Tipped

Love/Hate relationship

April 23, 2008

Is it just me or does everyone feel like they’ve been taken for a ride with their drycleaners?

American Dry Cleaning Co gets kudos for how friendly they are; the guys really go out of their way wrt customer service which I truly appreciate. I think they get you on the dry cleaning costs though. I wouldn’t say they are a lot more than others but it always feels like it. Men’s shirts are cheap but then anything else seems expensive. A sweater is £6-8 and then they always try to trick you into paying an additional £2 for special care – cashmere or shirts that need to be done by hand – which I find appalling. That should be included in the basic price.

They also encourage you to sign up for a yearly loyalty card which gives you 20% off most things. I can’t remember the cost of the loyalty card - £25 maybe? Anyway, if you use them a lot as we seem to, it helps out a bit.

The guy who mends/sews things is great. He is a master and you can never even tell he’s sewn something up. But again, it come with a price. I had a tiny moth hole in one of my sweater sleeves and he charged £6.95 to mend it. It looks amazing but it probably took him 5 minutes.

I guess everyone needs to make a living somehow.

Tags: dry cleaners, shoe repair, key cutting, mending, sewing