A ROW over misplaced bed linen has come to the forefront this week with one Wokingham resident threatening to take a dry cleaning chain to court.
Jean Jones, of Wiltshire Road, claims that £750 worth of bed linen that was dropped into Waitrose, to be sent onto Johnsons Dry Cleaning, on April 23 has been lost.
Mrs Jones, who is recovering from an operation on her ankle, took advantage of the drop-off service available at the town centre supermarket after she found herself unable to walk and carry out her housework.
She said: “I took the linen to the dry-cleaning drop-off point at Waitrose for collection. I thought it would be very convenient as it is just around the corner from where we live and we have used it a couple of times before.
“I kept the receipt to say that I had left the linen and that was that. But six weeks later we are still without our linen and both Waitrose and Johnson’s claim that they don’t have it.
“Obviously this is very distressing for me, I am recovering from an operation on my ankle and should be putting my feet up, not chasing these companies.”
Mrs Jones has gone so far as to contact a solicitor to try to get the cost of the linen, which she claims cost £750 from House of Fraser, refunded from Johnson’s.
She said: “I bought the linen 18 months ago, and of course I don’t have the receipt for it any more, and it is just my luck that House of Fraser no longer stock the style that I bought.
“I have contacted them for proof of purchase but they don’t keep itemised logs that far back.
“I bought the linen to match the decorating in our guest bedroom, it was lovely and looked really nice.
“I just want the linen back or the money to cover a replacement.”
Mrs Jones said that Johnson’s offered her £100 as compensation – Johnson’s told The Wokingham Paper that it was £320 – and claim that she had signed a disclaimer when she dropped the linen off at Waitrose, but Mrs Jones refutes this.
She said: “I didn’t sign anything, I just got a receipt to prove it had been dropped off and that was that.
“Waitrose have no record of it, and Johnson’s have no record of it arriving in at their depot in Rugby, so somewhere between Wokingham and Rugby my linen has gone missing.
“When I contacted Waitrose they said I should accept the £100. It isn’t about the money, it is more the principle of it all at this stage.
“I am very angry, but I also want other people to realise what they are getting themselves into when they use this drop-off service. It would appear that you need to prove how much your items cost in case they go missing and they need to be replaced.
“Of course I didn’t even think of this when I dropped off the linen, who would? I certainly won’t be using it again.”
A spokesperson for Johnson’s Cleaners said: “We take customer care very seriously and are sorry that the customer at Waitrose Wokingham has had this experience. We are working with the customer to resolve the situation following their decline of our offer to compensate for the value of items lost.
“We are also working with the retailer of the lost items to find the original customer receipt to ensure the correct value is reimbursed.”
