ComplaintsforCintas Corporation

• Initial Complaint

  09/21/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  We signed a contract with them for rugs and rug cleaning service. Originally we were charged $87.76 per week. In just about 2 years they have increased that weekly price to $175.31. Their salesman indicated at signing that the price was good for the term of the contract. I have only ever been notified of an increase this most recent time which is why I took a closer look at what’s been going on for the last 2 years. Their contract is vague at best but seems to require me to agree to any price increases, which I have never done. Their business practices are very poor and unethical. I would like the pricing returned to the original pricing if they wish to continue the contract. I would like reimbursement for what I view as serious overcharges due to these unethical price increases. Now I do understand that costs go up, but their representation by their salesman should count for something. As it stands right now I would advise everyone to steer clear of Cintas! I am hopeful that we can come to a reasonable resolution.

  Business response

  09/23/2024

  The customer was contacted and the issues have been resolved.

  Customer response

  10/02/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ******** and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me provided that they follow through with the changes and refund that were promised.
  
  Regards,
  
  ******* *****
  

• Initial Complaint

  09/19/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  No Signed Contract by Business Owners: We began using Cintas' services on an as-needed basis, with the understanding that no formal long-term contract was required. However, without any authorization from me or any other business owner, a contract was later presented, allegedly signed by one of my staff members. I was completely unaware of this. The employee, who has not worked for us since April 2023, did not have the authority to sign on behalf of our business, and we would never have agreed to a five-year contract. Misrepresentation of Business Name: Cintas placed this contract under our fictitious name, "******* ****." However, our official business name, which is on all of our legal documents, including food permits, alcohol permits, and other official city permits, is "*** ******** * ******** ** ***** *****." Using our fictitious name instead of the legal name under which we conduct business is improper and adds further confusion and invalidity to this contract. Unresponsive and Aggressive Actions: After falling behind on payments due to severe financial hardship, I requested that Cintas pause our services until we could catch up. Once we had paid all outstanding balances, I informed them that we would no longer need their services due to our inability to pay. Despite several emails explaining our situation, Cintas failed to respond and instead involved their attorneys without any attempt at resolution. Additionally, after I made it clear that we were no longer using their services, one of their staff members showed up at our business without prior notice and attempted to force my employees to accept their products, stating that we had a contract. This unexpected visit left my employees feeling extremely uncomfortable, and it also caused unease among our customers who witnessed the interaction. I am a veteran and a female business owner with health issues, and I believe Cintas is exploiting small businesses through unethical practices.

  Business response

  09/24/2024

  After several attempts to collect past due balances by our collection dept., Adam contacted customer (3 months ago) due to lack of payment. *****, the owner, paid the past due balance in full and the disclosed the would be closing which later evolved to a new management company taking over.
  
  Adam revisited the agreement highlighting that the agreement moves with the business. Once we learned that the ******* was still operating under that name we discussed reactivating service offering to stop when they closed or discuss different options that better meet their needs.
  
  We went to legal counsel when they customer explained their fictitious name vs. the name they use for legal contracts. Our legal counsel advised that we could absolutely enforce the agreement which we chose to do given the lack of response around our efforts to resume service.

  Customer response

  09/24/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, reasons for rejection are included below.

  A.  I, ******** *******, not *****, had informed Cintas that we needed to pause services this past spring since we were behind on payments and need to pause service until we were profitable.  So they were NOT chasing after us for payment, I informed them of the status and told them once I could pay I would pay off our account - again having no contract in place (again, as stated before, they secretly without any approval by business owners to sign a five-year contract) and just hoped to pay them off and end our business relationship while I searched for a buyer for our business.  When I then paid in full, I was happy to have paid them for their services but couldn't afford to keep going with them and when I informed them of that - thats when I was told they were going to enforce my contract - which again, was signed a year and half prior by an employee who is no longer with us and had ZERO authorization to sign.  

  B.  You still did not address that you attempted to BULLY my staff into taking the products when I had told them we would be doing the work ourselves since we didn't have the money to pay for that - we just wanted to keep our employees paid!  

