Sam’s Cleaners

Same day wash and fold at a very reasonable price and good quality. Will definitely come here again!

I can only speak for the wash-​n-​fold. They are a bit pricey at $ 1.50/lb, when places right down the street are around $ 1. That’s a big difference when laundry is per pound. But our clothes smelled nice and were folded into small compact cubes when we picked them up.

The past two visits I’ve been here were very happy. My IKEA bag filled with my laundry, along with my two dress shirts that I wear to work have been very clean, on-​time, and served with a happy smile. I will recommend and continue to support this!

In short: they ruined a new dress shirt, hid the damage, and compensated me a pathetic $ 2.35 when I confronted them about it.
I took two white dress shirts to Sam’s after wearing each just once. When I picked them up, the shirts were pressed and packaged together in plastic, and there were no signs of damage. Yet when I got home, I saw that the inner shirt, which was hidden from view inside the plastic, had a large, black grease stain on the front. There’s simply no way that Sam’s missed this, and it’s hard to believe it’s a coincidence that the damaged shirt was placed in just the right way to obscure it from view when I picked it up.
I walked back to the store and asked them to make it right. After the woman behind the desk accused me of lying, and suggested that the stain must have been there when I brought the shirt in (hint: it was not), she reluctantly offered $ 2.35, the price of cleaning. Except now the shirt is ruined, and I’m out more than $ 100 to replace it.
Take your money, and your clothes, somewhere else.

I’m still chasing down a dress that Sam’s Cleaners cleaned and ruined. Do not go here.
I had a dress I picked up at a second-​hand store that needed some alterations, and also needed to be cleaned because it smelled like smoke. The alterations from my tailor were great, but pricey. $ 60. On top of the $ 30 I paid for the dress.
I picked it up at Sam’s and saw they’d attached a tag that said «Your item still has stains,» which was odd because there had been none when I dropped it off; it had just smelled. The dress was covered with brown splotches. It was unwearable. It looked like the fabric had been burned. The woman at the counter tried to tell me I must not have noticed them. Then, that it looked like rust, then that the stains had been on the inside of the dress and leached out through cleaning. It ended with a standstill, and she took the dress back to be cleaned again.
I went back two weeks later to pick it up, and they told me the plant they use to do the actual dry cleaning had it and I needed to call them.
Including the cleaning, I am out $ 100 and still don’t have the dress.
Not only is my dress ruined, but they tried to cover their mistake by telling me it was my fault. Not cool.
The good: reasonable prices if they don’t screw it up.
The bad: everything else.

Disclaimers:
I have only had one experience with this business.
Some might consider this a one-​star experience, I gave two-​stars as nothing was damaged or lost, and it was based a single experience.
I had just moved into the neighborhood and was very hopeful about my first experience at Sam’s. I dropped off a long jacket with a (faux) fur-​trimmed hood for dry cleaning. I returned, five days later, when they said it would be ready, just in time to travel to LA with my jacket. When I returned, the jacket had not been cleaned. The woman at the counter told me that the fur trim hood was impossible to dry clean. I asked her why she had not called and informed me of that, rather than having me wait and return five days later expecting at clean jacket. Surprisingly, and unfortunately for me, she grunted at me and walked away.
I went to LA, took the jacket to my old dry cleaners where they cleaned the jacket beautifully and charged me $ 20 less than Sam’s told me they would charge. I was hoping for a great experience and the opportunity to write a very positive review for a local business. Sadly, no.

Prompt dry cleaning return. Never had a problem.
Great place for alterations. The older Asian lady will fix anything. I get my pants hemmed here. Beaded shirts fixed. Any rippled and holey clothing… She’s amazing!
I live in Oakland but keep coming here for the service. My parents live in the area so it’s somewhat convenient.

I went in on a Wednesday around noon and was able to pick up a dry-​cleaned men’s dress shirt by 6:30pm the Friday, though they were trying to push me to do Saturday instead.
While drop-​off was seamless, I arrived on Friday, a little after 6:30pm, with my pick-​up ticket, then proceeded to wait for 5 minutes while they looked through every rack more than several times because they couldn’t find my shirt. This was a bit stressful for me because I was already in a rush and I was afraid they had lost it. After some frantic searching on their part, I paid $ 5.50 and had my shirt.
Overall, I’m not sure I’ll go back because I don’t want to wonder if they lost my item again…

I live less than one block from Sam’s Cleaners and I have had my shirts (and sometimes sweaters) laundered there each week for well over a year. That’s a lot of business and it stops now.
It’s as simple as this: They lost my shirt. I bought in 5 shirts, I paid for 5 shirts to be cleaned, I picked up what I believed was 5 shirts, and after a day or two, I realized they had only given me back 4 shirts.
I knew exactly which shirt — a relatively inexpensive navy blue shirt with tiny white poka dots — just in time for summer.
When I returned to Sam’s and explained what had happened, I was met with head-​shaking and a faint, «no.» That «no» was repeated the entire time I spoke. I was being stonewalled:
«No, we count everything that goes out and comes in. We keep records.» She points to her notebook with my name, a date, and the number 5. «See? 5 shirts!»
«Yeah, I understand that you wrote down 5 shirts and the receipt lists 5 shirts, but I only received 4 shirts.»
«No, we count them.»
When I asked if they would look for the shirt, she effectively shrugged. I tried to give her a detailed description of the shirt, but she didn’t bother to write anything down.
Today, I returned in vein to show them a photo of the shirt, and she just commenced shaking her head and saying, «no.» I asked if I could leave my phone number so they could call me if they found the shirt, and she walked off to help another customer.
I didn’t ask for compensation for the lost shirt. I didn’t even ask to be refunded the amount I paid to have the shirt cleaned. All I was asking for was help.

