Seminary Cleaners

Several months ago I bought a beautiful designer dress by AKRIS for a very big family celebration. It was bought with tags and the original label and handing label intact inside ie brand new.

It was labelled 100% pure virgin wool and lambskin leather. It was the most expensive dress I have ever bought for this special occasion. I wore it once only.

The leather inserts at the split neck and in the front pleat were the softest most supple quality with a high sheen possible- it had to be as it needed to fold tightly to substitute as a pleat like the wool fabric. I paid $335 for it which I mentioned to the lady explaining that I had bought it only for a special occasion and worn it once only.

After wearing, I took it a month ago to Seminary Dry Cleaners (301) 608-**** 9468 Georgia Ave Silver Spring, MD 20910

I had used them in the past years ago but their prohibitive prices and at the very least ordinary if not sloppy attention to cleaning made me change to another store.

I took my beautiful dress in because my regular dry cleaners told me they would not be able to do it as they do not specialize in leather.

They suggested I take it to a store that has experience with leather.

I went back to Seminary cleaners which advertises on their front door in big letters that they do special cleaning for leather, wedding dresses etc.

At the front counter I saw the Korean lady owner. I was glad to talk directly to her as the lady assistant they use is loud and has an extremely aggressive personality and is very confrontational. I have seen her with other customers before this. As a result I thought that it would be better to talk to the owner.

I explained the potential problem to her with the leather inserts and asked her several times if she thought it could be cleaned.

I repeated this several times, also saying over and over that it is a very expensive designer dress. She told me each time that this was possible and that they are experienced in special cleaning including leather. She wrote on the dry cleaning tag in Korean that it was leather and needed special care.

When I came to fetch the dress, (and was charged $28.20) the aggressive lady served me. She pulled up the plastic wrapping while it was hanging on the rail in front of me and looked specifically at the bottom.

Then she charged me it was ruined. The two leather inserts were extremely wrinkled, had changed color and as hard as cardboard chart. There was a greenish imprint on the bottom left hand side in the shape of an iron. In addition it had been pressed with high temperature and the zip seams and hem and arm seams were all shiny as if it was very used and old.

I had to argue with the service lady who was most unpleasant and insisted on speaking to the manager who I had dealt with in the first place.

They both discussed it in front of me.

The service lady kept arguing that it was fine and they could take out the wrinkles if I wanted but it was not necessary. I asked the owner lady what her writing on the tag in Korean said and she said leather. The service lady still asked what is wrong? The owner lady said steam.

Then they both assured me if could be fixed and they would send it to the leather specialist. I said replaced not repaired.

The owner called me about two weeks lady to say come and fetch your dress.

When I picked it up I got the rude service lady again. The dress leather was somewhat improved but still had and wrinkly. And the shiny seams were even worse.

The dress looked like I had found it at the Goodwill.

The conversation was back and forth along the lines of this dress looks old and the pressing and the leather are terribly obviously spoiled. She kept telling me when you take the dress to a dry cleaner you should expect it to be destroyed. ???

I refused to take it from them because that would mean that I accepted it. I had no apology even afterwards- the dress is STILL THERE so they cant say they dont know about it.

I DO NOT ACCEPT IT.

THIS KIND OF WORK IS OUTRAGEOUS AND THEIR LACK OF RESPONSIBILITY TO ADMIT THEIR MISTAKE WAS EVEN WORSE. NOT ONCE DID THEY OFFER TO REFUND MY CLEANING FEE AND COMPENSATE ME FOR THE DRESS.

When I came home I looked up the dress in the big department stores and on the Akris website and all their Akris dresses were at least $1000 to $3500Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdales.

Even Poshmarkand the designer resale stores were also near $1000 for second hand ones.

I am disgusted with their attitude, the lady servers rudeness, their incompetence IN SPITE OF THE MANAGERESS WRITING IT ON THE LABEL

Now that I look, I see that they have many many VERY BAD reviews with horrible stories.

I AM MAKING THIS COMPLAINT TO PISSEDCUSTOMER AND TO YELP AND SENDING THE A HARD COPY OF THIS LETTER IN THE MAIL.

I THINK PEOPLE SHOULD BE WARNED ABOUT THIS KIND OF PLACE.

I AM DEVASTATED TO LOSE THIS BEAUTIFUL DRESS WHICH I PAID SO MUCH FOR. IT IS IRREPLACABLE AT ANYWHERE NEAR THE PRICE.