Ye Olde Clean’ry

My last experience w/​this cleaners was my last. They melted my rhinestone buttons on my sweater. Two embellishments where missing on my silk top. And lastly my white skirt looked like it hadn’t been cleaned at all. In fact it had a stain on the back and the invisible zipper was broken. On top of that it was poorly pressed. Not satisfied and never returning. The quality of service has changed over the past few years. I tried to stick it out but it’s not advantageous to continue paying someone to ruin my clothes.

Great cleaners and not over priced. I like the honesty that if they can’t clean it or think it could get damaged, they’ll tell you not to dry clean it. So they’re not just about making money. Since I work close by this is my preferred spot. The woman there is always pleasant. And they do a great job on my boyfriend’s work shirts and pants.

I’ve been a loyal customer since moving to the area, regularly taking my formal attire and other occasional dry-​clean only items there. In particular, my favorite sweater is wool and dry clean only. I’ve brought it here at least thrice previously for cleanings, but I picked it up a few days ago and this time it came back extremely stretched out, effectively 1 – 2 sizes larger than previously, to the point that it doesn’t fit at all.
I spoke to the owner, who at first said there was nothing he could do about it, which I understand, as the stretching didn’t seem likely to be reversible in any way. But then when I asked for a refund, he changed his tune and insisted that he didn’t do it, and wouldn’t even give me a refund. I explained to him that it fit when I brought it in, and it didn’t when I got it back, but he denied that repeatedly, shooing me out of the store at that point.
I’m very sad to have lost my favorite sweater, and it’s frustrating that on top of that, I paid someone to ruin it for me, who wouldn’t even apologize or acknowledge the error. Time to try another dry cleaners.

I have found them to always be reliable and effective. There isn’t much more you can ask here. The only reason I didn’t rate them a 5 is that I’m a «tough grader» :)

They live up to their bad customer service reputation every time.
In previous encounters, they have lost my clothes or not properly removed spots/​stains and then denied it was their fault. They never admit, apologize, or give discounts/​refunds for their mistakes and they always «just work there,» while the owner/​manager is conveniently never around.
Unfortunately, a good and reliable dry cleaner is hard to find west of Center City. Recently, I found a reliable dry cleaner in University City. However, when they were closed on NYD, I had to drop my suit off at Ye olde Clean’ry because I needed it for an important meeting on Friday morning. I was told it would be done by Thursday at 3:00. Of course, when I went to pick it up on Thursday at 4:00, they told me it was not ready and wouldn’t be ready until Friday at 9:00. They didn’t apologize or offer to discount the service. When I showed up on Friday morning at 9:15 it was ready, but I was forced to go home to change quickly before a 10:30 a.m. meeting. Not cool.
When confronted, they weren’t the least bit apologetic and only took $ 1.00 off of a $ 20.00 bill and only after I demanded some kind of discount. The $ 1 doesn’t even cover the cost of parking/​taking the subway for the extra trip back. Completely unprofessional. It’s partially my fault for going here when I knew they were terrible and extremely rude, but I was desperate. Never again. Do yourself a favor and go ANYWHERE else.

If only I had read some of these reviews first! I took two suit jackets in to get altered and instead they were butchered. The stitching wasn’t even done in a straight line. I found a reputable tailor to repair the damage and when we looked at the jacket we realized that Ye Olde had only done ¹⁄₃ of what needed to be done. The alteration job requires the adjustment of 3 seams. They did one on each jacket and did a horrible job at that. They cut sections that should not be cut and folded fabric into seems when it should be removed and re-​stitched. The 2^nd tailor had a hard time believing that the previous work had be done by an actual tailor!

I was told that getting things professionally pressed here would make a huge difference in my clothes, so decided to try it. I iron everything meticulously anyway, and I was really shocked when after getting 2 dresses back and paying nearly $ 10 each for them to be pressed, they looked almost exactly the same as when I left them there — plus a few extra wrinkles that I had to again iron out when I got home. Not worth the cost and the time for so little change.

Their tailor is horrible and ruined three pairs of my pants! They have grave difficulty following instructions and don’t make good on their own mistakes. I highly recommend using another dry cleaner with a better sense of business and customer service. I will never use them again.
DO NOT USE THEM FOR ALTERATIONS, NOT EVEN A HEM!

