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Updated by user Nov 09, 2015

When upper, off-site management got involved, the matter was handled promptly, and with apologies. We were released from the contract and got certified letter from the G.M. Satisfied with the resolution.

Original review posted by user Oct 08, 2015

In various business ventures, I have used Unifirst for over 20 years. Staff changes about 18 months ago began a marked decline in the quality of services we received from Unifirst.

Our driver of many years would just handle problems as they arose, when I brought them up or sometimes without even telling me. He would inspect the uniforms he was dropping off, and get issues resolved quickly, usually by the next service date. 3 or 4 drivers over a 6 month period later, and our uniforms come back dirty, smell odd, torn, buttons missing or just plain worn out. We mistakenly just told the driver of our problems, and got very limited resolution to our concerns.

The last straw was when 2 of my own uniform shirts in the same week were in such bad condition as to be unwearable. One was torn all the way across the back, the other so thin the logo patch was 1/2 torn off, and taking the fabric with it. I called the Jacksonville office, and requested our service be terminated, as we were obviously not getting the services we were paying for and had become accustomed to receiving. The response was a certified demand letter for over $6k to terminate the contract.

OK, my fault for not reading the contract and issuing complaints in writing. On that day, we started logging our issues and sending a letter whenever there was a problem, knowing full well the account was not being properly monitored and our service concerns were not being properly resolved. We also reduced our service to the minimum dollar amount required by the contract, resulting in just 5 shirts/shorts for myself and one floor mat. Over the course of the next 8 or 9 weeks, we logged 6 complaints, with written complaint mailed each time.

Dirty, damaged and wrong shirts were the bulk of the problems, but incorrect billing was also noted in at least 2 letters. Two of my new replacement shirts were the wrong size, and it took 2 weeks to get that issue fixed. At that point, we had logged more than the contract required 60 days of unresolved issues, so we sent a termination letter with the required 30 day notice. No response at all, and I asked the driver several times if he was scheduled to pick up the uniforms on the specified date.

He knew nothing about it, and on the 30 day service date, he showed up with uniforms and a bill. We paid that invoice, but faxed and mailed another termination request, followed up with a phone call to the local office to make sure our request was properly noticed. The district manager call me 2 days later, essentially told me we were wrong, that they had resolved all our complaints and if we wanted to break the contract, it would cost us. A week later the expected certified demand letter arrives, over $4k, and includes close to $300.00 for product replacement costs.

All the uniforms are now new, they would not need to be replaced.

We will update this complaint if there is a resolution either way.

The contract you sign with Unifirst is very well constructed, and gives them almost total immunity if they fail to perform to the customer's satisfaction, and they can charge exorbitant amounts to release you if you still are not happy with the service or product.

Reason of review: Poor customer service.

Preferred solution: Release from contract, as we have abided by the resolution time and 30 day notice terms, without getting the problems solved.

Unifirst Cons: Customer service, Attention to product quality, Poor complaint response.

Location: Jacksonville, Florida

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My church has a contract with UniFirst that was signed in 2008 by a person that hasn't been at our church in at least 7 years. The present board contacted them because they've only been to our church once since September.

We are still charged $60 every 2 weeks and to get out of the contract we would have to pay the remaining 4 years of the contract.

They said it is an automatic renewed contract every 5 years so it was renewed last year. With the nature of church boards and having different members serving it sounds like we'll be paying this until Christ comes back.

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