I chose King's Cleaners because they were convenient (hours, location). I had taken several shirts, suits and jackets to them over the course of several months. The clothes came back clean and pressed as I requested. One day, I examined the clothes I had cleaned from a long business trip. Whoever was executing the cleaning was literally scouring the material first before any type of chemical or detergent treatment. Apparently, the stains that I had incurred were removed first by abrading the fabric with something that was sufficient to damage the material. When I brought this to the attention of the owner - a thinner, older gentleman in his 50s / 60s - he asked, "So what do you want me to do about it?". I had receipts for these items and stated that I would liked to be reimbursed (with the agreement that he would keep the clothes in exchange: standard practice when property damages are recouped). When I said that I would like to work this out like gentlemen, he muttered an epithet and told me never to come back. I retold this story to many co-workers. They stated that he had this reputation in the community and that I was not the first person he treated in this manner. They stated that most of his business was from older citizens who trusted their neighbors and blue collar workers who were handing in their Dickies and other more rugged work clothes for cleaning. This story was corroborated by several other dry cleaners in the area (Clemson, Seneca, West Union-Walhalla) when I started searching for a new dry cleaner.
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