Dyson Animal - What I don’t Like
My last two posts talked about the virtues for the Dyson Animal and what I liked most about the vacuum. Today I thought I’d talk about a few things I don’t like.
Oh, before I forget, make sure you check out the new videos page. Mind you, I am definitely not a paid professional actor!
Actually, there’s not much, if anything, that I find I don’t like about our Dyson but, I have had a couple parts fail.
The first failure was about 9 months ago. I went to empty the canister and while tapping on the upper part of the canister to clean out the cyclone chambers of the fine dirt particles - as per the instructions - the hinge on the bottom flap (that seals the canister) broke. Odd I thought because a light tap is all that’s needed to clean the chambers and that’s what I’ve always used.
As mentioned in my first post, this is a refurbished Dyson Animal and was well out of it’s 6 month warranty. I called Dyson the next day to get pricing info. During the call, the woman asked me some questions - when and where purchased and also the model number. After giving her this info and knowing full well that she’d know this was only a 6 month warrantied vacuum, she proceeded to tell me a new canister part would be sent out that day - FREE of charge!
Thank you very much!
The other part to fail was the carpet tool. The tool is a two piece tool so that it can swivel. One time, while removing the tool from the holder, the top part of the tool came out but not the bottom part. CRAP! This was my monthly poker night and I needed to do a quick vacuuming of the table to! The is a collar that holds the two pieces together that is made out of thin plastic. The collar failed.
I checked prices and being the cheap (I like to think frugal) person I am, I decided to glue the collar back on where it had broke just to see how long it would last. That was about 4 months ago and the original part is still going strong.
I’ve talked to a couple other owners who have experienced the same part failure so I would hope that Dyson has addressed this on later models - especially since they are now giving 5 year warranties on all new Dysons. If not, a little super glue and rubber bands seems to be the ticket rather than a new tool.
And about 2 months ago the brush attachment did the same thing and the glue job has worked so far on that part too.
I also had a friend of ours, Donna, report that there hose began ripping down where it attaches to the bottom of the vacuum. I told her to call Dyson - they also purchased a refurbed DC07 - but her husband Joel simply cut off the hose above the tear and put the hose back on.
Other than that, I’ve not had any other parts fail nor know of anyone else who’s reported a failure of any main component part.
I guess I do have one complaint though:
WHO EVER IN MY FAMILY IS USING THE VACUUM AND NOT
EMPTYING THE CANISTER (Brittany!)
WOULD YOU PLEASE STOP?
If you’d like to check out some prices and more info on the Dyson vacuums, my wife and I and four other couples have had great success online with at Amazon and their Dyson vacuums
Good to know that Dyson works with their customers!
I own a Dyson DC17 Animal. It works great. Now the bad part, and it is really nasty, when you are close to let’s say a couch or mattress on a bed, the housing that slides by the furniture on the reverse/back stroke comes in contact with the very, very sharp edge of the vacuum housing and rips the furniture every time. I would be interested in hearing from any of you if this has ever occurred!
I purchased a new Dyson 07 Animal. I specifically invested in this machine for pet hair. The turbo attachment is excellent IF it stays in place. There is no way to keep the attachment from moving when vacuuming and when it slides just a bit, the suction is decreased or lost completely. I am constantly having to adjust the attachment. This is not a vacuum that “never loses suction” as advertised - if the parts can’t stay in place. Calling the company has been less than a positive experience. I simply want a solution - not a new vacuum. Perhaps an interim piece for better attachment stabilization. But I was told NOONE HAS EVER COMPLAINED ABOUT THIS. Funny…in reading complaints on line - that seems to be a standard reply from Dyson. Unacceptable!
I was so pleased with the quality of cleaning with my Dyson animal But….a family of females with long hair that wraps around the brushes–my daughter tried to cut the hair with a razor and nicked the belt. Vacuum continued to work for about 3 weeks and then the belt broke so I neede a new belt. Could not find the anywhere so I called Dyson. They would send me 1 belt but would not sell me additional belts. When the belt arrived it was the wrong one and it immediately became apparent that special tools are required to get into the belt housing. Another call to Dyson only to be told that nicking the belt is outside the warranty and I would have to ship the entire machine back to them (cost of $140.) to have a belt installed and any further mishaps and my warranty would be voided. For $438 I should be able to buy belt and change them myself!!
I tried to use the mini-turbo for animal hair on the sofa and we cannot, after two hours of trying, find how or where to attach the crazy accessory! The instructions are a joke and we found your site looking for other people who might have had a similar problem. It doesn’t fit onto the extension wand, or the end of the expanding tube, or any end of any part of the crazy thing! We are ready to toss the thing off the porch we are so frustrated. We had hoped your video would show our model being taken apart for this function, but alas, it does not. We have the DC17. I ended up pulling out my ancient DustBuster to clean the sofa. How sad after I spent $549.00 on this vexing machine. Thanks for listening!
