Smith Ranch Cleaners

Decided to try them again… sure wish I hadn’t.
Bad experience start to finish. My clothes weren’t back on time. Had to pick them up at their East Francisco Blvd location on my way to the airport. Almost missed my plane. The co-​owner was defensive and patronizing.

So, I’ve been coming here for a few years. Not the cheapest cleaners, at all. In fact, the on-​site dry cleaner I went to at my job in Novato was about half the price. But one day, about three or four years back, I took my DKNY dress to the cleaners at my work. It had a stain. The dress came back wrinkly and with the stain still there. So, I took it to Smith Ranch Cleaners. They did a great job.
Nevertheless, they have issues with, it seems, anything that is not straight laundry or straight dry cleaning. It’s been hit and miss with anything that requires an alteration. And then, I took a throw blanket from Rome, Italy recently. I said it means a lot to me, be extra special careful. They gave me a date to come back.
I came back. Not ready. They gave me a new date.
I came back on the new date. Not ready. They gave me a new date.
I came back on the new date. Not ready.
My problem is NOT SO MUCH that they are having behind-​the-​scene problems: IT’S THAT THEY NEVER CALL ME TO TELL ME ABOUT THE PROBLEMS, NOR EXPLAIN THE PROBLEMS WHEN THEY SAY THEY NEED MORE TIME.
I always have to interrogate them to find out what is really going on.
The customer service there is seriously lacking. All I would need is a call at my home to say «Andrea, we are having problems with our XYZ machine, and won’t be able to wash this for you until XYZ date. Will that work for you or would you prefer to come pick this up and take it elsewhere.»
THAT’S ALL I ASK!!!

OMG PLEASE GO SOMEWHERE ELSE.
NOTE*** If you take your clothes here to be altered or cleaned, they DO NOT do it on site, they actually take it to another location in San Rafael, off East Francisco Blvd, then they bring it here to be picked up. I saw that other location myself when I was forced to pick up some pants that I needed and were not ready on time… You don’t want to go in there.
This is the second time I have had an issue with this place. NEVER GOING BACK. I took my husbands jeans to get the zipper replaced. It’s just a zipper. They said one week, on Tuesday. Ok, I wasn’t in a rush. I actually forgot about it and came back on Thursday, over a week later. They said its not done yet and it would be later this afternoon. This is already 2 days late, now I have to come back after work… When I get to work, I get a call from them saying it would be ready on Monday… ARE YOU KIDDING? So I said I would pick up the pants this evening to take them somewhere else to be done.
Save yourself the agony.

I brought my daughter’s wedding dress in to be cleaned. They said it would be done in 2 weeks. After 2 weeks I called to see when I could pick it up. I was told it wouldnt be ready for 2 more weeks. This went on for over a month. The owner even tried to tell me it had been picked up already at one point. When I finally did pick up the dress I was told the stains would not come out. Needless to say, I took the dress to another cleaner in Larkspur on Magnolia Ave. and had the dress cleaned for ¹⁄₃ of the price and it was done in a week!
I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND THIS CLEANER!

Well, Raychul M., I’m Unilocaling now! First they say they’ll clean my throw rug in a week. It takes three to get it back. Then they charge $ 13 to clean a t-​shirt, labeling it fancy. It’s a Macy’s Tasso Elba cotton t-​shirt. I explained the thing cost less than $ 20 new, and that they made a mistake. The guy behind the counter tells us he’ll knock the charge off, and to come back when his boss is in. Finally his nasty female Indian boss tells us no, the charge was for a blue beaded blouse of my wife’s, that wasn’t even listed on the bill – just the t-​shirt. We try to explain that she doesn’t even own such a blouse, and show her their receipt with the shirt still hanging in the plastic. She begins to argue vehemently with my wife, who’s incredulous. Finally, instead of removing the charge or admitting the mistake, she throws a five dollar bill at us. When tell her we won’t be back, she says. «good!» There are plenty of fast, inexpensive dry cleaners around who are sweet and happy to have our business. Why waste time with a slow, nasty expensive one?

I brought a pleated skirt here and needed it shortened, but there was a design at the bottom that couldn’t be messed with. I dropped my skirt off here, a little worried since no one had Unilocal’ed this place before. I went back, got my skirt back and it’s absolutely perfect. Exactly what I needed.
The service was excellent and friendly both times I came in. The price was fair and I will continue to go to Smith Ranch cleaners for all of my tailoring needs and highly recommend this place.