Balfurd Cleaners

I love this place. They stop by my house to pick up and drop off my clothes whenever I need their services. I recently sent them a white down coat that was embarassingly dirty after not being laundered all winter. They sent it back looking brand new!

Dry cleaned my wedding dress even though the tag stated to wet clean, which bleached the ivory dress to white in splotches then blamed the fabric for the color loss but they did not follow the directions on the tag.

Delivery was accepted quick. Dresses had wine stains which were addressed and everything was delivered in time.
Prices are a little steep so gave 4 stars instead of 5.
All in all a good service for expensive clothes I guess.

My home is in Phoenix, AZ. We have the luxury of low flat rates and standard next-​day service. I got spoiled. Though next-​day service isn’t standard and prices are higher than in Phoenix, I’ve used Balfurd since moving here and have always been happy with service and quality. My clothes are usually ready earlier than promised and I love the email notification.
Recently I had several pairs of jeans hemmed and asked that the new hem look like the original. I wasn’t notified that they were ready (maybe the same notification system isn’t used for tailoring services?), but when I stopped by to check on them I couldn’t have been happier. The hems were exactly as I requested and beautifully done.
I’ll definitely keep going back.

Brought a bunch of my stuff here for the first time on Thursday, May 7^th and picked it back up on Friday May 8^th. This is a couple days from now but I noticed that they created an orange chemical stain on the collar of one of my burberry button downs that has never been washed before and only worn twice. This is a very expensive piece of clothing and I do not recommend anyone take anything of any kind of significant value to this place. They do not give a shit about the clothing since my other white shirt came back to me still dirty and of course the orange stain on my burberry shirt.

I recently brought in a light yellow leather bag with a couple spots on it where a server in a restaurant had spilled some food to be cleaned. Balfurd PUT A HOLE in the leather of my bag when they punched their tags through. Who would think it is OK to put a hole in leather? This is not acceptable.
The bag came back in worse condition than when I brought it in. Not only did the stains not come out, but there were brownish streaks all over the bag and a new brown spot on the back of my bag. I know that they send leather out to another cleaner. I also know that you sign a waiver that essentially says that if they completely mess up the bag, you won’t hold them at fault. This is still extremely disappointing. Save your money and your item, and just buy the supplies at Target or somewhere to try to clean it yourself. Even if you mess your item up, you will be better off than wasting time and money taking your leather items here.

Traveled the world several times over and never had a worse experience with a laundry service. Tried this company not once, but multiple times at both locations and never once did they get my laundry correct. In fact, they ruined a few shirts that could not be ironed but yet they decided to anyway, despite a specific note not to do so. Dropped several loads off for fluff and fold and was instead charged per item ($ 5.00) for a piece of underwear. You will actually save yourself money by buying a new outfit downtown every day instead of counting on this company to do your laundry correctly at a fair price. Stay away if you like your clothes.

I brought two winter jackets in for dry cleaning at the downtown location a couple years ago. One is black and the other is dark brown so any stains would not be noticeable. They came back clean and undamaged. I was satisfied with the service so I’m slightly surprised to see so many negative reviews on here. (Then again, it’s not surprising given that this is State College, PA, after all. Your standards basically have to drop to a new low when you move here from any major urban area.)
My only issue is that the jackets cost $ 20 each. That’s a bit steep for the middle of nowhere!

I used to be extremely pleased with this place, but the last five times I have gone I am completely shocked and flabbergasted at the total Im given upon check out. About two weeks ago I went to pick up my shirts and they only had 4 out of the 5 shirts I had dropped off. They didn’t apologize, just said it was normal for my shirt to be at the wrong location. normal? I had been going here for over 4years and had NEVER experienced this. However, I came back the next day and found out that my normal dress shirt was $ 12.06. Just one piece! I have no real complaints about this place other than the extremely above normal, high prices for service that is NOT same day.

