Mungomuffit - thanks for your support! i am not easily bullied into 'we have cctv and we'll take you to court' arguments, i work with lawyers all the time and good ones at that, so i actually thought it was rather funny. i felt perfectly comfortable that i had not done anything to justify a legal action (no swearing, no shouting). anyway, thanks for your post - it certainly helps!

The problem with Facebook is its not anonymous, you have to use your real name.

I know that shouldn't matter but we're not very good at complaining in the UK.

CAC

Hi Suzilik

I didn't realise they had a facebook account - have you tried putting your comments on that? Or seen what others have said? That might be quite interesting. I'm not on facebook (no idea how to use it) so don't know what sort of things are posted there.

I think you do have to put up with people disagreeing with the odd post sometimes, if they have had different experiences, but yes, it's easy to take it personally I agree.

I have used these dry cleaners for past 5-6 years. I am not their friend just a customer but have had nothing but positive experiences with them. They are incredibly friendly, and not just inside of their premises, but when I see them outside as well. They are very sweet with my children, so much so that they are excited about going there. I find it very hard to believe they would ban someone easily. There are two sides to every story. People have every right to post good and bad comments. However, I am baffled by the original post as I have only ever seen them be very professional and friendly. I can only recommend their services.

I am tempted to start my message by saying 'without prejudice' as i am starting to feel that some of the regular customers have something against me or the fact that i had a bad experience with that dry cleaners, and will take me to court.

Let me comment back if i may. Indeed the value of this and other online (and not) forums is in sharing customer experiences. that is why we love amazon - because we can know about books, toys and things before we buy. same is true about other responsible companies who value their customers and their reputation. that's the reason why most big businesses allow for the possibility of customers to leave feedback - ocado, waitrose, john lewis, M&S, amazon, ELC, kiddicare, mothercare, tripadvisor - you name it. while it is rather costly to maintain a customer experiences platform online and makes no sense for a business like bellevue cleaners, the least they should be doing is being present on this forum to be able to respond and put their view of the situation across.

bellevue do have a facebook account though, to be fair.

i have in the past had responses to my reviews on tripadvisor and also noticed that some local businesses add their voice to similar debates (like happy faces which i like a lot, responded to a negative experience of a customer in a very professional way).

i was very upset by the righteous tone of a couple of posters, using words 'how dare you' and 'appauled' and that you didnt believe me. that's all quite presumtious. well, you should! and bear in mind that you have actually upset a real person - it's not all fun and games online without revealing your identity. there's been a few saying they've had a bad experience and we are not making it up. it's also somewhat strange to see that someone was afraid that the company will see these comments - they should see them and respond!!! i did say they offered me money back but screwing your favourite skirt/trousers/wedding dress that costs XX and offering a £10 fee back for it does not cut it for me.

really quite upsetting this

I've also come in late on this discussion, however, while i have lived in the area for 7ish years, i have used this dry cleaners only the once, and will never use them again. My experience was horrible, the service very unhelpful and the outcome very unsatisfactory. They ruined my wedding dress (prior to the wedding). All i asked was for it to be steam ironed, and it came back covered in black fluff. After repeated visits where it was promised to be fixed, i finally re-took possession 3 days before the wedding, £70 out of pocket, and went over it with a sticky roller to fix it myself. I most certainly did not appreciate the 'we cant do anything about it' approach.

On the flip side, i can highly recommend TheBigWash.com Apart from being a customer of their's for 7ish years, i have no affiliation with them. Cant speak highly enough of them, they are reasonably priced, they pick up and drop off the items (as a working mum for this service alone i'd pay more), extremely helpful, and i've never had any problems with them. Post wedding i sent my wedding dress, the grooms kilt, mother of the bride outfit and bridesmaid dress to them for the same amount i had to pay for the pleasure of having Northcoate Rd Dry cleaners ruin my dress in the first place!!! That also included removing blood stains, fixing a bow and funnily enough, not coming back covered in black fluff!!

If you like them use them - but, in my opinion, there are much better quality and priced alternatives in the area without the attitude.

Bit late joining this thread, but yes, just wanted to add my positive experiences of Bellvue Dry Cleaners. But - beat this - I've been using them for 20 years!!! First started using them when they were at a different site, still on Northcote Road but opposite side of the Road from where they are now. Was trying to remember exactly where they were across the Road and what is there now but can't quite - can anyone else remember? Can anyone beat my years of useage?!

I was confused by original post as I have always found them to be lovely and helpful to the point of ridiculousness (sp). I am soooo bad at sewing that I admit, at times, I have actually brought shirts and things in just to have a button sewn on (I'm sorry, I know that's really bad but I am hopeless and have really clumsy hands!). Anyway, on the occasions that I've done this, they have always returned the item saying "don't worry, no charge for that".

They are one of the few (if any) original, family run, businessess left in Northcote Road. I'd hate the thought of any of them reading the couple of negative comments on this post - I'm pretty sure they haven't though, hopefully.

PS. No, I don't work for them or have any financial interest etc in the business!!!!! Just a fondness for something that has been part of my life for a long time in this area. x

Hi All, Just wanted to add to the Bellevue Cleaners discussion. I have used them for over 5 years and have had no problems with them at all. They have always been polite and friendly and all the work they have done has been totally professional. They have always advised me if something will not clean or if there is a risk with the cleaner. i would highly recomend them.

I have used the dry cleaners off and on for the last 10 years - I am not a regular customer but have always had positive experiences there, with cleaning and with repairs. On one occasion when I asked them to redo something, they were very amenable about it and I am really amazed to hear about the first poster's experience, as I find it hard to reconcile that with my own impressions of them.

So you've recently given a positive review in a magazine to this business then by coincidence you stumble upon this website and see a post about the very same business so decide to join the site and comment? What a coincidence!

I fully understand. And I agree everyone is entitled to their opinion on this lovely website. I will leave this debate by saying just this: I am merely a very happy customer of Bellevue Cleaners who finds the original post very hard to believe. And I feel there are many other residents of this area that feel the same.

I felt I would sign up to comment on this posting because people are often all to willing to complain (I myself always complain about bad service when I receive it) but neglect to praise when they receive great service. I have received great service from Bellevue Cleaners consistently for five years so wish to share this.

Everyone is of course entitled to their opinion and entitled to post their thoughts. My opinion is simply that they are professional people and I love popping in there every Saturday to drop off and pick up my dry cleaning. And there is an interview with me in the new issue of SW Magazine in which I state exactly that.

Of course I am not suggesting that you own the dry cleaners, they are probably just your friends. You certainly have been using them for a long time

I would recommend you edit your post to remove your phone number

NVN does have problems with sock puppeting especially those appearing to recommend services offered by posters

Goldhawk how dare you suggest that my post is anything other than genuine. I have been a resident of this area for over five years and am a father of a ten month old. As the original poster stated, the owners have already given her a full refund and offered to rectify the situation so your assertion that they should fix the situation is irrelevant as they have clearly already tried to do so. I can only imagine how appallingly a customer has to behave for the owners to offer them their money back and ask them not to come back. My post was merely to state that I love Bellevue Cleaners (and clearly by the other supportive posts here many others feel the same) and that I think it is wrong for someone to try and ruin a great family business.

Agreed Goldhawk!

It would be a refreshing change if the owners took the feedback on board and apologised and offered to rectify the situation instead of signing up and posting messages complaining about damage to their rep

LangroydDad - take note!