Back Bay Laundromat

2 blocks from my place. not sure why the terrible reviews.
friendly kids working the desk, it wasn’t ideal to pay $ 1 to get $ 10 in quarters, but I was able to use a credit card so that breaks even.
washers and dryers are priced in accordance to what their lease must be on the space — not cheap, but we are in the Back Bay…
good hours, convenient, friendly at the desk. keep up the average work for a service that is so convenient for me and the only one in the hood :)

REAL RATING: –10 STARS
Giving one star is incredibly generous… this place is the worst. Not only is it completely overpriced but the customer service is nonexistent. The owners are LIARS and THIEVES and completely unreliable.
DROP OFF SERVICE IS A NIGHTMARE: I brought in a ton of laundry and specifically asked the female owner if it would be cheaper to do it myself or use their drop off service. I specifically said I couldn’t afford a certain amount so she told me she’d give me a good price. When I came back to pick up my laundry, not only did the idiot young boy who can’t even speak english give me a hard time/​refuse to give me my laundry (because the woman never gave me a pick up slip), I was also called a liar when I told him that the woman said she wouldn’t charge me full price… unbelievable. These people are so greedy!!! Not to mention, when I realized some of my laundry was lost, I had to call back 4 times and eventually showed up in person. The male owner told me he’d give me 70c for an item that cost $ 124 and was brand new. Again, he called me a liar and told me there was no way it was missing from my laundry…
SELF SERVICE IS JUST AS BAD: The machines barely work, they’re too small, and the clerk won’t even give you change for a $ 20 bill… the guy literally opened the pouch, had tons of smaller bills and then flat out lied to my face and said he couldn’t give me any change so I was forced to get $ 20 in quarters… DO YOUR LAUNDRY ELSEWHERE

I am generous in giving them one star — if it is on a scale of 1 – 10, I’d haven given them a –1.
I live in a building nearby so unfortunately being «stuck» with it and have decided to take some extra miles to go ANYWHERE ELSE so as to avoid ever using this cleaner. Here is why:
1. The cost of using the washer and dryer is hideously expensive. The time is based on 4 minite increments. Hence you could easier spend $ 10 to 20 without even noticing it!
2. The service is aweful. The hours of operation is written as 7AM to 10PM, however, during the 3 times I went there right after the opening hour, no one was around and the door was locked. Each time I had to wait until 7:15 to 7:20, with the most recent incidence occurred this morning. The owner was rude and disagreeable.
3. The quality of drying cleaning was poor. I used their drying cleaning service once before and had to take my clothes to another dry cleaning place for a «workover».

Reliable enough for dry cleaning.
A bit pricey, but have been going here for the past two years and no major headaches. English is def not the first language of most of the people that work there, except for the younger guy, but all in all they do good.

This laundromat is essentially the only one in the area and they act like it. Their prices are insane. An average load of laundry costs about $ 10 bucks, compared to about $ 2.50 at my potentially subsidized dorm, and about $ 4 in non-​subsidized, but still not insane places.
The customer service is horrible. They have a washer that costs $ 5.75 (yeah that’s right) for a wash that I was using. So that’s 23 quarters. After the first 10, I sorta lost count, became numb to the steady clunking of my depreciating net worth, and kept piling them in. I accidentally put in a 24^th, and the machine just took it. I thought it was an innocent mistake, and went to the lady in the front to let her know. I thought she would just give me a quarter. I mean I was going to have to give it right back to the drier.
Instead, she raised her voice at me (not really yelled, but just loud enough for everyone to hear), and said
«why did you do that? why did you put an extra quarter in?».
I looked at her and said, «well, I didn’t mean to. It was a mistake.»
Her: «That’s your fault.»
Me: «Yes, I know»
Her (Louder): «It’s your fault. I can’t just give you a quarter». Sitting next to a jar full of quarters.
Me: «There is a jar of quarters right there. You can’t just give me one»
Her: Harumph. Looks back at computer. Ignores me completely.
Me: «Im going to write a review about this on Unilocal.»
And here we are.

Two stars for the convenient location and cheap prices. Minus 3 stars for poor customer service, habitually late opening and extreme language barrier. Decent job pressing oxford shirts but don’t bother bringing your sport coats.
I’d give 2.5 stars if I could. Not horrible but below avg…

0 stars if possible. Only laundromat in the area. They do not open as advertised! Again– They do not open at 7am!!! Worst customer service.

