Frontenac Cleaners West End

PROS
+ Reasonably priced
+ Fast turnaround
CONS
— «Iron shine»
I did not experience any of the bad service that others have complained of about this place and can only attest to my own experience here. I have been treated kindly and respectfully each time I have walked in to this cleaner and have not experienced any bad attitude.
My bf and I both get our dry cleaning done here, mainly for our suits. Dry cleaning for our suits cost only $ 13 each time, which I think is a very reasonable price. The turnaround time is relatively fast, even around the holidays. I dropped my suit off on the Weds before Thanksgiving and it was ready for pickup by the following Monday.
Though my suit was adequately cleaned, unfortunately I discovered some «iron shine» marks on my suit pants. Iron shine comes from using an iron that is too hot, thereby melting the fabric fibers. Rookie move for sure. This is disappointing especially because it was a pretty nice Ann Taylor suit and it will likely be impossible to reverse.

I come from a land of very expensive dry cleaning — so I was not surprised by the cost of my last trip (which was $ 88 for 10 items). I was unhappy with the level of cleaning for one of my silk shirts, and they were able to take it back immediately and at no cost to me. The shirt returned much cleaner and honestly, I think it was worth the initial cost for that particular item.
When one picks a dry cleaner, there is a certain level of inertia that comes with finding a new one, even if it is less expensive. This is why: when you go to a cleaner and they don’t mess anything up and don’t ruin any of your clothes, you trust them — you don’t want to risk going somewhere else for a possibly less expensive, but possibly disastrous result. So, to be honest, I’ll be going back due to the «trust factor» and the «extreme convenience factor» as it’s very close to where I do a lot of my other life activities, running, coffee, and yoga.

DO NOT GO HERE! I finally understand the definition of being «taken to the cleaners.» I dropped off two dresses and four blouses for my girlfriend, and two shirts and two pairs of pants for me. When I went to pick them up, I was told I owed $ 100. WHAT?!? Never in my life have I paid this much for dry cleaning… not even close (and my shirts and pants were just laundered). Moreover, one of my girlfriend’s blouses came back with a black stain on the front of it (which was not there before). I guess this place thinks if they have Frontenac in their name they can just charge whatever they want and people will pay for it. This is the last time I will EVER set foot in that place. There is another dry cleaner just a few blocks away called Nu-​Look. I’m going there from now on. And you should too.

I dropped off a Peacoat to be cleaned on Monday and was told it would be ready by Thursday. I returned Friday to pick it up. There were four people in front of me and service was super slow. Three of the people in front of me either did not receive their clothes or there was some problem. The fourth couldn’t stand the wait and just left. After an excruciating wait, I finally got to the cashier. Once up there I realized part of the delay is that she had long nails which prevented her from using a keyboard properly. When I gave her my ticket, she searched around for a few minutes only to tell me my coat wasn’t there. When I had the audacity to ask why, she told me that it wasn’t their fault my coat wasn’t ready the day after I was told it would be available because workers at the plant called off. I dropped the coat off on Monday so I would have it available for a cold weekend.
I am new to the Lafayette Square area and so was looking for a new dry cleaners but will never use this place again. I have never reviewed on Unilocal before but I was so annoyed by this place that I signed up and decided to write a review. I wish I had checked Unilocal before using this place since plenty of other people have had terrible experiences. DO NOT USE THIS BUSINESS!

First and last time at this place.
Dropped shirts off, and was told they will be done on Friday (4 day turnaround, not great).
Return on Friday to pick up shirts. Shirts are not done. Was told the shirts will be done on Monday now (a full week to dry clean 7 shirts, my god).
Things you need to do to run a dry cleaning business:
1. Take clothes from people
2. Clean/​press said clothes
3. Return clothes to people on specific date
If you cannot do one of these things, then you do not know how to run a dry cleaning business. Please vacate that area of beautiful Lafayette Square and allow another business owner to take your place. You’re wasting valuable store front space with a business that is incapable of performing the basic functions of the industry within which it operates.
I should’ve heeded Unilocal’s advice. DO NOT USE THIS BUSINESS.

My bill for a blanket and shirt was $ 35, which is kinda steep, but whatever.
The blanket had a pet stain on it, and unfortunately the stain’s still there and the blanket still smells like piss. I doubt they even cleaned it.
First and last time here.

