Dry Cleaners (Reinigung) Problems Zurich

Complaints Corner
1
I am looking for some advice on how to proceed after the Dry Cleaners (Terlinden Textilpflege) in Stadelhoferstrasse 8 ruined an item of clothing I took in. The Item in question is a £580, colour White Canada Goose jacket which is now Grey and looking terrible as they cleaned it so much to get it back to White it is now ruined. Thank you for any advice.

2
Do you have the receipt? Did you take the coat home? Did you speak with them about it? How old is the coat?

If it were me I would go back with the receipt, don't take the coat with you and then go back, leave it there. Ask to speak with the manager or owner and be polite and say that they damaged the coat. Maybe check their website for any sort of conditions you agree to once you leave them your clothes. If they say they are not responsible then I would push back a little more forcefully and try to come to a compensation agreement.

3
If they belong to a trade association you might be able to get some arbitration. Usually there is a sign hanging up somewhere disclaiming responsibility.

4
Initially the coat was taken into the cleaners just to be simply dry cleaned. It was then given back to me Grey so the dry cleaners sent off to Dubendorf where they have a specialist cleaner and therefore done a second time and returned. At no Point have I taken the coat from the dry cleaners out of the shop they have had responsibility for the item the whole time. The coat was brought this year in January in Selfridges in London and I have the receipt for the coat.I have been very polite with the dry cleaners and simply have left it that I seek compensation now from them. The cleaners Claim they followed all instructions on the coat so they do not understand why it went like this then they claimed the coat had black marks on it and that had dyed the coat and then the Manager claimed when i spoke to him that it was in a terrible condition when we brought it in. To be honest I know they are trying to squeeze out of giving me money back so asking them is not really going to achieve anything. Really the next stop is small Claims or looking into if they are apart of some trade association. If any one knows how to start a small Claim in CH Im all ears.

5
There is no such thing as small claims court here.......

6
If they say the followed all of the washing instructions and it was a dye issue, maybe try contacting Canada Goose and see if they can help? They might just up and send you a new one, you never know. At some point, sadly, I think you'll just realize it's not worth calling lawyers etc over, which is sad because they should have some sort of responsibility.....question is do you want to go up against "the man", if you will.

7
Did you sign anything when handing it in?

For example, I know Terlinden wants this when a shirt has stains they could not get out with regular cleaning and one decides to have them try a better cleaning method.

8
Going to court may easily turn out expensive. Terlinden know that and will base their strategy on this.

Legally speaking the contract between you two is a "Werkvertrag": Terlinden are responsible for a good result and nothing else matters. In such a case Terlinden need to prove that they did everything state-of-the-art, and since they can't they need to pay, especially if you could prove that the piece was in good condition when you handed it over (e.g. because the salesperson inspected it and confirmed its status on the receipt) I doubt they could wiggle out. But if you can't make them pay you need to go to court...(see top).

Contacting the manufacturer definitely won't hurt, may actully help as he (or rather, a partner reasonably close) may be able to help determine if the piece was handled incorrectly.

There's a panel called "Paritätische Schadenerledigungsstelle"(PSE), with textiles expert(s?) among them, that you can have determin if the piece was treated properly. Costs you CHF100, no idea if their decision is binding, I'd fix that (in writing, and also fix by what amount you'd get reimbursed) before tasking them.

An alternative route(taht will likely end up with the PSE, too):

So far you appear to have nothing in your hands other than the receipt, you do need to change that. You could go there again and tape the conversation, mentioning what's happened so far (by not denying they'll implicitly confirm) and have them make all the excuses again while taping so you can show they're grasping for straw. The tape will have zero legal value (for a tape to be legally useable you must inform about the taping, and only after that may it have legal value), but it may help with your customer complaint.

When you have that produce your prepared letter that says you expect a offer from them within five (ten days if you want to give them room) business days on how they suggest to resolve this matter. Have them confirm reception on the duplicate you also brought.

After the five(ten) days plus 5 days for snail mail, contact Terlinden headquarters in ZH-Witikon.

HTH

9
On one hand I have sympathy for your complaint..a dry cleaner should be professional and take responsibility for mistreatment of clothes. I hope you are successful with your claim.

On the other hand: I am amused by the amount of Canada Douche jackets I see in Zürich...they've become part of the Paradeplatz-Bellevue uniform, and about as appropriate in ZH as a Hummer with snow tracks...totally OTT.