Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

First upright from Miele

29 February 2008 This summer, Miele will launch its first range of upright vacuum cleaners – the S7.  It will consist of about six models, all of which feature ultra large dust bags and  “a unique swivel body, which makes it easy to manoeuvre in even the trickiest  of room layouts”. According to the company,  the decision was made following  numerous requests from customers that wanted to buy Miele  but would only use  an upright model. Text: courtesy ERTweekly.com Picture: courtesy Miele.co.uk, 2009 Edited 21st March 2009; reason: loss of original image.

CarmineD wrote:
I fail to see Immer Besser when you have a factory authorized sales and repair center that is content to use non OEM parts to fix a nearly new $700 vacuum under warranty. On top of this they "hack the crap" (I believe that is how they described it) out of the back of the unit and then offer to melt and smooth out the plastic as a solution to the problem....but don't worry....they do it all the time.  The vac store has replaced 3 or 4 other hoses but have had no complaints. Were these machines hacked up too?  Perhaps the customers were to ticked off and couldn't be bothered to complain and instead have gone to another dealer. The end result is that even though Melanie is finally getting a new vacuum (credit to Miele for FINALLY stepping up) she is left with a dealer she is no longer comfortable with and has doubts about future service and durability of the machine.  To make matters worse, from my point of view anyway, guys like this give independents a bad name.  When a customer is made to jump thru hoops to get service it's no wonder so many people buy from Costco and Walmart.

Dusty

Perhaps, some can't appreciate the special pride that goes into an 80 year old family owned, operated and financed business not to mention the superior quality of German engineering and its vibrant and guteral language!

BTW, it was $600 [not $700] in May 2008 almost 7 months before the official MIELE model launch in the USA.  While brand new, it was a 'test' model that by all accounts was never meant to be sold to the public SO SOON and the details surrounding the sale have never been adequately disclosed here to my satisfaction despite my trying.

Immer Besser!  Das ist alles!

Carmine D.

Thanks, Dusty.

Carmine, an 80 (actually over 100, only have been making vacs for 82) company, family held, blah,blah,blah means nothing to a customer unless it means her problems are taken seriously, and addressed.

Customer buys a test model, which we are not positive was to be sold. Customer's fault? No. It was bought in good faith.

Machine has 2 minor failures, Customer's fault? No

Machine has major failure, shop butchers repair, Customer's fault? No.

It took three weeks of constant phone calls, and posts on a public forum to get a replacement vacuum. The energy, loss of productive time, and  dissatisfaction are enormous, intangible, though no less real costs. Would Miele have come through without Melanie being the squeaky wheel, Hmmm?That's putting a LOT of faith in the Miele company. I suspect the guard at Miele is changing from the third generation to the fourth, and while hopefully this is an isolated incident, it could be the beginning of a glacial meltdown. Time will tell. For the moment, at least, Miele makes excellent product. It will be interesting to see if family tradition continues to hold sway in the upper echelons at Miele.

Trebor

Trebor wrote:

And it was in 20 calendar days:  A brand new production model S7 was granted free of charge for pick up by the customer in return for a 10 month old $600 'test' model.  With the new production model only months on the market.

Immer Besser.  Das ist alles.

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:

Hi Carmine,

What other information do you need regarding the purchase of the S7?  I don't know what more information I can give you.  I bought the machine as a prototype (test model) and agreed to test it in my home and complete survey's for Miele.  If the machine was not supposed to be sold, I was not aware of it.  My understanding was just as I stated before.  I buy it, agree to use it, complete surveys and that's it.  And yes, it was $599.99.  Other than that, there is no information to give.  If I was potentially screwed over because I wasn't supposed to pay for the vacuum, I'm not aware of that.  Yes, I would like to know that, but I am now getting a replacement that is now, $699.99, for the price I paid for my prototype, which was $100.00 less.  I just want to be done with this and move on.

My original hose actually broke in January.  The Vac Shop did a quick fix on it so I could use it and ordered me a replacement.  The replacement arrived about a week later and it took me a couple of weeks to get back to the Vac Shop to get the replacement put on.  I had some health problems that put that on the backburner.  During that time the vacuum stopped leaning down all of the way.  The replacement hose was installed, but was not the correct hose.  The leaning problem was fixed by taking apart the vacuum and putting it back together.  The actual cause was unknown. The day after I picked up my vacuum I noticed the damage as well. 

When I posted on March 2nd, I was already a couple of weeks into dealing with the faulty hose and damage.  I contacted Miele to let them know that I was a test household and I had 2 problems with my vacuum...the original hose breaking, the vacuum not leaning down all of the way, and then the faulty hose was installed.  I figured they should know about this since I had originally completed surveys to let them know about any problems, but my problems started after the launch of the S7 in December.  I also made them aware of the damage because I felt that they should have provided better training to the Vac Shop for the repair.  However, I was VERY understanding at first regarding all of this.  I was annoyed with the inconvenience of the replacement hose and irritated by the damage, but not angry with anyone involved at that time.  I knew the Vac Shop did not intentionally damage the vacuum and I had no idea where the hose mix up came from, I just wanted it all fixed so I could move on.  I didn't start to get truly upset until after I felt like I wasn't being heard or taken seriously by either Miele or my Vac Shop.  I became angry when I was offered the subpar repair for the damage on Saturday.

Today I am ready to put this all behind me now that I've slept on it.  I finally can have my vacuum back, a new one at that, and hopefully I don't have any more problems besides regular maintenance issues.  So pending an RA from Miele for my prototype I can go pick up my new S7 and get my house cleaned up.  Hopefully over time I can repair the relationship with the Vac Shop.  I will still do business with them as I will needs bags, filters, and yearly maintenance on my new S7.  I was actually hoping they could keep my prototype as a practice vacuum so if they weren't sure how to do a repair, they could try it on my prototype first.  But I guess business doesn't work that way.

Melanie

Why does MY ELLIE sell out their dealers?

Why does miele hate americans?

How can miele keep getting away with selling 300.00 vacuums for 1100.00.?

Its just another overpriced  vacuum cleaner,living off the old german myth of better this and better that.

It cleans no better than a hoover convertible that costs 79.95..........

regards

MOLE

catlady wrote:

As Shakespeare says so well:  All's well that ends well.  You are ahead and have an extra $100 [minimum] to buy a year's worth of MIELE bags.

Immer Besser!

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:
I think your math is a little off.  Melanie indeed has a new vacuum but I don't see the extra $100 in her pocket to buy bags, just a number on paper . Multiple phone calls, multiple trips to the inept vac dealer...time is money.  20 days to get the result she should have had the first day she encountered a problem.  New vacuum aside, she's probably used more than $100 in her time and effort to resolve the problem.

nicht immer besser

Dusty

dusty wrote:

Here's my perspective:  Use of a brand new 2008 'test' MIELE vacuum for over 10 months.  Purchase of a new 2009 production model for $700 at a cost of only $600.  $100 savings.  $100 on a $600 investment yields a return of 16 percent in 10 months.  Considering the stock market and real estate are down almost 50 percent and 30 respectively during that time as well as all other financial investments [save platinum, gold and silver], that's doing Immer Besser with the use of the money.

Carmine D.

mole wrote:

MOLE:

I'd say my two HOOVER TEMPO's [made in Mexico for $75 and China $54 on sale] clean and groom rugs better than just about all the vacuums on the market costing 10 and 15 times more.

Carmine D.