Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

Because of old age, arthritis and a bad back, I am retiring my Hoover which cleans OK but is hard to maneuver and weighs a ton.

Was going to buy Tacony 8 LB which is purported to be the same as the Bissell Prolite. However, there were some negative reviews regarding pet hair on the Prolite so I gave up on that because it seems my dog sheds half of his fur daily :-)

Then I considered the Royal MRY5000 at Amazon but cannot find reviews and Royal's website does not say if it goes from carpet to bare floors. They say the MRY6400 does but does not say the weight on the site.

Next for consideration is the Oreck Oreck XL2100RHB-2. This one has 2 speeds and that is a desirable feature. But I have read some negative things about Orecks so am conflicted while at the same time, seriously considering this machine.

Next, I saw a Hoover Clean and Light but don't know how good that would be either. It is supposed to be 2X the suction power of Oreck. Sounds good but why can't I find this vac on the Hoover site? One review at a seller's site makes me believe this would not be good for my use. For example, I would love to be able to vacuum throw rugs or mats without them being sucked into the cleaner. And I like the idea of going from carpet to bare floors like you can with Oreck.

My dream vac is a Simplicity Freedom F3600 but the price is too steep for the budget ... especially when you add in sales tax.

I don't want a Dyson because the commercials are a little too slick and frankly some reviews of their machines were not all that great. I kinda feel that if it seems to good to be true, it probably is not true.

Any comments on the above mentioned vacs or suggestions would be appreciated.

Chris

CarmineD wrote:
Hi Carmine,

I can appreciate that however, per a thread a while back, there was a discussion of the price/worth of bags. My line of inquiry was how much could it cost to make four vacuum bags especially those that sell for $17.00 a pack. I recall that some members here, all vendors I believe, felt the bag in mention to be worth every penny. I wasn't necessarily convinced of that but in this light my feeling is if I were giving away salable stock as part of regular vacuum sales -- if allowed I probably add it to my tax return under whatever category fit the bill if the item was of significant cost.

This is not a major issue for me but it would be nice some day to get a real line of perspective regarding value and posted price.

Best,

Venson

Hi Venson:

I recall the thread and discussion.  It's not the wholesale cost of the bags that is foregone by the store owner/operator when the bags are tossed in free.  It's the retail price.  When its done as a matter of sales routine it gets expensive. There is no write off for free bags.  It's a foregone sale that is lost.  And it costs money [out of pocket to the store owner/operator] to replenish the giveaway stock.  Twice as much.  Don't get short handed on the bag stock.  And, tell a customer you ran out and come back the bags are on order.  You just lost a parts sale and possibly more.  How do you put a cost/price on that giveaway?

The deal maker for me was always the warranty.  As a warranty dealer for the new vacuum brands I sold, I would tell the customers, I'll keep the new product registration card on file in my records.  If the product fails out of warranty, I can work with the product maker to get it covered past the warranty period.  That was the icing on the cake.  If I made the sale but the buyer was still hesitant [buyer's remorse] that was the goodwill gesture that made the buyer a happy camper.  Of course, I told the customer, please don't broadcast this to others.  Worked much better than the free pack of bags. 

Carmine D.

BTW, the latter [the warranty] was the edge [the wild card] I always had over the big box stores selling the same brands and models.  ALWAYS!  It worked.

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:
Good morning Carmine,

That was cool. I have never been offered or heard of any dealer doing the like. I imagine it's a near impossibility to replicate that kind of service that these days. Did you have to intervene on the customer's behalf often?

As for the big boxers, BestBuy in this case, I notice I'm no longer being asked whether I want to buy service/replacement contracts anymore while checking out purchases at the register.

Venson

Hi Venson:

The warranty wild card was for cases where the customer was a few days/weeks/month out of the actual warranty period and hence unable to claim the benefit.  A few times, in over 40 years, I played the wild card.  Much to the delight of the customers.  But it was much more a feel good feature than an actual customer need and/or cost to me.

I suspect WRT to ESP-s, most consumers by now are well versed in the ways of Consumer Reports which typically admonishes buyers against them.  Just more evidence that CR is more used/read among American buyers than many here care to admit and give it credit. 

Carmine D.