Greener Cleaner

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Overall I like this place, but I have a couple gripes… let me explain…
One, I love that it’s open late. As someone who works a 9 – 5 (more like (9 – 7) I can’t understand how dry-​cleaning places close at like 6. So, this alone makes it worth it for me,
Two, I like that it’s «green». But then again, how can you call it green when there are a million plastic bags covering every single ounce of clothing? Not necessary. Give me one for my five items, if it rains, and that’s plenty.
Three, I took in a cowskin rug here and it took FOREVER, which I was fine with, so long as they did a good job because I knew this thing had to be a plain to clean and I knew they had to send it away, whatever. I got it back though and was pissed when it was literally in the same condition it was in before and smelled just the same. I sent it back and it came back a a bit better and they didn’t charge me. So I guess all ended well, but it was just a pain.
Four, The lady that’s always working there, I cannot think of her name right now, is suuuuper nice and awesome and informative. Very worth it.
Five, I’ve taken stuff in there that needed holes repaired and things and I thought they did a great job. No complaints there!
UPDATE: Just got a message from Mike from Greener Cleaner that you guys can see below. Right off the bat, really awesome and impressive that he reached out to me!
Secondly, I learned that they do have bags for sale for clothes that can be re-​usable, which is really awesome. I now just wish the salesperson I talk to every time would have brought this up to me when I come in the store at least twice a month! But now I at least know to ask for one!

I’ve had some less than favorable experiences with Chicago dry cleaners, but greener cleaner may have been my worst. Overall, it’s expensive, unreliable, and should be prepared to receive poor service from every level of the organization, including the owner.
I came in on the Friday after Thanksgiving with my girlfriend to drop off some clothes. I dropped off 10 pieces in total: 8 for cleaning, 1 for cleaning and an alteration, and 1 for just an alteration. The young man working the counter didn’t appear to know what he was doing at all and took nearly a half an hour to enter us into the system and provide a ticket for our clothes. We agreed that my clothes would be ready by the following Monday afternoon.
I returned on Monday evening to pick up my clothes. I expected that it would be fairly expensive but was still a little shocked by the ~$ 90 bill given that I only had 10 items and at least 3 – 4 were shirts for laundering (I found out after a closer investigation that we were billed for cleaning an item that we had not asked to be cleaned). Additionally, I was told that all of my clothes weren’t ready because alterations were required and the remaining items should be ready the next day. Initially, I was fine with that but after further investigation only 5 of my items were ready for pick up (and only 2 items had required alterations). Included in the missing items was my suit jacket (thankfully, I had the pants) that I planned on wearing for a business trip the following day.
My girlfriend went in the next day to pick up the remaining items and complain about my lack of a complete suit in the original pick up. Based on what she says, the woman working was quite rude with her, came up with a number of excuses, and never really apologized. Additionally, her winter coat was still not done and had actually been sent to Edgewater, and they weren’t sure when they were going to get it. She was also less than pleased when she examined the skirt she had dropped off to have a zipper repaired. The original zipper was a small, dark piece and was replaced with a large, almost industrial looking bright grayish zipper that supposedly changed the look of it drastically. She ended up taking it to another shop for another replacement.
I went a week after we originally dropped off the clothing to try to get her coat and offer my dissatisfaction with the service. The coat wasn’t there, and although the staff wasn’t overtly rude, I was met with a number of excuses. Mainly that the young man who had originally received our clothing was not a regular employee at that location and shouldn’t have said they could have turned our order around by the Monday quoted. Despite explaining that this does nothing to change my dissatisfaction because I only gave them my business based on the understanding my clothes could be done at that time, I received only that excuse.
As the cleaners failed to deliver against what they said they would and I still didn’t have my girlfriends coat, I asked for my money back. The employee said that only the owner could authorize a refund, so I asked to speak with the owner. She took down my name, number, and the situation and said I would receive a call early the next week.
By the time I came back in late the next week to retrieve the rogue coat, I still had not received a call from the owner. Again, I asked for a refund, and the same employee took down a note for the owner to call me. About a month after this last interaction, I still have received no call from the owner (I believe his name is Mike). I never plan on going back there and urge you to avoid the establishment. You’ll end up paying high prices for poor service.

