I was a steady customer at Douglas Cleaners in Birmingham, Michigan for years until a recent bad experience. When I came in to pick up my cleaning, the counter clerk showed me that one of my husbands shirts was damaged. The five diagonal tears on the back made it look like it had been caught in machinery (or been clawed by a wild animal!) but I was told the shirt was just old and the fabric had given out. This was a button down long sleeved Polo brand shirt. Granted, it was five years old and had been laundered at that facility over sixty times, but it showed absolutely no wear at the collar or cuffs or anywhere else on the shirt except these mysterious tears. The clerk said the owner, David Underdown, might be able to give me $7.00 based on the age of the shirt.
Mr. Underdown (the son, not the father) was at a different location that day so I called to set up an appointment with him. He was occupied but I left a message clearly stating that I was a customer from the Maple Road location who had a damaged shirt and was unhappy about it. Two days passed with no phone call from Mr. Underdown so I just went into the Old Woodward location to speak to him.
Mr. Underdown had indeed gotten the message but seemed to think I was just going to come in and that he did not need to return my call. He maintained his position that the shirt was just old and fell apart though it showed no other signs of wear. They are able to scan the tag they adhere to a garment and tell how many times it has been laundered and how long ago it was first brought to them. He suggested I might want to have them scan my husband?s shirts when dropping them off because if they were all that old, any one of them could easily end up shredded as well.
Mr. Underdown asked what I wanted him to do about this. Did I expect a store credit? Was I going to file a claim? Either way, he said the shirt had no value. He asked if he was supposed to pay to replace my husband?s wardrobe because it was getting old. He said the shirt was done. I told him we were done.
I certainly did not expect Mr. Underdown to buy me a new shirt. What I did expect was that he?d return my phone call, offer an apology for the damage, take some amount of responsibility for what happened, and attempt to compensate the loss in some way. A system that tracks the age of a shirt and how many times it has been laundered can certainly track the amount of money I have spent with Douglas Cleaners over the years. Mr. Underdown obviously had no interest in retaining my business.
I had never had a complaint until this happened. The Maple Road location looks old and dirty but the staff was always friendly, my cleaning was always ready on time, and the shirts always looked great. I live in downtown Birmingham and there are plenty of other dry cleaners and shirt laundries nearby. I have taken my business elsewhere and suggest you do the same.
more