Dyson
At MSRP $600 my Dyson DC17 "Animal" was not only ridiculously expensive, but each subsequent year model continues to remain among the top rated vacuums. James Dyson is an innovative engineer and brilliant inventor. The words, "NEVER LOSES SUCTION" emblazoned all over the box an entirely true statement doesn't make however, as mine had altogether lost its suction, as well as not running for more than a few minutes at a time, as if some blockage were causing it to overheat.
I stopped at the local vacuum cleaner repair store to see about getting it back in working order, but the owner sneered at me when he heard it was a Dyson. From his lips, they price-fixed their parts and wouldn't allow anyone other than Dyson to perform maintenance on it, and on top of that, they weren't very good machines.
Unflappable, I contacted Dyson to ask about an authorized repair facility, which apparently fall into two groups - warranty and non-warranty work, the latter being carried out by Sears, which he told me wasn't an "authorized" repair shop - which were manned by staff trained by Dyson - simply a 3rd party repair facility they provided parts to.
Encouraged, I called Sears and much to my great surprise, they sent me to a "Hometown" shop right here in Newton to get my vacuum cleaner fixed! I loaded up das Animal and drove straight there. Sadly, they said they no longer perform repair work on Dysons. I asked if Sears Corporate offices was aware of that, as they were the ones who directed me here, and he handed me Sears' "Parts and Repair Center" 1-800 number, which I called there in the shop. They suggested I take the vacuum to the very store I was standing in, and when I explained they no longer repaired Dysons, he suggested I contact the store in nearby McPherson, which also no longer repairs Dyson vacuum cleaners. I announced that someone needed to let both Dyson, and Sears know that Sears no longer provides this service.
Another call to Dyson and they admitted there was nothing closer to me than Chicago in which to get the repair done.
So I bought a Shark on the way home, lamenting my loss, when I saw this video on YouTube and knew exactly what had to be done:
Click to view:57
Armed with a 6-pack of Shiner and $100 worth of shiny new tools, I found having a brand-new vacuum in the living room empowered me to start (at times quite literally) cracking open the Dyson. Mine looked just as bad as that video. All 8 root cyclones impacted with nastiness. Once all that gunk was out and I quit gagging, I washed all the parts and let them dry overnight. It went back together much faster than taking it apart (which I found backward, but given all the gag-nasty I had to fight my way through I suppose makes sense) and in no time it was operating at peak performance "just like new."
I'm not much of a DIY guy around the house, but I also hate throwing away money. I cleaned the house and returned the unopened Shark. Now that I know how to do this, I bet that Dyson lasts me quite a bit longer. It really is an amazing machine.