I used to go here all the time. It wasn’t bad, a little over priced, I would drop my clothes off and pick them up. The past month, they have lost some of my clothes and 2 days ago I picked up my clothes and my pants were melted and ruined. I went to the store with the pants and the lady couldn’t speak English, she also wouldn’t give me the managers contact. She wasn’t helpful at all. So I left my information down for the manager and he hasn’t contact me back. Not a surprise at all.
They don’t care about customer service. They want to take your money. Stay away if you don’t want your clothes destroyed.

When I first moved to this area several years ago, I used the coin-​operated washer/​dryer in my building. One afternoon, I started a couple loads in the washers before realizing that the dryers were down for maintenance… thus, my trip to the Back Bay Laundromat for the first time.
While waiting on my clothes to dry, I did the math. The washers at the laundromat were RIDICULOUSLY overpriced. I could do twice as much laundry in regular coin-​op washers as I could here. However, the dryers were the same exact price as the one in my building, but got it done in about half the time.
Since then, I would use the washers in my building, then walk right across the alley to the laundromat and dry the clothes.
Despite going in there every week for three and a half years, I was accosted this week for coming in to use the change machine. The man at the front would not let me use the machine, then demanded to see my laundry before I could use it. When I pointed to it in the back of the building (near the dryers), HE DEMANDED THAT I BRING IT UP TO THE FRONT SO HE COULD SEE IT.
Three and a half years and seeing me every week… and this is how they treat their customers. Piss on them. I’d rather wait the extra half hour for my laundry to dry in my building.

This place gets a bad rap because it is pretty expensive and isn’t super fancy. The washers seem small but they fit a lot more than they look like they do, so load them up! The place is clean enough and there are benches to sit while you wait. The guy who usually works up front is nice and helpful enough. Detergent and fabric softener are available for purchase if you forgot yours. There is also a dry cleaning service and I think a wash and fold service, neither of which I have used. It is expensive at about $ 4.75 for a good sized washer, but it is the only laundromat in the area. Aka: monopoly. Which means monopoly prices and monopoly quality. However, it does the job: my clothes are clean and I don’t have to use an even more expensive laundry service where my clothes aren’t taken care of the way I want them to be anyway.
Update: After 2+ years living in the Back Bay, I finally decided it was worth an extra $ 20 or so a month for a high quality laundry service (especially given the high prices at Back Bay Laundromat) to not have to lug my laundry 3 blocks away and sit in a dirty laundry mat with no bathroom for 2 hours every week. Garment Valet does the dirty work for me. Best. Decision. Ever.

Boo! I’ve made the mistake of taking my laundry to this place for months because it’s close to my apartment, but after trying another laundromat down the road I have no idea why I stayed at this place! I know Marlborough street is expensive real estate, but their prices are ridiculous compared to places not even a mile away. It is also dirty — like if you drop a damp piece of clothing on the floor it will be covered in dust bunnies — which I kind of was willing to ignore, but after going to another cleaners and seeing the immaculate floors combined with MUCH lower prices I’m done with this place!

Ugh I am not one to leave poor reviews but this just needs to be said. I went to back bay laundry this morning with more laundry than I could carry. Had my boyfriend help me on his way to work and figured I’d take two trips back. I went just after 7 am, the time they are advertised to be open and the time the woman working there the night before ensured me they open. Well, needless to say, they weren’t open at 7. Nor we’re they open at 7:30. At 8:05 am, I lugged my 5 large bags of laundry back to my apartment. Not really sure where we’ll be going after this experience, but I’m willing to drive somewhere at this point if they are actually open when they say they’ll be.

