Laundry in switzerland sucks

Daily Life, Swiss News and General Topics
101
Reply to prsmithy: yes, I really agree with you. My brother-in-law and his wife recently moved into a completely new, modern apartment --it's fantastic. They are condos and they are renting it for some astonomic price. Now wouldn't you think they would put a washer and dryer in each apartment. Remember, these are condos that are selling for $1million + (in Hongg). But no, each apartment has their own washer and dryer downstairs in a laundry room. If that isn't silly I don't know what is! In any case, the machines and the dryers are Mieles (they better be at a million plus) and they also have that air dryer thing -- my brother-in-law likes to use them for his shirts. I think the Swiss must love do laundry. When I am in Zurich, I take things to the cleaners; they certainly take longer than the ones in Boston, but the quality is really good, great actually. After my wedding several years ago, we took my wedding dress to Terlinden on Winterthurerstrasse, and they cleaned the dress and it looked incredible, only charged something like $75. My cleaner in the States charges $150+to clean wedding dresses. But that's another forum.

102
About the "thought-it-was-ok-to-take-your-not-finished-clothes-from-the-dryer-because I really-needed-the-dryer-now" neighbour: I have a sock of theirs, and they probably have a sock of mine. I hate when people do that! (and pile my damp clothes on top of their reclaimed dryer). Who's that home fairy that always gets unfairly blamed for orphan socks?

103
Laundry in Switzerland sucks, yes. I am Swiss and I had countless pieces of clothes that shrunk throughout my life. I lost a few thousand Swiss Francs that way.

I spent 7 years in Australia and not even one piece of clothing shrunk over there.

My wife(Asian) came here and also her clothes shrunk. Clothes that she washed there a hundred times before. She was so surprised, she did not even know before that clothes CAN shrink in the laundry! In her country never anything shrunk.

It is not just the dryer people, the washing machines themselves are the problem. They are far too aggressive, use too little water at too high temperature, and they spin too fast. In Australia clothes completely SWIM in the water, here it seems like a little bit of hot water touches the clothes. I had clothes, which I bought in Australia, wore them 3 years, washed them over there a hundred times, came back here, washed the same clothes at 30 degrees, no dryer and they STILL SHRUNK! I got pi..ed of big time.

So here is what you need to do(in Switzerland):

1. NEVER use a dryer. Hang those clothes up. On your balcony or wherever.

2. NEVER wash at higher temperature than 30 degrees.

3. LOWER the spin speed to 600-800 turns(probably per minute, I don't

know, but choose setting 600-800). They will take a bit longer to dry, but

better than loosing them altogether.

4. If possible choose more water

5. Sometimes the extra care/delicate/wool settings help. But don't rely on

them solely!

6. Pray

7. Call the washing machine manufacturer and tell him off. That won't

change anything as the Swiss need more than your entire lifetime to

admit that their product is not 100% perfect, but at least it releases

your anger.

8. Have a beer

That way you have a 90% chance that your clothes stay the way they should. But then again there are some machines without any hope. Import a machine from overseas. Or wash your clothes by hand and feel good about yourself

104
What a load of poppycock. IAO are you sure your using the machine correctly?

105
Is it uncommon to have an apartment setup and ready for a washer install? How much does a decent washer cost in Switzerland? You guys are scaring me!

106
Ha ha yes it does and that is exactly why I refused point blank to even entertain it and now have an apartment with a private washing machine.

107
Sensible move. The moral of the story is don't wash your dirty linen in public!

108
you got it.

109
Hey...this may be a ridiculous question, but is there anywhere in Zurich where I can bring my dirty clothes and have them wash and fold it for me?

110
"laundromat + zurich" + Google

111
As I suspected...a dead end search

112
you're officially the worst googler in the world. Look .

113
And on the second page of Google results I got this link.....

Laundry in switzerland sucks

Help....I'm in an infinite Google loop!!!

Cheers,

Nick

114
I feel your pain. Sometimes I have to wait 3-4 weeks before I get to use the washer again, and then I end up spending a whole day washing.

115

When choosing the apartment I would try to avoid the ones which forbid installation of own washing machine.

One problem is the schedule, but other one is the hygiene... You'll never know what was inside before (or even worse - you've seen what your neighbours are putting in). And many of these shared washing machines look as if they needed an empty run on 95°C every few runs...

116

If there is you will be charged a very large amount. Labor is very expensive in ZH compared to NYC, you have to keep that in mind.

117
I see many a chap on a Saturday morning with arms laden with freshly pressed shirts in plastic bags coming out of dry cleaners so I think it is quite normal to get your shirts done professionally. You'll just have to wash, dry and fold your smalls and everything else yourself but look on the bright side; the shirts are the complicated bit.

Alternatively get a cleaner and negotiate a rate for her/him to do your washing as well. You are looking at paying between 25 and 35 Francs an hour.

118
For all the busy people who'd like to have their washing/ironing done have a look in your local shop on the notice board. (Take a friend along to translate if needed.) There are usually quite a few adds for washing services by Women who need to bump up their income.If you don't find anything place one of your own, it shouldn't take long before all your wash day blues are a thing of the past.

119

yeah i may agree with you, however, it does not mean that in apartments with schedules you will not see the same thing happening, you come for your wash late since you work and it starts at 4pm and you find people have decided to use your time and then only come to take the things out at 7pm

hope you are not too stressed though, although it can really be annoying, i had a friend move out and set up a wg in a house for the main purpose of not dealing with people over washing schedules

i guess laundry is a word that has a special meaning for all foreigners in ch and at present i look at it as a very exclusive club with a special password: you tell your friends back home and get weird looks , you mention it here and everyone has a knowing smile

so i vote for high high salaries for a humanitarian reason: renting nice apartments with nice personal washing machines

120
A lot of the dry cleaners will do this for between 3 and 5 francs per shirt (or other item).

There are a few laundromats in Zürich (I travel a lot on business and have had to use them in an emergency when the wash days haven't worked out). Apart from the big laundromats on the Paradeplatz the ones I know are:

Winterthurstrasse (tram 9 or 10, stop Kinkelstrasse)

Schmiede Wiedikon (tram 9 or 14, between Schmiede and Bahnhof Wiedikon)

Badenerstrasse - there are 2, one just behind the shopping centre at Lochergut (tram 2,3) and one near Lindenplatz (tram 2). The Lochergut one is closed on Sundays but seems to have the best machines of the lot.

Brauerstrasse (tram 8, near Helvetiaplatz, just off the Langstrasse) I wouldn't recommend this one, I went in there just the once, saw the junkie injecting himself and walked straight out again.