Overall customer satisfaction near the top for Clothesline

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Clothesline Cleaners

Dry cleaners are obsessive about customer service. We’re in an industry that provides a service with some inherent risk and gathers many customer complaints. If you want to succeed in this industry, you must make happy customers your main goal – everything else depends on it.

We hire MarketWise Consulting group to do secret shopper evaluations at our stores in Boise and Meridian.The note below, from Carolyn Nankervis, reports how Clothesline compares to other drycleaners nationally: Compared to over 3,000 secret shops at dry cleaners nationally since 2007, our overall score puts us at the very top. We have only received one perfect score in over two years on all 3 sections of the report (drop off, pick up, and the overall rating). Covering every point, with every customer, every time, is harder than one might think. Thanks to my great staff of customer service representatives and keep up the great work and wonderful customer service.

(Click image for full-size) Secret shopper results give Clothesline the highest rankings in the industry.

See Clothesline for all prom dress alterations and cleaning

Posted on October 6, 2012 by Clothesline Cleaners

At Clothesline Cleaners, we have a special focus on fine garments, including wedding gowns, party dresses and prom dresses. Now that it’s prom season, keep us in mind for:

Cleaning & Pressing
Custom Fittings
Private Dressing Lounge
Expertise with beads & sequins
Knowledge of specialty fabrics satin, taffeta, silk

Bring in the following coupon for a discount!

Prom dress cleaning in Meridian. Professional prom dress and tuxedo cleaning in Idaho

Got any clothes to donate?

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Clothesline Cleaners

Boise Rescue Mission partners with Clothesline Cleaners to collect professional men’s clothing to help men enter the workforce

Donations of suits, ties, shirts, shoes and accessories in good repair will be accepted the entire month of September

For more information:
|Megan Korthals, Boise Rescue Mission, 343-2389 X102
Gary McCracken, Clothesline Cleaners, 861-8588
Martin Johncox, Alexander and Associates Public Relations, 658-9100

Do you have a good business suit that you aren’t wearing anymore? If so, donate it to the Boise Rescue Mission by leaving it at either Clothesline Cleaner location in September.

Clothesline Cleaners, which has a delivery service in Boise and Meridian, will also pick up donated clothing from homes or businesses.

“We have a work search program for men and we really can use professional-type office clothing for them,” said Megan Korthals, spokeswoman for the Rescue Mission. “We enjoy working with local businesses like Clothesline who can help us meet the great need for assisting people trying to get back on their feet. Any donations will be put to good use.”

During a similar drive last year, Clothesline customers donated nearly 800 suits, pants, shirts, shoes and accessories to the Mission. All donations are tax-deductible.

“Helping professionals look their best is a core part of our business. We know many of our customers have clothing they could donate to help others and we are asking them to donate,” said Gary McCracken, owner of Clothesline Cleaners. “Also, people occasionally abandon perfectly good items of clothing with us and we are pleased to work with the Rescue Mission which can get the clothing directly into the hands of job seekers who need them.”

All donations should be appropriate to wear to work, as well as clean, stylish and in good condition. Please provide all garments on hangers, as they will be made available to job seekers immediately. Clothesline will donate services for any suits that need cleaning.

If someone is on Clothesline’s delivery route, all they need to do is leave out the clothing and the driver will pick it up. However, it is not necessary that someone be an existing Clothesline customer to take advantage of free donation pickup; non-customers should call 342-0538 to schedule pickup at their home or workplace. In all cases, donated clothing for pickup should be on the porch in a plastic bag marked “Rescue Mission.”

Suits may be left at the Clothesline Cleaners locations at Orchard and Franklin in Boise, or at Meridian and Overland Roads, until close of business Saturday, Sept. 29. After Clothesline collects and prepares the suits, it will hand them over to the Rescue Mission at the Clothesline location and Orchard Road and Franklin Street on Wednesday, Oct. 3. News media are invited to attend this event.

