Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

I recently visited a local vac shop, not the one run by a close friend. We discussed Dyson and other brands. He maintains that Dyson WAYYY overestimated the cost of returns/warranty repairs when he invaded the US vac market, which is why the Dysons were given a 5 yr warranty. He said Dyson, despite rumors to the contrary, is making money hand over fist, and show no sign of slowing down. Even though the hose is excluded as a warranty part, Dyson is issuing repair authorizations for them. He also said he is selling Dyson dirt canisters, cords, roller brushes, and hoses like there is no tomorrow.  He said Dyson is ready to cut prices when necessary to boost flagging sales.  The DC-07 will make a reappearance at  $299 or lower when the time is right.

I stopped by Best Buy to purchase a memory card  for my camera, and wandered down the vac aisle, of course. 33 full size vacuums on display. THREE bagged machines, all uprights. Other than Dyson, only ONE canister, a Dirt Devil straight suction. Dyson had on display three cans and four uprights, over 20% of the vac sku offerings!  There are new and interesting things in the vac shops, but nothing has changed at BBR where most of America buys their vacuums.  According to him, Panasonic has lost the contract to build Sears canisters.
All of this is, of course, excellent news for Kirby.

Trebor wrote:

Speaking of Kirby and Dyson, there seem to be a lot of people doing Kirby -vs- Dyson comparisons on youtube.  Of course, they don't do valid tests, but they do tests like the door to door sales people taught them to do (last vacuum wins).  Curiously, when one person did a half way decent test of a Bissell against a Dyson, and the Bissell seemed to pick up a lot more dirt than the Dyson, he apologized for the results.  The Dyson owners who commented on the video insisted that the Dyson (DC07) must have clogged filters.   The major reason for the difference is the terrible brush roll on the Dyson DC07.   

CarmineD wrote:

I sold my DC07 simply because I wanted to try other vacs.  I never expeienced any problems or loss of performance as you would like others to believe.  I was not a disgruntled owner.

I have returned two Orecks because of poor performance.  I WAS A DISGRUNTLED OWNE

HOOVER FAILED AND HAD TO SELL.  ORECK IS NOW BEING SOLD AT DISCOUNTED PRICES AND ALSO IN WAREHOUSE STORES.  Must be all those over stocks from redusced sales at company stores.  Looks like Dyson isn.t alone in these slow economic times.  Did I misread or did the independent say that Dyson was selling great in these hard times?

Trebor wrote:

James Dyson seems like a likeable guy.  He may not be quite the salesman that David Oreck is, but he is the face behind the product.  He gains empathy from people who believe that he is truly trying to make a better product for them to use.  Dirt Devil, Hoover, Eureka, Bissell lost a lot of good will when they made high maintenance bagless vacuums with filters in the middle of the dust bins.   While he might be solving nonexistent problems with some of his features, I think he gains good will for his efforts. 

The biggest problem is getting people to part with $400 for a vacuum.  Given the success that Dyson is having, I've got to assume that the advertising campaign about low cost of ownership is working.  When you see replacement bags for vacuums costing $5 a piece that need replacement monthly, it isn't surprising that people are attracted to the idea of $0 cost of ownership with a Dyson.  Dyson is wise to be liberal in making repair authorizations for damaged hoses to build good will. 

If would be really nice if Dyson could find a way to build/assemble some of his vacuums in the US, since this is one of his biggest markets. 

Severus wrote:

Yes, but -- it would seem our own home-based companies won't to do the same without commanding an arm and a leg pricewise.  My gut feeling is that if Dyson were made here prices would probably double and reduce or jeopardize sales.  A nice face is one thing and a keen mind another.  I think Lord Jimmy knows exactly what he's doing and why.

Best,

Venson

Hi Sev.

Its not hard to get the consumer to part with over 4 beans for a vacuum. The key is to just back your words up and not tell stories about how their going to be taken care of if need be, The consumer really wants their moneys worth today more than ever, Its not the product in  most cases, But the people telling big long stories filled with empty promises,The way of doing business today is  how much money can we scam out of people and then GLOAT about doing gods work.

