did you get a free dyson? come talk to me

[swallowedAfly]

hi just wondering if anyone else's dyson has already broken down or on it's way out?

first of all it wasn't really picking up anymore then it started switching itself off and now only comes on for a few seconds at a time before cutting out.

went on the website and did the trouble shooter route and clearly it's a known fault as you can select it and they say you need to call for support.

obviously i will call for support (when i can face one of those phonecalls) and the fact i didn't pay for it hopefully won't effect guarantee but i was just wondering if anyone else has had the same and been through customer support?

not feeling very dyson impressed at the minute and mighty relieved i hadn't gotten round to throwing out my old panasonic upright.

[swallowedAfly]

it is even called 'animal'!!! which would lead one to believe that it can cope with a whizz round the kitchen and hallway floor to pick up the stray lab hairs of 48hrs without clogging into breakdown.

that the answer to that is to make the customer jump through hoops for months and then accommodate a visiting engineer rather than just send a replacement product is ridiculous.

[swallowedAfly]

i think i'm just going to have to suck it up as actually having to take time off work, be in my house and have a stranger in my house is too much imo. i don't want to do all of that because of a shitty product iyswim. that is asking way too much of a customer to expect them to organise around and accommodate an engineer and open their home in order to have some comeback for poor performance on a very expensive piece of equipment.

must remember to go change my review that i did. think i did say it was gimmicky and overpriced for what it was on my original one but i didn't realise at that time that it wasn't even fit for purpose and dyson abdicated responsibility for that fact by changing their spin on what the machine is and is for from what it is promoted and advertised as.

i'm guessing there has been a lot of the same problem going on hence the mindspeak responses.

[EMUZ]

Cat and horses so yep plenty of dirt and pet hair!
Like I said I hope it gets sorted for you, it's an expensive product and should cope with pet hair

[swallowedAfly]

do you have pets EMUZ?

[EMUZ]

Hope it gets sorted. Have to say I use mine as a full clean type thing and haven't had any problems with it

[swallowedAfly]

have been thinking and if the dyson can't cope with a little bit of pet hair and is now said to be just for those in between little cleans yada yada and people are having to pick stuff up off the floor before using it for fear of having to spend half an hour doing the chinese puzzle of unblocking the ball then - how in any way shape or form is it meant to be better than a little cordless £30 handheld which doesn't get blocked?

[Theimpossiblegirl]

While we're talking about product test products not working, I never heard back about the broken controller for the PS3. Any chance of putting me in touch with someone who can help please?

[Madamecastafiore]

We traded ours in for a newer model when we moved house as it had started to smell a bit funny. This probably has more to do with me not knowing you have to wash the filter thingys and not just give them a good bash as I was doing. Our little hand held one we also got free is going great guns still though as is out fab phillips steam generator iron!

[swallowedAfly]

it does read a bit different from 'see how much you can get done in 20mins' challenge type speech of the trial period. it was for ceilings, hard to reach areas, pet hair, etc etc and we would be amazed how much of the house we could get done in just 20mins.

dyson rang today and said the only thing they can do is send an engineer to my house to look at the machine. recovering from surgery at the minute so have asked them to leave it a week or so and get back to me. can't see a hell of a lot of point given other people have the same problem and the person on the phone thought it was entirely normal and just what the machine is like.

[swallowedAfly]

see how we are emphasising it is for 'quick, in-between cleans' now. subtle dyson, very subtle.

[AnnMumsnet]

Below is a note the chaps at Dyson have asked us to pass on

"Hi Mumsnet,
We're currently looking into swallowedAfly's situation, and we aim to have this resolved for her as soon as possible. We hope everyone who took part in the Dyson cordless trial is finding their machine handy for those quick, in-between cleans. Our experts are on hand to help if you have any questions ? just drop us an email at [email protected] and we'll be in touch. Best wishes, Jack, Dyson Customer Service"

[magso]

I have modified my use in that I insist ds clears up all little bits before I vac, and I no longer vac under furniture! I have been quite unwell so love the lightness of it.

[swallowedAfly]

sorry should have asked, 'has it happened again' and/or 'have you modified your usage to not stress it out at all'?

i'm now feeling like i can only use it for dust on surfaces or something - actually not sure what i can use it for. literally everything that must have been on the floor was bundled up compacted in that ball. clearly does not have the suck to get it through there, up the tube and into the bin. to be honest it only sucks well with no attachments and then it blows so hard from the other end that you scatter more dust and hair than you gather.

[swallowedAfly]

yep - you'd realistically need a special tool for it. the woman on the phone was saying ok now get a screwdriver and do x, now get a flexible straw to poke into y...' at which point i did get a bit, 'are you having a laugh? is this considered normal, reasonable maintenance after each use?'.

gosh and you bought yours!? i'd have demanded a refund i think if i'd paid for it. have you had the same issue again? for me it was with a brand new attachment that had only been used once! yes i have a lab who sheds a bit but i don't live in a zoo or a filth pit - it was just the usual stray hairs around the floor.