  C.  Also there was no response regarding having a random service industry employee (they transition constantly) to sign a 5-year contract.  That employee never had our approval and no longer works for us.

  D.  I had been in email contact continuously with Adam and whoever else he added on to the email and as I attached previously in the BBB complaint, they never responded even when I went back and asked the status.  They did NOT try to work with me at all....they ignored my emails and then I get a letter from their attorneys trying to force me back into the contract, which would mean I agree that it is an actual contract.

  E.  Regarding our name, all of our legal documents and permits are for *** ******** * ******** ** ***** *****.  The fictitious name was not used, but we had considered doing a DBA but had decided that it made sense that everything be under the same business name and kept all the permits as they always have been.

  F.  Business sale - I do have email proof and text proof that I was looking to at first have another company take over the business but they were going to come in with their own name, products, and employees and this deal was in discussion for over two months, until it fell through a week before. 

  G.  Right now, my husband and I have made 0 money from the business since spring due to financial difficulties, I am actually working a full-time job.  We are paying our employees on time and trying to set the business up for a better sale.

  CONTRACT SHOULD NEVER be pushed upon an employee at a business - in this day and age with email, anything can be sent and e-sgined.

  And again - this business practices this horrible tactic to force business owners to use their services and then surprises the owners with enforecement of a contract they would never sign.

  
  Regards,
  
  ******** *******
  

• Initial Complaint

  09/11/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I am writing to formally lodge a complaint against Cintas regarding ongoing issues I have encountered while attempting to cancel services for a building I manage. These services were initially contracted by a previous property manager, and I have experienced significant difficulties in resolving this matter with Cintas. Below is a detailed account of the situation: Non-Delivery of Supplies: Cintas claims that supplies have been delivered to the building on multiple occasions. However, I have never received these supplies. Despite my repeated notifications to Cintas about the missing deliveries, the issue remains unresolved. At one point, I was informed that the supplies were delivered to my office, but this is not accurate as no deliveries were made. Misleading Information on Service Cancellation: Upon contacting Cintas to address the missing supplies and to cancel the services, I was told by their representative that there is a contract in place that supposedly carries over with the building. Cintas asserts that this contract cannot be canceled, which contradicts my understanding of standard service agreements, especially when services are not being rendered as claimed. Unjustified Rate Increases and Contractual Rights: Additionally, Cintas has raised the rates for the services without proper notice or justification. The existing contract explicitly states that I have the right to cancel the agreement if there is a change in pricing. Despite this clause, my attempts to cancel the service have been consistently blocked by Cintas representatives, citing the contract’s alleged permanence with the building rather than with the property management. These issues have caused undue frustration and inconvenience, and I believe that Cintas is not upholding their contractual obligations nor are they allowing me, as the current property manager, to exercise my rights to cancel services that are no longer desired or effectively provided.

  Business response

  09/18/2024

  The customer has been contacted and the issues have been resolved.

• Initial Complaint

  09/06/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We were approached by Cintas to provide uniforms and cleaning products such as toilet paper, paper towels and soap. We shared with them our current products we used and they said they could match our products and the current prices we were paying. They did not provide us a signed contract. Right from the beginning we had problems with quality of products and delivering products on time. We could not get access to our invoices on their website and as soon as we could we complained about the prices and fees we were being charged. They were giving our clients the delivery sheets. we refused to pay invoices until they are corrected. We have been threatened by their lawyers with a lawsuit totaling more than $85,000.00

  Business response

  09/06/2024

  Good afternoon

  This customer was serviced for 13 weeks. There was one discrepancy with the initial invoice and pricing was rectified the following week.  Attempts were made to collect payment however no payment was ever received. We are willing to drop the breach of agreement if payment is made on all past due invoices in full.

  Thank you,

  Customer response

  09/07/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, reasons for rejection are included below.

