I was quite disappointed with this cleaner that last time I went.
I went to this place initially last year when I saw the Entertainment coupon for 50% off the order (up to $25). I thought, "wow! great deal!" It's definitely far from my house, but the quote on the phone appeared to be comparable to other cleaners. The guy was really nice, and he was proud of the work he did on my comforters. He even gave me a 10% off coupon for my next visit, just like Kelly S. mentioned. Well, that was LAST YEAR!
I returned this year with the same comforters with the same coupon. I was met with a different response. I'd forgotten the cost. So I called them up earlier to ask. Mike, the manager/owner (?), picked up the phone and quoted me $25-35 depending on whether my comforters were down. I wasn't sure, and he told me to just bring them in. When I was at the counter, I was eager to see the guy again. He was in the back busy, so his associate called out his name "Mike." That's how I found out his name. Mike recalled our conversation on the phone, and he said "oh, you brought them in."
I told him that one was down and the other, cotton. He wrote down $70. I was confused, because one was cotton and same size. I reminded him that he said that it's $25 if it's not down on the phone. He seemed annoyed that I would challenge his price, and he told me that it costs a lot of money to run his green machines. In fact, it costs $50. Huh? How can it cost $50 per load, and he charges me $35 per comforter. That's when things started to not make any sense.
I agreed to the price regardless since i had the Entertainment coupon. He told me now that he couldn't give me the "special" price. He never told me $70 was a special price before. He increased my price to $80. When I looked displeased with the quick price increase, he told me that we're not supposed to use this coupon for anything other than clothes. The coupon had NO such restrictions. Then he started to complain about how Entertainment coupon was supposed to write that in.
Did he forget that the coupon brought me in? It's all about marketing! He really didn't want to honor the coupon. He said that I should save the coupon, and use it for clothes. I told him that I wanted to use them for the comforters, because I just didn't dry clean my clothes that much. He threatened that he will take away my coupon if I wanted to use it. I told him that it was fine since I was planning to not return.
He then took off $5 from the original price. So it was $65. What was with the arbitrary discounts and price increases with Mike? I was SO shocked that he would treat me like I'm some scum bag asking for discounts that I didn't deserve. I had a legitimate coupon that stated that it was good for any dry cleaning 50% off.
When I told him, "I'll just go somewhere else..." He had a change of heart. He lowered it to $55. So arbitrary. I thought I was in Asia haggling with a street vendor for a better price. I decided to test out the service and gave him my comforters. I just prayed that he wouldn't ruin them or not clean them.
I picked them up a week later. I think they were clean, but they didn't smell as fresh as last year when he was bragging out how clean and fresh they were. That did impress me last year, and I've decided to return because of that.
He should realize that one unhappy customer is never a good thing since word gets about the abuse. Even though I'll probably have Entertainment coupons next year, I won't be touching this coupon again. read more