Weary of the Unilocal reviews, I asked my neighborhood forum about the shoe repair at Frontenac Cleaners.
I found out a third party actually runs the business through a drop-​off, repair, pick-​up service. A pretty good idea considering it is a convenient location for many in the neighborhood.
The owner of this service told me that Frontenac was concerned about the reviews and wanted to know where I got my information.
On the phone with Frontenac, I was told that the reviews left on Unilocal were by a customer who was racist and refused to pay for his clothes. I told him there was more than one bad review, did the one customer write them all? He told me «there are two sides to every story» and the Better Business Bureau thought they were running a fine business.
I decided to test the service by dropping off one pair of shoes first.
The shoes took a little longer to repair then quoted, but the owner of the service called me, was very sweet, and told me that the parts they ordered had not came in yet, and if I would accept to wait a few more days. I agreed, so they would be done right.
When the shoes were repaired, I went to go pick them up at the shop. This time, it was a woman working there, who saw my name on the shoes. She said «Ooooo ooooo you are very very famous around here.»
I nervously chuckled and said «Oh really… why?»
«Everyone is saying we better do a good job on these shoes, because if not, she’s going to write us a bad review.»
I laughed a little like she was making a joke, but I felt very uncomfortable at this point.
She then told me, «If you want reviews, go to the Better Business Bureau, if they thought we weren’t running a good business then we wouldn’t be here.»
I took the shoes and looked at them in the car. Unfortunately the work was terrible, really terrible. The sole was not a high-​quality rubber sole I was expecting, but instead a material I don’t recognize. almost wood-​like but not wood. It still had a stamp on it and was very brutally cut to where the edges with glue stuck out around the sole. And these were dressy, evening shoes.
I had also asked for caps, and the caps on the shoes were also brutally cut with huge gaps where you could see the heel nail between.
I was torn between what to do, I couldn’t take them back because they informed me several times over the phone that this was their best work. I was also torn about writing a review because I knew I would become «that girl». But, hey, this was my experience, as it is, no fluff, nothing out of spite, the capability and customer service is just non-​existent.
I took the «repaired» shoes to another shop just to ask for a consultation on the shoes. I was told the caps wouldn’t last at all; that they would get caught and ripped off because of that gap.

Frontenac Cleaners in Lafayette Square are conveniently located just around the corner from our home. We’d love to like them and have used them many times. They have the worst combination of high prices, inconsistent cleaning and lackadaisical support staff. Enough is enough!
My wife used to love them. Not anymore because the counter people have changed recently, and they do not appear to care about anything or anyone. I was never a fan because of their astronomically high prices, inconsistent and inadequate cleaning (spots added? Come on!), plus the fact that they lost the pants from my gray suit. We will not use them anymore.

This is the WORST run business I have ever encountered in my entire life! We dropped our comforter off over a month ago to have it cleaned, and specifically asked for them to dry clean it. I picked it up about a week later and brought it home only to find that it had been COMPLETELY ruined! My mother in law and I immediately brought it back for an explanation and the guy behind the counter got very aggressive and defensive with us saying that it was not their fault that the comforter was ruined and that they washed it the way the tag says to. I told them that we SPECIFICALLY asked for it to be dry cleaned but he said that they just do what is on the tag. The stuffing on the inside of the comforter was completely ruined and all bunched up in the center (I tried to smooth it out, but it was impossible) and the comforter was still wet and wrinkly when we picked it up. We were told a manager would be contacting us because, of course, there was not one in the store and that it would be sent back to the plant. A few days later we received a very angry call from the manager saying that there was no way the comforter was washed and that it was dry cleaned (even though the employee said it was and it was wet when we picked it up). We picked up the comforter about a week later that was supposedly «fixed» but when we got home and laid it out, it was clear that nothing had been done. We took it back a SECOND time to then again have an employee get aggressive and angry with us… It was sent back to the plant AGAIN where we had to wait another week (about a month had gone by without us having a comforter on our bed at this point) for it be «fixed». We received it back today and it still wasn’t 100% fixed as you can tell the stuffing inside was still clumped together in certain spots. We finally gave up on trying to have them fix it and asked that they AT LEAST refund us the $ 40 that it had cost to originally have it cleaned. The owner outright refused saying that there was no way we were going to receive a refund because of «all the work they put into it». Ummmm, EXCUSE ME?! The reason you guys had to put so much work into it was because you guys are the ones that screwed it up in the first place! I believe we absolutely deserved a refund in this case, but the manager wouldn’t budge. At no point were we ever even remotely apologized to either. Oh, and the icing on the cake: When we had gone there to pick up the comforter today, there was another customer that was angry because they had lost his clothes. Moral of the story: DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT WASTING YOUR $ HERE!