Finally used my gift certificate there. The woman at the counter was super friendly, pricing was reasonable, and everything came out clean. Thank you for doing a great job. Don’t hold the lack of a fifth star against them, I’m waiting to see how they do with holes and hemming before I give that away, but it doesn’t mean they’re not great!

Ug, this place is the WORST.
I don’t mind that they were late every time I went to pick something up. I actually didn’t mind that they ruined a shirt with some regularity.
What I really mind is being treated like I’m an annoyance or just a plain @sshole every time I go into the store. The Aryan dude (you’ll know who I mean) was one of the rudest people I’ve ever interacted with, but some of the hipster ladies weren’t much better.
Yeah, green is better. But Greener Cleaner isn’t the vendor to deliver it. (Go to U.S. Cleaner right around the corner on North — nicest people ever:
).

I brought my beloved $ 120 down comforter here to be cleaned. I didn’t want to be breathing in toxic chemicals while I sleep, so I figured it was well worth the $ 45 I was charged. My cat — who has feline urinary tract disorder — peed square in the middle of this comforter. I took the comforter in and voila! The stain and the smell of cat urine are gone!

RULES! So many damn rules! My biggest gripe with the Greener Cleaner is that it’s significantly more expensive than other dry cleaners, however, they are very generous with coupons, and they offer a daily special on Monday — Friday. Sounds good, right?
Not so fast, you have to read the fine print: coupons tend to expire pretty quickly. Coupons cannot be combined. Coupons must be presented upon drop-​off (HUH?) even though you pay at pick-​up. Coupons cannot be used on the daily special. The daily special is limited to 5 pieces. The math I have to do beforehand makes my head hurt enough that I just say, eff that, I’m going back to my old cleaners, chemicals and all.
I came to Greener Cleaner because 1) I was genuinely interested in their green initiatives (even though I couldn’t explain to you the difference between GC and conventional cleaners) and 2) my regular cleaners hired this new girl who is a complete bitch and I can’t stand dealing with her. I’m not sure the switch was worth it.

Ok, they have a new guy working the counter and he rocks! Always remembers my name is is totally on it. No more spaced out hippies, customer service at its best. I still don’t give it 5 stars just because its ridiculously expensive, but wanted to spread the word that this place is definitely better than before!

All right, GC, you’re doing the right thing with the dry cleaning business. I really do appreciate that, and I have supported you as best I can. However, I just discovered that you have ruined my favorite tie, a simple press job on a tie looks like you took an iron to the thing you idiots. And a year ago you nearly ruined a suit that I brought to you to have tailored: can’t even make the arms of a suit coat the same length? You can’t even sew buttons on straight? You can’t even make the cuffline straight? You can’t remember that there was a slit in the cuff where the buttons go???
And I concur with other reviewers: stuff not ready on the ready date, and I got someone else’s clothes once. Is that the only way to keep your prices low with an uncommonly used technology? By doing a crap job?
You’re ruining it for other conscious businesses out there. People who may have thought enviro was the right way to go may now decide the enviro route is crap. Because of you Greener Cleaner.
You have effed up a couple of things I really cared about. Why, GC, can’t you really get your sh*t together? Because I don’t think I can support you any more because YOU. SUCK.

Well, as a first timer to the «green» cleaning side of things, I am unimpressed.
First, they tell me my order will probably be done that day, and I tell them I won’t be able to come back that day, so they then tell me it will be done Wednesday. Fine. I come in on THURSDAY, and low and behold… my order is not done. Now WHY would you tell someone something WILL be done, if it won’t be? I went in some yoga pants, expecting to wear the pants I picked up… woops! I had to go all the way back home to find something else to wear. Now I wasted gas since I work near the cleaner… so far… not a green day for me. I’ve also read other complaints on orders not being ready. They didn’t offer me a thing. They didn’t even say sorry that my order wasn’t, in fact ready and I had to go home to get something else to wear.
MEANWHILE, as I’m reading info at the register, I see a sign that says something along the lines of, «have allergies to chemicals? let us know if you are sensitive so we won’t have your clothing washed in them. I’m sorry, I thought this was green and you weren’t using chemicals? I’m confused. If I would ever decide to go here again (which i won’t) I’d check into just how «green» their cleaning is.
LASTLY. I had some alterations done. Not only were there still pins in TWO pairs of pants (one picked me and drew blood.) BUT, there was ONE pin sewn RIGHT into the hem, with no way of removing it. I’m going to have to cut it out. Awesome. Shall we see if customer service can do something about that? Probably not.

