Bella Vista Cleaner

My boyfriend took my favorite silk skirt there to get out some water or oil stains. They were able to get some of the stain out but not all — that’s fine bc I don’t know what type of stains they were.
However I was enraged to find they secured the skirt to the hanger using two large safety pins, one on each side. This made 2 very noticeable holes in the silk. Never heard of this happening at a dry cleaners.
I would’ve been better off wearing the dress with the stains than with these new holes.

11/​14/​2011 NEW OWNERS. ONLY READ POSTS DATED AFTER SUMMER 2011.
I have been going to Bella Vista Cleaners for 3 years and had a great relationship with the old Italian (?) couple who ran it. Their service was topnotch so after I moved to Montgomery County, I would continue to go to them since they were so good.
When I found out the the previous owner had pancreatic cancer, I was visbily upset. However, I figured I would give the new ownership a try. They were much more expensive but I ate the cost based on reputation of the previous owners.
I had my Jos. A Bank shirt tailored and dropped off 6 shirts. The new owner charged me $ 25 to alter my shirt which is double what I usually pay. I gave her a week to do it since I know it takes time and I planned on using it for a job interview I had the following week. I told her I would pick it up at 1pm the following Saturday. I went to pick it up at 3pm and it wasn’t ready.
She refused to give me a discount or refund. I explained that I drove an hour to get here and how disappointed I was then I asked her why she didn’t call me to let me know because had I known I would’ve overlooked the snafu. She told me she tried calling me three times but didn’t leave a message since a customer came in. I said it only takes 10 more seconds to leave a message. All she did was repeat that a customer came in and offered no apology or reason.
I spend about $ 100-​$ 125 a month on dry cleaning and considered giving them a do over but she offered no reason for the screw-​up and didn’t offer any suggestions on how to make amends. When I told her I won’t be back, she just said «Oh well. OK then.» Needless to say, I was severely disappointed.
I do not recommend this place at all. Customer service was horrible and the quality of work has suffered greatly since the new owners took over. Wherever the former owners are, they should know that the place (and neighborhood) is not the same without them and I wish them the best.
At any rate, you would be best to take your business elsewhere.

NEW OWNERS. ONLY READ POSTS DATED AFTER SUMMER 2011.
I miss the old owner quite a bit, I was told the previous owner had cancer — I really hope he is doing well. But now that there gone, there is no reason to support this business.
New owner (s) are bad. Tried it 3 – 4 times and after my last pick up I found that my Jos A Bank slacks came back riddled with holes. When I asked about the holes, I was told it was mold and it was ‘not our fault’… REALLY MOLD? That’s the best excuse you can come up with. How is mold going to cause tears and holes in a pair of pants that I wear quite frequently and don’t you think I would have noticed that my pants were moldy?
I had walked in deciding that I was going to leave my order regardless of the holes (about an $ 80 -$ 90 for about a months worth of stuff). I figure that everyone makes a mistake, I’ll give them a second shot, but after the extremely unapologetic nature of her denial, I picked up my stuff and left.
Terrible customer service.

