Terms of Service

Commitment to Superior Service

At Big Waves Laundromat, our primary objective is to deliver exceptional service. As one of Los Angeles' premier laundry services, we maintain this standard by employing top-tier laundry professionals, meticulously attending to details, and ensuring the delivery of clean, neatly folded, and securely packaged laundry. While we pride ourselves on our exemplary track record, we acknowledge that errors may occur on rare occasions. In such instances, we are dedicated to promptly identifying the root cause of any mistakes and rectifying them in collaboration with the customer.

Filing a Claim

Customers who believe there is an issue with their laundry order should promptly contact a Big Waves staff member within 7 days of receiving the laundry. Beyond this timeframe, it becomes challenging for us to thoroughly investigate the claim. We encourage customers to utilize multiple contact methods when filing a claim. Please refer to the "Claim Contacts" section at the end of this document for contact details. When filing a claim, customers should provide the following information:

• Customer name and phone number

• Date and time of laundry drop-off at Big Waves

• Detailed description of the issue

• Photos of the clothing/garments (if applicable)

• List of missing/damaged items. (Link to the customer claim form here)

Our Claims Process

We take every customer claim seriously and aim to resolve them swiftly. Our claims process can be summarized in three steps: Communication, Investigation, and Resolution.

Communication:

Our priority is to establish clear communication with the customer. We seek to understand the nature and timing of the issue, along with any relevant details. Our staff may reach out to customers for additional information if necessary. Throughout the process, we keep customers informed about our progress and what to expect.

Investigation:

While we value our customers' satisfaction, we must conduct a thorough investigation into each claim. This may involve reviewing video footage, examining weight data, and conducting interviews with staff or other customers. We appreciate customers' patience during this process, as some cases may require extensive time for evaluation.

Resolution:

Big Waves Laundromat commits to resolving customer claims within 7 days of receiving complete information. Resolutions offered depend on factors such as the validity of the claim and the extent of any fault on our part. In most cases, customers receive credit towards future services as compensation for any damage or loss. Rarely, we may offer reimbursement via check.

Types of Claims & Causes

Stains:

New Stains: It is difficult for us to “cause” a new stain unless we introduce a foreign object or substance into the laundry batch, which we surely do not do.

Existing Stains: We do not guarantee the removal of stains; we guarantee freshly laundered clothes. Stains can exist for years, and some are impossible to fully remove. Even then, stain removal requires focused (and often delicate) attention to the stained region. We offer spot treatment as a paid add-on to our service, which is often very helpful in removing fresh potential stains, but it’s not always effective, especially for aged, set stains.

Tears and/or Holes in Clothing:

While every claim is thoroughly investigated, we have found that the vast majority of damage claims of this type were not caused by the laundromat. This is simply because there is no mechanism within the washing process that could puncture a hole or cause a tear in a garment. Our high-performance washers use gravity friction (your clothes falling on top of one another) and are specifically designed with smooth interior shells that won’t catch any clothing. Additionally, our washers have no internal agitation that might cause tearing friction. Instead, most of these claims are caused by customer actions prior to Big Waves receiving the clothing:

• Clothes in storage for extended periods of time, damaged by bugs & mold prior to our receipt.

• Holes/tears caused by harsh chemicals applied to garment(s) prior to our receipt.

• Garments had obvious physical damage prior to our receipt.

Damage-prone Items:

Many specialty items have a limit to how many times they can be machine washed before stitching begins to come undone. Other specialty items are poorly made and begin to unstitch almost immediately. Predicting the moment a particular item will fail in the wash is nearly impossible. While our laundry professionals will ensure that all items being washed are machine washable, they cannot ensure that a particular article will survive the washing process. Big Waves Laundromat will not accept fault for specialty items that were damaged due to their old age, fragile condition, or delicate nature. Examples of these items are listed below:

• Pillows, pet beds, stuffed animals, and other stuffed items: These items have a limited lifespan by definition, especially when frequently machine washed.

• Blankets and/or quilts with delicate stitching, ribbons, etc.: These items are susceptible to frequent de-stitching.

• Bath mats and rugs: Bath mats have a rubber backing that typically only survives about 5 wash and dry cycles before it begins to unpeel from the fibers of the carpet. Floor rugs may be subject to bending and experience some loss of rigidity due to the washing process.

• Vintage clothing: We will do our best, but vintage clothing is old, and by its nature, the fibers and stitching are not as strong and may not survive even our delicate washing cycle.

Lost Clothes:

Our laundry professionals are very experienced and careful. As a result, we rarely lose customer clothes. Claims of this type must be investigated via careful video review to answer the question: did Big Waves Laundromat have possession of the item in question? Most often, we find no record of the item(s) in question at the point of sale, at the point of service, or at the point of packaging. Thus strongly indicating that customers commonly lose items (on their own accord) and suspect it was us. Very natural. But also usually incorrect. Many lost clothes claims are self-solved by the customer themselves; they find the item(s) they were missing. We urge customers to check:

The laundry package itself: Our laundry professionals fold, sort, and arrange clothes into skillfully tight packages with multiple layers. Thus, some items, especially small items, may be difficult to find without actually peeling the layers of the package. To find small items in our packages, we highly recommend “peeling” and putting away one layer of the package at a time.

Car, home, office, gym, etc.: This is often a simple case of the customer believing that a particular item (or group of items) was included in a laundry service batch that we performed, when the item(s) in question was never given to us. Customers will often find these items in their car, home, office, etc.

Compensation Limits & Depreciation

Compensation Limits: We carefully assess each claim on a case-by-case basis and make fair and informed decisions. However, as a sustainable business, we need to establish limits on the size and scope of each claim, balancing it against what we consider to be fair compensation.

Depreciated Value: While a customer may claim a high value for a damaged item, it's unlikely that we will compensate the full amount. We advise customers to report the original value of lost or damaged items, as this is the most accurate information available. In reality, used clothes would fetch a significantly lower price if resold. Accordingly, Big Waves Laundromat compensates based on the depreciated value of the items involved in a claim.

Customer Responsibility

While we take responsibility for our mistakes, we require clear communication and patience from customers to assist them effectively. When reaching out to us or submitting a claim, please:

• Ensure you report an issue to us within 7 days of receiving your laundry.

• Ensure that your report is properly transmitted to us and includes as much detail as necessary.

• Give us adequate time to investigate, resolve, and communicate back to you.

Statement of Good Faith

Big Waves Laundromat is committed to addressing customer claims in good faith, striving for customer satisfaction while ensuring fairness and honesty in our investigations and resolutions.

Claim Contacts

To report a claim, customers can contact us via email or phone:

Email:

info@bigwaveslaundromat.com

delivery@bigwaveslaundromat.com

Phone:

(310) 829-9378

(310) 278-2043