These guys can’t even hem pants. Don’t go here.
I carefully pinned a pair of jeans that I wanted shortened, and brought them to Ye Olde. The man who took my pants didn’t really seem to understand me, and we had some confusion over ‘original’ versus ‘tailored’ hem — but the pants were well-​pinned and I figured that the length would be right and I’d take the hem style that I got…
I’d wanted about 4 inches removed. First time I picked up the pants, they were almost as long as when I’d brought them in. I didn’t measure at that point, but maybe an inch had been removed. It occurred to me that I’d said I wanted them hem to be an inch thick, and maybe there was a language barrier… I pinned them again, after wearing them around the house for a while, to make sure the length was perfect and the pinning as clear and obvious as possible. They agreed to shorten them again for no additional charge.
Second time I picked them up, they were an inch too short. Worse, the way the hem was constructed, they cannot be corrected.
But the icing on this horrible cake is that I have the Manager, Matt, calling me and saying that by posting a bad review here on Unilocal,I am threatening to extort him. He thinks this is blackmail, and that I’m doing something wrong. I tried to explain that sharing a bad experience is not ‘extortion’, but he is very angry with me, and yelling at me on the phone. It is my fault that the pants are too short; he says. He wrote down that I wanted «4 inches» off. I never measured anything — just did lots and lots of pinning — so I don’t know where this is coming from.
Bottom line — these folks are not tailors. Don’t go here.

I needed to get a bridesmaids dress altered pretty quickly. I tried them & they took me right away. The dress had multiple layers and ruffles, so they said it would be more expensive to alter, which I thought was rational. They did a nice job — it was expensive — $ 90 but it was done well and they were friendly and fast. Would go back for less expensive alterations. There was no new customer discount on this, but there are on their website for dry cleaning.

I picked this place based on the reviews to have a bridesmaid dress altered here for my sister’s wedding. The dress in question was at least 4 sizes too large for me, so it needed a lot of work. From the first time I got measured, to when I picked the dress up, I was happy with my experience here. One of the co-​owners took a lot of time to pin it in various places, and also consulted the pictures I provided of how the dress was supposed to fit. He listened to my concerns, and told me how he was going to go about making the changes. He ended up having to take it in on both sides, in the waist, and shorten it by a few inches. The alterations were done in the short turnaround time I had given him as a deadline, no problem, and I felt the prices were totally reasonable. I would definitely recommend this place to friends and return for future business.

Wednesday morning I somehow managed to get a small spot of oil on my nice new slacks while I was making breakfast. Seeing this, I panicked, tried scrubbing it with soapy water, and when I dried it out the soap left a ring and the spot was still there!
I have since been instructed in the error of my ways by the nice man at the counter of Ye Olde Clean’ry. Don’t put water on it! It can spread the stain out and make it worse. He said he’d see what they could do and told me to come back Friday.
Two days and six dollars later, I have a perfect pair of spot-​free pants. I will not ever use another dry cleaner.

Beware :) Do NOT go here to get anything altered! If I can give you any piece of advice, it is that!
I went in to get two new, expensive winter jackets altered. One was done OK; the other wasn’t even touched (at least I felt nothing had been changed). When I questioned why it looked and felt the same, he said they had. I then said «well I’m not happy with this work… charge me whatever you feel is fair.» He then charged me the full price!
I then took the jacket with me to a tailor back home in New York and he gasped. These people at Ye Olé Clean’ry cut my jacket in the wrong place, causing major damage. Thankfully hew as able to fix it and now it looks perfect. He kept saying he couldn’t believe anyone with any training would do that to a jacket.
Lesson learned — do not EVER go to a laundry mat to get anything altered. Go to an Italian — they know what they’re doing :)

