The reason I am taking time out of my busy day to write down my experience with Commercial Laundries, Inc. is to advise everyone on Y not to sign any contract without having an attorney review it. This includes any laundry lease company, waste company, or any service that requires a contract.
I would also highly recommend that you strike an auto-renewal clauses or first right of refusal clauses that may be in the company's standard contract. If they won't do it, find another company. This is what caused our issues with Commercial Laundries.
Below is our saga with Commercial Laundries, Inc.
1. Our contract with Commercial Laundries, Inc. was first signed in 1995. It was a 10-year contract that automatically renewed for 7 years and, after that, for another seven if we did not give a written 6 months' notice to cancel.
2. In 2004 the washers rusted and were damaging the clothes. The association called and wrote to Commercial Laundries explaining the problem with the machines, but they refused to replace them. Our attorney advised us that the way the contract was written it was impossible to cancel. It took several letters from the attorney for them to finally replace half of the machines in 2004, which was costly to the Association since we had to pay attorney fees.
3. The board changed a few years later and the new board forgot to cancel the contract in 2012; so, we were locked in for another 7 years, until September 12, 2019.
4. In March we sent a registered letter to Commercial Laundries advising them we were canceling service. I received a response email stating my contact self-renewed for another 7 years when they replaced the rusted machines in 2004 (the machines were now 15 years old). We hired an attorney to help negotiate the new agreement or get out of the contract. In the middle of negotiation, they increased the price per load from $1.25 to $1.50. Our attorney spoke to John Stewart, the owner's son, and was negotiating with him for new machines because we had another offer on the table with CSC. If they matched CSC agreement, we had to continue using them because of the clause "Right of First Refusal', written in the contract. While in negotiations, my attorney sent John an email letting him know he was going on maternity leave because his wife was due any day and he would be unavailable for a few days. He told him that any agreements we had made were null and void because we were still working out the details (addendum) which included a sign-on bonus offered by CSC, no additional fee, and $1.50 price per load. During the time my attorney was out they took the opportunity to deliver the new machines, without notice, and increased the price per load another .50 cents; making it $2.00 per load. I called the company when I discovered that the machines were delivered and spoke to the owner, Jack. He informed me he would bring the price per load back to $1.50 but we would have to change the term of the agreement to 5 years. This was not my decision to make, I would have to speak to board, property manager and get the attorney's advice. They were holding us hostage, if we did not agree to their terms, we would continue paying the price they decided. Since they agreed to year to year contract proposed by CSC, we could cancel after a year or we could sign a five-year contract as they proposed to get them to lower the rate back to $1.50. How they do business is deceitful and I have no trust in this company.
3/11/20
The owner tried to justified the company but the truth is they are dishonest. We had been trying to get out of the agreement since 2004. We hired an attorney to get out of contract but they still held us hostage, instead of letting us out of the agreement.
This should tell you what kind of company you would be dealing with. read more