The Wayward Laundry has returned--and RantWoman may send her laundry out again.

Spoiler Alert:
the laundry came back
FINALLY
at a cost 3x what the cost
if things work in RantWoman's building

RantWoman's building has laundry dramas, dramas in the form of vandals who have multiple times recently broken into the laundry room, stolen quarters, and done damage to the machines. The laundry vandals are symptoms of bigger problems which a lucky new staffperson has plunged into with gusto, but let us stick to laundry.

There is supposed to be migration to cashless laundry to cut down on attractive nuisance issues. Never mind the percentage of RantWoman's neighbors who are unbanked and / or do not have a smartphone to pay online. 

After the most recent serious damage there were supposed to be machines that took debit cards. RantWoman decided on bright sunny morning to try the dryers. RantWoman runs her bed linens through the dryer every time she changes her sheets. Plus, RantWoman wanted to be sure the dryers worked lest she wind up having to figure out how to dry wet laundry. While RantWoman was attempting to bedbug proof her bed linens, a neighbor minimally conversant in English came to the laundry room wanting to wash. RantWoman was able to impress on her that coins wouldn't work and she went back to her apartment for her debit card.

The machines are happy to let people slide their cards. They have tiny impossible displays with no audio cues. RantWoman could not tell what the screens said even at nose distance. RantWoman needs to check her bank statement to see whether anything was charged. But neither RantWoman trying dryers nor a neighbor trying a washer got the debit card readers to start the machines. And, this being #pandemic with supply chain disruptions, there is not even a date estimate for repairs.

For grins, RantWoman went online and learned there could also be a pay by bluetooth option--except that there were no bluetooth enabled devices in range.

RantWoman's clothes persist in getting dirty when worn. RantWoman had already accumulated about her usual monthly pile when the laundry upheavals set in. After a couple days, RantWoman abandoned hope for speedy repairs and put out a call for help. The most useful help: a suggestion to try an laundry service.

RantWoman fired up her search engine and her software test skills with downloaded apps. Finally RantWoman landed on a dream price and an app that works with RantWoman's accessibility tools. RantWoman is not naming the vendor because of a decidedly mixed experience.

The mixed experience: the website promised return within 24 hours if the order gets in before 8 pm. RantWoman squeaked by and then decided to live with a 48 hour ETA. About 15 minutes before the end of the ETA, RantWoman texted. Nothing. No response to several more texts.

At this point, RantWoman was getting nervous. Would her laundry ever come back. What if the person summoned by the app was trying to liberate more of RantWoman's bank account than was there. RantWoman called her bank's customer service. There was a pending authorization that seemed a little high even for the amount of laundry RantWoman had sent out but not necessarily unreasonable. RantWoman finally got a text back and a promise of "tomorrow."

THANKFULLY, the laundry did return the next day. RantWoman really wanted just to root for success and not interact about excuses. Stuff happens. RantWoman wouldn't mind an option on the app that said "Really MUST be done on time" but responsiveness or even being proactive about delays is kind of a bare minimum.

All that said, RantWoman loved how tightly everything got folded. The weight is about as expected and RantWoman  was amazed how much less space it took up folded than before. If RantWoman is worried about absolutely every pair of underwear, she will remember to count things before they get sent out.

RantWoman chose the option she did because the app works with her Android phone usin Talkback and vibrate on touch and because of price. Even so, RantWoman paid about 3x as much as she is used to paying 

RantWoman has learned some neighbors have found ways to get to outside laundromats but they find the price dizzying. One neighbor sent laundry out, he thinks to the same service as RantWoman. He had the same problem about unduly long return time and another costly hiccup because of minimum load size.

RantWoman has learned neighbors have complained in various directions. RantWoman is grateful that her complaint helped make a difference. At this point, RantWoman does not really care about #pandemic themed excuses. RantWoman wants stable reliable laundry options back in her building for Christmas!