Help! I Called in the Professionals and They Damaged My Sofa

Q: One month ago we hired professional upholstery cleaners to clean our living room furniture, as we did not want to risk damaging our sofa and chair ourselves. We selected a national brand with a good reputation locally. The cleaner damaged the material on the first pass, turning the original color of creamy white into a dirty blotched yellow. The general manager quickly responded, sending his “top technician” to fix the problem. The first attempt to fix the damage did not work — it lightened the yellow, but left dark blotches throughout the material — nor did the second or third attempts.

We have been trying to follow up with the company to figure out next steps, but the general manager seems to be avoiding our calls. We’ve had no luck contacting the head of service nationally either. Has anyone run into a similar problem? If so, how did you resolve it? And what are our rights? Outside of a few cat scratches on the back of the sofa and ottoman, there was no damage or stains on the furniture before it was cleaned. Now we’re left with blotchy, brownish, off-whitish furniture that is a bit “crunchy” from the cleaning product. —Sent by Jennifer

Editor: Yikes, sorry that happened to you Jennifer. Anyone out there exceptionally good at settling customer service disputes? Have a super secret upholstery hack? Leave your suggestions for Jennifer in the comments – thanks!

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