  We are pleased to hear that Cintas wants to resolve the matter. We will explain one more time to Cintas what the issues have been right from the beginning. The products they offered did not match what we negotiated and they agreed to supply. We shared with their sales representative the exact size of each role of toilet paper and paper towels we were currently using at the time we negotiated. The sales representative said we will match the product size and the pricing. They did not do that. The products they provided were less in the feet per roll of each, the toilet paper and paper towels. The smaller rolls led to costs increases of more that 60%, if not more, than  what we were paying before. Our janitorial contracts have very thin margins for profit and any costs increases eradicate our profits. We disputed this right from the very first invoice, which we could not access on their website for several months.
  

  In addition, they added delivery fees and other fees we did not agree to. We have never paid deliver fees for our products, they are always free shipping from our other suppliers.

  In addition, they did not deliver the products timely and our customers were very upset. They then overloaded our customers warehouse with product and there are pallets of product that is owned by Cintas that need to be removed immediately.
  

  Finally, does Cintas want to us to remove the dispensers from our customers sites or do they want to sell them to us and we will pay the going rate for these dispensers.

  We will pay what we owe and what we agreed to pay in our negotiations with the sales representative from Cintas.
  

  
  
  Regards,
  
  ******* *****
  

  Business response

  09/17/2024

  We have called and left voicemail every day for ******* ***** since Wednesday September 10th and have not heard back from him. We are trying to schedule a final pick-up and collect on past due invoices for services performed but need to speak directly to him to complete this task.

  Customer response

  09/27/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, reasons for rejection are included below.
  
  Regards,
  
  ******* *****

  The complaint is not resolved. The business(Cintas) did respond with what we thought was a reasonable offer to settle. We paid them an agreed upon amount and their attorney sent us a signed release.   Since then we were contacting Cintas to pick up their supplies and materials. We were told that we owed an additional $6,000 plus. We said after they have picked up all their materials and supplies we will pay the difference if we agree with it. Now their attorney is saying we owe $11,000 dollars and they will not honor the release their attorney sent us.
  
  We were just giving this a little time to play out and that is why we had not responded.
  
  *******
  
  ******* *****
  Contract Manager/Owner
  ******************
  

  Business response

  09/27/2024

  The GM finally was able to speak to ******* and they have agreed to meet to speak in person about the account and resolve any discrepancies on the account the week ending October 13th. 

• Initial Complaint

  09/05/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I've been trying to cancel our Cintas service due to multiple price increases without notice, repeated service issues like missing items and unusably damaged items, and poor customer service. I haven't gotten any response from Cintas and they continue to drop off a bill every week. Per the requirements of the service agreement, I sent a registered letter on August 9 to the general manager to cancel our service. Prior to that I spoke with four separate Cintas employees by phone and email and submitted requests online. Each time they said they would get back to me and never did. The service agreement clearly states that we need to be notified of any price increases. We have never received any price increase notifications. In 2022, our weekly payment was $64.85. Since then it has gone up multiple times and is now $87.00 - over a 30% increase. For example, one uniform shirt was $1.74 in August 2022. On our most recent invoice the same shirt is now $2.104. Again, we were never notified of any price changes. Every time we have needed to communicate with Cintas about our uniform service, it has been a frustrating experience that required numerous messages, phone calls, follow ups, and months of waiting. On numerous occasions, the ‘clean’ uniforms were delivered with stains, holes, and badges coming off. Several times we attached large notes to the uniforms being picked up to show the damaged areas and submitted repair requests online, yet the uniforms were still returned without being fixed. Cintas has frequently failed to deliver our full number of uniforms but still charged for them. It has taken many phone calls and messages, up to two months of waiting, and an enormous amount of my time to finally get all of our items. In each case our monthly bill remained the same despite missing several pieces. I would prefer to purchase the uniforms we have but no one has gotten back to my request for a price quote. I could also return all the uniforms.

  Business response

  09/09/2024

  The General Manager spoke with ***** and will be getting her the totals to close her account out. The SSR will pick up the shop towels and we will bill out the garments per her request.

