Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

Hi everyone, I purchased a DC 23 Motorhead back in July because up until that point, I had only great experiences with Dyson products.   Previously, I had owned a DC 07 and gifted my DC17 animal to my parents.   The canister was working great until just last week.   When I was vacuuming, the motor in the powerhead kept going on and off by itself.   I checked the brush roll and there aren't any obstructions.  The vacuum gets VERY light use as I have a Miele that is also used in the mix.   My cleaning woman also only uses her vacuum so I'm estimating that the Dyson is used maybe once every other week.   I feel that for a four month old vacuum, this kind of problem is unacceptable.  Based on my previous experiences, I hadn't been concerned about product repair.  However, now that I do have a problem, is it true that this vacuum can't be fixed by an indep. shop?   Does anyone have good customer service experiences with Dyson?  I'm tempted to sell it on Craigslist and just be done with bagless.  The thought of having to ship my vacuum to Dyson on my dime is very unappealing.  At least my Miele is 9 years old and still going strong!   Thanks for any advice.

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to give me some advice.  I did end up calling Dyson and they were great about referring me to a nearby service center to have my cleaner repaired.  I was told, depending on the problem, my repair could take anywhere from one week to over a month.  I found it quite interesting that the authorized repair center carried no actual Dyson products.  They strictly sold Miele and Sanitaire.  I think I plan on having my Dyson repaired and then I'm going to sell it.  I've been thinking about the central vac route but not sure I want to invest that much money.  Besides, my downstairs isn't that big and I think I'd go nuts with the hose.  So, given that I already own a Miele canister, and I'm going to be looking for an upright to handle strictly carpet duty.  I'll save that for another post.

Scott3085 wrote:

Hello Scott,

Dyson authorized repair shops are few and far between, as I mentioned in my pprevious post to you.  Recently I was in Orange County California, Anaheim, to visit Disneyland for the 81 Birthday of Mickey.  I picked up the yellow pages and thumbed through the vacuum pages.  Not a dyson dealer, ad, vacuum reference to be found.  Surprised me... but such is life.  I suspect out of sheer necessity dyson has informal arrangements with independent vacuum store owners/operators, like the one referred by dyson to you, to assist in those remote [non-dyson] geographic locations.

Carmine D.

Scott3085 wrote:

Scott the simple reason why they don't have repair centers that sell Dyson is that Dyson won't let Retailers make any money selling them. They undercut the dealers with huge discounts to BBS stores, honor coupons, have flooded the market with refurbs & Ebay and sell on TV all for less money than a dealer can. What is the incentive for a Dealer to put out money for inventory that won't return enough profit to justify it. There are many more vacuums from manufacturers that offer better returns and will let a Dealer make a living. Owning and taking a risk on a business is not an altruistic endeavor to worship Mr Dyson. Hell, if so, why doesn't Mr Dyson make HIS company a not for profit?. THE ONLY REASONS A DEALER HANDLES DYSON WARRANTEES are: They pay a little better than most MFGrs (but there are many dealers talking about slow re-embursement checks as of late) and the number 1 reason.... THEY GET CUSTOMERS INTO THEY STORE TO SELL THEM ANOTHER COMPANIES VACUUM!