Debonair Dry Cleaners

Terrible customer service from what I can tell and didn’t even have a chance to do business there. Called to request information on laundry service and the woman who answered the phone immediately put me on hold… for over 3 minutes. Doesn’t seem like they value new business/​customers. Too bad can’t give zero stars!

I ignored the huge number of negative reviews because I was staying in a nearby hotel and REALLY needed some rapid turnaround dry cleaning. I’m happy I did because the service I got was polite, right on time and they did a good job getting the stains out of my clothing. Did both dry cleaning and a load of fluff and fold laundry. Both look great and were done on time.
Maybe the old reviews are outdated? Or maybe I got lucky? Dunno. By the way, some of the reviews mention the dry cleaner right across the street but they couldn’t do the fast turnaround work I needed.

I don’t get the poor reviews. We brought in a load for wash and fold and it was done inexpensively and on time. Staff were truly pleasant and we had no problems whatsoever. Maybe a little kindness helps?

**This is a review for their cobbler**
After walking by this place to the Woodly Park Metro every day, I finally decided to bring in my boots for a new pair of soles. I am glad I did not look them up on Unilocal first because it would have immediately turned me away — as you already see, they are a 1.5 star business on Unilocal.However, my experience was positive overall.
The first time I went in, I was greeted immediately and I asked about the pricing for resoling a pair of boots. A week later, I brought in my boots to drop off, the same person greeted me but when I asked the price again, the price he said was apparently $ 5 higher… not a huge deal, but I had to ask him why it was different than what he told me a week before. Eventually he agreed to give me a «discount» after I told him I had another pair to resole and if these turned out great, I would return!
Three business days later (they outsourced the repair job, therefore it took some time), I went to pick up my boots and they looked JUST LIKE NEW! Due to my poor care, part of the boots’ wooden heels were worn off. But the cobbler did an outstanding job on filling the worn off parts and then put on the new soles. My boots literally look just like new now — the repaired part has the same color and everything. With a price of under $ 30 for resoling, this place totally exceeded my expectation!
Although the only negative experience I had was the little pricing bump during my second visit, it’s not a big deal since they seem to know how to please the customers and are very flexible on the way they do business. I will definitely bring my 2^nd, and 3^rd pairs of boots for resoling, and recommend them to anyone who’s looking for a reasonably priced and quality cobbler in DC!

Awful customer service. Never going again. After this store was sold years ago, service plummeted and I stopped going. I got caught in a bind recently and had to drop some things off here. When I went back, during morning rush hour no one was at the counter and a lady sat in the back eating breakfast leisurely when the line built up. They somehow crushed several buttons. Overall a horrible place to patronize. It lives only because of its location.

They don’t have items ready when promised. If you put a pick up time on a ticket — keep it!

You would think a fluff and fold spot would know how to FOLD!!! Complete mess and now spending time trying wrinkle release during travels. Oh the joy. This place is horrible. I never knew a laundry facility could be so incompetent. $ 60 for two loads of laundry (which appears they washed darks and whites together) and all my clothing is wrinkled and disheveled. The convenience of being walking distance from my hotel was a selling point, but it appears they take advantage of the Omni and Marriott guests to stay in business. I don’t know why anyone locally would come here. They don’t charge by the pound, but by wasteful paper bags that they fill to the half way point to rob you of your hard earned cash. Unbelievable.

These people hate shirt buttons. They’ve destroyed so many of my shirt buttons over the last few years, and for some reason I just took the abuse. And really, it’s not even that the buttons get broken — I recognize that will happen with any cleaner. But so often they either don’t replace a broken button (nothing worse than grabbing a newly cleaned shirt in the morning, only to realize it’s not wearable) or they replace it with a button that doesn’t look like the others. I’ve gotten shirts back with buttons that are completely different color from the others. I’m done with Debonair.

Just have to echo the same complaints made by others, primarily: ruining my skirt, terrible customer service, and, which I expect for in Woodley Park but will add anyway, it’s pricey. I clearly live in the neighborhood, wouldn’t you want to keep my business?
Basically, I brought in my skirt to be cleaned and to remove a bad stain. They weren’t able to 100% remove the stain, which I completely understood, because it was Indian food and I had let the stain sit for days. I paid, left, went across the street to grab some food, and while I sat there waiting for my food, noticed 3 – 4 NEW pink splotches on the back of the skirt along the hems. I calmly went back, and before I could even explain why I came back, the woman (in the pink shirt in the pictures) started snapping at me telling me that they tried and couldn’t get the original stain out. Her defense mode and presumptuous attitude were clearly on standby. When I finally showed her the pink stains, she irritatingly said they would try to get the pink stains out. Well, when I picked up my skirt today, I just took it and walked out, having faith that they tried to remove the stain. Negatory, and it had the same receipt tag! So not only did they not clean it, they didn’t even bother to change the tag on my skirt (I guess it’s better than being sneaky???). Either way, effing keep my money. I’ll never come back to this hole again.