NEVER AGAIN!
We’ve been using the Greener Cleaner for several years now. And despite the fact that our orders were systematically late and often misplaced, we remained faithful to our conviction that we were doing the right thing for the environment. But a recent incident made us cancel our credit card on file.
I gave them a shirt that I love. There was some peanut butter stains on it and I specifically showed them to the person at their Wicker Park store, because I was concerned that they might be difficult to remove. He said that it wouldn’t be an issue.
Nobody was polite enough to let me know that there was a problem with my shirt when I picked it up. I noticed it a few days later when I was about to wear it: The oily stains had turned into white stains, as if bleach had been poured on them.
When I talked to the person in charge of the cleaning he immediately said that the shirt had been bleached BEFORE it was sent to them, which very directly implied that I was lying. He told me that I could pay for a $ 35 analysis to see if they were at fault. Only if the analysis determined their mistake would they consider paying for the shirt. This is half the price of the shirt, and since they’ve been so unprofessional, and let’s face it so dishonest, I declined. They gave me my shirt back, refused to give any compensation for it, and –that’s the best part– they didn’t even reimburse the costly cleaning process that had ruined it!
One more thing, beside this truly horrible customer service, is the Greener Cleaner really green? How is it possible to turn an oily stain white when you don’t use any chemicals? I guess I’ll never know: I’m not curious enough to pay $ 35…

I’ve been using «green» dry cleaners for about 9 years now. Yes, this type of dry cleaning is expensive, but well worth the choice when it comes to keeping toxic cleaning chemicals off your body.
Since this is the closest safe dry cleaning company near where I live/​work, I use them. If I had another option, I’d likely go somewhere else. Greener Cleaner is a lot more expensive than «green» dry cleaners I’ve used in the suburbs. It’s well worth your while to sign up on their email list for the coupons they offer.
Not only are they more expensive, but there have been a couple times my clothes weren’t ready. My most recent example of this was when they had to send a jacket back to their cleaning facility b/​c they found a spot on it that they had originally missed. They didn’t bother to tell me this in advance. So when I went in to pick up my order (which had been there for 5 days), it wasn’t ready. And with it was a dress I needed for an event that night. I was screwed. And the woman behind the counter was not very apologetic. They did refund my money after I called to speak to the manager. I feel they could have done a bit more b/​c this was such a serious inconvenience.
I will never use the tailor here again. I had 8 buttons sewn on a coat (buttons I brought in) and it cost $ 22. A few of them are crooked and he sewed half the pocket shut b/​c he caught it in the buttons.

I really want to like these guys, because I can’t stand the environmental and health impacts of regular dry cleaning chemicals. However, they’ve messed up every single order I’ve placed with them — pickups are late or missed, deliveries are late, repairs aren’t made, the bag I’ve requested three times hasn’t ever been provided… I don’t know what the problem is, but I am not sure I’ll ever send clothes to them again. At some point, it just isn’t worth it.

I love the Greener Cleaners — the dry cleaning is great and doesn’t have that chemical smell. I know that I am getting clean clothing but it’s done in a way that’s better for my health and more environmentally friendly.
I like the location– my husband will pick up our cleaning on his way home from the L. Or, if we need to drop off or pick up, there is a loading zone right in front of the store. Very convenient.
Prices are reasonable and I really love that they are set in stone. My former cleaners seemed to change the prices every time we went in and things got more and more expensive. Ditto for the alterations.
If you sign up for emails, or for their special program, you get coupons. Wonderful!!! If you pre-​pay and pay with cash, you get 20% off.
I am a huge fan of the Greener Cleaners! Top notch!

