Watergate Valet

I’ll have take up for them a bit. I live in the building and use the place every other week or so. Have for several years.
Day in and day out I get my cleaning done well and on time. They do run it like an assembly line — clean it, press it, and out the door. If you don’t tell them there’s a stain, they don’t see it themselves. But if you tell them, they mark it and take care of it. The pressing is always done well.
Their prices are high but for those of us in the building, we know it as the retail mgt company gouges all the stores. If you want cheap, you’ll need to go elsewhere.

If I could give less than 1 star, I would. In fact, I will be writing to the Better Business Bureau, and almost called the cops for how aggressive the woman at the front counter was.
2 weeks ago I dropped off two suit jackets to have the sleeves shortened about 1″ each. The woman spoke awful, broken English. I’m not sure about Jason C.‘s review, but maybe there is another staff member at this cleaners that speaks much better English. My complaint and review is not about her weak grasp of the English language, but how that definitely contributed to this ridiculous series of events.
The receipt I was given for my jacket alterations was for $ 0 (that’s right– nothing), and the woman said she wasn’t sure how much it would cost to do the alterations. I said it usually costs around $ 20-​$ 25 for this type of alteration (you can fact check me here:
), and she said it would probably be around that.
Fast forward to today. I went to pick up the jackets. Beautifully tailored, but I was told the cost was $ 78! That is absolutely insane. I told her that is much higher than the standard price, the price we discussed, and the price that other tailors and cleaners are charging in the very same city. It was extremely difficult to negotiate with this woman, as she clearly did not understand about 95% of the words coming out of my mouth. She kept saying that since their establishment is a Tailor and not a Cleaner, the prices are always more expensive. She also said the building is very expensive, so they have to charge those prices. But that’s not a valid argument. Nor is that my problem. Go rent a space somewhere else if you can’t afford your rent. Especially considering they don’t even do the alterations in house– the woman said they send them out to a tailor and he tells them the prices to charge.
The argument escalated, as I refused to pay double the price I was quoted and that I would pay elsewhere. I told her I would pay $ 25 per jacket (i.e. $ 50 total), and she repeated my words «OK, $ 25 per jacket.» I gave her my debit card, and– this made my jaw drop– she entered $ 35 into the machine. She then said «Oh no!» Thinking she realized her mistake, I was about to tell her it was ok, to just run the card a second time for the remaining balance of $ 15, when she said «$ 35 each.» I said, «No, we agreed on $ 25 each.» She said, «No, I charge for $ 35 each.» I asked her to please not run my card again, that I did not authorize that charge, and she went ahead and swiped my card! I reached over and hit the red Cancel button on her credit card machine, because I DID NOT authorize this charge on my credit card. (I will also add here that she had not yet given me my jackets, and I was not planning on leaving without paying. I just wanted to pay a fair price, and she was being ridiculously brazen.)
This woman proceeded to NOT hand me back my debit card. She held it up high in her hand and refused to give it back! I told her that her actions were illegal, that we agreed on $ 25 per jacket, and that she needed to give me back my debit card, the receipts, and the initial dry cleaning receipt that was proof I had dropped my jackets off there. After a good 3 minutes of arguing, she handed me back my card, but refused to hand me the receipts, and actually moved my jackets back to the rack behind the counter. I asked her numerous times for the receipts, as they were of no use to her without my signature anyways. She refused, and then started to ignore me. I told her I needed the receipts, was going to stop payment on the charges she ran on my card, and that I was headed inside the building to speak with the property management company. She started to yell at me, saying «Go, do what you want!» After a good 10 minutes of arguing (I was afraid to leave in case she destroyed the receipts and my jackets), her hand got close to me so I grabbed the receipts and left.
I went inside and spoke with the property manager, Mary, who was very friendly. She candidly shared that she was extremely overcharged to have the hook-​and-​eye closure on a skirt fixed once– they charged her more than the actual skirt cost. She suggested that maybe the woman at the tailor did not understand me due to her broken English… but again, not my problem. And she agreed.
Mary, the property manager, went to speak with the woman, and they ended up going the complete opposite way– refunded the charges, and settled on a final TOTAL amount of $ 25. I’ll likely write a separate GLOWING review of this property management company, because she sure went to bat for me.
PLEASE don’t bring your garments to this Watergate Valet! Hopefully they go out of business and a more respectable one takes their place.

Straight up highway robbery.
«This place was too close to work to pass up,» as Cadence R. reviewed before me…
I recently dropped off 3 dresses before work to be dry cleaned with minor alterations (eye hook fixed at the top of a zipper and a section of the hem on another). I was given a receipt for $ 48.00 (that I found pricey…) and told to come back in a week.
Here’s where is gets good — When I went in to pick up my three dresses, I handed in the original receipt and then my credit card to be charged. I was then handed back my credit card and to my surprise, a receipt for $ 96.00. YES, you read correctly, $ 96.00! But wait, didn’t you just say that you were given a receipt for ‘only’ $ 48.00 before? Yes.
This must have been an error I say with a smile but then the boom was lowered… «No, no, no, that receipt was only quoting the dry cleaning prices NOT the ‘alterations.’»
I kept my cool despite the realization that I just been charged DOUBLE, almost ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS to ‘dry clean’ and ‘alter’ three dresses. I thought my ‘confusion’ that my initial receipt saying one thing and that I was now being charged WAY more was valid. However, she disagreed.
She started pretending like she didn’t understand what I was saying and refused the honor the original price I was quoted. So naturally, I became infuriated because this woman who knows how to run her own business has now somehow forgotten how to speak English?
At this point I became utterly outrage causing this scene:
For $ 100 I could have had…
— 20 Happy Hour beers
— Paid off my electric bill
— 3 dinners out
— Purchased Christmas gifts for my sisters
— OR, wait for it… 3 BRAND NEW DRESSES
*I would like to clarify that this post was in reference to the dry cleaners at the entrance on 600 Watergate (not the dry cleaner located inside the courtyard by the CVS — I’m sure that is a respectable establishment).

I used to use the dry cleaners in Columbia Plaza, because it was the closest to me. The turnaround time there wasn’t great, and the clothes were returned with shoddy pressing and feeling like they were oversaturated in all sorts of nasty chemicals.
After a suit came back from that cleaners looking like I’d slept in it, I decided to venture down to the Watergate. As a GW student, I received a nice discount (who knew?!?), and they use organic cleaners. The clothes came back feeling so much nicer, were not reeking of chemicals, and were pressed to perfection. I haven’t tried taking anything very soiled there yet, and I will probably continue to take very nice items out to Parkway (at least for end of season cleanings). I was very satisfied with the Watergate Valet.

This place was too close to work to pass up so I dropped my clothes off here a couple of weeks ago for dry cleaning. I was a little miffed by the prices, but I can’t say I’ve paid to get my clothes cleaned before so maybe it was typical.
They had a quick turn around and the clothes looked great, or so I thought. When I went to put on the skirt I realized the HUGE stain was still on it. The whole reason I took it to be cleaned was for them to get the stain out. It wasn’t even faded and looked like it hadn’t even been touched. If it was going to look the same I wouldn’t have bothered going.
Because of it’s location I can see myself winding up here again, but with more specific instructions and anything needing attention will be taken somewhere else entirely.