In partnership with Rinse
Table of Contents
About Rinse
Are there any chores as annoying as doing laundry? If you live in a building with washing and drying machines then it’s not too bad, but it’s a perpetual thorn in the side of anyone living in an urban environment. Living downtown and going to a public laundromat is about as fun as going to a funeral.
Thankfully, the year is 2023, and there’s an app for everything. You can get somebody to deliver your food to you, you can hire somebody to walk your dog, and, thanks to Rinse, you can assign someone to wash, dry, and fold your laundry.
The main appeal of Rinse is that it can save you at least 3 hours a week. Instead of sorting, washing, drying, and folding your clothes, Rinse does it all for you. You can schedule pickups and deliveries through text, their app or website. Plus, they also offer dry cleaning. The only thing you need to do is have your clothes ready in a bag, which they should already be in if you’re an adult who actually puts their clothes away.
The system sounds simple, but there’s more to it than what I’ve said so far. Keep reading my Rinse review to find out how the service works, how much it costs, what customers have to say about it, and more. Let’s start by looking at Rinse’s highlights.
Highlights
- Convenience: Rinse offers pickup and delivery services 7 days a week, saving customers time and effort by eliminating the need to drop off and pick up their laundry and dry cleaning items.
- Professional Cleaning: Rinse partners with local professional cleaning facilities, ensuring that garments are cleaned and cared for by experienced professionals who can handle a wide range of fabrics and materials.
- Customization: Rinse allows customers to set their preferences for cleaning, such as fabric softener and detergent choice
- Tracking and Notifications: Rinse provides a tracking system and regular notifications that keep customers informed about the status of their items throughout the cleaning process, providing transparency and peace of mind.
- Specialty Services: In addition to standard laundry and dry cleaning, Rinse offers specialty services like leather cleaning, alterations, and clothing donation pickup, providing a comprehensive clothing care solution.
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How Does Rinse Work?
Rinse’s general framework is quite simple. I’ll break it down here before going into the other services they offer in the next section of my Rinse review. In it nutshell, here’s how it works:
- You schedule your first pick-up
- Rinse picks up your clothes
- Rinse cleans your clothes to your preferences
- Rinse delivers your clothes on the agreed-upon date
Now, let’s get into the details. Rinse picks up and delivers clothes 7 days a week, but their window for both is limited. They’re only available from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm. While those who work night shifts might think that excludes them from Rinse’s customer base, they’d be mistaken. Rinse can drop off your clothes at your door or to your apartment/condo manager if you activate Rinse Drop.
Laundry is not as simple as dumping detergent into the machine and receiving pristine clothes. Different materials require different heat, drying methods, and wash cycles. Thankfully, Rinse allows customers to discuss that with their “Valet” drivers or Customer Care Team..
Rinse valets will discuss washing options and preferences with customers upon picking up the order. Customers can inform valets of any delicate items, preferred soaps, or other vital pieces of information.
Once your clothes reach the cleaning facility, they’re subject to a level of care you’d expect from someone who owned the clothes themselves. The staff checks all the pockets, ensures they use the correct amount of detergent, and folds clothes delicately.
On the subject of cleaning facilities, Rinse selects them through a rigorous vetting process that involves inspecting each facility’s practice, environmental standards, cleanliness, and professionalism.
Services
The main service I want to highlight in my Rinse review is the brand’s subscription plan. Known as Rinse Repeat, it allows you to pay a flat monthly fee to receive regular service. You’ll pay for a bag rather than paying for the absolute weight of your clothes, meaning it’s a better option if you have more clothes.
This also provides you with free pickup and delivery, fees that can quickly add up as you’ll find out in the next section of my Rinse review.
More importantly, the bags Rinse provides for the Rinse Repeat service measure 26” by 10” by 12”. The brand states that they’re big enough to hold two large laundry baskets worth of clothes, though they don’t specify what size they consider to be “large.”
Primarily, Rinse cleans clothes through their wash and fold service, which is exactly what it sounds like. They’ll wash, dry, and fold your clothes. Your clothes will receive their own private laundry machine (reducing the risk of bed bugs) and be washed in cold water so that their colors remain vibrant.
Rinse will also implement any of your personal requests like hypoallergenic detergents, fabric softeners, and of course, separating lights and darks. They’ll also fold your clothes to a defined edge and (this is the biggest plus for me) pair your socks. No more solo socks waiting for their long-lost lover!