For more information on Clothesline Cleaners, go to www.clotheslinecleaners.com, www.facebook.com/clotheslineidaho, www.twitter.com/clothingcare and www.youtube.com/clotheslinecleaners.

Making garmets last longer and other good advice.

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Clothesline Cleaners

To stay on top of the latest research in the clothing care industry, we are members of the Drycleaning and Laundry Institute. Their latest newsletter is full of a number of good items of advice and I wanted to pass them along.

DLI’s Consumer News You Can Use

Vol. 5

Making Your Clothes Last Longer
You have probably completed your back-to-school shopping for the kids and may be amazed how much they have grown in the last few months. While relatives and friends may be pleased with welcoming those outgrown clothes into their homes, you may be staring into your closet thinking, how can I make my wardrobe last just a bit longer?

Follow these suggestions for proper clothing care:

Do not hang wet or moist garments in the closet.
Mend all rips and tears immediately, especially before the garment is subjected to a cleaning process.
Do not store dirty clothing from one season to the next.
Treat and remove all stains as soon as possible after spillage has occurred.
Clean clothes frequently. Soiled clothes invite insects.
Follow the care instructions and do not remove care labels.
Carefully inspect garments after each wearing to determine the need for repairs or cleaning.
Do not allow perfumes, hair spray, or lotions to come in contact with wearing apparel, as the alcohol contained therein may cause color loss.
Do not store or allow garments to be in prolonged or direct contact with artificial or direct light.

Back to School Bugs
Kids love to share. And, that includes head lice. Yuck. But what to do?
Head lice need the warmth, food, and moisture that a human scalp provides. Away from people, lice usually will die within three to 10 days. The following steps will help eliminate head lice.

Wash bed linens and washable clothing in hot water (140°F) for 20 minutes.
Heat dry clothing or other fabric items in clothes dryer.
Items that cannot be washed or drycleaned should be stored for 30 days in sealed plastic bags.
Use only insecticides approved for use against lice. Read and follow the instructions.

Customer Question: How Do You Clean Pillows?
A: The filling in bed pillows can be down, foam rubber, foam chips, polyester fiberfill, and kapok. The safest method to clean a pillow is based on the type of filling. If the filling in the pillow is fiberfill it is usually best to launder or remove the filling and replace the ticking. Foam chips can harden with time and begin to crumble. It is probably best not to clean these types of pillows.

Down-filled pillows can be cleaned using a pillow machine. The down is removed from the ticking and placed directly into the pillow machine. The down is sometimes deodorized with ozone or sanitized with ultraviolet light. The features are then blown from the pillow machine into a new ticking and additional feathers may be added to fill out the pillow, if necessary.

Washing down pillows can present several problems. The fabric ticking may be too fragile to handle the agitation of washing and tumble drying or so soiled it would be best to replace it. Often the ticking is sized with water-sizings. These sizings help hold the down in the ticking. If the sizing is removed in washing, feathers may leak out.

Secret shopper results show we’re doing well

Posted on August 13, 2012 by Clothesline Cleaners

At Clothesline Cleaners, we work hard to provide great customer service. We’re confident we’re doing a good job, but we regularly test that with a mystery shopper service from MarketWise.

According to our report for June and July 2012, we are performing better than average on engaging customers in conversation, stain removal, using the name of the customer and offering customers additional products and services.

This kind of ranking comes only because we train our people well and because of their dedication to customer service. Every month, we go over these reports and analyze the results and these four criteria. They are asking specifically about problem spots and necessary mending and alteration and any other issues. We also seek to engage customers in casual conversation, beyond just business talk. Our customer service representatives seeks to accomplish these four goals in each transaction, which is harder to do than you think. Calvin Lloyd is the only employee to have attained a perfect 100 percent secret shopper rating on both the pick up and the drop off portions of the transaction.

Clothesline Cleaners ranks above the industry standard for customer service and more.

