Reviews & Ratings for Chris French Cleaners

12/05/10

Brilliant Best (But Now I am Wondering)

by SHNYC

After reading so many negative reviews subsequent to submitting mine, I have surmised that they can't all be the work of loony tunes - there are some consistent themes - so I am reconsidering my position. However I will say that John, the tailor, and Basil are both sterling and could not be the ones described in the 'high price-ruined clothes' scenarios.

My Original:

I live in the West Village so it is a hike to cross town to go to Chris French. However, for years and for those valuable items and difficult jobs that I would hesitate to entrust to ANYONE else, they have come through as champions every time. And the staff are perfectly professional (since I saw other reviews that contained adverse comments on the service - otherwise I wouldn't have thought to mention it.). I suspected a few Bellevue outpatients wrote reviews unfortunately - this is New York.

11/05/10

Irony at its Best

by FurCare

The service was so overpriced and not to mention terrible, that it forced me to get off my butt. I went looking to clean my furs at home and found Lana's Fur Cleaning Kit. This allows me to save time and money that no other cleaning place can match. So all in all, it is horrible places like these that allow me to be happier in the end. Thank you?

02/09/10

Malpractice Cleaners: Ruins clothes and overcharges for it!

by Justice League

*First of all: I'd give a -5 stars if possible. This site requires a minimum 1 star rating.

Decided to try this place out for the first time this past summer. Here's their unacceptably long list of mistakes all done in my one and only visit. My experience matches the one described by Libertygirl1 in a previous review.

1. First and foremost: They ruined a pair of beautiful, light cotton summer Robert Geller pants. First drycleaning ever and they were faded horribly, as if I threw them in hot water wash and then dried them on high heat. I've never had this problem with dry cleaning. Is this the result of all their experience with Organic Cleaning?

2. They also damaged a Robert Geller denim jacket: Strange bleach-like stains. Drycleaned twice before/never a problem until Chris French ruined it.

3. I asked them to simply mend some jeans. They stupidly drycleaned them instead. No mending. I noticed before I left and brought it to the clerks attention. Without any apology whatsoever, he hands the pants to the ancient tailor and assures me that it 'will only take 10 minutes.' Nevermind that I needed to be somewhere quickly and didnt have 10 minutes to sit there and wait. Also, nevermind the fact that it was the second time I stopped in to pick up my clothes since they didn't have it done on time when I came earlier that day..!

All this bad service and ruined clothing cost me nearly $50. I would get much better service and results for $20 less at my regular drycleaner. Or almost any other drycleaner in town. Not only horrible service and results, but horribly overpriced as well.

Probably one of my worst experiences in a business in NYC. Never again! Boycott this nightmare place!

• Pros: None
• Cons: The experience as a whole.

04/14/09

The (French) Emperor Has No Clothes

by feszczak

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• Pros: None
• Cons: What are the drawbacks?

12/12/08

Do not waste your money here.

by nybirdie

Hi! Do not go there!!! Just wasting your money and they will ruin your clothes. They made the stain on my cotton blouse BIGGER and also in more places. It also went through from the front to the back.

Then the guy told me that they also couldn't "dry clean" it. That it was only washed because the label said it was washed only. So it was good they follow instructions but they charged me the full price for dry cleaning and not for washing. Then the guy told me that the stain exist because I picked up the laundry one month late??? Made no sense at all... PLEASE DO NOT HELP THIS BUSINESS MAKE PROFITS BY GOING TO THEM.

12/06/08

Blatant fraud in pricing

by heidi79

I told the manager that I didn't have my receipt for a wool coat that I was a late in picking up. In fact, the receipt was at home but I happened to be walking by so decided to not delay any further. I thought the price had been $25, so took out at $20 and $10 bill, which he saw. As he was getting the coat I started to pull out some singles since I thought I might have the $5, and he ripped the receipt off the coat and said $30. Since I didn't have my copy, and also thinking that perhaps they had a late fee charge, I paid it and went home to check my original receipt, which said $25. Nothing in the fine print on the back mentioned a late fee!