Additionally, Rinse offers dry cleaning. They keep you in the loop by sending you a photo of the item and its inventory at the dry cleaners. From there, they watch over your clothes and look for any imperfections to ensure they come out looking spotless. After cleaning, Rinse will press and hang your clothes in a protective garment bag.
Some of the more niche options Rinse includes are the following:
- Hang drying
- Leather cleaning
- Clothing donations
- Clothing repairs
Rinse also offers rush services, though they come with an added fee. If you rush an order, you can receive your laundry washed and folded in less than 24 hours. Next-day rush delivery is included for free in the Rinse Repeat Plus monthly subscription plans. However, you can’t add this to Hang Dry or Dry Cleaning services since they’ll take longer than 24 hours.
Pricing
Rinse charges a minimum $30 fee and a $5 service fee. There’s also a $9.95 pick-up and delivery fee added to every order. If you want, you can expedite the Rinse process by adding an extra $7.95 to your order. It’s added to the service fee and the minimum order amount.
The pay-as-you-go method charges $2.50 per pound for clothes if you’re doing wash and fold.
Rinse Repeat is subject to a monthly payment that’s based on how many bags of laundry you can fill. Currently, here are how their prices look:
- $60 per bag if you select 1 bag a month
- $57 per bag if you select 2 bags per month
- $54 per bag if you select 4 bags per month
There’s also Rinse Repeat Plus, which offers further benefits like free next-day rush service, unlimited rollover of bags and weight, and $10 in credit that you can put towards other Rinse services. Here’s how the prices for this service look:
- $70 per bag for 1 bag per month
- $67 per bag for 2 bags per month
- $65 per bag for 4 bags per month
The last price point to mention is the dry cleaning. This varies from region to region and depends on the article of clothing. For instance, a basic T-shirt costs around $5 while a formal dress can cost as much as $24. The examples I’m using for my Rinse review come from the Bay Area price model, but they represent the lowest and highest price points available.
Who Is Rinse For?
The previous section of my Rinse review ran through the brand’s pricing model and if you do the math, your order can come out to $45 at a minimum. Regardless of whether you do laundry once a week or biweekly, that’s a huge number to pay for laundry. Clearly, this isn’t a service for those who are tight on cash.
However, Rinse can be great for busy professionals and families who value convenience and are short on time. With Rinse, you can save a few hours a week for the cost of dinner for two from a delivery app. Rinse could also be a good way for housemates to save on laundry.
I’ve read some customer testimonials that talk about couples pooling their laundry together so I’m led to believe housemates can do that as well. As such, Rinse may be a good service for students living in big cities who don’t have the time to go to the laundromat and don’t mind manually separating their laundry from their roommates.
Another potential demographic is active people who have a ton of laundry every week. Speaking from personal experience, I do laundry at least three times a week because of how often I go to the gym and practice sports. This isn’t a brag so much as it is an admission that I sweat like a nun in church. If you’re like me then you may want to look into Rinse.
Rinse Reviews: What Do Customers Think?
By this point in my Rinse review, you’re probably wondering if this service has done well in the eyes of its users. I’ll look to answer that question by looking at Rinse reviews from across the web. Here are some aggregate scores that are up-to-date as of June 2023:
- iOS App Store: 4.6/5 stars based on more than 2,000 pieces of customer feedback
- Google (Bay Area): 4.3/5 stars based on 111 pieces of customer feedback
- Yelp: 3.5/5 stars based on more than 190 pieces of customer feedback
- Trust Pilot: 3.4/5 stars based on 2 pieces of customer feedback
Most of the positive Rinse reviews praised the service for turning laundry from a hassle into a simple process. They appreciated how Rinse allowed them to squeeze laundry into their busy schedules and accommodate their wishes. Even when something went wrong, users felt the company made it up to them after the fact.
“I had a couple of hiccups with my orders but they always corrected it. I especially am thankful that they are being very accommodating to my temporary disability. I am very pleased with the result. The clothes are clean, nicely folded and they always let you know when they are coming so you have time to get ready. Thank you Rinse,” wrote one shopper.
