A newlywed couple's wedding gifts were mistakenly discarded as trash by a cleaning company, leading to a police investigation and a claim for compensation. Despite clear instructions, the couple found themselves sifting through garbage to recover their belongings, including a piggy bank with cash. The cleaning company disputes the couple's account, citing internal documentation and witness statements.
Wedding Gifts Mistakenly Discarded as Trash: A Newlywed Nightmare
Wedding Gifts Mistakenly Discarded as Trash: A Newlywed Nightmare
Caroline and Dylan hired a cleaning company to tidy up after their wedding, a decision they would soon regret.
"On our second day as a married couple, we found ourselves talking to the police and digging through trash," says Caroline.
Caroline, 29, and Dylan, 30, tied the knot in July, spending 200,000 SEK on their wedding after a year of planning. However, things did not go as planned.
After spending their wedding night at a hotel, the couple returned to their wedding venue in Östergötland to collect their belongings and gifts, only to find everything gone.
"We felt like something had gone terribly wrong. We started trying to call the cleaner," Caroline explains.
Digging Through Trash
When they contacted the cleaning company, they were told their belongings had been discarded as trash, despite Caroline having provided written instructions on what should and should not be thrown away.
A few hours later, the cleaners arrived with a car and dumped the items on Caroline's brother's driveway. She recounts having to sift through garbage bags filled with food scraps and cigarette butts to find their belongings.
Among the trash, they found an envelope that had been opened and emptied of money, Caroline says.
In a bag hidden in the cleaners' car, the couple also found a piggy bank, a gift from Dylan's parents, containing 5,000 SEK.
"But the cleaners claimed they had never seen it before," Caroline adds.
According to their complaint to the National Board for Consumer Disputes (ARN), the couple lost five envelopes containing letters and money, ten wine boxes, and ten bottles of champagne. Items like makeup, clothes, vases, and textiles were mixed with trash or discarded.
"We don't care much about the things, but it's so wrong. We've spent a month dealing with police interviews, unable to enjoy our honeymoon or be happily married," Caroline laments.
Company: Several Inaccuracies
The cleaning company's CEO disagrees with the couple's account. He told Expressen that they take "all theft allegations seriously," but there is "internal documentation and witness statements" that contradict the couple's story.
"The couple did not order us to handle money, and the venue was unattended from the end of the party until our staff arrived for cleaning and trash removal in the morning. How can they rule out that someone else accessed the venue overnight until 8:00 AM?" he writes.
Caroline does not believe the items were stolen overnight.
"We have witnesses who saw our belongings and gifts on site while the cleaners were there," she says.
"Couldn't Be Newlyweds"
When the couple learned this week that the police investigation was closed, they filed a complaint with ARN, demanding the cleaning company compensate them for the financial loss, which they estimate at 19,097 SEK—a claim the company has denied.
"I trust the police did what they could. We've mostly just been sad. The worst part is that we couldn't be newlyweds. We'll never get the days after our wedding back. On our second day as a married couple, we were talking to the police and digging through trash," Caroline concludes.