I took some suits to get cleaned — one navy blue and one black — along with another pair of dress pants and a blouse. I got an email saying that my clothes were ready a day early but the email stated that I had two black suits.
When I got home after picking up my clothes, I did indeed have two black suits. Somehow, my dark blue suit was now the same color as my black suit. Very unhappy.
Also, they charged me TWICE the price I usually pay at Mararra’s for dry cleaning. I chose to try Balfurds because they are closer to my house and I was running out of time the day I dropped my clothes off, but now I wish I would have gone the extra 7 minutes up the road to Mararra’s.
I have heard from many other people that their customer service is horrible. I did not really have an issue with that — everyone seemed friendly when I went into the store. However, due to what happened with my suit I will not be returning to any Balfurd’s in the future

I was very surprised to see online that not only does a central PA dry cleaner specialize in cleaning wedding gowns, but they have a seamstress who has a lot of years under her belt to alter dresses. I didn’t want to simply clean my dress to put it in a closet to look pretty in a box instead of on me. I brought in my gown to be cleaned and I asked Monika about having it altered to become a cocktail dress. She arranged for the associated seamstress to work with me. The result is an adorable cocktail dress that is a beautiful reminder of how gorgeous I felt on my special day. Very nice job by both the cleaner and seamstress. My dress had both delicate lace and beading and both came out of the cleaning process very nicely. It was not cheap to have this done, but I didn’t expect it to be. Thank you for saving me a special trip to NY, Balfurd!

I am in a wedding and went to have by bridesmaids dress cleaned. Long, flowy dress with beads on top. They have me sign a paper saying they have permission to clean it and I go on my merry way.
I get a call saying some beads are loose, but not noticeable and it is still wearable. I go to get it and find the top completely destroyed… faded beads, falling off, etc.
They refuse to replace the dress and say they might not have the sources or time to fix the beads. They did offer me a store credit… which she said she technically can’t give me. (Yeah…no!) I was also told 99.9% of the time this never happens.
I call the owner, who told me they did nothing wrong, I was at fault for letting them clean it and giving them permission to dry clean something with beads. They said I am lucky I am getting the $ 20 credit and I should not expect anything else since it is all my fault. I had to go buy a new dress and need THAT altered in a week for the wedding, thanks to them ruining my original dress.
UPDATE: Then I go back to try and get my dress and see if we can work something out. I look at my dress AGAIN and find it is ripped, stained and looks as if someone wore it. It had NEVER been worn so I know there were no stains and was NOT ripped when I brought it in, even though they claim it was and put a defective sticker on it. (IT was inspected by my alterers.) I have been lied to, had my property destroyed, blamed for it and nearly had my friend’s wedding ruined.
They did offer me a $ 50 reimbursement, but I am still out $ 78. The manager told me she is doing this out of the goodness of her heart and I didn’t even get an apology, just guilt because I complained about the services I received.
DO NOT USE THIS PLACE!!!

Balfurd Cleaners new tag line should read:
«We’ll be happy to take the shirt off your back» or «We’ll be happy to take the rug up under your feet!»
It should be no surprise that when you have a monopoly you can charge whatever you want. Balfurd Cleaners is a case in point. Whoever said that their prices are what they are in big cities hasn’t been to a big city or the review was ‘planted’.
Coming from the West Coast and most recently Philly, Balfurd is 40% + above dry cleaning in those cities. Amazing! I should have gone into dry cleaning. So get this, at Balfurd, the «base price» to dry clean a sweater is $ 7.31 — base? Dare I ask about Cashmere — oh, that would be $ 10.18! These prices were quoted March 29^th, 2012. Oh and if you sport expensive labels, they charge even more!
And, to boot, they actually serve-​up attitude when you inquire about the high prices!
So, save your dry cleaning for the big city or just hand wash and dry flat!
No thanks Balfurd, I’ll keep my shirt on my back, thank you.

Crappy customer service. Stopped by earlier this week to drop off some items for cleaning, the process was painful.
Also inquired about the pick up and delivery service only to have the most unfriendly person in customer service tell me in a hasty manner that I needed to call Balfurd at X number. Hey lady, I am standing INSIDE a Balfurd store. Pick up the phone, call your people, get it arranged and show some customer service!

