Flamingo Cleaners

Decided to go here because it’s close by.
Everything went wrong.
They initially told me it would take 7 days to complete, it ended up taking over 2 weeks. Each time I came to pick it up they kept say «tomorrow» so I would return the next day to find it still not done, which was a waste of time.
When it was finally done, it was visibly damaged and stained. They told me (extremely condescendingly) that I had brought it in like that, and continued to bark at me aggressively that it was not their fault.
Can’t recommend this place at all. Definition of a bad business and terrible customer service.

Be ware if this place. They ruined a dress shirt (they spilled bleach on it) and refused to take responsibility or make me whole even though I have been going there for over a year.

They put staples through the labels of very nice garments you bought in Paris. I have never seen cleaners do that. Needless to say, they do not do this in Paris.

Just got some shirts pressed and laundered here. Very poorly done. The shirts came back with creases, not a professional job at all. I could have done better at home! Do not recommend.

Super efficient. They were able to do it in less than 24 hours and without any extra cost. They were kind and courteous and offered to give me a discount as a new customer. The dress shirt and two piece suit came back well done and sharp. Definitely recommend as they were painless and easy to get to (within walking distance) of my job in Berkeley!

I’ve never had any problems here. I’ve had wool pea coats dry cleaned and they came out looking great. I’ve also had some capri pants taken up and that was done perfectly. The woman (owner?) is always very nice and with my pants she really encouraged me to have her shorten them more than I originally wanted. I get lots of compliments on them now and I am glad I followed her advice!

Flamingo Cleaners is the best! I have been a loyal customer for 15-​plus years. Keep up the good work!

I love Flamingo cleaners! I have used them for years, most recently for my wedding dress. The dress was expensive, I trusted them with it completely. From cleaning to tailoring to pressing, they did a fabulous job. Judy, the manger, is awesome especially. Good prices, too!

AWFUL CUSTOMER SERVICE!
I dropped off several items for my first visit here. I picked them up and was very dissatisfied.
— brand new never worn shirt had a mysterious stain
— expensive new suit skirt was hung using safety pins, damaging the material
— tweed suit jacket came back with snags in fabric
— multiple items came back with frayed hems/​labels — random threads sticking out everywhere.
Overall expensive and did not take care of my garments well. Additionally, when I called to complain to the manager, she was rude and yelled at me that she was on her day off. She suggested that I needed to walk the 4 blocks back to the cleaner with all my 10+ items the following week so she could inspect them herself and only offered recleaning as an option. Will not go back.

I used these dry cleaners for about a year and a half, and had no complaints. Then three things happened:
1) I got a new job outside of downtown Berkeley, so it’s no longer a convenient after-​work stroll. I have to drive here from I-​80, which is painful during rush hour. And because they close at 6:30pm, the only option is Rush Hour.
2) The new Trader Joe’s went in and the parking rules nearby changed. There is now ONE loading zone in front of the store, which is almost always full, and all the parking nearby is residential permit only. In other words, there is Literally No Where to Park nearby. After getting a $ 75 parking ticket, I started to reconsider whether I should keep going here…
3) Then the final straw: I took my bridesmaid’s dress to be altered and they ripped it. A small tear, but visible, in the brand new dress. Which sucks. But the worst part about it is that they argued with me about it. They claimed that I must have ripped it before I brought it in (er, nope: took it out of the box literally In The Store), then blamed me for having a dress with low-​quality fabric. Really? You’re going to damage my clothes and then excuse yourself by insulting my taste in clothes? And, they charged me waaaay more than agreed upon ($ 65 instead of $ 30). In the end, they knocked off $ 20, but it didn’t make up for the hassle and the quibbling and the accusing.
So, done. Finding a new dry cleaners.

