I need advice on how to pursue - course of action

[Spudsmyguy]

There is a local blanket cleaning business that picks up and delivers blankets, sheets, typical horse clothing. They also have bags in large and small sizes that you can purchase which has their name on it. I had one of the small bags that would fit one blanket and if squished, a sheet. I filled out the tag, left it at the barn for pick up which it was, and that was the last I saw of it. After calling the company asking after my blanket, she sent me a picture of the invoice attached to a bag having been dropped at the barn. The invoice was found attached to the barn owner’s large bag, not mine, and it had my name and address on it, saying it was paid with a card on file, but it showed 4 blankets, which would never fit into the small bag. Obviously, the company had attached the wrong invoice to the wrong bag but charged me for it to the tune of $140 for the cleaning of 4 blankets.

I immediately called the owner of the company saying I didn’t send 4 blankets and the invoice was wrong. She said they photograph the bags when they come in and there are cameras all around the business so one could see where they are in the process of cleaning and said she would see if she could splice out the part where my bag arrived at their facility and send it to me. She described the blankets and none of them sounded like mine plus she concurred that 4 would never fit into the small bag I sent. So far, haven’t received the film segment and haven’t heard anything else from them after leaving a message on their site’s “contact us”.

So now I’m missing one blanket, one sheet, the bag, and out $140 for cleaning blankets I don’t own. Lately there have been negative reviews from others that lost blankets using their service, the company just stops responding and hopes the customer gives up. I’m not ready to do that, but need suggestions on what my next course of action should be. I know where the business is located and could feasibly go there and talk in person.

[lenapesadie]

Oi!

So you got charged for blanket cleaning on 4 blankets when you only sent one and received 0 clean blankets back?

For starters, I’d be calling my CC company and disputing the charges.

[Altag]

Go in person and see if you can identify your blanket and sheet, and maybe the bag. If so, it should be easy for you to get the company to agree to adjust your bill.

ETA: That is, if you paid your bill to the business and not to your BO.

[furlong47]

You can dispute the charges on your card, but if the four blankets that were cleaned were the BO’s blankets, it might be easier for the BO to just reimburse you the $140. (It’s hard to tell if this is the case from what you wrote, where your invoice was attached to BO’s bag.)

That doesn’t solve the issue of your own missing blankets, however. What you can do may depend on some factors - for example, is there any wording anywhere that says they aren’t responsible for lost blankets, maybe on paperwork you signed at some point? If not, I’m not sure what you can do beyond continuing to contact them and be the squeaky wheel so to speak. You can write bad reviews, report to BBB, etc but those things often don’t help you personally. They just warn others in the future. Maybe you could try taking them to small claims, but the value of one blanket and one sheet might not be worth the amount of time you’d put into it.

[Spudsmyguy]

The BO and I went through all of her blankets that she had cleaned and mine were not included with her stack. She has her invoices emailed to her and she paid for the bag that had my invoice attached to it and it was a different amount. Also, on my invoice it had verbiage to the effect not to do repairs, return as is. I never asked for that to be added to the statements. If they see repairs need to be done, they generally ask first.

I’m going to call today and see if I can get some action.

[NaturallyHappy]

Good suggestions above. You could also report them to your state’s Office of the Attorney General- consumer fraud division. Good luck!

[Spudsmyguy]

Just got off the phone with the company. They’re going to refund the $146 I paid and they’re going through all the videos of everything they received that day. So hopefully we’ll see some action.

[Spudsmyguy]

So the blanket saga continues. After talking again to the blanket service, the driver said he didn’t pick up a small bag with just the two items in it - a turnout lightweight blanket and a rain sheet that day. Come to find out, the order tag that I filled out was found in the barn owners bag which contained 4 blankets, the ones I was charged for so they thought these blankets were mine; an honest mistake but how in the world did my order tag that was in my bag end up in someone else’s? Here’s my hypothosis:
Someone, unknown to me, went through the bags laid out for pick up, liked mine, took the order tag and threw it in the barn owner’s bag and stole the two blankets along with the bag. It’s the only reasonable explanation that I can come up with because they never arrived at the facility and the driver says he didn’t pick up a small bag at my barn that day. So in all likelihood, I’m never going to see those two blankets again (well, blanket and sheet). The turnout is quite distinctive, I’ve never seen one like it before and they are on the lookout in case it shows up for cleaning.