I go here because it's closer to home and I have no laundry facilities. I love that it's big - so there's never a wait (though I don't go during "rush hour") - and there's free WiFi. And you can time it so that while your clothes are cleaning, you can have dinner at Mr. Peabody's.
That said, every visit leaves me frustrated, and today was it... I'm done.
Regular frustrations are finding out there was no hot water in your machine and your laundry products didn't completely dissolve (the small machines almost never have hot water, btw). Or, taking your clothes out of the machines to find wierd stains on them that were not there previously (happens more than occasionally). Mostly, you just deal with it because that's what happens when you rent and don't have laundry.
Today took the cake, though.
I know not to use the small machines (no hot water, remember?) So i loaded up 2 double machines and one triple (blankets, and towels, and sheets, oh my!). After getting everything started, I noticed that the first machine looked dry... As in no water. That's odd because it had been running for about 4 minutes. Second machine, same thing. Third, too! So I went for help. I was told that there was no hot water in the whole place today.
What?? Well, can I stop the machine and get my (dirty and now soapy clothes out)? No. All I could do was switched to cold. I asked why nobody said anything... I was told there was a note on the front door (not so handy if you come in the back door). There was also a note on one coin machine (if you were lucky enough to use that one machine) but the note said there was no hot water yesterday. Wtf?
My only option was to do cold water washes. Probably no big deal for my jeans, but my whites were not going to be happy. Neither was I.
Eventually my sort-of-clean clothes made it to the dryer. I noticed that more than the usual number of dryers had "broken" signs on them. I chose carefully and split up my larger loads, loaded the machines up with 5 quarters each and stepped away for a bit. (Too hot and still too frustrated to stay there watching towels dry.)
When I came back, two of the 4 loads were WET. When I complained, I was told there was a mechanic around (which didn't help me at all). You could feel two of the loads burning hot, one soaking wet, and the last very, very damp (but not soaking).
I spoke to the mechanic. He put his hand in one machine, touched the roof of it and declared it hot.
Seriously? Touch my wet clothes and tell me how well it was working!
It was a frustrating way to spend a few hours, not to mention $25.
On a brighter note, I did discover a great laundromat with new owners over by El Nopalito. Place was small but really clean, the machines were amazing ($0.25 for 9 minutes in a really hot dryer - one with a solid interior that won't snag your clothes!), and the owners are on-site and friendly.
I'll never go back to jolly clean giant again. And I don't needed to. read more