Ackerman’s

Never have had a problem in over 12 years of going. Great dry cleaner.

I went to this place weekly for two years. I typically gave them 5 – 6 items per week. In general, they did a passable job. On several occasions they ruined the crease in my trousers by not following the original line, creating the dreaded railroad tracks. And they always had trouble with collars on dress shirts — instead of following the seam, they would go straight across, result in the crease being in the middle of the collar instead of along the seam (which looks terrible).
But the straw that broke the camel’s back came recently. I dropped off a shirt in perfectly good condition, then picked it up, and a couple days later took it out to wear, when I noticed that the top button hole had been ripped badly — a 2 inch gash around the neck. So I brought it back to the store, showed the woman (the main proprietor) the tear, and told her I thought they had caused it. She immediately started yelling at me that I had done it. I tried to disagree with her, but she screamed that I was a «bad customer.» Over two years and hundreds of items, this was the only time I had ever accused them of damaging something. It was such an overwrought reaction — either she’s totally nuts or this was a strategic response they teach in dry cleaner school. So that’s it for me — I’m never returning.

I have been going to Ackerman’s for years, but I will not be going back again. It is very convenient in terms of where I live, but they seem to have had a rough go lately. Clothes are not ready until the day after they promised, they have broken many buttons off shirts and pants because of their methods, and missed many stains that had been pointed out. And yet they are not apologetic about it. For the price, I would expect better, and maybe even a discount for my years of loyalty. Thankfully there are plenty of options in the neighborhood. I will not be back and I would recommend going elsewhere if you are going to spend this kind of money.

If there were half a star I would give it ! I would like to know if they really do clean clothes. Every article of clothing that I wore after taking it there smelled the same or like mildew. My pants were still dirty, my blazers still stained and full of lint. Do not go there ! There are soo many other places that will do it well ! I failed by giving them a chance. There was even a time I came to pick up an item and they couldn’t find it. So they told me it wasn’t ready !
I also had to wait many days for the items to be completed. Do not go !

I have been using this dry cleaners since I moved to the neighborhood a year ago. They were not great — stains didn’t come out, etc but they were close and. However, this place crossed over into terrible when I used them to clean a fancy dress I had worn to a wedding. It had a gold chain necklace attached and when I dropped it off, the necklace was with the dress. When I went back to get the dress, the necklace was gone. I tried asking where it was and they kept accusing me of lying and not having dropped them off together. I asked to get reimbursed for the dress (it’s not really wearable without the necklace) and they just wouldn’t answer/​had no process for making a claim. I ended up having to call the cops to file a police report against them so I could file a homeowners claim to get reimbursed for the dress. In the end it wasn’t about the dress or the necklace at all, but the fact that they were incredibly unhelpful and did nothing to fix their mistake. Needless to say I have found another dry cleaner.

My family and I have used this cleanes for almost 18 years. Our clothes have always been beautifully cleaned. Customer service has always been friendly.

I’ve never had a worse customer service experience in my life. Ever. They are «ok» until they’re not. Just picked up my clothes and a shirt is completely ruined. I started getting irritated when they didn’t apologize or offer to replace it, but the kicker: THEY MADE ME PAY FOR THE DRY CLEANING THAT RUINED IT! Literally wouldn’t let me leave with my other clothes until I paid for the cleaning of that shirt. I’m actually in disbelief right now. Not only that, but the woman had the audacity to blame me for not knowing how to inform them on how to clean it.

We’ve all had those nights where we think we’ve ruined a nice dress or shirt with drink stains. I recently had this happen when someone spilled a drink on a really nice silk designer dress. I took it to one cleaners and they couldn’t get the stains out. When I came to Ackerman, they said no problem and it’s spotless. SO thankful! Great place for stain treatment.

I’ve been with Ackerman’s for about 8 years. I normally take all my «good» clothes there as I want to make sure that my whites come back white and my studs, buttons and specialty items come back as I sent them; which they have done for the most part. Within the past 6 months, they have screwed up two of my white items: 1. a two toned dress (black and white) which was never fixed and 2. a top I took in that was white and returned to me as a dark eggshell. They had several different arguments but at the end of the day, I only take my white items, linens, silks and finer garments to them. I asked that something be done about it and I was told they could not do anything, accused me of bringing it in that way (lie) and was unwilling to refund me anything for the top. I’ve had the top for 2 years; paid $ 80 for it; and Ackerman’s was the only cleaners that ever had it, came back white initially but not this time. I lefr the top with them because I am not going to wear it anymore as a reminder of how many hundreds/​thousands of dollars they are no longer going to receive from me. This time of year I bring all my winter clothing in ($ 4 – 500 worth of clothes and then bring the summer clothes next season). When i brought this to their attention, they just smiled and said sorry. Not an ounce of my hard earned money will go to them ever again. I also took with me my bag of winter clothes and am now looking for a quality dry cleaners for my clothes. Laker Ackerman’s!

Ackerman’s seems to have been neglected for a while now on Unilocal,so here I go. Like most others, I go to Ackermans because it is close by. But I have to say that in the several times I have gone I have been 100% satisfied for the price and the people are very nice. My sister was here for an interview and needed her suit cleaned quickly, which they did for around $ 20 same day (pretty good for a 3 piece suit). I’ve gotten pants hemmed ($ 10) and a skirt fixed ($ 5) and its all been great and on time.
Overall, pretty solid for a neighborhood dry cleaner/​alterations.