  Customer response

  09/10/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
  
  Regards,
  
  ***** ******* ******** ********* ********
  

• Initial Complaint

  09/04/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  1. Showed up on the wrong day, we did not get to exchange our uniforms and were without for a week. I sent a complaint and it was never credited until we tried to cancel. Customer service did not respond at all until I escalated the issue. 2. Uniforms are in horrible condition and do not look good at all. 3. Repairs are made very unprofessionally. 4. Were were given a price increase of about 35% across the board, this is employee paid and not affordable for low quality items. 5. Account manager is not willing to accept service failure as a breach of contract, they are "not" providing anything near what was promised in any way. 6. Can not provide a executed active "original" binding contract, we do not have anything showing our commitment requirements.

  Business response

  09/09/2024

  We apologize for the lack of communication during the week you were not serviced. We are glad to hear that our local team has credited that invoice back to your business. I am also happy to hear you were able to connect with our local leadership team and have come up with an agreement on how we will manage your program and garments moving forward. We greatly appreciate your business and look forward to continuing our partnership!

  Customer response

  09/09/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, reasons for rejection are included below.
  
  Regards,
  
  ******** ******
  

• Initial Complaint

  08/29/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I was told that I had only signed up for two years, Cintas has extended it to January 17th 2028 without informing me! That is greater that four years away! We as a country are getting together to make our choice for the administration that will lead us for the next four years, but Cintas thinks that I should be locked into a contract until after the upcoming presidential administration. I am just a small Mom & Pop and feel deceived by everyone that I have ever talked with from that company.

  Business response

  09/11/2024

  Upon review of this matter, the original service agreement for services was executed for an initial term of 60 months.  This mirrors the industry standard for rental service programs.  We have attempted to contact *** **** to discuss this situation but have not been able to make contact as of 9/11/24.  We will be glad to work directly with this customer toward an amicable resolution for both parties.   

• Initial Complaint

  08/27/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  ***** ****** ********** located at **** ******** ***** *** ****** ** ***** (Cintas Account Number ********) began a uniform service with Cintas Corporation on June 21, 2023. ***** ****** has been in business for 43 years. We began contacting Cintas on October 19, 2023 to let them know that our account had been overcharged $81.19 for items never provided since the beginning of the contract. The amount of the overcharges amounted to approximately $1900.00. We contacted Cintas again on November 2, 2023, November 8, 2023, and November 13, 2023. We were never able to speak with a representative who understood or could assist with our overcharges. As such we sent a letter requesting to cancel our service on November 15, 2023. We are a small family owned business and we needed the overcharge refunded as soon as possible. Despite repeated communication with Cintas through February of 2024, we were never able to get an accounting of the funds due back to us or a refund from Cintas. On February 21, 2024, we informed Cintas to just come pick up the uniforms, which they did a week later. We then received an undated letter from Cintas informing us that we had a 5 year contract and demanding a payment of $36,574.59. Cintas has been aggressively pursuing the collection of this money and we have not been able to resolve the issue or receive a refund of the money due back to us. We needed the overcharges refunded to us and as a small business certainly are unable to pay Cintas $36,574.59 for no reason. ***** ****** would just like an accounting of the overcharges due back to them and the contract cancelled. It is apparent from the large amount of similar complaints on the BBB website that Cintas does business by providing poor service and then threatening or suing their customers for large amounts of money. This type of behavior should be punished or sanctioned by some regulatory agency if not the BBB.

  Business response

  09/06/2024

  We have been advised by legal counsel that we cannot respond further to this complaint.

  Customer response

  09/06/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, reasons for rejection are included below.

  The company provided poor service and refused to refund overcharges to us.

  The company proceeded with litigation instead.  The company refused to respond to the complaint because they know they are wrong.

  If you review the history of complaints on the BBB website you will see that this company has a history of providing poor service to small businesses and then charging them outrageous amounts to get out of their contracts.  We did business with this company for less than 4 months and then left due to their poor service and overcharges and they are attempting to collect over $36,000 from our company.  Our company has not made $36,000 in the past 5 years and is a small family business owned by a senior citizen.  This behavior is egregious and if the small business cannot help to stop an unethical corporation, who can?

  
  
  Regards,
  
  ****** *******
  

  Business response

  09/19/2024

  We have been advised by legal counsel that we cannot respond further to this complaint.