I have gone here a few times, but never again. The first time I went, I brought a whole load of dry cleaning in. Everything came back fine. There was a bit of dust on my suit jacket, but nothing ruined.
The next time I went, I decided to get a suit jacket altered that was a bit too big in the waist. The younger girl working there measured it, pinned it, and I thought I was good to go.
I pick it up, and then I get home and I think «Oh, I better try it on to make sure it is OK.» It’s is smaller, but still swimmingly large and gaping open in the front. I admit I know nothing of sewing, pinning, etc — that it why I go to get something tailored! I call, they tell me to come back.
I put on the jacket for her, and she acts like it is fine. I just happened to bring a property fitted suit jacket with me (just in case they did just this). I put it on. She tells me it is too tight (it fits right). They refused to quote me how much it would be to fix the jacket the way I wanted it, and offered to do some sort of snap insertion for 5 dollars. Begrudingly, I agreed. Pretty sure that won’t work.
As I am waiting for the receipt, the older lady told me that she had no idea why I would get a jacket that is already a small size altered. Admittedly, I am child-​sized, but that isn’t a reason to not want my clothes to fit!

I’ve been to this place a handful of times to get my clothes dry cleaned. It went alright when I did not have to deal with the Asian lady, who I think is the owner. I decided never to come back to this place again after my last encounter with this lady.
I brought in about 12 dress shirts to get them dry cleaned. When I approached the counter there was a lady, who appeared to be a new employee, counted all my shirts and quoted me a price. The Asian lady who was working a few feet behind the counter immediately turned around forced herself to take over the transaction. She was acting very friendly. She picked up my shirts examined them and looked at the sizes which were small. She said «These shirts are small, they are special shirts, we charge extra for special shirts, but I will give you a discount.» She increased the price by $ 1.50 for each shirt then reduced it by $ 0.30 and called it a discount. At this point I felt like she was pulling a quick one to make some extra money. Since when are small shirts consider special shirts and should be assessed an additional charge? I took all my shirts back and said I’ll look for another cleaner that does charge extra to dry clean shirts based on standard sizes. She wasn’t very happy about that and offered to bring the price back down to the original quoted price. At that point I was the shadiness, said thank you and left.
Although she offered to bring the price down, she has put herself on my blacklist for the shady attempt. I recommend going else where.

This cleaners is great! I finally found one that I’m comfortable bringing my clothes to. I joined as a VIP customer for $ 10 and was given a bag that I can throw my clothes into, drop off, and pick up a few days later all nice and cleaned. As long as I note to them ahead of time special attention areas, they usually get out all my stains.
I’ve been coming here for years now. The people are super friendly and the prices are reasonable.
I’ve brought in blankets, robes, and heavy coats and they do a good job.
I’ve also had alterations done there on a numerous occasion and I’ve been satisfied with their work.

Flamingo has been great to me for shirt cleaning and dry cleaning for years. Another company screwed up a few times, so I switched. Flamingo is nice and friendly, there’s always parking thanks to the 10 minute green parking zone in front, and their prices are fine.
I can’t commend on the alterations, since I’ve never used them for that, but as a cleaners (shirts, sweaters, pants, etc.) they’ve been great, getting out countless stains.

wash and press yes… pretty decent quality work… been there a couple of times and I was happy with results… but then again any cleaners that can’t do a wash and press shouldn’t be in this business.
But I DO NOT RECOMMEND DRY CLEANING!!!
1. the very nice lady (which she should be nice, called customer service) completely Eff’ed up my jacket, the fabric is faded, worn, and along the seams it looks bleached. On top of that my jacket smells chemically burned… unacceptable.
2. a basic wool sweater, also smells chemically burned and has what look like dog hair on it (I don’t have pets) W T F!!!
I’m so disappointed, i felt like I finally found a decent dry cleaners in Berkeley and again another let down

Ok, I don’t know why I still always go here. Maybe because the lady up front is super nice?
The cleaning is usually standard, good quality work. However, there have been a few glitches.
Once, they tailored some pants wrong. Oh so wrong. And they were for my husbands new, very expensive suit. But the good news is that they fixed it, and barely. Thank goodness.
Then, once some pants came back from tailoring with a few tiny tiny bleach spots on them. They said it wasn’t their fault, and maybe it wasn’t, but I don’t know how it could have happened at home. Oh, and they pressed that awful line into the front of the leg when we asked them not to.
So, I’ve learned just to stick to the basics with these guys and they do great. No tailoring; it’s not their cup. But, for my husband’s work shirts and one of my occasional sweaters? Just fine.
P. S. Parking can be tough, but if you’re lucky, you can snag the 10 minute space right in front.

