Laundry Shop Memberships

[hendrix]

A membership consists of paying an amount up front to the shop for a specific amount of washed items. The common advert is 500 baht for 80-100 pieces. YMMV.

I joined a shop on soi Buakow which had their terms and conditions in English affixed in the shop. I really didn't have much laundry to give the shop at the time as I own a lot of clothes so I am not required to clean before 3-4 weeks. I went to the shop about a month later and was informed my membership had expired. I looked at the terms and conditions neatly displayed on the wall and there was no mention of this membership expiry date. Why even have an expiry date? The payment is a credit either way, right? I travel a lot so I am sometimes out of Pattaya for a few weeks at a time.

So I asked the young female owner what she does she do with the excess moneys from people who do not return within 1 month? You guessed it, she pockets the difference! My difference would be approx. 420 baht so I felt a little confused but also angry that someone was trying to pull the wool over my eyes. I haggled with her a little and she finally relented and agreed to wash my other clothes but would not be pressing them.

I have used up my credit now and will be changing shops. Looking for advice on a recommended shop and any deals to be had. Thank you.

edit: There is a shop on 3rd road a little north of soi 14 that does all items for 6 baht each with no memberships required. I think that's where I'm headed and I also wanted to promote the place.

[longball53098]

Pay as you go is the best way,,,,,,,,,find a shop that does your stuff the way you like and sick with them.

[Guderian]

I tried one of these 500 Baht/month laundrys a few years back. They don't seem to take much care of your clothes, or even to do a decent job of washing them. Once they have your 500 Baht, why should they? Half the time the woman who owned the place wasn't there and I had to deal with her small kids who didn't speak a word of Ingrit. Trying to explain to them that the collar of my freshly-laundered shirt was still dirty was, well, a challenge.

I now use a more expensive place (e.g. 25 Baht for a tee-shirt), but they do a very nice job, the ironing is great, and in two years there hasn't been a single thing lost or damaged.

[Beacher]

Pay as you go is the best way,,,,,,,,,find a shop that does your stuff the way you like and sick with them.

I'd say to never pay for anything before the service is completed or the goods delivered is the only way to go in Thailand.

I once had a similar lump sum monthly payment scheme with a laundry service and noticed my clothes were looking worse and worse each time I picked them up. Finally, one day I took a couple of shirts (that still seemed to be dirty) off the hangers as soon as I got them home. I put them in a tub of water with a bit of laundry soap and was amazed at how much dirt came out of them. It was apparent that this service had stopped washing my clothes some time ago and was only ironing them.

Since then, I bought a decent washing machine and now I always have truly clean clothes whenever I want for a fraction of the price of a laundry service.

I think what bothered me most about the situation mentioned above is that the person running the laundry service must have thought she was pulling a fast one on me and I was too stupid to notice that she wasn't bothering use soap or water anymore when "doing" my laundry.

[gmac]

I use Ong Laundry in Soi Chaiyapoom, 85 items for 500 Baht, payment made when you reach 85 items not in advance. Friendly service - returned a mobile phone I thought I had lost but had left in a pocket on one occasion.