Wash with Wally: When Drop-Off Customers Don't Pay

By Wally Makowsky | Nov 24, 2009

I have a customer who didn’t pay me, yet now has clean and folded laundry. I picked it up, washed it, dried it, folded it and dropped it off. My price is clearly stated on my Web site; this price includes detergent and dryer sheets. I have called him twice, but have received no response. Do you have any suggestions as to how I can get this customer to pay?
 
A personal call or even visiting the client in person are probably the best ways to handle such a situation. However, if this doesn’t work, I would mail the customer a 30-day notice, stating that if the garments in question are not paid for with that time period, you might be forced to file a small claims form. In your 30-day request, ask if the client was unhappy or unsatisfied with the finished product in any way, as this likely might be the reason he is not paying.

If non-payment for your laundry services continues to be a problem, perhaps you should institute a pre-pay policy so that you’re not confronted with the same situation in the future.

I recently began doing laundry for a banquet facility – washing and steaming their table linens. The problem I am having is with lipstick stains on the white cotton/polyester napkins. The only process I have had any success with is running the napkins through multiple washes with Clorox 2 and bleach in very high concentrations, soaking them for hours in a topload washer. And, despite this process, the results typically get me only 50 percent of the items that can be saved. Can you recommend a better product or technique for this problem?

The best product I have seen for tackling lipstick stains in a wash cycle is a product called Laundry Wetspo, which is available through most distributors that carry spotting chemicals and commercial laundry and/or drycleaning products.

Some types of lipstick can be removed with amyl acetate, if you’re dealing with these types of stains only occasionally. However, if this is a continuous problem, where you have a lot of napkins with lipstick stains, I would segregate the loads, doing the lipstick loads separately. In these loads, use Laundry Wetspo in conjunction with a quality detergent. That’s the quickest, most effective way to remove such stains.

It’s important to note that such stain removers can leave behind a metallic scent after the washing and drying process. If this occurs, simply re-dry the load (perhaps including a sheet-type fabric softener in the drying cycle), and that metallic smell eventually will go away.

I have a great drop-off laundry business. Up until recently, I had no problems with stain removal. However, last month, I picked up a restaurant account and now wash a great deal of their linen. My problem is that I can’t seem to remove the food oil stains from the table linens. And, unfortunately, the distributor in my area doesn’t carry commercial laundry products. What is the best retail brand I can use, and how do I use it?

Removing oil stains from restaurant linens – especially if the material is synthetic – is one of the most difficult stains to remove in a coin laundry setting. It requires hot water and more time in the wash cycle than normal. Plus, you need the proper chemicals.

Unfortunately, most retail detergent brands are designed just for general laundering only. The best retail brand to use is Liquid Wisk, as it contains solvents with oil-removing properties. Use approximately six to eight ounces in a 50-pound washer, along with a quality chlorine bleach, if the linens are white cotton. If the items are made of a synthetic material or are colored, use a color-safe, oxy-clean type of bleach. And, of course, wash in the hottest water possible.