I was a customer of Flamingo for nearly a year, and agree with one thing the other reviewers have said: the lady at the counter is very friendly and nice, but they just recently ruined a pair of $ 200 silk dress slacks and the only compensation they offered was to clean them again — «no charge» — which only made things worse.
When I went in to see the results of this second cleaning, the nice friendly lady acted as if I had brought the slacks in from another cleaners, attempting to perpetrate some ill-​advised Jedi mind trick. When I pointed out that she had just handed them to me, she stared blankly and said nothing.
I do my own laundry and use a dry cleaners for work clothes, jackets and sweaters. Each time I start a relationship with a new cleaners, I test the waters, start with the easy stuff and work up to the expensive items. I did this with Flamingo, and they had even previously successfully cleaned the same slacks…
Looking at the ruined slacks and her blank expression, I told the nice friendly lady that I thought she was a nice person, but that she had lost me as a customer. I’m not looking primarily for a nice disposition from my dry cleaners — first I’m looking for competence and someone who won’t ruin expensive clothes — if nice follows, it’s a bonus.
So take it as a warning: I’m not saying they can’t do laundry; I’m saying that if you have expensive, designer or vintage clothes (or saris or wedding dresses) you trust these nice friendly folks at your own risk. I’ve posted photos so you can be sure of which cleaners we’re talking about (and to the nice friendly lady: «no charge» for the photos).
Meanwhile, I’ve started a new relationship with a dry cleaners on University — just a couple sweaters and shirts to get started…

The lady who runs the front of the shop is super friendly and helpful. Plus, it’s fun to watch the large, mechanical clothes rack rotating while she looks for your freshly cleaned sweaters.

There’s this one dry cleaners near my work, where they guy tried to sell my co-​worker a jacket. He said that it looked like it would fit him, & he would give it to him for a good price. I was just there to keep him company, but I didn’t know that there was an inside ring on selling clothes at some dry cleaners.
So I moved to this part of the East Bay not all that long ago, & I’ve been a traveling gypsy when it comes to dry cleaners. I don’t really know what you’re supposed to look for in a good dry cleaner. Starched shirts don’t really matter to me, except in India where the servicers like to turn them into cardboard– but that’s just my opinion. I do like places that have the service that stitches up all my holes & hemlines– heels tend to do that to pant legs. I usually don’t have too much interaction with them, because I just want to get in & out… though maybe I should to make sure that they really are cleaning my stuff instead of using Dryel on my clothes, or selling them.
I have been using Flamingo Cleaners based on a recommendation from a nearby sari shop. I asked who would be able to clean them good– especially the really ornate ones without damaging them. They use them, so I thought I would give it a shot. If they can dry clean a sari meant for a wedding (super pain & super ornate with beads & embroidery) then I figure my work suits are safe.
I still don’t know their names, though the Asian lady is really nice. I know there’s someone else that works there, cause I can hear them but I have yet to meet them. But they’re fab either way!

I am lazy, and I hate myself for it.
Flamingo gave me a bag. Part of their VIP club. I think I might pay them $ 10 a year to «rent» the bag. I don’t know. By now, I must have paid for 40 bags outright.
But the genius of the bag, is that I throw my shirts in the bag. Drop the bag off at the store. Then pick up my shirts (and my bag) folded and pressed on hangers 3 days later.
It is all pretty painless. They haven’t lost or ruined anything. They are pretty good about getting out stains.
The tyranny of the bag is that I cannot go anywhere else. There is a place down University Ave that looks nice. It might be more eco friendly. That would be good.
But I am stuck with my bag.