The Unwritten Law of Drycleaning

Before continuing please check out the above hilarious clip from Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Unwritten Law of Drycleaning.

Classic, Larry! But, seriously there is a perception getting around that if you get a garment from the drycleaner that is not yours, its cool to keep it. The perception is that sometimes you may lose a garment, and that is 'just how it is'. Win some, lose some. In this case Larry certainly lost.

Dave the Drycleaner is here to change that perception. Something that Larry David couldn't quite do.

Its not OK for a drycleaner to lose your garments. And if your drycleaner tries to tell you that, tell him to stick his unwritten law you know where. Losing a garment unfortunately happens in this line of work and should be taken seriously. It is a quite easy to place a business shirt or a pair of trousers on the wrong order. But rarely should that order go out to a customer with the wrong items on it and rarely does it actually happen.

Most reputable drycleaners use point-of-sale systems which contains info on all customers and all orders. So in any case, other customers can be contacted to see if they have accidentally received your garment.

If it cannot be found, most drycleaners will either replace the item, or pay a claim to an agreed amount, depending on factors such as depreciation etc.

My advice to everyone would be, If you receive a garment from your drycleaner that is not yours, return it to the drycleaner. They will usually offer you a credit note from your act of honesty and goodwill. Plus, think of all the extra Karma you will get. It could come in handy if the drycleaner loses something of yours.

Latersss

You shrunk it! Seinfeld Vs Dry Cleaning

If you can't be bothered watching the above video I'll explain on the brief. Seinfeld finds that his dry cleaner has shrink his shirt, enraging him. He then takes said shirt back to the store, where the dry cleaner denies any wrong doing. This is unfortunately a pretty common situation in the world of dry cleaning.

Most reputable dry cleaners read care labels before washing or dry cleaning a garment. Dry cleaners are duty bound to adhere to these care labels and clean the garment according to the instructions. Where confusion can occur is when a garment does not perform in the clean and is ruined / damaged.

The most common and generally first response is to blame the dry cleaner. In a lot of cases, yes, the dry cleaner is to blame. The garment may have been dry cleaned when it shouldn't have, or washed. It may have been washed or dry cleaned at high temperate when it shouldn't have.

But sometimes, and it happens a bit, fault cannot be directed to the dry cleaner or to Seinfeld.

Some garments are labelled prior to testing, meaning that the manufacture assumes that it will perform when dry cleaned, when in fact it won’t. Beading and trimming are often added to a garment after the care label has been made, meaning that the fabric is dry cleanable, but the beading, glues or trimming is not.

Reputable and professional dry cleaners should pick up on these things. But they can slip up. A handy tip if you are worried about an expensive or loved garment; is to take it to a dry cleaner, and have a chat about any risks that may occur during cleaning.

Laterssssssss