Clothesline honored with the industry’s top award

Posted on June 10, 2012 by Clothesline Cleaners

Clothesline Cleaners of Boise earns prestigious industry award for eighth year in a row
Premium cleaner is the only one in Idaho to make the cut

June 6, 2012

For more information,
Gary McCracken, Clothesline Cleaners, 861-8588
Martin Johncox, Alexander and Associates public relations, 658-9100

Clothesline Cleaners of Boise has earned the 2012 Seal of Approval for Quality Garment Cleaning and Customer Service from the Clothing Care Council.

Clothesline, a premium clothing care business with locations in Boise and Meridian, has earned every year since 2005. To date, approximately 140 companies around the world have attained the award, which requires passing separate stain removal and cleaning performance tests, among other criteria. Clothesline is the only drycleaner in Idaho to have ever earned the award.

“We have worked very hard to reach this level, constantly investing in training for our employees and new equipment at our facilities,” said owner Gary McCracken. “Nevertheless, it is humbling to receive this recognition from a top industry group.”

This prestigious international award program is administered by the Clothing Care Council, a Washington, D.C.-based group that represents the interests of the cleaning industry, clothing manufacturers, and consumer advisers in identifying those cleaning plants that provide the highest level of clothing care. The group began accepting applications for the Award of Excellence for Quality Garment Cleaning & Customer Service in 2005.

Check out the great story in Meridian Living Magazine

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Clothesline Cleaners

Thanks to Meridian Living Magazine for doing a great story on Clothesline! We scanned the story and it is below. This magazine does a great job highlighting local businesses so please support them.

: Click to enlarge page 1

: Click to enlarge page 2

Beware of metal fiber garments!

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Clothesline Cleaners

One of the advantages about being a member of the Dry Cleaning and Laundry Institute is they send out regular bulletins about garments and fabrics known to cause problems. The latest is a pair of women’s’ gold colored pants made with metallic fibers available from www.ashro.com, according to a recent notice from the International Textile Analysis Laboratory.

Metallic fiber garments can be huge problems. Typically, tiny strands of metal are woven into strands of fabric to make the garment shimmer. This isn’t usually a problem as long as the proportion of metal doesn’t exceed around 10 percent and the care labels are strictly followed. The main concern is controlling fiber distortion. Metal fibers do not shrink, but rather bend and crimp like aluminum foil when agitated in the cleaning process. During the cleaning process, the fabric may become hopelessly wrinkled and distorted from its original shape.

This example garment, however, contains around 65 percent metallic fibers! Basically, it is impossible to clean with any standard method – even any non-standard method. It is essentially an uncleanable item. There is a separate all-cotton lining. The care label says, “Dry Clean Only” with no other instructions or any International Cleanability Code symbols.

As dry cleaners, we are often caught in the middle and similar considerations exist for any difficult-to-clean item. All the customer knows is their precious metallic item was fine when they brought it in, then destroyed when it came out of our process. Under the “Care Label Rule”, the Federal Trade Commission advises that items like this be returned to the retailer where they were purchased. Sometimes, we will reimburse the customer, then seek compensation from the manufacturer under federal law. Often, we will advise the customer in advance the item will be problematic and they should have their receipt ready for return to the retailer if the item is damaged in the cleaning process. For a few items, like these pants, we would simply decline to clean them, knowing it will end in disaster.

These pants wrinkled and puckered badly during drycleaning.

This close up view of the pants reveals severe metal yarn distortion after proper professional drycleaning.

Check out our new flatiron!

Posted on December 29, 2011 by Clothesline Cleaners

We recently got a flatiron! It is a 1995 Chicago model shipping from Philadelphia. While the paint is worn, it has been completely refurbished with new motors, chains, gears, textile webbing and gas burner. This flatiron can quickly press sheets, banners, tablecloths and other items up to 10 feet wide.This is a valuable resource for Boise-area restaurants, hotels, party rental companies and event planners.

Brand new textile belts on the flatiron!