Help Me Hank: Disappearing Dry Cleaners

Going to the dry cleaners is about as predictable as it comes, you're gonna see bags of clothes spinning around and the person in back pressing the shirts and the people taking clean stuff home.

But here is what Gladys Jones saw when she went to her dry cleaners -- not machines, not bags, not people and most distressingly, not her boyfriend's clothes.

Gladys Jones
"It was a pair of dress slacks, men's dress slacks, and a mans dress shirt."

Gone. It all started when Gladys put the shirt and pants in the cleaners, got this receipt and then headed off on vacation.

Gladys Jones
"So we decided to get them when we got back from vacation, which when we came back from vacation, they weren't there to get."

There was a message on her answering machine:

Message on Machine
"We will be going out of business and our last day is June 30..."

Problem! Gladys had been thousands of miles away. Got the message weeks later!

Hank
"Could you have picked up your clothes in time?"

Gladys Jones
"No way that was possible."

So what good is a cleaning ticket with no cleaners?

Gladys Jones
"I was upset, I was like you know, I put my clothes in the cleaners, where are my clothes at?"

Good question, the disappearing dry cleaners had left no forwarding phone number and no new address.

Gladys Jones
"It left me nowhere to go."

That's when she called "Help Me Hank." We found business records at town hall, found that the owners had moved to the Cape and then found their new number. But could we find the clothes?

The owners told us they had lost their lease and tried to get everyone's clothes returned, but how about Ms. Jones? They checked that ticket number and good news... soon after a big package from the Cape arrived at Gladys's door

Hank
"And inside?"

Gladys Jones
"The missing clothes, everything is back."

What battle are you fighting? Maybe I can help, send it to hryan@whdh.com