Staff was pleasant at first, but they need to work on their pricing. I recently took a dress in to be cleaned for a friend’s upcoming wedding. Total: $ 27.50. EXPENSIVE! I needed the dress cleaned and the hem of the dress to be fixed (just a few stitches required). Fixing the hem cost $ 15…that’s right: $ 15 for a few stitches!!! Their website does not state this price, however, it does state that hem repairs start at $ 1.50. When I pointed this out to the rude kid at the register, he snapped back that repairs start at $ 12…hmmmm, might be nice to list that on your website and/​or your estimate receipts. When I dropped the dress off, they did NOT mention the $ 12 starter fee to fix hems…
Will NOT be back. Shame, too, because I was really excited about the green aspect of this business… Clearly state your prices, Greener Cleaner!

I have a small cleaners in my building, but they don’t do the best job. Usually take shirts and pants in need of pressing, not anything needing more care (learned the hard way after botching an ‘easy’ hem job).
I’ve been using the Greener Cleaner over the years, as it’s right under the Blue Line at Damen, so I can easily jump off and drop off /​pick up on my way to work downtown or home to Logan Square.
Mostly I take difficult stuff here. I’ve brought two silk dresses here in the last 4 months, both with stains, and they’ve done wonders. The first dress had hand lotion splatted all over the front (complete photo booth debacle, straight out of candid camera!), and it was a pretty raw silk. Looks good to the untrained eye. The other was more recent, a BCBG floral silk dress that had some beer spilled on the side; I tried to blot with water, only creating larger visible spots. This one looks great, no traces of stain at all, and ready to go for another event.

I’ve been taking all my dry cleaning here for about a year and love the fact that my clothes never come back smelling like a chemistry experiment. They’re pricier than the dry cleaners down the street from me but I think the premium is worth it. They’ve been able to get rid of tough stains and yellowing from my stuff too. My huge down comforter came back awesome but if you do bring a comforter here be prepared to wait a week or two for it come back.

Cashmere, wool rugs, afghans, dresses, work shirts… they have done it all for me, well, and I love them for it. I feel better about supporting this more sustainable and «clean» business than the cheaper cleaner on the corner by my place.
Everything I’ve left at the Greener Cleaner I’ve picked up in perfect condition, and I love it that they mend my seams and send me coupons!

Okay… we might have gone about this all wrong… BUT nevertheless our experience is experience and might help someone in the future.
we were super busy one week. and not the usual people to get the whole WASH and FOLD deal. but after reading of the reviews… we decided to save ourselves some time and do it here.
dropped it off on a Friday, they gave me the receipt and they said it would be ready the next day.
after i left, i got a call saying it wouldn’t be ready until TUESDAY. i was like «whatever, i already dropped it off».
It took 4 days to do our laundry, and charged us $ 75. we about had a heart attack… so… maybe this place is great for a couple of shirts or sweaters. but don’t do wash and fold… save yourselves some money to stick to the Spin Cycle down the street… cheaper and just as nice (plus SpinCycle has free WiFi and coffee!

I am trying on my clothes. I will wear white pants, and walk through mud. I will, without fail, get food somewhere on my clothes. I have gotten my pedal pushers stuck in my bike crank, and torn them to kingdom come.
And without fail, Greener Cleaner will make my pants white again, with no sense of mud. The food stains are gone. And they fixed the pants back to brand new.
The staff is courteous, and will greet you by name if you become a regular. I even had one take my clothes in the other day while she was on her smoke break… and she totally didn’t have to do that. It was just nice.
They don’t really do ‘overnight’ stuff, so you do have to plan in advance.
Another nice feature is a 5% discount for paying in cash. They recycle hangers, but not the plastic bags due to being unable to find someone to take them. If you join their little club for $ 5 you get a bag and additional discount. And I’ll be honest, they’re almost as cheap, if not cheaper, than traditional cleaners.
And I just was doing it because I’m a tree-​hugger.