MY PERSONAL ALSCO STORY

This is my ALSCO story. First, I changed from a local linen delivery company to the "Much better", "much cheaper" linen company known as ALSCO. I was completely snowed by the saleslady Debbie. She came to my business, was so nice, and reviewed my bill explaining exactly how ALSCO could save me almost half on my large restaurant's laundry bill. She was absolutely great right up until I signed on the dotted line. She explained that my bill would be at least half of my current bill, and the product and service would be so much improved. She further stated that even if our business went out of business, ALSCO never goes after people in this situation. I was to be amazed by the service and I would have new napkins, new chef coats, and new tablecloths all ordered specifically for me...etc. "Sign here sir"...so I did. I needed to save money, so I went with ALSCO.

Here's what Debbie didn't tell me:

1. ALSCO is a weekly rental linen company - that means you pay by the week whether you use it or not. Here's how the scam works: If they deliver to you 100 napkins on Monday. You are billed for 100 napkins. The next week if you receive an additional 100 napkins, BUT, you hvae 30 napkins still on the shelf unused, your bill is then for 130 napkins - you're paying again for those not used.

We were encouraged to order our specialty linens two -three weeks in advance "just to be sure we have them" ALSCO said. Guess what - they just cost you double or triple what you thought they did - weekly rental. You're paying for what's on the shelf.

2. Delivery drivers are your only point of contact. Debbie disappeared once she got us to sign and eventually told us to 'stop texting her' with problems. She did come to a face to face meeting with the district manager and us and admitted she never told us about weekly rental, nor explained it, and she never told us about minimums. ALSCO didn't care - the district manager's boss (Regional Manager) said they would not charge minimums on our account. Nothing changed - we had to fight about the billing every week. The drivers are shoved in the middle between unhappy clients and uncaring corporate office and basically tell the customer what they want to hear - "we'll fix it" but they have no control over actually making anything happen.

3. ALSCO charges minimums - if you set a par order at 1000 napkins per week, your minimum delivery is 500 (half of the total inventory) each week. So you are delivered 500 napkins for each delivery, and the theory is that they pick up the other 500 (dirty) and launder them. So they have 500 and you have 500. However, it is impossible for you to 'give back' all 500 of the ones you technically have because they are of course in use on the tables. So - if they only pick up 300, then the other 200 are billed AGAIN so you've paid for them twice.

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Minimums for items like chef coats are set at 13 (6 for clean, 6 for dirty, one extra). Guess what - you pay again for the extra one every week.

4. Problems are never handled - you're told as a customer not to deal with anyone but your driver. The driver is the one who can help fix issues, change orders, etc. Not true. Drivers are simply caught in the middle, told to provide lip service to the customer and then nothing happens.

5. Deliveries are not standard. My 'service area' was 'changed' to only be one delivery per week. My previous linen company picked up every day and I was assured by Debbie that my service would be 'even better'. So, in my restaurant kitchen and back outside dock there were huge piles of smelly laundry sitting around for days breeding bugs and stink. It was lovely. Eventually they agreed during my busy season that they would pick up twice per week. They agreed to bring me a closing/locking outside container for the dirty laundry (we are in the mountains and have wildlife issues). Never brought it - was a constant problem to keep bears and other animals away.

6. You may or may not get what you ordered. When my deliveries showed up incomplete, which was often, they sometimes made a secondary delivery, sometimes we were just out of luck. Linens we ordered for a special wedding or event were not there - oops..sorry. No fix, no nothing. They were on my bill of course, just not on the truck. So, then I'd have to fight with the billing department to get them off my bill. On a few occasions, they sent an additional delivery person in a personal vehicle to bring the missing laundry - guess what - a second bill for the same stuff! The secondary delivery person was always sure to tell me "hey, at least we didn't charge you a second delivery fee." Really? For fixing your mistake, you didn't charge me - generous.

7. No credits for quality. We received napkins and tablecloths with burned marks, and holes. Some napkins were unusable because they were mistakenly pressed into an acdordian-like style and unable to be folded for our restaurant. When we complained we were told by the district manager "We're really a big company - you should see now much laundry we process every day. We're bound to have some issues." We agree. Large companies have quality control issues. I can totally understand that. However, I expect a credit for unusable linens. Nope - no credits.

8. Incorrect bills are still to be paid. I refused to pay erroneous bills until they were corrected - now ALSCO wants to sue me. The bills are still not corrected and now I have some pushy Texas lawyer calling me at work, calling my wife, texting my cell phones - it's insane!

Here is the bottom line. ALSCO lies. They are not a reputable company and are not interested in partnering with any business. They are interested in squeezing money out of you with confusing policies (like weekly linen rental), confusing contracts with information about minimums barely mentioned in the text of a long legal document, and ambiguous service policies. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. Don't believe me? Go to the LINKS page to see all of the links to others that have had issues with this dishonest company. Good luck and thanks for reading!