So it seems that there is really only one place to get your clothes dry-​cleaned in State College. Annnnd that place is Balfurd. Now I was a little skeptical about this place because I was told that it’s just horrible. Things get lost, prices are high, and it’s just not that great. Sadly, I actually needed to get my suit dry cleaned, so I reluctantly gave this place a shot.
Balfurd is actually in a convenient location. Right on the edge of downtown State College, their building is pretty large so you can’t possibly miss it. The staff there are relatively nice. My dry cleaning took 3 days to complete.
Prices are comparable to cities: $ 15 for a 2-​piece suit, $ 5 for shirts/​ties.
If you’re lazy, they do have a weekly pickup/​delivery service, but c’mon now. Apparently this downtown location doesn’t even do the cleaning. They seem to take everything up to the spot on North Atherton. So far I have yet to have issues with this place, but who knows. With the scattered reviews, something might happen.

Both locations I went to were very rude. I’ve never understood that. My experience with you is the difference of me staying with you or not, so why would they hire anyone who is poor at customer service? I mean, geez, it’s like I was irritating their time with my presence. I gave them a second chance and they failed. I wish there were more cleaners in our area.

I recently took some shirts, vests, linen pants, neckerchiefs and a wool winter coat to Balfurd’s for cleaning. Instructions: Shirts – cleaned, fully starched; vest – cleaned and pressed; pants – cleaned, lightly starched and pressed; neckerchiefs – laundered, heavy starch (I was adamant about this); wool coat – cleaned.
Strike #1: I was told the coat would have be sent out to Pittsburgh because it had leather accents. This would cost an additional $ 40 – 60 and would take a few weeks. I visit Pgh semi-​frequently and have friends there. I’ll drop it off myself and see how I fare.
Strike #1.5: The pants came back mostly okay. Not stiff enough for my taste, but I was willing to let this one slide.
Strike #2: The neckerchiefs were clean, yes. But they were also floppy. The entire reason I took them to the cleaner was to have them come back stiff – like the linens in a restaurant often do. These appeared to be only laundered – which I could have done at home for practically nothing. When I inquired at pick-​up time, I was told that the ticket said they were starched, so they were starched.
Strike #3: (Yes, three strikes in the SAME VISIT! But keep reading…) Upon seeing my neckerchiefs so floppy I inspected my shirts. The collars were starched, as were the cuffs. But the rest of the shirts were very floppy. I bring this to the clerk’s attention and I’m given the same line. I was expecting them to offer to re-​do them, but that never happened. I told them I was probably going to go somewhere else next time and left. But there’s more!!!
STRIKE #4: I get my cleaned items home and hang them up. I wore the pants first and noticed a strange barcode sticker on the waistband. Figured I just missed it when I removed tags. I was able to scrape it off because of it’s placement. Later in the week, I put on one of the shirts (which I planned on wearing open) and find another barcode stuck on the inside, bottom of the strip where the buttons are located. Since I work in a blacklit environment, every time I walk near a blacklight, I get a distracting flash of white out of the corner of my eye. Understand, that I specifically buy dark colored shirts out of personal preference and because I sometimes work in theatrical type settings where all-​black is essential. This time when I tried to remove the barcode, it WAS NOT coming off!
I called Balfurds and talked to someone on the phone. The guy said «Oh that’s just the technology now» as if it were no big deal. When I mention that no one asked my permission to alter my clothing, he simply repeats himself. Upon attempting to escalate the call, I’m told I must call back and talk to Linda Bowman. When I eventually talk to Linda, she basically gives me the same line!!! She does offer to re-​starch the neckerchiefs and to «ATTEMPT» to remove the barcodes – though she can’t guarantee anything, she says.
SERIOUSLY?! The sheer nerve to take that sort of tone is absolutely mind-​boggling to me. If you can’t take it off, then you’ve no business putting it there to begin with. A DRYCLEANER HAS NO BUSINESS ALTERING MY CLOTHING WITHOUT MY EXPRESS PERMISSION… even if they have an accident. (This is not the first instance of alterations at Balfurd’s either: I once had a grey vintage vest come back with blue stitching on the pocket – as if I wouldn’t notice! They denied any alterations, but offered to re-​do the stitching at no charge.)
What if the clothing I brought in this week was vintage? That immediately de-​values all these items, which I may have brought to the cleaner specifically in anticipation of selling them!
No, we do not live in a perfect world. But TECHNOLOGY or NOT, Balfurd’s has NO BUSINESS altering your clothing without your permission. JUST TAKE YOUR CLOTHES SOMEPLACE ELSE!
[2011.07.23] FOLLOW-​UP: Because of holiday work schedules, I wasn’t able to drop off the shirts and neckerchiefs again until nearly two weeks later. The neckerchiefs were to be re-​starched… and they came back as I expected they should have been done the first time – perfect. In their attempt to remove the barcodes from the shirts, however, they were only partially successful. Three of the five shirts came back mostly okay. (There is still a bit of residue from the heat-​sealing, but not too noticeable. I can deal.) Two shirts, however, were completely destroyed. (The plastic tub they used to hold the solvent while they soaked the shirts actually melted the plastic into the fabric. It was so bad that it rendered the shirt nearly unrecognisable. In many cases, Solvent + Plastic = Bad.)
In the end, I was reimbursed almost $ 70 for the damaged shirts, which was right and good. Still, I can’t help but point out that none of this would have been necessary if they’d not altered my garments without asking.