Despite the issues raised in other reviews (price, alterations not done to specifications first time) I have to give Ye Olde Clean’ry a full five stars. I’ll respond to those concerns in a moment.
I am a clotheshorse and I have also lost a bit of weight over the years, so I am in the unfortunate position of owning many nice things that now fit me like garbage bag. A bad fit on a good suit will make you look terrible; you’ll look better in a $ 100 cheap-​o tailored suit than a high-​end one that doesn’t fit right. After some Unilocal-​centric research, I decided to start bringing my wardrobe here and I couldn’t be more pleased with the results.
Now:
PRICE — Yes, they are a bit more expensive than other dry cleaners/​tailors. (I take my dry cleaning elsewhere to save some money.) But feel free to negotiate your price. If you do, you’ll even get a nice little self-​esteem boost when you see «Special Customer Discount» on your receipt. Thanks guys, I think you’re special, too.
ALTERATIONS NOT DONE TO SPECIFICATIONS — The first suit I brought here came back still too loose. After discussing my problem with the tailor, I understood why he had done what he had done and we discussed alternate ways to accomplish what I had asked for. He did the adjustments for free and, after that, it was perfect. Since then, he has learned better what I’m looking for and everything comes back correct the first time.
Overall, I’m glad to have found Ye Olde Clean’ry and a tailor I can trust. Every time I need to have something altered, I don’t hesitate to come here.

This place is fabulous.
My roommate and I are always coming in with tons of directions about buttons that fell off and need to be sewn back on, stains that must be removed, etc., and they have not yet messed up the directions we give them — which is pretty amazing given that every time we go in there we are usually handing over TONS of clothes. (We tend to wait until we have lots of drycleaning before we take a bunch of our stuff to the drycleaners.) They have removed stains for my roommate that another drycleaner could not get out. Also, they will deliver your clothes to your apartment if you request it.
I also really like the owner. He is just the nicest guy. The ONLY downside is that it is definitely on the pricey side. But when I have a nice dress or suit, this is the only place in Philly that I trust to handle the job.

I brought a dress here to be altered under a time crunch. Even though the space is not much to talk about, the professionalism of the staff impressed me. Although my alteration was done in a timely manner, the dress was not taken up enough in the front. Perfect in the back, too long in the front, not sure how that happens.
I have little doubt that if I had had the time to bring it back, they would have fixed the error for free. However, I had to have the hem taken up by a tailor in the Boston area (faster and for less money, by the way). Oh well, the search for a good local tailor continues!

I’m absolutely thrilled with this dry cleaner. Yet, its not the results that keep me returning to this establishment. In fact, I’m not terribly particular when it comes to judging dry cleaners based upon their starching and pressing powers as long as my garments return refreshed sans any damage.
What does make me a Ye Olde enthusiast has to do with exceptional customer service and ridiculously expedient turnarounds. I tend to wait until the day before a major meeting or big affair before I realize I urgently need my suit restored to crisp condition. While most dry cleaners laugh at my frantic, blasphemous pleas for last minute service, Ye Olde welcomes the challenge with open arms. In fact, the lady offered to open the store after closing time in the event that I could not pick up my suit during normal business hours!
I simply love this royal treatment and feel compelled to reward them with the highest rating possible. Other neighborhood competitors probably boast lower prices, although I highly doubt they can touch this level of service. I’m hooked!

I came here for alterations — so I can’t really comment on their cleaning services — but the lady who did my dress fitting was so friendly and nice. Great workmanship. I will return.

Came here because of Unilocal and also because my previous cleaner had earned my distrust. I had also been talking with a coworker about dry cleaners, and coincidentally he uses this place too. So it was eagerness that I dropped off a shirt here to get cleaned.
First-​fast turn around time (dropped it off Wed afternoon, it was ready by Friday). Secondly-​service with a smile (such friendly people; are they really dry cleaners?). Lastly-​the shirt previously had a noticeable stain on it that the last cleaners couldn’t get off. These guys pulled it off (or should I say, cleaned it off har-​har).
With such a positive dry cleaners experience, I’m definitely coming back.

Although this place has a campy name, they do impeccable work. Based on a friend of a friend’s recommendation, this has become my tailor in Philadelphia for suits and pants. The alterations are done quickly and with finesse. The only drawback is the price is according.
The cleaners in my neighborhood take their time and get away with mediocre work for a cheap price. Both in cleaning and alterations, Ye Olde really uses the elbow grease, and the friendly family staff values it.