Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

Thought the Dyson discussion board would be interested in reading a small article about the Tacony Museum. Also Carmine's old friend.....

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/hit-the-road-jack/hit-the-road-jack/2009/08/new-museum-opens-at-st-james-on-historic-route-66/

HS:

THe closing of the HOOVER stores which I liked to frequent was not only a huge loss for HOOVER but for all makes including your fave.  These stores wre staffed with skilled and trained repair people who serviced all makes and models and were grossly underpaid.

I mentioned that HOOVER blew it in the late 60's.  It takes years for these mistakes to have their full impact.  The closing of the HOOVER stores recently was probably the last in a series of ongoing adverse consequences of the management decisions made by HOOVER in the late 60's.

Carmine D.

Hi,

There was something really great about brand-name service centers. The sense of prestibe, speciality, whatever, that they lent to allowed you to feel you still had a link with company after sale. It encouraged trust.

I have no recall of about the other buroughs but we had a Hoover service center on Seventh Avenue in Manhattan, one for General Electric in Grand Central Terminal and another for Sunbeam, location forgotten. They all quietly faded of the picture before we were out of the early 1970s.

By that time, the importance of the like may have diminished in the eyes of consumerrs since it was obvious that any good serviceman could service most appliances regardless of brand. That weighed in when there was a regular vac shop a block or two away and use a company service center meant a bit of a trip.

Venson

Venson wrote:

Other than ORECK .....never saw one...and way before my time.....bet they were great tho.

turtle1

retardturtle1 wrote:
Hey turtle1,

For all intent and purpose, Aerus does the same thing. Matter of fact many such sales and service venues here have been slow in dropping the Electrolux name on their shingles.

Deeming their own product as too superior for anyone else to touch appears a way for manufacturers to infer, "Nobody can take care of our product as well as we can," and also generate money not just from parts but service on out-of-warranty appliances at their centers.

Venson

Yes, General Electric had these appliance stores too just to show sell their wares.  Vacuums included.  Ah, the good ole days.  Excellent way to promote the brand and gain a following of loyal customers over the years for the brand. 

Carmine D.

Venson wrote:
Speaking of Aerus/Lux, they still deliver bags, filters, and supplies.   Out of the blue, I had a rep come to my house for a free checkup on my Lux. 

Severus wrote:

WOW.....thats a new one on me.....thought the only people that ever came knocking anymore was the IRS....now thats service..

turtle1

Venson,

  Aerus/Lux has in the agreement that the dealers as well as Aerus can have Aerus as the lead logo with the lower part having the Electrolux for 25 years. They can have it in the phone ads too. In smaller print you see "The Original from 1924-2003". They still have a policy of free pickup and delivery and delivery of bags and other parts to customers.

                                                                                  Procare

Personalized and professional service by Aerus/Electrolux.  A thing of the past from a by-gone era in the vacuum industry.  Sadly. 

Carmine D.

Electrolux invited bo-jacking by their dealers by selling everything to them at full retail, and then paying their dealers commission! Bah, Humbug!

If they had sold at a decent discount to the dealer and the branches, and let them make profit on their sales, they could have controlled the bo-jacking, and kept the dealers loyal and happy. They would have been more motivated to call on existing customers because they could have made decent profit on bags, hoses, etc. instead of just a little better than breaking even.  I don't know if Aerus can ever recover their former glory. At one time there were over 500 Electrolux  branches in the US alone, with only four machines  G, L, Commercial wet/dry and B-8 polisher/scrubber they sold THREE MILLION units a year. Unheard of, and never surpassed by anyone except Big Box Brands