One star seems one too many and based on the other reviews it looks like we’re all in agreement. This is a, not so unusual, tale of a damaged shirt and no remorse.
I brought in a few shirts to be cleaned and when I returned to pick them up one of the shirts had marks left from pressing which looked to me like fabric burns. After I noticed the marks I took the shirt back and was assured that the marks were not permanent and would disappear after a second bout of dry cleaning. They did not disappear. The old lady said they would never disappear…
And yet would not concede that the shirt was damaged. I quote: «This is no damage.» After we arrived at the strained agreement that a shirt returned not in its original state is, in fact, damaged — that is to say I brought it in without any marks and after paying for cleaning I’m walking out with a shirt with obvious burn marks — she again announced, «this is no damage.»
I went as far as to mention that this conversation may end with the loss of two years of future business. To which the old lady responded, «I don’t care, good.»
Now, much as I enjoy a twenty minute shouting match in a hot, cramped room, is it too much to ask that a visit to the dry cleaners be met with friendly service and possibly some advice towards the care of a garment? Shouldn’t they be experts in this department?
I can testify that Ackerman’s are certainly not experts, they are not even mildly competent. They are unprofessional, downright rude and without a modicum of remorse.

These people are rude and after loosing my shirts they got very nasty. The old man needs to stay in the back.

I’ve been going to Ackerman’s since I moved to the city 2.5 years ago and they have been wonderful. I live and work in the neighborhood, so they are very convenient. They know my name and start entering my phone number before I get all the way into the door. They are always very friendly and always move the ready date up a day or two if I ask. One time I picked a shirt and the top button had been lost. It was a pretty cheap shirt, so I wasn’t very concerned. I wore it without the top button and brought it back to be cleaned again. When I picked it up the next time, they had replaced the button without me asking. They always make an exception to the credit card minimum if I need them to and they always let me group my payment, so I pay for a drop-​off and pick-​up at the same time to make it easier. There are a few cleaners closer to my apartment, but it will take more than that to convince me to leave Ackerman’s.

I’ve been going to Ackerman’s since 2001.
They never really notice me or acknowledge me as a customer. That’s okay though. I understand.
Also, my shirts occasionally get messed up. That’s okay though. It happens with dry cleaning. I understand.
But after 8 years of being a customer, when I walked in wearing my undershirt, my car double parked outside, clearly in a rare state of desperate need, YOU SHOWED ME NO COMPASSION. All I wanted to do was get my shirt so I put it on and go to a meeting I was already late for. I was polite and didn’t rush you at all. But when it came time to pay, and I didn’t have cash to satisfy your $ 10 MINIMUM CREDIT CARD PURCHASE — couldn’t you have given me a FRICKEN BREAK?
No. You couldn’t. You just said «CASH ONLY» and took my shirts back as if I was going to run out of there with them!
I’ve been a customer since 2001 — can’t I just pay next time? If not, can’t you just LET ME USE MY CREDIT CARD?
I’VE GIVEN YOU SO MANY BREAKS, YET WHEN IT REALLY CAME DOWN TO ME NEEDING ONE, YOU GAVE ME NOTHING.
1 STAR. This place sucks.

I have been going to Ackerman’s now for about 3 months. My service has been mostly acceptable, but I have had two very bad experiences that I would like to share (and warn about).
I brought in two of my husbands shirts for laundry recently. Since we are new to the area, both shirts had been laundered before with no problems. However, when I picked up the shirts, the collars were completely crimped and wrinkles were pressed into creases. The shirts were unwearable, so I took them back. The owner said that the problems were out of their control, because they send them out, but they «tried it» again, at no charge, and the shirts came back worse. When we complained again, the owner said that there was nothing they can do, because they have no ability to quality control the people that are laundering the shirts. I think this is incredibly bad business and I will not be back. The owner’s attitude was flippant and disrespectful.
PS, I did some research on «organic» dry cleaning. Most dry cleaners use a chemical (perc) that has been tied to cancer. Ackerman’s says they use an organic derivative instead, which I believe is DF-​2000, which (as quoted in the below article) «is likely at least marginally better than perc in terms of health and environment, [but] is not green. Marketing DF-​2000 as organic – a scheme apparently devised by dry-​cleaning associations – is shameless.» (
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I’ve gone to Ackerman’s for about a year and a half because they’re on my block. The service is really really friendly. I would say the overall experience is fine but not great. They have made a couple of mistakes (cleaned instead of altered something, for example) and many times don’t get the stain out (albeit difficult ones like wine). Overall, fine for everyday stuff, but not superb.

The folks at Ackerman’s seem happy to do their job and they do it well. I have never had an item lost, burned, broken, etc. and am always pleased with their service. As a bonus, they even returned a not-​cheap pair of sunglasses I forgot in a suit pocket. That alone will keep me going back.

I’m not entirely sure what it means but Ackerman’s claims to be the only organic dry cleaner in the city. They are friendly-​as-​can-​be, have never ruined anything and seem able to get out all spots imaginable. Also very accomodating if i need faster-​than-​usual turn around on an item.