Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

Regarding my Miele and the issues I've had, I think I'm frustrated because I use my vacuum so much and I'm a bit inconvenienced right now with the tools not staying on and the hose not stretching as far which causes the vacuum to tip if I pull it too far.  I guess any vacuum will tip if you pull the hose farther than what it can handle, but the last hose easily did my entire stair case (8 steps) with no problems.  This one will only go about half way.  There is a definite difference to me and my husband. 

If I was someone that only vacuumed once a week, this probably wouldn't be so frustrating to me.  I'm become impatient, but I know its not Miele's fault they did not have the hose I needed in and it did arrive at my Vac Shop faster than what I was initially told.  My Vac Shop guy told me that he's replaced 3 of these hoses so far and no one else has complained or is having the same problems I am having.  I feel like I'm being a major pain now and I don't want to be that way.  Miele has been very nice to me, but I did expect a more proactive approach assisting me. 

On my initial call I spoke with Jim and he asked me to call back the next day with my serial #.  No problem.  I called back  the next day and spoke with Sally, the British lady.  She told me she would talk to Jim and that Jim would call me back.  I didn't get a call back so I called back later the next day and asked for Jim.  Jim wasn't aware that I talked to Sally and I had to go over everything with him again.  To be honest, none of that actually bothered me.  Customer Service nowadays is typically much worse than this so I had no reason to complain.  Plus Jim and Sally are really nice and I was certain that once they had all of my information they would take care of me.  I’ve mainly dealt with Jim since then.  He is the one that got the new replacement hose on order (not his fault it was on backorder).  I know I became more frustrated when I asked him how they would handle the damage to the vacuum and he said to deal with one issue at a time and to start with making sure the hose replacement would work.  I was hoping that he would also send the replacement part that was damaged.  That way I could have everything fixed at one time and not have to keep returning to the Vac Shop.  I think that’s where my feeling of not being taken seriously started.  I don’t have a lot of spare time and I definitely can’t go without a vacuum for more than a couple of days.  Then the hose never arrived at the Vac Shop and when I called back I was told it was on backorder and it could be 2 weeks before my Vac Shop received the hose.  My Vac Shop told me they weren’t aware of my issues (I don’t believe that.  Jim told me he talked to them.) and they did not have the hose in.  So I called Miele and was transferred to parts only to find out the hose was on backorder and it could be 2 weeks before the hose would arrive at the Vac Shop.  I called Jim the next day and he told me the hose would be in next week (he was right).  That was the same conversation in which I expressed my frustration and told him about the indicator not working.  He told me that I should not go by that indicator and should always check the bag itself because the indicator was really only there in case I got a clog in my hose.  I just remember thinking, “OK, I don’t really care about the indicator, but I spent a lot of money on this vacuum, shouldn’t they care more if something, however minor, doesn’t work right?”.

I know I’m repeating myself, but I just wanted to put things order a little more to show why I have grown frustrated from my initial call.  Heck, the fact that the prototype hose ripped in the first place surprised me.  I honestly thought it would be indestructible.  However, my Vac Shop did fix that right away for me.  Hopefully they will do the same this time around, fix the damage and I can be on my way.

RAD1 – I will see if my Vac Shop can adjust that indicator and if they can’t its fine.  That’s not really a deal breaker for me.

Venson  - I don’t mind that you called Miele.  If you spoke with Jim, he is familiar with the situation.

Carmine – I think about how much I paid for the vacuum and how much I have to put out for bags and part of me expects perfection from this machine.  I won’t deny that I can be hard on my vacuums with almost daily use.  That’s why I purchased the Miele.  The product seemed well built and their reputation seemed solid.  I’ve had hose problems in the past with cheap vacuums.  My Dirt Devil Reactor hose ripped not too long after I bought it.  I was vacuuming the cat tree and then my suction was gone and all I got was whistling noises.  It is possible that I stretched that hose beyond its capabilities, but that hose was thin.  The Vac Shop fixed the hose for me and had to keep fixing that vacuum until they finally just got me a replacement after the motor died before the warranty expired.  Then I had a lot of problems with that Reactor as well before it died.  That’s why I wanted a vacuum that could stand up to my use.  Besides the Miele, every vacuum I have ever owned came from Wal Mart on sale.  I was tired of putting out a couple hundred every couple of years.  If I never received that stimulus last year I would probably still be stuck using cheap vacuums that would break in under a year.  I certainly don’t have $600.00 lying around.  That’s more than ˝ my pay a month.  Am I being too hard on everyone involved right now?  It’s very possible.  I’m a little more calm now that the hose is finally in at my Vac Shop and I am hoping to resolve all of these issues come Saturday. 

Hands down, the Miele outperforms every vacuum I have ever owned and I’m hoping that Saturday all of my frustrations will be put to rest.  I still believe that I will be satisfied in the end, but I don’t want to keep waiting to resolve this.

If after everything is fixed up, another thing goes wrong with the Miele in a short period of time, no I will not purchase from them again.  If I get a few good years out the vacuum after this, I probably would.