Can’t believe this place manages to stay open through all the bullshit they put their customers through. Where to begin with this one?
First mistake: not checking Unilocal before going in here. However the location is convenient for me as its on my way into work. I dropped a comforter and a few pairs of pants off here a month ago today. I came in 5 days later to pick up the items. The pants were ready, but quite expensive! $ 7.50 each. But oh we’ll that’s not even the beginning of the problem.
The comforter wasn’t ready on Friday as promised, but we returned on Saturday to pick it up. To our dismay the comforter had obviously been washed despite the request for it to be dry cleaned. Last time I checked items don’t get wet when they are DRY cleaned. The biggest issue was that the comforter’s stuffing was all bunched up into one corner.
We returned the same day to ask them to fix the issue. The employee gave us attitude as if we had done something wrong. Strike one. Nevertheless he took the comforter and said it would be sent back to the plant to be fixed.
One week passed and I returned to pick up the comforter. Upon arriving back at home the comforter was still not acceptable (still bunched into a corner). I returned to the store and calmly explained that it was still not acceptable. I asked that the manager call me ASAP to discuss the problem. They promised the manager would call me. I waited a few days after this incident and received no phone call. Strike two. I called the store to request to speak with the manager and was alerted that she was not in. I explained the situation to the employee on the phone and she proceeded to scold me for asking for the manager and making such a big deal about the comforter. She stated that there was no way the comforter was washed and that I was a liar. Hm, if you followed my instructions (which are clearly stated on the tag) you wouldn’t have ruined my comforter. After getting nowhere with her, I asked her to please have the manager call me back.
Another week passed with no phone call. I finally went into the store last Thursday and spoke with the employee and requested he call the manager for me to speak with. He complied and the manager apologized and said the comforter would be there the next day. I asked that they call me once it was ready. Of course no phone call on Friday. On saturday I called in and they said it was finally ready.
Today I came in to pick up the comforter. A gentleman in front of me was picking up shirts and the employee could not find them. How ironic! I told him this was not surprising and explained my story to him. He laughed and I told him if he was smart he wouldn’t return. The employee then proceeded to SCREAM at me they she didn’t need my business and they had been around for 20 years and would be fine without me. Real mature and professional way to deal with your customers…
All of this without any sorry, mention of reimbursement, or any sort of apologetic feelings. Good god how does this place stay in business!!!
And with that Unilocal I humbly request that you join me in a abstaining from using this shit hole of a ‘business’. Pass the word along to your friends and stay far away. I’ll be going a couple doors down the street for my dry cleaning from now on… lesson learned!

Terrible! I had to drive to Kirkwood to pick up my dry cleaning because it wasn’t ready 3 days after they told me it would be done.

I would have given 3 stars because I’ve had dry cleaning done here twice and it’s been fine, but the 4^th star is because they have a shoe repair capability. It is off site and the guy will take a week or so to get them back to you, but still, it’s a nice thing to have at a dry-​cleaning place.

Oh, hell no!
My inner sista came out last night when I went to pay for my dry cleaning at Frontenac Cleaners in Lafayette Square. Not because they screwed anything up (and I am thankful for that!), but because of the price!
Let me break it down for you:
— $ 15.50 to dry clean a trench coat. From Forever 21. The dry cleaning probably cost more than what I initially paid for the jacket!
— $ 6.95 to dry clean a pair of men’s trousers. Say what?
— $ 15.40 to dry clean two linen blouses
Maybe I’m forever spoiled by Dry Clean Spot in Brentwood, but even before finding that little gem in Brentwood, I’ve had better dry cleaning experiences. Those prices are ridiculous! No wonder this place looks deserted every time I drive by… no one can afford to get their dry cleaning done here!
From now on, I’ll spend a little gas money driving to Brentwood. It’ll still be cheaper than going to Frontenac Cleaners, which is less than 5 miles from my house. Now that’s saying something right there…