University Cleaners

I’ve been taking me and my husband’s clothes here for years and have been very pleased. The prices are reasonable and they do a great job. I’ve NEVER had a complaint. I would never go to that CD one price cleaners again as you get what you pay for… cheap prices, cheap quality!

I cannot — even if I tried — add to University Cleaner’s horrible reputation. I will, however, share my story: I picked up a pair of pants on Tuesday and noticed on Wednesday that the pants were torn from the waist and ruined. A $ 175 pair of dress pants purchased a mere 4 months ago completely ruined! I returned on Saturday to talk to the lady who is always there, and that I gather is the owner, about this problem. Immediately, she blamed it on me. Immediately she claimed that even thought I didn’t point out the tear, that she saw the tear and (a) didn’t tell me when I dropped them off, and (b) certainly didn’t tell me about it when I picked them up. I guess people just dry clean pants torn from the waist. I think there’s a different answer: University Cleaners hates it’s customers (check out photo 2 of it’s profile)!
Rather than provide a service, University Cleaners loves to blame the customer. Do yourself a favor — find a different place to ruin your clothes!

The problems at this dry cleaners seem to be habitual, as opposed to flukes.
I dropped off two dresses on a Tuesday to be cleaned. These dresses didn’t have any stains-​just needed a regular cleaning. I asked to have the red dress done by Friday because I had a wedding to go to and needed that dress. I show up Friday evening and my red dress is NOT done, as I specifically requested. Further, she tells me it was shipped out to be cleaned so I couldn’t even grab it and wash it myself.
You would think the owner would have offered to waive the fee for cleaning one of the dresses considering it was not done on time, but she refused. Further, it cost me $ 16 to have 2 dresses cleaned!
I won’t ever use this dry cleaning service again and I suggest going elsewhere!

The sugar: The owner is a sweetheart. Actually really nice.
The medicine: I’m not really sure if clothes are actually really cleaned here. I took my clothes to university cleaners for the first time last week. Three dresses and a jacket. One of the dresses and the jacket didn’t have any stains. However, I spilled stuff on two of the other dresses.
I came back to pick up my clothes and both stains (orange juice and bronzer) were still on both dresses, clear as day.
I had them re-​do both dresses. Stains were still there. Just a little lighter.
I gave up and washed both dresses at home — stains gone.
I will NEVER come here again for dry-​cleaning. They are overpriced and don’t actually clean. I basically paid $ 40 to have my clothes bagged up in plastic dry-​cleaning bags.
Save yourself some annoyance and expense and go to any of the drycleaners on taylor st.

I went here to dryclean my winter coats/​spring jacket. I usually will take my dry cleaning to my parents area in the burbs since its much cheaper.
I dropped my coats off on a Wednesday and was told that it would take til the following Thursday to be finished… ok fine, it’s summer I don’t need them
I went back to get them the following week and she told me they weren’t ready… what??? Come back NEXT week she says.
So I wait. and come back actually 10 days later… oh they are ready. She claims my yellow spring coat needed 3 cycles… and my total was 45 dollars.
WHAT!!! 15 dollars for coats? Are you kidding me? And why my yellow coat needed 3 cycles without her even telling me???
Never going back here.

The prices here are decent, but there has been a recent increase from $ 2.49 to $ 2.99 per item (excluding items such as dresses, coats, comforters, etc– these will cost you significantly more). When it comes to cleaning, they do a good job, but I have been less than impressed with their alterations. The pants I had hemmed there came back shorter than originally measured, and the stitching was sloppy.

I like this place so much better than the one price cleaners places. My clothes actually feel clean when I take them home from here – the cheap places with same day service CANNOT do that good of a job, seriously. I’ve also had some pants shortened here, and the woman who does them does a great job, and it’s not that expensive. I had 5 pairs of pants taken up, and I think I paid $ 30.

HORRID. HORRID. HORRID.
If I could give it less than one star, I absolutely would. I decided to forego my usual dry cleaner (a place on Cermak that charges $ 1.99 for ANYTHING) in order to support local business and take advantage of their $ 2.49 «special.» When I went to pick up my items, I was informed that my shirt-​dresses, NOT crazy material dresses, simple cotton dresses that cost $ 1.99/each elswehere, would be $ 16. Um, no. I told the woman that it was unacceptable to charge a higher price without telling me when I dropped them off that I would not be getting their «deal.» She said I should have asked when I dropped them off; I replied that she took advantage of the fact I was clearly in a hurry when my two-​seconds-​from-​a-​meltdown-​child was squirming in my arms and neglected to tell me I was about to get ripped off.
TOTAL SCAM.
Luckily, there are two other dry cleaners in the area (Morgan & 14^th and just two blocks south at Halsted & 16^th), in addition to my trusty $ 1.99 NO MATTER THE PIECE on Cermak.
The kicker?
One of my dresses wasn’t cleaned properly and looked like it had been ironed by my six year old nephew.
A definite must avoid.

I don’t usually get my clothes cleaned here (we have a place just around the corner from our home with lower prices), but I do get my pants hemmed at University Cleaners. I like that they have a private changing room (versus the curtain enclosure like a lot of other places have), so you can try on your pants for the person to pin for hemming. Prices are a little high, I think, but it’s worth it for the convenience.
Today, I dropped off one pair of pants to be hemmed ($ 11.50) and I also had a pair that needed to be re-​hemmed (they were hemmed at University Cleaners originally, but one hem was falling down after having been cleaned at UC). The re-​hem isn’t costing me anything. Ya gotta love a place that stands behind their work!

University Cleaners will do a good job on your clothes, but I cannot give them a higher rating because they are PRICEY compared to the typical «mom and pop» variety of dry cleaner that you usually find in the city. They do have a monopoly on south Halsted Street right now, and I’m hoping that changes. So, the stars are for the convenient location, mainly.