Aside from that, the quality of the cleaning was extremely poor. The wool (new coat) was pressed down and flat and there was a superficial stain on the front that I was able to easily remove with water and a towel.

I highly discourage people who care about their clothes to go to Chris French. There's a superior cleaner for fine clothing on University Place, around 6th or 7th street. Even though I live in the East Village I will take my precious items there from now on.

• Pros: Good location.
• Cons: Pricing, quality of cleaning, dishonest with clients.

10/03/08

Horrendous!!

by Kevin79

I just moved to the city and used these guys for about two weeks. Their manager is unbelievable. I walked in to pick up some stuff. He was having an obviously personal phone call, telling jokes about some chick, and I kept waiting for him to help me. Finally, after about 10 minutes, I said "excuse me," and this moron had the nerve to get testy with me. When he finally got off the damn phone, he told me I wasn't going to get anywhere in this world by interrupting people. I asked to speak to the manager, only to find out that this idiot was the manager. He continued to mutter profanities to himself and take an extra long time to process my order. Never have I encountered such appalling service for absolutely no reason!

10/01/08

WORST DRY CLEANERS IN NYC

by Carrie234

I had high hopes for Chris French. The review below this one and a few others think Chris French is good. But after THREE awful encounters in a row, I cannot help but believe that Chris French is the WORST in all of Manhattan and that those positive reviews had to have been written by CF staff.

I first took some stuff to CF about a year ago. They lost my stuff, and I didn't go back for few months. Then, thinking they couldn't possibly f up again, they did. They made my clothes starchy, didn't even clean one piece, and delivered them days late. Most recently, for a third (and now final) time, I went back. I needed some stuff same-day, which CF does. I told them the pieces had to be delivered by the end of the day. Not only did they NOT deliver it, they never cleaned them! Seriously, WORST DRY CLEANERS EVER!

07/10/08

Really???

by eastgirl50

I like chris french, i trust them for my most expensive clothes that I don't want going to my usual east village stoner dry cleaner. They have never been anything but very nice to me in the past 5 years....theyre eco which is a plus, and they are expensive however. The tailor by the way is AMAZING. I tailor almost everything and he always comes through...they will even rush stuff for me no charge. A star off for being very expensive.

06/27/08

Arrogant, offensive, deaf, over-priced cleaners

by libertygirl1

I'm a fashion editor. I know how to look after clothes, and I practice what I preach. I'm paranoid about dry cleaning after one too many disasters here & in London. I liked the idea that Chris French take an eco stance.

I took in a cream wool princess coat, a huge grey cashmere shawl and a tan light cotton mini trench. I asked quite specifically for the trench to be washed. Not dry cleaned. Washed.

I didn?t look at the ticket until I got home, when I discovered that not only had the guy behind the counter totally ignored my request and put my lightweight trench in for dry cleaning, but he?d charged me $25, $5 more than my super heavy, quite grubby cream wool coat.

The cost wasn?t really the issue however, it was the fact that he had adopted a stupid woman, clever me knows best attitude.

When I returned to pick up my pieces, I asked why I had been ignored and he went into a riff on how it was the same price to dry clean as to wash anyway. I tried to point out that price wasn?t the problem, it was the fact they listened to a customer make a specific request and then decided to completely ignore her black & white, specific instructions. After trying to give me a lecture on textile care, I pointed out that I work in textiles, so he could give it a rest. He then said, "Have you lost weight? Because I am wondering if that is why you wanted your trench washed. You know it would shrink a little. ? Completely irrelevant. And bloody rude too.

Listen Chris French Cleaners. You employ two staff members who clearly should never, ever be front of house. Rude, offensive and arrogant.

And your service is really, really expensive. I come from London, possibly the most expensive city in the world. Combined with the weak dollar, most services here are 50% cheaper. But not at Chris French. For their shoddy service I paid double, yes DOUBLE what I pay in London.

• Pros: Eco cleaning
• Cons: Staggeringly expensive. Appalling customer service. Can't handle special requests