I have been coming to Back Bay Laundromat once a week for about five years now. I believe that I have been enough to provide an accurate review.
Back Bay Laundromat is slightly expensive, but this is to be expected given that it is on Marlborough Street. Perhaps I have Stockholm syndrome or something, but I have come to terms with the prices. It is definitely dusty and generally not very clean. You are also unlikely to get much more than a grunt from the employee on duty if you have any of a number of frequent problems from machines eating quarters, to spin cycles ending before they begin. I can deal with all of these flaws. Their sum still does not equate to –4 stars to me. The reason for this one star review is that they have turned the washing machine cycle time/​water level down so much, the detergent is never washed out of my clothes. I would gladly pay more money if they would increase the rinse time and/​or water level here. I can rationalize the other problems in my head. This is just plain exploitative.
I know what you’re thinking at this point, I overload the machines and/​or add too much detergent. I assure you that neither of these are true. I add so little detergent that suds are almost undetectable to the human eye during the wash. Just like my mother always taught me, I also make sure there is plenty of room to spare in the machine. At times, I have even run my clothes through an extra wash with no detergent. This practice is just not practical from a time, budget or general principle perspective. Just to be clear, I have tried many different name brand HE liquid detergents, e.g. Tide.
I didn’t realize just how bad it is at Back Bay Laundromat until I took my laundry to a highly reviewed laundromat with identical washing machines in Somerville one Sunday while I ran some errands. While doing my laundry at the this unnamed Somerville laundromat, the first thing that I realized was that at Back Bay Laundromat, they have completely turned off have the soak cycle. I usually bleach my whites. For those of you unfamiliar with this process in a commercial washer, you start the machine, wait until it starts beeping while flashing «bleach» on the LED display, then add bleach. At the unnamed Somerville laundromat, I had to wait more than five minutes while the washing machine filled with water and tumbled my clothes before the bleach alert came on. I actually asked one of the persons working there because I thought I had missed it. At Back Bay Laundromat, the bleach alert comes on five seconds after the wash starts indicating that the wash cycle has begun.
The second major difference I noticed while waiting for my wash to complete in Somerville is that the water level is supposed to be much higher than it is at Back Bay Laundromat. Almost every other running wash was full of white suds while mine had none because I am so used to adding minimal detergent.
After doing my laundry in Somerville, the most notable difference was the end result. My laundry smelled fresh and clean, without a hint of detergent. The difference between these two establishments is so stark that every weekend for the last month, I rented a zip car for 3 hours at $ 10/​hr to drive to the laundromat in Somerville. This is obviously not sustainable, so I am in the process of trying to find a reasonable laundry service which is open past 7PM.
After more than 5 years, I can not bring myself to go back to Back Bay Laundromat. I can not live with soapy, slimy feeling clothes anymore.
Thank you, that is all.

This is the second time I got back a piece of clothing that was stained after I got it cleaned at the Back Bay Laundromat.
The first time was a year ago when a really expensive coat came back with orange stains on it. When ii tried to speak to the manager, he was never available and I was given a cell phone number where he could also no the reached.
I didn’t go back there for over a year, but I recently dropped of some cloth there since they are conveniently located.
The same thing happened as last time. I get back a pair of jeans that also have orange stains on them and when I demanded to speak to a manager he is again not available and cannot be reached.
Avoid at all cost if you want to wear your clothes without any stains on them

Currently, washers are like 4.50−6.50 depending on the size and dryers are 0.25 per 4 min. I’ll try and double-​check the prices next time I wash and then update. I think the washers run for something like 20 minutes.
I’m used to having a washer and dryer in the basement for like 1.50 per wash and 1.50 per dry. But I moved to an apartment without a washer/​dryer (I’m told it’s fairly common here). At first I tried laundry service, but the best you’ll find is something like 1.25/lb for that. And depending on the provider, you may have to wait around for pickups and/​or service fees and minimum loads.
So although the prices are high compared to normal laundry-​in-​building prices, it’s much cheaper than laundry service (I’d guess that my most recent wash was about $ 14 here vs what would’ve been about $ 40 for laundry service). And you have a lot better control, so you can make sure to get your clothes as clean and soft as you care to.
As for this place as a laundromat — the machines work pretty well and pretty quickly. I’ve never had to wait for a machine to be available. I’d rather that the washers ran a little longer. There are two or three benches to sit, ample carts, ample counters, and a handy back door. The change machine takes up to $ 20 bills and hasn’t been out of change when I’ve gone.

Yeah, the building is crummy, and the prices are a little much to wash/​dry. But let’s remember that they are in the Back Bay on Marlborough St.; not exactly cheap real estate.
They have three sized washers and big dryers. I’ve done some dry-​cleaning with them, and they did a great job with that. They also have a laundry service and do clothes repairs. And their washers and dryers do the job just fine.
Bring your own soap, or buy some there. Also, they do have a change machine that can take up to a $ 20 bill.

Agree with the other reviewers, better than not having a laudromat at all, but dang it’s expensive!
Wash costs currently: $ 3.75 for ½ load washer, $ 4.25 for regular, and $ 5.25 for double-​ish load.
Short of driving out to Brighton, which I used to do to visit the Laundromax (which got more expensive under new ownership), you don’t have much choice buy to pay high prices in this area.
It has newer equipment than the Charles St laundromat. The employees have been nice and helpful. It can get a bit tight on space when it’s busy, but I’m able to go during the day weekdays, so I haven’t had too much trouble.
Machines here only takes quarters– no laundry cards, so bring plenty of cash for the change machine!