Avoid this place like the plague.
I’ve been a loyal customer for nearly 4 years and have finally been pushed over the edge.
The customer service is absolutely horrible. There is always a long line.
Simple alterations are not done very well and usually fall apart within a few weeks.
Items are never ready on time… even when you let their employees tell you when the item can be picked up. I have been pressured to pay for items that were not ready.
The prices are outrageous compared to other places in Woodley Park.
No more. Save yourself some time and stress and go someplace else.

love Debonair! they do such a great job and their customer service is what makes them. they always remember me and know that I like my collars with extra starch. they wrap all the buttons before cleaning which is definitely a lost art.
thank you!

I figured I’d update my review in order to give credit where it’s due. Debonair’s owner was really apologetic and easy to work with… even though it was like pulling teeth trying to get hold of her, and once I did, it still took forever to make some progress. She did reimburse me the initial cost of cleaning my ruined quilt and I’m expecting a full reimbursement in order to buy a new quilt. That’s a plus in my book and I was pleased that she was helpful and willing to take the responsibility of what happened.
They must be paying attention to the reviews, which shows something. I’m still giving them one star, because until they fix some serious flaws (most notably the rude staff and the whole ruining people’s property issue), I wouldn’t recommend their services.

I’ve been using Debonair for a long time and am very happy with their service. But let me tell you about my experience this weekend when I picked up my clothing. I knew that they are getting all new equipments after the remodeling, but I usually don’t consider those things that don’t have effect on the end result.
When I tried my shirt this morning my opinion had changed totally. My shirt felt like it is a brand new and really soft on the skin and the material looks much livelier. I like it so much!!! I would highly recommend it to anybody that appreciates the finer details.

I’ve been going to Debonair for the past 2 years. I don’t have a ton of dry cleaning, but they do a good job on coats and the off silk shirt. I’ve gone there for some hems etc, as well and I’ve always been satisfied.
That said, they are a little pricey… but so are most dry cleaners in the area.

I’ve been going to Debonair Cleaners for about 4 years. They have always been courteous and professional. My clothes have never been late or anything. And they haven’t ever damaged my clothes in any way.
Once I had a stain that was really hard to get out and they tried a variety of methods to clean my skirt — which I appreciated.
I also have used them to re-​heel/​re-​sole my shoes and they have always done a great job with those. They do send them somewhere else to do it so it takes a few days but they always come back looking better.
They are a bit more expensive than other bargain cleaners but their service has been really consistent over the years so I’m giving them 4 stars.

Oh how I wish I came to Unilocal first. This place looks like it would be great but apparently I’m not the only one who thinks so. My favorite shirt was ruined here. I picked it up and there was a brown mark where the hanger was on two shirts. I brought them back and she said they would fix them no charge. I was a little hesitant, but I let them. One came back fine, the other, a silk shirt is now completely ruined, the fabric of the silk doesn’t have the same sheen that you would expect and the ruffles were pressed so hard they have no body left. I’m so sad, this was my go-​to wear year round shirt. C’est La Vie. They did hem my jeans with no problems so there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Just be warned.

Don’t come here unless you want to throw away your good clothes. For awhile, the convenience & charming Ethiopian guys who work here kept me coming back. Once or twice something ended up stained, lately items often arrive days late. I finally had it when last week, my clothes didn’t arrive at all. The first day or so it didn’t bother me: a storm, a holiday, miscommunication between one store & the other were the explanations of why my clothes weren’t ready on time. Then I was told that «we’re waiting for the wrong customer to return your clothes.» Are you kidding?! One or two slip-​ups over the course of a year are to be expected, but this is ridiculous. Can’t imagine how they’re still in business. From now on I’ll be taking my clothes up to the Zip establishment in Van Ness.

Have been using this dry cleaners for some years now. Only problem i ever had with them was the old and small conditions.
Ever since the new renovation, the place is nice, clean, and well ventilated.
Really love this place now, great service, very friendly, and often fix little things for free.

WORST PEOPLE EVER. I had a bridesmaid dress altered. The tailor was really nice, and gave me a reasonable quote ($ 35). When I went in to pick it up, they were going to charge me over $ 100! I asked why, and the manager/​owner/​mean guy came out and started yelling at me that it took them more labor, blah blah. I argued that they should have called and told me instead of just forcing me to pay. He raised his voice and shouted at me and the whole store was staring. I felt like I was in a movie. I think they have some shady business practices.

Ok, so I picked the Debonair because of the sign and the overall of the place. I am a sucker for all things out of the 40s and 50s. Living in a neighborhood that has a dry cleaner right out of the 40s or 50s– even better. Well, I think that perhaps they are still using the same birth defect inducing chemicals that they did back in the day. Seriously. I couldn’t figure it out at first. The strange smell wafting out of my sweaters. Not so awesome. That is a real bummer, because there are some good things about the place. (Although, I am scared by Mel B’s button incident.)
The alterations are done well and are reasonably priced. Plus, you get to walk through the shop, up into this crazy loft thing to the tailor. It is an adventure and he is very nice. I recommend them for this alone.
They also have home pick up and delivery (we have never used this) and quick turn around service. So that is nice in a pinch.
So, to sum it all up– I would skip the third arm growing chemical dry cleaning and just use them for hemming pants and the like. When they switch to organic solvents I will likely go back. Until then I will try across the street.