[magso]

Yes the blockage I got was in the ball bend behind the brush too. I think it is a design fault. It really is difficult to unblock. Dh had to use a special tool he uses at work - a sort of curtain wire like device with pincer on the end. Not part of your average tool box. I bought mine so was rather upset! I still like it - just not as much!

[swallowedAfly]

go for it poledra!

i'm now out in hives and about to take an extra dose of anithistamines as i have a dust allergy, which i mentioned when volunteering to try the machine, and half an hour of dealing in filthy bunged up dust and hair that has to be poked at till you're covered in it has set that off.

cheers dyson!

[Poledra]

half an hour on your hands and knees servicing the machine.

I didn't realise that you had to do that sort of thing to do Dyson - does it like you to clean out its hose? Glad I've got a Miele!

Sorry, SAF, I am just a filthy teenager housed in a middle-aged body

[swallowedAfly]

ok so it turns out it was a block though not the brush but inside the ball and head which turns out to be near bloody impossible to clear because of the design/shape. it had only been used once (new replacement head) and was blocked. took half an hour or so and a huge mess to unblock it.

i asked the woman on the phone if they really considered it fit for purpose if it blocks on a little bit of dog hair on a kitchen floor to which i was told 'it isn't designed to replace a proper vacuum cleaner, it's only a handheld and obviously if it has particularly heavy usage...' - asked her if she considered a kitchen floor whizz round particularly heavy useage and confirmed they are advertising it to pet owners.

i then got cut off and she hasn't called me back so have spent the time sat on the floor clearing the thing out with great difficulty. daredn't use the animal to clear up the mess as i now know everything it appears to pick up just gets stuck in that inaccessible ball.

i recall the guarantee says it doesn't cover blockages (can now see why as they must have known damn well it does this before marketing the thing).

so glad i didn't purchase this or i'd be gutted to have spent hundreds of pounds on something that for which five minutes hoovering equates to half an hour on your hands and knees servicing the machine.

[swallowedAfly]

they tried to call me today tbf but i was at work and have no reception on my phone there.

should i be thinking i don't have the right to complain as i didn't pay or are we reviewing their customer service too?

sorry again - think it's because i'm stressed about everything coming up and dyson is being the proverbial straw iyswim.

[swallowedAfly]

no i had a replacement battery and that didn't work. so they sent a replacement battery housing bit and a replacement brush head and they haven't worked either. it's just fucked but i'm getting royally pissed about (now over a month of having to field phonecalls and wait for parts, then try them, then start again with the phonecalls) rather than them just send me a new machine. we've done all the tests and we've now tried all the parts. i was told this time they sent parts that if they didn't work they'd know it was the engine/turbo whatever thing itself that was buggered and no more messing but instead we're back to ooh could you call and go through some more machine tests and blah blah blah.

sorry to be rude and pissy but i'm really fed up of it now. i have surgery on friday and am rushing around sorting childcare etc at the same time as working and trying to sort the house etc and just don't have time or energy for messing about with them again.

can't do bending and sweeping or heavy lifting for some time after surgery so would have been great to have a working machine. moan moan self pity party etc but really not feeling very dyson customer care impressed at the minute.

[magso]

Hm I wonder if the bend in the main brush is blocked and needs cleaning out. This happened to mine. It stopped picking up then kept switching on and off as you describe. There seems to be a design fault in that stuff can get caught in the bend behind the brush. It is not easy to clean out but solved the problem. I now clean it out regularly.
However if yours is not working with the attachment either it might not be this.

[swallowedAfly]

new battery came and it still has the same problem - doesn't work when you add an attachment. i've emailed them again. presume it is the bit the battery attaches to rather than the battery that is the issue and will need a new machine.

[swallowedAfly]

i read the guarantee as 12months and with an exclusion on battery life diminishing (suspect that will be the issue with these machines - that the 20mins rapidlly becomes 10mins etc hence them not guaranteeing the battery life). pleased to hear the guarantee is 2yrs.

[swallowedAfly]

that is exactly what happened with mine suede. makes a bit of a joke of the person who emailed me saying 'oh we're really surprised you'd be having a problem like this'.

there is an issue with the weight of the attachments detaching the battery apparently. mine worked ok with the hose off but when the hose went on it would happen again. not sure how that is a battery fault and not a design fault but hopefully the new battery will permenantly resolve it rather than last just long enough for the guarantee to run out.

lady on the phone was lovely so can't fault their customer service.

[SuedeEffectPochette]

Funnily enough my one had a battery problem in the first week. It kept cutting out as though I had taken my finger off the button (but I hadn't). Dyson sent me a new battery pronto and this one is fine. It is guaranteed for 2 years so you should have no problems!