeks.

When I got the comforter back, all the color had faded from it. I demanded my money back plus the cost of the comforter. The owner replied that it was not his problem because he followed the directions and this was the third from the home decorating store. The linen store says the fault lies in the dry cleaner because it was their chemicals that messed up the comforter.

Right now I'm $150.00 plus dry cleaning costs in the whole. No one will claim responsibility. In the meantime, I went out to the store and bought an exact same comforter for another $150.00 and have the receipt to show the dry cleaner but he refuses to pay for it.

Who is at fault? The one who guaranteed their services and knew ahead of time that their were problems like this before but still took my money for dry cleaning. Or is it the store i bought the comforter from.

Any help would be appreciated.


Asked on 8/23/05, 5:32 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Raymond P. Bilodeau Law Office of Raymond P. Bilodeau

Re: Dry Cleaning Nightmare

This is not an unusual problem. A lot of inexpensive dyed cloth items come from foreign countries, and a lot of them use cheap dyes that cannot stand up to dry-cleaning chemicals. If the tag only said "dry clean only," you may be caught forever in this battle between the seller and the cleaner. The real culprit is the manufacturer in most cases, but the seller should not be buying and reselling products from problem manufacturers.

You can file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (http://www.ftc.gov) or the Attorney General's office. You can send a c. 93A letter, certified mail return receipt requested, to both the seller and the cleaner (and the manufacturer who may have a designated agent in this country), and they have 30 days to respond in writing (sample letter available at the MA Attorney General's Office website). These should be done by the owner of the item.

Obviously, you can search the web for more information on the seller, cleaner and manufacturer; you may find a lot of complaints similar to yours. Given the amount involved, retaining a lawyer would not be recommended.

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Answered on 8/24/05, 10:25 am


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