Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

Trebor,

the 8000 units per day isn't complete without knowing how many are returned, and how many sales are refurbs.    There's an awful lot of refurbs for sale in a lot of venues. 

Hello Everyone,

I spoke with a long-time acquaintance in the vac biz yesterday, none other than Tom G. He told me that Dyson USA is still selling 8,000 vacuum cleaners in the USA!
Since Tom is now employed by Tacony, and is no longer a vac shop owner, I have no reason to doubt his word. He is curator of a vacuum museum consisting of  primarily his own vacuums, which he leases to Tacony.  He gets to shop the 'net for antique vacs, (talk about your dream job!)

But I digress.  According to Tom 85% of all vacuums sold are still bagless! People like seeing the dirt, and they hate having to remember to buy bags.  People who buy a Dyson tell people, who buy one, and so on. People who buy any other brand don't tell nearly as many. ( I have to think if someone shelled out for a Kirby they would mention it to a few people.)  I asked Tom about the longevity of the Dysons as in 'how many are still running after 10 years?' He replied, "Most of them."  Of course 'most' could be 51%.  Since Tom G. is no longer a Dyson dealer, and he works for one of  the primary contenders in the marketplace,  has access and time to research as well as being privy to inside info, I have no reason to doubt his word.

It's just that I continue to see so many Dysons come into my friend's shop for repair. Many people spend in excess of 100.00 to fix a vacuum less then 5 years old because the repair is not covered by warranty. Huh? Many say they will not buy another Dyson, but the repair is the same as a Big Box vac, and they do like the performance, and they don't want to shop for another vacuum, so they fork out $$$ for the repair.  People do abuse their vacuums, and I would say the Dyson is more vulnerable to damage from abuse than many.  Seeing the dirt seems to be a big deal. Maybe people vacuum more, and slower when they see the dirt swirling around. But if Dyson really is selling 8,000 cleaners a day, if they are in financial distress it has to be due to poor management, not an uncommon phenonemon

Carmine, I laughed so hard at the idea of you and I being the same poster I nearly fell off my chair!  We are what, 15 years, 1500 plus miles, and a wife and child apart? But why stop at one? You, me, Severus/Venson, could all be the same person!  I could just be a figment of your imagination! Or whoever is the real person's imagination. Not all multiple personalities are aware of each other, so (gasp) I could be DIB's alter ego and not even know it!  This whole line of thought is moving me into the existential vacuum, and I'm unsure if it's bagless or not.

Trebor

The facts don't lie, even CR ranks Dyson as one of their more reliable brands.  For every Dyson that has had problems of some sort there are at least 10 still going strong and serving their owners faithfully.

Speaking of Tom G., it is worth noting that he owns a prototype US DC07 from 1999, 2 years before Dyson "officially" arrived here.  In the 10 years he has had it, it has not had a single repair, and for 9 of those years it served as the store vacuum for his old store.   To say that it has received heavy, daily use there is an understatement.  I also saw the machine over at the Museum in September, and when I spoke to Tom last week, he said he was still using it regularly there as well to clean the acres of carpeting in each historical section.  That says a lot about performance and longevity...plenty of brand new, perfectly good Riccars and Simplicitys around and the trusty Dyson wins out every time for routine cleaning! 

For another example of Dyson longevity, look to the another cleaner at the museum, the 1983 Cyclon.  Not only is it still perfectly functional, it does a surprisingly good job.  Same can be said with the many British Dysons from the 1990's (DC02, DC03, DC05, et al.), nothing wrong with them at all.  And while not necessarily Dyson per se (but very much Dyson designed and related), look at all of the 10+ year-old Fantoms that are still in use all over the States. 

Obviously, when any appliance is abused, it is not going to last as long, and even a well-engineered cleaner like the Dyson is no exception. 

Going back under the rock now and watching-
MH

As more data became available, Consumer Reports consistently rated Fantom uprights' reliability as the worse among all the brands exceeding 15 percent failure/repair rates year after year until CR dropped it from the survey.

Carmine D.

The facts don't lie, even CR ranks Dyson as one of their more reliable brands.  For every Dyson that has had problems of some sort there are at least 10 still going strong and serving their owners faithfully.

Speaking of Tom G., it is worth noting that he owns a prototype US DC07 from 1999, 2 years before Dyson "officially" arrived here.  In the 10 years he has had it, it has not had a single repair, and for 9 of those years it served as the store vacuum for his old store.   To say that it has received heavy, daily use there is an understatement.  I also saw the machine over at the Museum in September, and when I spoke to Tom last week, he said he was still using it regularly there as well to clean the acres of carpeting in each historical section.  That says a lot about performance and longevity...plenty of brand new, perfectly good Riccars and Simplicitys around and the trusty Dyson wins out every time for routine cleaning! 

For another example of Dyson longevity, look to the another cleaner at the museum, the 1983 Cyclon.  Not only is it still perfectly functional, it does a surprisingly good job.  Same can be said with the many British Dysons from the 1990's (DC02, DC03, DC05, et al.), nothing wrong with them at all.  And while not necessarily Dyson per se (but very much Dyson designed and related), look at all of the 10+ year-old Fantoms that are still in use all over the States. 

Obviously, when any appliance is abused, it is not going to last as long, and even a well-engineered cleaner like the Dyson is no exception. 

Going back under the rock now and watching-
MH

Here's the exact statement from the CR web site concerning reliability methodology: 

"Brand Reliability Kirby and Dyson have been among the more reliable brands of upright vacuums, Electrolux, Hoover and Simplicity among the less reliable. Rainbow and Dyson have been among the more reliable brands of full-size canister vacuums. That's what we found when we asked 156,000 readers who bought a vacuum between 2004 and 2008 about their experiences. The graph shows the percentage of brands that needed a repair or had a serious problem. (Belt replacement isn't included because it's usually an inexpensive fix.) Differences of less than 4 points aren't meaningful, and we've adjusted the data to eliminate differences linked solely to age and use of the vacuum. Models within a brand may vary, and design or manufacture changes may affect future reliability. Still, choosing a brand with a good repair history can improve your odds of getting a reliable model."

Please note that the reliability survey is in regards to recently purchased vacuums - 5 years old or less.

CR first tested the DC07 in '02 and Dyson has been above-average in reliability even concerning cleaners purchased before 2004 (in earlier articles).  But regardless of how you want to look at it, the fact that any cleaner can withstand 5+ years' worth of heavy use in the average American household these days is pretty damned impressive.  Besides vacuum cleaners, look at how most people treat their homes, cars, washing machines, etc...sure, we can argue that things may not be made as well as they used to be, but the idea of taking care of something so it can last has become a completely foreign concept.  Why do that when you can plunk down another $500 (or a few thousand, or 40 grand, depending on what it is...) when it breaks and have a new one? 

True enough, Severus, but let's assume a 50% return rate, and 50% refurb. That is still new 2,000 vacuums per day, net, 365,000 per year. Not numbers to sneeze at. Not when you are talking about an average purchase price of $400.00 plus When I worked at an appliance retailer that sold Dysons, the retailer had an agreement with Dyson to honor an over the counter exchange for the life of the 5 year warranty. Talk about abused vacuums! People would roll them in cracked, stuffed, and ripped to shreds.  All we could do was take them back and issue a new one. I don't know if the agreement is still the same, as I am no longer there, but it was Dyson's nickel, not the store's so we couldn't do anything, because the customer would just scream, and the manager would cave. Not every Dyson came in looking like that, to be sure, and sometimes I think people just wanted a different color.  I actually sold a number of the motorhead canisters, because I felt they were better than the uprights.