Others said that Rinse was worth the money when compared to how much time and effort it took for them to wash their clothes. Here’s how one Rinse review described it on the iOS App Store:
“I don’t know where they send their clothes to be cleaned (and I don’t care), for all I know it could be a fairy land, but all I know is that they come back looking great and with no effort on my part. The work I have to put into this is as basic as tossing my clothes into the very fancy Rinse bag (which is already. A natural thing anyway) and then grab that bag and toss it outside my front door.”
Unfortunately, not even Rinse was immune to negative reception from some customers. A few said that their initial positive impression of the service went downhill after valets missed pickups and deliveries. There were also issues with customers receiving improperly cleaned clothes. To make up for it, Rinse gave customers a $10 credit, which rarely made up for the damaged or lost items.
That being said, the majority of Rinse reviews were positive and many users never faced any issues with deliveries. Here’s one final customer review from TrustPilot that speaks to that fact;
“Rinse is an amazing laundry and dry cleaning service that I have been using weekly for the last couple of years. With the push of a button on my rinse app, I am able to schedule my laundry for pickup. They also offer hang drys for my jeans and delicates. They have never lost or damaged an item. Their drivers work for Rinse and are not contractors like doordash, which makes me trust them more.”
Is Rinse Legit?
Sadly, the number of negative Rinse reviews that mentioned inappropriate cleaning or disappearing items makes me feel a bit uncomfortable, though I should mention that many of these reviews were later updated to reflect that Rinse did reach out to customers and try to make things right.
While the mistakes are unfortunate, it’s good to see that Rinse cares about their customers enough to keep them happy.
Is Rinse Worth It?
Rinse is likely worth it if you have the money to spare and don’t live with a washing or drying machine. You’ll probably enjoy it if the nearest laundromat is so far away that you need to hop on public transportation.
Alternatives
Surprisingly, Rinse isn’t the only service of its kind. Before you commit to a plan with them, why not exercise your consumer rights and see what else the field has to offer? Here are some other worthy options.
Tide Cleaners
Tide Cleaners is a professional laundry and dry cleaning service that operates across the United States. It is an extension of the well-known laundry brand, Tide, which is owned by Procter & Gamble. Tide Cleaners aims to provide high-quality cleaning services with the convenience of online scheduling and drop-off locations.
Tide Cleaners is widespread across the United States, with multiple drop-off locations in various cities and regions. This wide network makes it accessible to a large customer base.
Laundryheap
Founded in 2014 and headquartered in London, Laundryheap aims to provide convenient and reliable clothing care services to customers through a simple online booking system.
Laundryheap aims to provide quick turnaround times for laundry and dry cleaning orders. Depending on the location, they typically offer same-day or next-day service, ensuring that customers receive their cleaned items promptly.
Hamperapp
When it comes to caring for your garments, Hamperapp leaves no stone unturned. They offer a comprehensive range of services tailored to your specific needs and preferences. From wash and fold to dry cleaning, their team of experts handles it all while providing 24-hour service.
They understand the nuances of different fabrics and take pride in delivering pristine results. What’s more, their pricing system is fair and transparent, starting at just $30 for up to six clothing items.
Rinse Promotions & Discounts
Rinse offers users a $20 credit for every referral code they share with friends.
Where To Buy Rinse
You can download the Rinse app on the iOS or Google Play store. Alternatively, you can do everything through their website, www.rinse.com.
However, note that Rinse isn’t available everywhere. Here are all the locations the service is available in at the time of writing this Rinse review.
- San Francisco
- New York City
- Los Angeles
- D.C. Metro Area
- Chicago
- Boston
- Dallas
- Austin
- New Jersey
- Seattle
- San Jose
- Oakland
FAQ
Who owns Rinse?
Ajay Prakash is the current CEO and a co-founder of the San Francisco-based Rinse.
Can I receive a Rinse delivery if I’m not home?
Yes, Rinse can deliver your clothes even if you’re not at home. You can set up a secure drop-off spot with the Rinse valet through the app, meaning you can have them set it inside your lobby or hand it to your apartment manager.
Does Rinse re-clean clothes if the stain doesn’t come out?
If Rinse believes they can get the stain out then they will wash the clothes again. However, if they deem that the stain is too tough for their machines to remove then they’ll leave it.
How To Contact Rinse
If you have any questions remaining after reading my Rinse review then contact them through their phone number, 888-850-2444, or email address: [email protected].
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