There are not many dry cleaning options in State College and I was forced to go to Balfurd’s out of necessity rather than intrigue. I hoped and prayed that they could help me rather than believed they could.
Two days after my boyfriend gave me a BCBG winter white peacoat with a belt two wear when we went out for Christmas, I spilled «holiday Cranberry» 7-​up on it in some kind of freak accident while I was driving. Almost instantly in tears, I called Balfurd while I was still in the car and brought it to them when the stain was still wet.
The spotter told me stories of all her success with getting red stains out of white coats (5 in the previous week), but apparently forgot about mine and ran it through the regular dry clean with minimal attention paid to my spot, which set it in worse than it was and spread it all over my brand new coat. They then re-​ran the coat through so many times that the lining inside fell out, and it began to thin on the front. UGGHGHG.
I ruined my $ 400 coat, but Balfurd did not save it.
Also, their prices rival those of the dry cleaners in NYC. I’m sorry, but this is not Manhattan and their skill level is no where close…

Balford Cleaners is the biggest racket of any cleaners I have ever been to. Number one: have you ever gone into a place of business and been told that they cannot give you a price for their services? It’s DRY CLEANING for goodness sake, I’m not asking you to fix the plumbing in my house… just clean a couple of pairs of pants. The (who clearly took lesson on customer service from the mafia) could not add up the the bill and told me the best that she could do was give me the price for individual items (and expected me to do the math because she was too lazy). I left, foolish as that is, but felt unsettled. So, when I got home I called the cleaners and talked to a man who said that there was no reason that the shouldn’t have been able to give me a price. He said that he would be happy to do it for me, and he gave me a rough estimate of 70 without even including the discounts that I would be receiving for their promotional sweater deal. He suggested that I call Monday to get the exact price because my clothes would not be processed on Monday. When I call at 11am they quote me 76 and change. I still can’t wrap my mind around how it is so expensive… but, I guess I have to move past the fact that State College sucks in all things service compared to LA where I can get the same dry cleaning done for 40 dollars, get a price UPFRONT, and not deal with yet another ridiculous Penn State student who lacks the ability to add, smile and take my money with some stinking grace. Moral of the story: Balford cleaners should be rethinking their customer policies. I will NEVER step foot in there again. EVER.

So after some dry cleaner discussion, I decided to give Balfurd’s a try. Honestly, I think the sign that said «Drop Your Pants Here» is what sealed the deal. This location is the larger one, and since it’s up on Atherton it’s closer to my place and thus infinitely more convenient. Ross M had a suit cleaned here; 3 day turnaround (note: there is no QUICK service) but friendly service and a nicely cleaned suit. I’m going to bring a bunch of shirts and see how they do with some of the more delicate materials, but overall, an A-​OK choice for cleaners.