Sam’s Cleaning lost my best dress slacks and a really nice shirt of my husband’s. They will not take responsibility for it, never mind replacing them.
I am very disappointed in their mis-​handling this.

Friendly service.
I go to Sam’s for my dry cleaning and shirt washing mostly because it is conveniently close. That said, I don’t mind coming back because service is always very cordial and they are very accommodating regarding pickup times. Service usually takes 2 days. Prices for dry cleaning are not super cheap if you are doing a very large number of shirts so I usually just order most shirts to be washed and starched instead. They come out nicely wrinkle free and in hangers.
No complaints so far!

The lady who does my jeans here is so incredibly cordial and accommodating, and I’ve come here many, many times. I like the way my jeans fit so whenever I need a hole sewn up, she does it — great job. The cost isn’t too bad either — two big holes in two different jeans for under $ 20.

Great service in a very welcoming atmosphere. The couple running the business were extremely friendly and sweet.
I had a dress and sweater cleaned, and a pair of jeans patched. Prices seemed about average, and everything came out great. I was especially happy with the patch job.
One thing to watch out for: the credit minimum is a little high, I believe it was $ 15.

my usual dry cleaner in the city was closed for vacation, so i brought in a jacket, a sweater, and three work shirts here to be cleaned instead. i was quoted a price of 28 dollars. 28?!! at my usual place, shirts are 2 bucks and jackets not much more. fine, i said. i have no other choice.
i showed up the next day to find that the stains on my jacket– which i’d taken the time to point out so they could put some red tape on them– had not been cleaned. i’m not paying for that, i said. no, you pay half price. the fuck? why would i pay half price for something i’m going to have to take to somewhere else to be cleaned again? it’s clean, except for the stains. unfortunately, there was no way around this, since i was paying with a credit card.
they send their clothes out to be cleaned, which is why they overcharge for their services. really, they’re just the middle-​men and don’t actually do any work on the premises. this means that not only are you overpaying, but you’re not getting the same quality service you would if you went straight to the source.
next time my dry cleaner goes out of town, i will deal with re-​wearing my work shirts. better that than overpaying for services i never received.

Love this place! I used to live 2 blocks away so it was really convenient for me to stop by.
For a college student ballin on a budget, this is the place to go to bring your dry cleaning or dress shirts! The nice couple running the place advised me to just wash my dress shirt rather than dry clean, saving me about $ 3! Just washing it would be $ 2.50.
Bill Tip: $ 10 minimum for credit card.
Bill Tip #2: They ask when you’d like to have the clothes by. They prefer 4 – 5 days which is always fine with me, but I’ve also been in a hurry before and asked for 2 days, and they’ve gladly obliged.

Great service. My clothes always come out immaculate! Super affordable, too.
Only con, the turn around rate is usually 5 days. I’m sure you can ask for it sooner, but the female owner usually tries to convince me to expect it in 5 days, probably because they clean some clothes out of house.
Special occasion dress: $ 16
(I’ve had to pay $ 35 to clean the same dress at other cleaners)
Blazer: $ 8
Sweater: $ 8
TIP: Minimum credit card purchase is $ 10. Sometimes they’ll let you off the hook if you’re short on cash. The owners are really sweet and generous.

These people were very nice and served with a smile. I got 2 jackets cleaned and it came out to be $ 21 which was very reasonable. My purple jacket appears to be nice and bright! I’m a bit disappointed by how my peacoat came out but I think it’s because its a cheaper quality material. I’m going to get another jacket hemmed there. :)

Great dry cleaning place. The owners are so sweet! They always remember who I am, even if I haven’t been there in months! Prices are good and they do a good job. The only reason I deducted a star is for the somewhat slow turnaround time. Usually takes at least 4 business days to get our clothes back.

Wonderful mom and pop cleaners. Fast, efficient, prompt service and great turn around time. THE place to bring items for alteration or repair. Although I no longer live in the neighborhood, I still drive the extra distance from Albany to use their services. Got my housemate hooked on their services now too!

I’m so happy that this cleaners is close by. There are a ton of dry cleaners to choose from, even just on shattuck in north berkeley alone, but sam’s cleaners is great. my boyfriend drives all the way to albany to bring his stuff to an eco-​friendly cleaner’s — i’m desperately trying to convince him to just go to sam’s. The woman who works here is incredibly sweet, as other reviewers have indicated. Not to mention, things are done when they say they will be done, the quality is good, and the prices are decent. That’s all you can really ask for out of a dry cleaners.