What gives in thinking that these ceo's are woth so much money thats obsence and can not be spent in 6 lifetimes.

Karmas a real B---TCH

regards

mole

HARDSELL wrote:

A little testy HS?  If you are so satisfied with the brand, why didn't you buy another dyson to replace the old DC07 you sold?  Actions speak louder than words, even capitalized words. 

Like you, many of the US first time dyson buyers, don't buy another new dyson after the first experience.  It's estimated that less than 10 percent of dyson buyers are repeat new dyson buyers.  Hence, the reason its market share is down in the UK which is Sir James country of origin.  From a high of 43 percent of the vacuum market in 2005 to a low of the 20's now.  If the other new vacuum sales markets are the same as the UK, as we are always told by dyson fans here, the same is true: Market vacuum share is declining for new dyson sales across the board.  Niche seller.  Not main street USA.

Carmine D.

Severus wrote:

Hi SEVERUS:

With Sir James' popularity in the UK waning year over year as a result of his move from the UK to Malaysia in 2001, any move to the USA, ever so slight, would be even worse for him in the eyes of the Brits.  He would have to resign his commission as tech czar.

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:

Carmine,

I'm relying on my recollection which may be rusty, but I thought James tried in vain to get permission to expand his factory in Britain, but government imposed obstacles made it nearly impossible.  In the US, there are cities/states that would give huge tax breaks to get them to build a factory. There are places that would bend over backwards to take care of any zoning or other issues.  Hardsell commented that Oreck chose Cookeville, TN partly due to generous tax incentives.   If would be fitting for Dyson to build a plant in Missouri and name it the Tom Gasko plant in honor of all that Tom has done to promote Dyson over the years. 

Severus wrote:

Hi SEVERUS;

You may be confusing the Sir James Dyson Engineer HS proposed in 2006 with the dyson production move to Malaysia in 2001.  UK authorities were against the former [school] and for the latter [expanding production in the UK].  Sir James moved vacuum plant production to Malaysia in 2001 due to the labor cost savings.  30 percent labor savings by dyson estimates versus expanding/building new plant in the UK.  Since he was going worldwide with his vacuums, the cost savings was the clincher for Sir James.  Some in the UK will say boldly that British authorities deliberately nixed the dyson proposed site for the Engineering HS in part because Sir James outsourced dysons to Malaysia in 2001.  I think the argument has merit. 

I once said in a post that Tom Gasko is like a dog in heat.  He goes after the latest around.  First, it was him and Rainbow.  Then, it was him and Air Way, which did name a model for him.  Then, it was him, Sir James and dyson.  Now, Tom has a business relationship with RICCAR, after it dumped him when he became a james dyson cult follower.  With the exception of his last business choice, which is his smartest he made, all the others were futile.  He was wrong when he said dyson would force out all other brands in the USA like it did in the UK.  Neither is true.  In contrast all vacuum makers have flourished since the entrance of dyson to the market, capitalizing on the bagless fad.  Most profitable of these brands from a big box store sales venue, which is dyson's sales venue of choice, are those vacuum makers that offer bag and bagless models in concert.  Dyson missed the boat.  It shut out all bagged models thinking, like Tom, that bagged vacuums would go the way of the horse and carriage after dyson launched in the USA.  Again, he and Sir James were wrong.

Carmine D.

Severus wrote:
CarmineD wrote:

Hey Bird Brain,

Slow day for you and Boy Blunder (Venson, who’s not Severus )?  Sir James’ ideas being life-changers and industry-changers and Tom Gasko predicting the market (conversion to Dyson-like filtration) is not your problem.  The fact that you never did anything meaningful with your so-called Ivy League education is your problem.  I say you’re a frustrated tinker and never had enough smarts to make it beyond drilling a hole for the toggle switch on the Constellation.  Did you ever invent anything?  No.  Did you ever make it past a hole-in-the-wall operation?  No.  Did you ever make it past part swapper’?  No.  And on and on.

Dyson Invents Big