I liked this place (back when Unilocalers gave it 4 and 5 stars… look at the dates!!) and the previous owners (friendly French couple) ran it. Now it seems to be run by an Asian woman that is utterly terrible. she not only failed to deliver on the promised time, but was extremely rude, disrespectful and held my property hostage without my permission!
I, not knowing there was new ownership, planned to drop off a pair of yellow shorts to get a zipper replaced and have them cleaned. I called on Thursday to be sure they’d have time to do it by Saturday. She was very friendly on the phone and said sure, just get them here by 3:00– everything made sense and seemed to be going well. So my roommate dropped them off for me, and explained what we needed done. She said the lady there was difficult to work with, but seemed to understand and confirmed «yellow zipper, ok?, „ok, yellow zipper?“. She required my friend to leave a deposit (wtf?), so since it was $ 20 she just paid in full in advance, and so the lady wrote the ticket for Saturday 5:00 pickup. She had told me 3:00 on the phone, but that was fine so i didn’t make a fuss.
Then, Saturday morning rolls around and i decide to call and see if they were ready early by chance. The same lady answered the phone and i asked about the yellow shorts, she was really nice and understood right away waht i was talking about, and said they’d be ready about 4:00, but to call in advance to be sure they were there… things still seemingly ok…
So then about an hour later she called me and said the shorts wouldn’t be ready in time. She said since they were yellow and required a yellow zipper, they’d have to go buy one, and the tailor didn’t have time to do that, so they wouldn’t be ready until Tuesday. (why are they just realizing this now, a few hours before they were due back?!) I told her no, that didn’t work for me because i need them tonight (because i planned to wear them for an event after picking them up Saturday, like we had agreed on)… She offered to use a white zipper instead. I spent about 10 minutes trying to communicate to her about these shorts, and if the white zipper would show through or not. fail. so I gave up on that and told her i’d just call her back in 5 minutes to let her know my decision about the white zipper.
I decided to call the store I had bought them from to see if they had another pair in my size and so then i could just return the defective pair i had just bought. The store was difficult to get in touch with, but i finally was able to, and they didn’t have any other pairs. So, after about 8 minutes I called Bella Vista Cleaners back and told her to go ahead with the white zipper. „No, too late. You said you’d call back in 5 minutes, and you didn’t. I call you and you no answer, too late.“ i was like umm i’m sorry, i didn’t realize 3 minutes would put us over the edge…» she gave another snotty remark, so i cut in and said «ok, well then can i just get my shorts back and i’ll do it myself?» «no, impossible. delivery guy left and you didn’t call back in 5 minutes so its too late». she then essentially kept on talking INTENTIONALLY talking over me in fake/​exaggerated broken english using hte language barrier to her advantage, pretending she couldn’t hear me, etc. it was so obvious. she clammored on for a minute or so then said «ok see you Tuesday? good? (i’m saying «no, not good») «ok, shorts not here, shorts be ready tuesday ok? ok, good bye» and hung up on my while i was talking loudly trying to get a word in, I was saying «No!., wait!» but she blatantly ignored me and everything I said and just hung up on me. I was PISSED.
soTuesday rolls around. My friend goes back to the store for me at 3:00 and demands a refund for the money she paid. The lady gave her the refund to her credit card (allegedgly) but said the shorts weren’t there. WTF!!! so she said i could come back after 5:30 and get my shorts. who knows what she’s done with them, if anything, and if i’ll get them back. the store closes at 6:30 and I work until 6:00 so I planned to go back to get them. Suddenly, she calls me around 3:30 and says «you want to cancel order? you have to have ticket to come get shorts, but if you no have ticket i cna’t give them back ok? good? ok bye » again, without letting me get a word in when before this all happened she was able to communicate just fine in english. suddenly she can’t speak as well as she used to? yeah, right. i loudly and clearly said «Can i get them at 6:30?» she just said «you get shorts, have to have ticket «…then ignored me and hung up on me, AGAIN.
i will NEVER go to this place again after the horrendous treatment and service from this lady, not to mention its gotta be illegal to withold my property from me without my permission for 3 days, when i’m trying to come get it.
she’s connaiving and rude. don’t let her fool you. I’m sure the business won’t last long if she keeps this

I think this place came under new ownership very recently. I am not sad about it though. I had a confrontation with the husband/​owner after damage to a favorite dress. He was always manic but unbearably rude that last time. I go to Gina’s now.

What a great find in my neighborhoood. This is a family owned «Mom n» Pop” cleaners. The couple is lovely, and very comical. They finish each others sentences and are just so warm and sweet to all their customers. I had some clothing dry cleaned, and a dress altered for an upcoming wedding that I am in. I could not be happier with the service and outcome of the work that was done. I am a fan, and loyal customer now.

I love this place! I’ve taken dry cleaning there and had pants hemmed, and everything has been done quite nicely, but I really love going here because of the warm and friendly owners, Vic and Rosie. Rosie is from Marseille and is as French as they get; she’s only there on Saturdays, so stop by then if you want to practice your French!

I visit the dry cleaner 2 or 3 times a year so I when I do go, I don’t consider it much of a chore. But if I made more frequent visits, Bella Vista Cleaner would be my go to cleaner. The husband and wife are so friendly, they brighten my day every visit.
They have a generous 20% discount if you pay at the time you drop off your clothes. For 6 items (mixture of skirts, dresses and sweaters) my bill came to around $ 30 after the discount. I don’t know how that compares to other places but I am happy to pay for the friendly and respectful service provided.

Across from the Fitzwater Café is Bella Vista Tailor, it is located in what used to be a bank. They have dry cleaning, sewing and alterations. The husband and wife team that run the store are friendly, efficient, and have convenient hours.
I have returned a few times to continue service, and I would definitely recommend them to anyone who expects someone to treat your clothes the way you would treat them yourself. So far their pricing seems fair for the work that I have had done