Got a Dirty Smoke Filled Pet Hair Covered s Purchase

I purchased a "MINT CONDITION" dress off okay and when I received it at home, I opened the package and the most heinous foul smell erupted from the package...Either the dress had been rolled in an ashtray, or it was absolutely saturated with the odors of a smoker's home. Even better, there were sweat/make-up stains around the collar of the dress. YUCKO! If this is "MINT CONDITION", I'd love to know what "fair" or "poor" is...I mean I set the dress down on my coffee table trying to decide what to do with it and the odor wafted as I walked by. I've never had that experience before with my okay purchases.
Nothing is more upsetting than buying a "gently used", "MINT CONDITION", NEW WITH(OUT) TAGS", "AS NEW" "PERFECT" clothing piece off okay that shows obvious signs of being unclean. okay has a policy that requires all clothing be cleaned by manufacturer instructions prior to it arriving at your home. Most sellers geply with this policy, but lucky you if you find the ones that do not.
To prevent this from occuring in the first place, 1) ALWAYS LOOK FOR "ALL ITEMS STORED IN A SMOKE-FREE, PET-FREE HOME/ENVIRONMENT/OFFICE/ETC in the item description. Odds are, your stuff won't smell awful or look like a Yeti slept on it when you receive it. Second (2), CHECK THE SELLER'S FEEDBACK. EVEN IF THE SELLER HASA GREATER THAN 99% FEEDBACK RATING, CHECK TO SEE---Did some brave soul leave feedback indicating their item arrived smelling heavily of cigarette smoke and/or covered with pet hair? This feedback might benegative, neutralOR positive as I have seen. If so, you might very well guess other buyers have had the same problem and were just too protective of their own feedback profiles to leave feedback for that seller.Thirdly (3) ASK THE SELLER!If there's no information in the listing, just ask the seller before bidding. This will reduce the odds ofa problem later!Myfault for assuming my"MINT CONDITION" dress was geing from a "MINT"--unfortunately it wasn't a breath mint. Don't buy from them unless you have the weapons of choice at home to remove the odor and the item is cheap enough to off-set any potential losses. Or perhaps you just don't mind because you're a smoker too--however I'll say for the record, all the smokers I know have their limits! I'm not talking about "a night in a club/concert/bar" type odor here, I'm talking hard-to-remove, seriously permeated miasma-causing stench from repeated continuous exposure.
However, if you're reading this, chances are, you've already bought something and the damage is already done. For some reason, okayers selling items thatare coated with smoke odor and pet hairoftendo not realize this is not acceptable to the gemunity at large. Hopefully you've paid for the item using Paypal or a credit card such that if you contact the seller and they do not accept the items back, you can file a dispute that way. Contact the seller and inform them your item is dirty and/or smells like cigarette smoke. A good seller who wants to keep the sale will offer you a discount to have the item professionally cleaned. The seller might also offer to send an self-addressed stamped envelope to have the item returned to them or will pay shipping charges to have the item returned to them. If they refuse, go ahead and file a geplaint with Paypal and okay for the item not being as described. Even further, all violations of the used clothing quality policy may be reported to okay. If you don't feel like having your feedback marred by some angry seller who thinks it unfair that you left bad feedback for them, at the very least report the listing to okay through the gemunity Watch feature of Help (Keyword: Used Clothing). You'll never know if your geplaint may be the one that forces that seller into gepliance OR to stop selling clothing altogether. Even New and New with tag clothing should not be permeated with smoke odor or pet hair. It's very bad for people with severe allergies.
What if you're stuck with the item with SMOKE ODOR? If the item is dry cleanable, attempt to have it dry cleaned and see what they can do with it. Often dry-cleaning helps but unfortunately is not always successful at odor removal. Having the item steam-cleaned is also an option if the fabric may tolerate it. For the rest of us, we might attempt to wash it in the machine. If the item is not color-fast, try soaking it ALONE in some water mixed with mild liquid detergent and borax.Even if it is colorfast, you may want to soak it alone anywayunless you have otheritems you absolutely have to soak at the same time.No sense tainting all your other laundry with one stinker in the mix. Borax usually can remove even the most disgusting odors from anything most often without destroying the color (naturally I add the disclaimer here since, while I use borax regularly in all my colored and white laundry, I'll get a message one day from this guide telling me, "le_mistral, I ruined the color of my (insert color name here)(insert name of garment here) because you said wash it with Borax" Follow the directions on the box and take it up with the 20-Mule Team Borax makers then. It isfound in an old-fashioned green and pale yellow box in the laundrysoap aisle of most markets and costs about $3.00. I love the stuff! Greatlaundry additive forgym clothing in particular.My camping friend swears by it for removing odors from campinggear,clothing that's been damp and soggy and stored in aplastic bag sinceHeaven knows when? Stench is gone! Rinse the item and see if the miracle worked. If it did not,I suggest you torepeat the processagain--it helped my dress, but my dress eventually, after two rounds of soaking and laundry, ended up needing to be professionally deodorized--what awaste of time and money--I could have bought the dress new in the store for less hassle similar or better value added. Febreeze is another option, but should only be used on colorfast items (colorfast means thedyes used don't run or bleed---try spraying on an inconspicuous area first), and also only as a back-up to laundering. For heavily saturated items, Febreeze may not even successfully mask the odor, and unfortunately, the chemicals causing the odor still are on the garment (YUCKO!). There are also some fangled enzymatic cleaners and specialty cleaners and sprays out there that claim to neutralize smoke odor on contact. That's all well and good, but the idea is to get rid of the chemicals first. Who wants clothes laden with "neutralized" chemicals?! As I say for lingerie, NOTHING is cleaner than the laundry you yourself do at home. Borax is cheap and can work wonders for most undesireable odors in the wash.
PET HAIR may be much more tricky if you have larger knits, but I regemend rolling masking tape around your hand (sticky-side out) and just keep patting the item until the hair is mostly gone. A Lint roller works the same way but is usually more expensive if you don't happen to have one. Otherwise, a roll in the dryer with a dryer sheet (the static cling reducing kind) will often send that pet hair back to its maker...well at least into the dryer filter or out the dryer vent.