• Initial Complaint

  08/20/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  We are a small business and are currently using Cintas for our carpets and rags. We signed a contract with Cintas starting at $96 monthly fee. This was in 2021, Contract gradually increased and went up to $121 in 2023 and all of a sudden as of June this year we received an invoice from them for $193! No notice or nothing just a bill out of the blue. When i contacted them I was told I signed a 60 month contract. There is a paper with my signature on it though in all honesty I would never have signed that long of a contract. I don't remember if it was done digitally or what. We had just opened recently and were in middle of covid. I am being told my only options to get out of it are to either do a buy out for remaining contract 19 months at the higher amount (just over $2500)!! or continue to pay $193 a month for remaining 19 months of contract or sign another three year contract where they will lock in amount of $121. I have reached out and received other quotes from comparable companies and they come in $30 less than the $121 so would be over $100 from current charges. What's more the quality of towels is horrible. I have numerous pictures showing the holes, thread bare, tiny towels we have been getting. I have also received additional fees for ruining towels!! Despite ones i get that I couldn't even use. I have complained about that several times and been told my account would be credited which it hasn't thus far. I was also told just recently they will send me a different kind of rag. I am a small business owner trying to make ends meet to have pay such outrageous fees for something i can get literally for $100 less unless I sign a longer contract. I feel like a am being strong armed by them and would think if they have a customer as dissatisfied as I am they would just close out contract but they absolutely will not. I have only one of the three options mentioned. Help what can I do?

  Business response

  08/27/2024

  We apologize for the dissatisfaction on the pricing. Your local Account Manager will be connecting with you to work with you on your program. We appreciate your business and are determined to fix this for you and your business. 

  Customer response

  08/28/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I was visited by one of the representatives from the company. He was very nice and helpful and sincere in his willingness to come to an agreement that was amiable to both of us. After discussion we have done so. I am very pleased with the results and the fact the company took the time to actually visit me in person and show their interest in rectifying this matter. 
  
  Thank you for your help in rectifying this matter.  
  
  Regards,
  
  ******* ****
  

• Initial Complaint

  08/19/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Entered into contract 7/2021 opened on 9/2021. Noted soon after opened that the prices were not was initially told. IN 1/2022 they adjusted my prices and changed from a weekly service to a monthly service. Not realizing they had me sign a new contract that went from a 1 year to a 5 year contract. I have not seen a sales rep in 3+ years until I recently asked to get out of my contract due to the 2nd price increase in 2 years w/o notice. They just send a new bill with new pricing. They are now trying to charge me a "early termination fee" of 1858.00 to get out of my contract. They will not be providing any serivces however for that price. They are asking for an additional 400.00 for the purchase of logo matts that are 3 years old and have been used stating that I am renting them now and if I cancel this service I have to purchase them. Once the recent price increase was noted I sent a letter cancelling and 6 weeks later I am still going back and forth with the local service person trying to negociate by giving me more product for 10.00 less a month. I don't think that a service driven business should lock someone into a contract and hold them hostage for 5 years. There were pricing and dates added after I signed the contract that were not on the original contract ie a service fee that started as 6.00 and now is up to 7.96. The matts I am renting started as 34.00 every 4 weeks and now are up to 56.12. I want the service terminated w/o bening charged an early term fee.

  Business response

  08/20/2024

  We regret that **** ****** was dissatisfied with our gestures to retain her business. Due to rising costs, Cintas passed along one price adjustment per year in accordance with her service agreement and with 30 days advance written notice in the form of an invoice message. When she reported a cost concern in the past, Cintas accommodated and changed her service frequency to monthly which adjusts unit prices but lowered the overall cost substantially. We do not want to lose any customer, let alone have them pay an early termination fee. In fact, our service team made multiple calls and visits to her business to resolve the concern over cost. We offered to service all the same products at a 32% discount if she would reconsider and keep her account active. We very much wish to discuss the matter with **** ****** and gain agreement on a fair resolution.

  Customer response

  08/28/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
  
  Regards,
  
  **** ******
  

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