Pinstripes Cleaning and Restoration - William Braun

as it was available. It was a beautiful Mori Lee Polyester gown with many overlapping and tiered layers. When we picked up the gown the bride did let us know there were safety pins in the gown, which is why the pickup specialist removed them right there in front of the bride. We always keep an eye out for safety pins, straight pins and any other problems that may have been left by various people that have worked on or worn the dress. In fact on this dress we found and removed no less than a half dozen other safety pins left throughout the gown before we cleaned and steamed the gown. Unfortunately it sounds like we missed two. We deeply regret that they were not found but please understand when we get a gown with an unknown number of safety pins in unknown places left by your tailor we cannot be reasonably held responsible for not winning the hide and seek game they began and we didn’t ask to play. We try very hard on each gown and NEVER handle a gown roughly. We prep, wrap, batton, bag and band every gown to make sure they are protected and each gown is cleaned by itself, never with anything else. Hand steamed and delivered back to you in time for your wedding. If a single tack thread doesn’t survive the process, then it did not survive the most careful and gentle cleaning process possible. Again our apologies, but each of these issues had nothing to do with us or our process. It was a gorgeous gown. I’m sure you were a beautiful bride.

on we were unable to please this customer. The customer was scheduled for a Wednesday delivery on Monday by the delivery driver. After calling the customer, we were given wide latitude on time and date, as the customer worked from home and would be there all week with no imminent plans. Somehow we failed to make the day clear as the customer clearly expected a delivery the same time Tuesday. The driver herself had Tuesday off and would not have intentionally made this appointment to conflict with that. If she in fact used the word “tomorrow”, it was certainly unintentional. We do as a standard confirm by date and time as well as day when we set appointments. Humans being human we acknowledge it is certainly possible. I first learned of the miscommunication on Tuesday 12 March, at 11:21 am, twenty one minutes after the customer believed the appointment had been scheduled. I informed the customer that we had her confirmed for the same time the following day, rather than on the day she expected. From this point on conversation with the customer was extremely difficult as in her words “I am extremely angry as I’m sure you can tell from my tone!” was an understatement. She was indeed fuming. She followed with “I EXPECT to be compensated for my time in the form of a discount from YOU!”. Normally we would offer a $20 discount without her asking but as she beat me to it in such a tone and manner, I was honestly afraid she would take it as an insult. She was NOT looking for a 5 percent discount. I apologized many times and assured her I would confer with the driver to find out how this happened, as well as offering to reschedule her appointment. She elected the same date and time we had in our schedule. The driver herself apologized for the miscommunication in person the next day. Our customers are our greatest focus. The quality customer service and preservation we provide only happens because of our efforts are recognized by them. The last thing we want is to slight them in any way. Our apologies are never fake as we consider any time we have to make one a failure of some way on our part, i.e. something we could have done better. I offer this customer a final personal apology for any inconvenience and assure her we will make every effort to ensure any such miscommunications never happen again.

g before bridal portraits, then a cleaning and steaming after, and then after the wedding a cleaning and preservation. Our package combines a cleaning before and a cleaning and preservation after, and was designed to SAVE the bride money. However the additional steaming before the bridals wasn't covered in that package and was written up as a separate contract and presented to her as such. This bride had a copy of each written contract with the charges listed individually and signed these contracts. Our notes on both the quote and the appointment bear out the charges as listed on the contracts. The total services were a silk gown steamed, then a cleaning and steaming, and then finally a cleaning and preservation. In addition we steamed her cathedral veil. I tried to resolve the issue with her and explained the charges, but after doing so was cut off, not allowed to speak, and subsequently hung up on. We will continue to provide accurate quotes and exemplary service to brides and would never mislead our customers concerning charges or services. Pinstripes just won't do it. We care too much about our brides and our integrity to do that. Again this situation was tremendously unfortunate as we never want to have a customer feel as if they have been slighted by either our honesty or our effort.