Mark E.
Yelp
The conversation began suitably. Zach, the manager, opened with an invitation to try on the dress and talk through the problems with him and the Tailor. So that's what we did. There were 4 main problems with the work. In order of severity: the dress now felt a full size too small; stitching done on either side of the dress was off-balance (one side higher than the other); there was a mysterious brown stain on the back; the collar tag was halfway ripped off.
Our original ask was to repair about 2 inches of broken stitching and to do a dry cleaning. So receiving back a smaller, lopsided, dirty dress was not acceptable.
Zach displayed zero empathy, let alone attentiveness to what we were saying. After repeated explanations of the problem, including photos and video taken the previous day of the exact same dress in the exact same size that illustrated how the dress *should* look, the conversation took a turn...
Zach admitted shoddy workmanship happens, but he can't take responsibility for it. In his words, "I have people coming in all the time saying we've messed up their clothes. What do you expect me to do?" Zach presumes his customers are crooks. He said, "I know you had your heart set on us giving you a new dress when you came in here."
The Tailor, to his credit, went into problem-solving mode. Inspecting the problem areas of the dress, the Tailor pointed out that "this is not original material here," the implication being that more work than what was originally asked for was done. Further, the Tailor wasn't even sure at first if this was his work at all: "I don't remember working on this dress. Was it sent out?" [presumably to the Cobble Hill location] Zach promptly corrected the Tailor, and he dutifully fell in line: "Okay, I worked on this dress."
Zach's entire approach was accusatory. He was fixated on how the dress was damaged in the first place, which is irrelevant: whereas the focus of the conversation should have been on how he and the Tailor could remedy their shoddy workmanship, instead it became a conversation about body size, he said / she said / you said, maybe All Saints makes bad dresses, etc. Zach deflected all responsibility.
The Tailor, however, appeared genuinely interested in solving the problem. He inspected the work, took measurements, and began brainstorming on how, given the current state of the dress, he could further alter the dress to achieve the desired effects. That was appreciated and we tried to continue steering the conversation that way. Zach, the manager, caught onto the Tailor's solution-oriented approach, said he wanted to move forward with us, and pitched us an offer: they would alter the dress for free and have it ready the next day.
Well, it took some doing to get to that offer, and we accepted, but Zach just wouldn't let it go. He went back into defensive mode, asking how the dress was damaged in the first place, why we thought it won't get damaged again through normal use, how we think dresses get damaged in general. Zach's whole argument rested on body size, and his message was clear: You're too fat so you ripped your dress; now fat girl doesn't like how she feels in it; so fat girl wants a new dress.
In the end, it was me who dropped the first f-bomb: "What is with the interrogation? What just happened? We just agreed on our go-forward plan! This is f*cked up!" Zach snapped at that point, grabbed the dress away from the Tailor's table, and refused to help us in any way. "You know what? How about we do nothing!?" he said. We left the store.
The total lack of respect, problem-solving attitude, and customer service is what will keep me from ever going back to Bridgestone Cleaners for anything. To be clear: don't go to Bridgestone Cleaners for anything.
To tie a bow on this, some quick googling today reveals more similar stories. Quotes about the business from other Yelpers:
"If you insist that they did a lousy job and that they should honor their guarantee, the owner himself will call you a "cu*t", tell you you need to get "F$@ked in the a**" and then, I kid you not, throw your dress into the middle of the street!"
"...instead of dry cleaning it, they washed it and dried it shrinking in by as much as 20%. This owner is such a jackass. He admitted to everything, and would not take responsibility for any of it. He would not replace the pillow or reimburse me. He wouldn't even return the money for the dry cleaning."
"Never once was I offered a discount, and the staff was totally unsympathetic."
"Crazy prices, bad quality & no cust. svc!!"
