I have thought of this cleaner as a high end cleaner, that's why I was always willing to pay a few bucks more for their service. However, recently they've pulled the last straw. Over the years they had made mistakes, yet I really didn't make much of it because, well, I didn't care much about the certain items. But this time they manage to ruin one of my favorite shirts for the season that cost me a pretty penny. So here’s my story:
About two days after I had picked up my shirt, I tried it on a for a night out on the town and to my shock there were holes in the upper part of the shirt where most attention is drawn to because of a weighty embedded-with-Swarovski-crystals-bronze snake is located. Not only that, but the material surrounding my décolleté faded, as if the area was over-pressed. I took the shirt back in and asked what could be done about the shirt and if I could speak to the owner. The assistant kindly told me that she would get back to me within 4 days. I waited patiently for two weeks and then decided to call them myself and see what was to be done about my shirt that I could no longer wear as it looked worn and mangy. They told me that the owner had come in, looked at the shirt and left a note saying that the shirt wasn't supposed to be dry-cleaned, so they had to hand wash it and she couldn't see anything wrong with it (why would the manufacturer’s care tag say “Dry Clean Only” if it’s not supposed to be dry cleaned?) I told them that I would go in the next day to speak to their owner and look at my shirt.
The next day, I received a phone call from the owner (two weeks late mind you), speaking down to me, telling me that nothing was wrong with the shirt, that no matter where I took it I would get the same results, maybe even worse, that I should have been charged more because they had to hand wash it, and that I was just wanting to make a false claim against them, the #1 dry cleaner in the area. This owner has absolutely no people skills, and by what I heard I can only assume that she considers herself to be higher than her customers and thinks everybody wants a handout. She also has a listening problem because over the phone she would not let me say a thing! She kept raising her voice whenever I was about to mutter a word, thus I just let her ramble on making false accusations and then told her that I would just go in, show her what I saw as a ruined shirt, and just pick it up and be on my way. Going in there to speak to her in person was no better than speaking to her over the phone. She kept insisting that I knew nothing about “dry clean process” (nor was I claiming that I did), and that I was making a big deal about nothing.
They ruined my $200 Sky shirt. Yes, thankfully it wasn't a designer item but they still trashed it and that's why I felt the need to take it back and tell them about it and maybe get compensated. I love clothes and I spend a lot of my hard earned money on it, so I pride myself in taking care of it. If I had ruined it myself than I would have taken responsibility and just shoved it in the back of my closet.
Overall this was a disappointing experience and has definitely ended my 14 year relationship with Fifth Avenue Cleaners. So to all of you looking for someone to dry clean your clothes and not destroy it, stay away from this place. And I urge you, if you have expensive clothing that you cherish, do not risk its demise by bringing it here. I hope you can gain something from this lengthy review.
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