Dry cleaners Dry cleaning investigation
Dry cleaning services failing to remove basic stains
Red wines stains were still obvious on some jackets after cleaning
If you expect your clothes to come back spotless from the dry cleaner, you may be disappointed – our investigation found that many dry cleaners have trouble removing everyday stains such as red wine.
Our snapshot survey suggests that dry cleaners have failed to raise their game since our last investigation in 2008, when less than 10% of garments were returned in an acceptable condition.
This time, we stained 48 identical wool-mix women’s jackets with double cream, red wine and vinaigrette, and took them to be cleaned at the three largest national dry-cleaning chains – Johnsons, Morrisons and Timpson – and a selection of independents across the country.
Our findings
- Only four dry cleaners managed to completely remove all the stains without damaging, stretching or shrinking the jackets too much.
- 17 shops were rated poor or very poor for stain removal, as they didn’t appear to treat the stains before cleaning, or didn’t treat them properly.
- 12 shops appear to have ignored the care label and left marks on the jackets caused by too much heat and pressure in ironing.
For a dry cleaner to have the best chance of cleaning clothes, they should inspect them while the customer is in the shop and ask questions about any stains. Most shops did this, but 17 didn’t ask what the stains were and 14 failed to inspect the jackets while our shoppers were in the store. When dry cleaners inspected the jackets and found the stains, we confirmed what they were. When they didn’t, we showed them the stains and told them what they were.
Stain removal is the most important part of our test and we found that 21 out of 48 shops were good or excellent at tackling stains. But only four managed to completely remove all the stains without damaging, stretching or shrinking the jackets too much.
Textile Services Association
Complain to the TSA if you need to resolve a dispute with one of its member companies
The Textile Services Association (TSA) is the trade association for laundry, dry cleaning and textile industries in the UK – three quarters of the shops we visited were TSA members. The TSA's code states that members should handle all clothes with due care and attention, be trained to be competent and should maintain the highest possible standards of quality and service.
Two TSA code commitments are being strongly delivered – almost all the jackets were ready on time and jackets still stained after dry cleaning were cleaned again free of charge every time. But our investigation suggests that important parts of the code aren’t being adhered to by a significant proportion of dry cleaners.
TSA chief executive Murray Simpson told us it takes the Which? findings seriously, that the results are disappointing and it wants to learn from them. After our 2008 article, the TSA advised its members to commission mystery shopping surveys and it says that the results of our investigation are at odds with theirs. But the TSA confirmed that this research was commissioned by its members, not the TSA itself.
Which? says
The TSA has 300 member companies who have close to 1,000 dry cleaning outlets. Its code of practice appears to offer protection to consumers, but our research shows that in many cases dry cleaners are falling below the standards set. The TSA told us that it’s not in its remit to carry out research into the performance of its members, and that only one member has been removed from the scheme in the last 10 years. You don't need a qualification in dry cleaning to join the TSA.
The TSA’s customer advisory service seems like a good way for consumers to resolve disputes. But for consumers to have faith in the TSA code of practice, far more needs to be done by the TSA to proactively ensure that its members adhere to its code, otherwise it’s meaningless. And for the code to mean anything, dry cleaners who let consumers down should be removed from the scheme.