Customer threatening to sue me for oil stains

[Steven04]

I'm new to owning a coin laundry and a few weeks ago, A customer washed her clothes and she claims that my machines left oil stains. She thinks that it is the dryers leaking oil. I tried convincing her that there is no oil but she was more upset. I'm not sure what she wants from me, but she leaves and she threatenly says, "I'm going to sue your a**". What do you guys think? How should I handle these types of problems? Will the "no machine oil in dryers" hold up in court? How can I get proof that there is no oil in the machine?

Any replies would be helpful.

Thanks

[millenniumplus]

Get used to that occassional customer threatening to sue you. In three years we've yet to be sued out of
about a dozen people threatening to do so in regards to stolen clothes or stains on clothes that supposedly
weren't there. You really have to handle each incident on a case by case basis. If you think your business
may have been in error prorate the clothes and pay. Have them sign a document relieving you of any
responsibility. If you feel you're being ripped off be professional about it towards the customer but take a
"not paying" stance. In any case be sure you have signs posted in your store stating "not responsible
for missing or damaged clothes". You can check with your distributor to see if your dryer could possibly
leak oil. Then again if the customer before her had oily clothes who knows. Be more concerned about
those slip and fall complaints in regards to lawsuits. Welcome to the laundromat biz - keep us posted
and good luck!

[aromaz]

Did she use washers in your mat? A bad seal in a washer can allow oil to enter the tub or drum. It's not really noticable when the clothes are wet, but very noticable after drying. This kind of staining would be small spots distributed throughout the load as opposed to smudges which would come from the dryer.

[Steven04]

Yes, she washed her clothes in my store. She claims that she examined her clothes after she washed it and her chocolate stains were washed off and clean before she started drying.

I'm not sure what washer she used, she must have used either my 1/2 yr old top load speed queens or 2 yr old horizon washers. I hope those seals aren't leaking already. After she used the dryer and complained, I put a large white blanket in the older 30# huebsch dryer to test for about 20 mins. and no stains on the blanket.

Thanks for your replies, I should talk to the distributor/manufacturer to see if there is a possibility of leaking oil in the washers/dryers and how to check the machines if it is leaking oil.

[Howard]

Forget about it, you will most likely never hear from her again. If you do, you have the item you washed and can easly get a distributor to testify as an "expert wittness" that there is no oil in a dryer. Don't loose sleep over this.