I must admit, I was concerned after reading the above review from Jessie about the belt breaking and the process for replacement, I decided to call the Dyson help line as part of my pre-purchase decision making process.
I spoke with a Dyson rep who stated that the DC07 does require taking the vacuum to a service center for belt replacement, but that it’s quite reliable and shouldn’t break under normal use. The Dyson rep also stated that the DC14 Animal and DC17 Animal belts also should not break, but if they were to encounter the above type of non-manufacture defect instance, then the consumer is able to purchase a new belt and replace themselves with no special tools/no need to take to a service center. She also stated that if the belt were to break, however, under normal use (ie: no misuse or mishaps) the part would be covered under warranty and could be replaced by a local independent service center in your area –or- if you purchased at Best Buy or Sears, they are authorized service centers (though I cannot recall if she said they can only service items they sell –or- if they can service anyone’s Dyson….?). If no local service center exists in your area (though I do not know what is considered “a reasonable” distance) Dyson will ship to their service center at no cost to the consumer for warranty repairs- Dyson pays inbound and outbound shipping- AND – you don’t even pack it up! … You take it to a UPS place and they pack it up.
And more good news! … The DC15 Animal (The Ball) doesn’t even have a belt! It’s completely motor-driven by the separate motor for the brush bar- so if you get this one, no belt worries at all!
Hope this helps- I did my best to recount the facts in our conversation, but do forgive me if I made any error. In any event, what I heard put me one step closer to my Dyson Animal purchase versus the “other guys.”
I am NOT happy with my Dyson DC15. My wife ordered it and left me to figure out how to make it work—-she is completely intimidated by it, I’m only somewhat less intimidated. There are no videos, not even a good explanation of what the various parts do, or even how to hook them up. The machine is incredibly complicated—-it took me a long time to find the “ON” switch (which is difficult to turn on and off).
I can only hope I don’t break a belt on this thing. Wanna buy a new vacuum cleaner cheap?
My animal Dyson was great for awhile. The hose gets funky and I can’t get it clean. The hose is also hard to get back on the ploe. Now.. teh little wheel next to the belt is melted away. It makes a terrible racket when I put it on the carpet selection. I am ready to throw it away.
My animal Dyson was great for awhile. The hose gets funky and I can’t get it clean. The hose is also hard to get back on the ploe. Now.. the little wheel next to the belt is melted away. It makes a terrible racket when I put it on the carpet selection. I am ready to throw it away.
My wife keeps a very neat and clean house but she hates vacuuming so I sometimes end up with that chore. We recently adopted a german shepherd who sheds wads of long fur every day so we needed a good vacuum. I bought a Dyson Animal 7 after word of mouth and on-line reviews. Previously I’ve had or tried in-house, uprights and cannister style vacuums. I preferred cannisters since they let you move the wand where you need it without having to fight with the cumbersome weight of an upright. But I decided to try the Dyson as I was tired of replacing the bag every other time we vacuumed with my old sears vacuum as it would get filled up with dog hair and blow stale bag smell thru the house when operating it.
The best part about the Dyson Animal is that it works extremely well at picking up dirt and dog hair. If it didn’t, there’d be no need to consider it any further. But it does. The other great thing about it is that you don’t need to buy bags and it has a lifetime hepa filter that is supposed to filter the exhaust air to keep the dirt and smell inside (it will, until it gets clogged and needs cleaning). Cleaning the hepa filter is easy enough and I have used compressed air to clean any other hard to reach places of accumulated dirt.
Now for what I don’t like.
I haven’t had any parts break like others have mentioned, other than a cosmetic crack around the cord release holder lever that you coil the cord around for storage. I haven’t been particularly gentle with the unit but so far everything else has held up.
My biggest complaint is the hose/wand assembly. Putting it together is a chore. Press, pull, drag, press, twist - I doubt anybody with arthritis in their hands could do it. What you end up with after all that ingenious transforming is a very clumsy pipe attached to a very short and irritating flex hose. The hose contracts a great deal under vacuuming pressure and fights you constantly. You try to go forward, it pulls you back. If it can’t pull you back, it yanks the vacuum towards you (either by rolling it into your backside or some other obstacle - or by tipping the vacuum over onto the floor. The range of the hose is poor, and the further away you try to reach, the more likely one of the 2 scenarios mentioned will occur. Simply awful.
2nd, I really dislike the clattering ‘alarm’ sound that is given off whenever you run across fringes or tassels when the carpet brush is on. As far as I can tell, this is intentional to let you know the brush is binding; an unintended side effect may be your pausing to regret your purchase of a Dyson.
Also, the unit is bulky and awkward to manuever when trying to go back and forth from rugs to hard flooring and get in corners. It’s heavier than I would like and like another poster has commented it’s hard to avoid ramming into the sides of furniture when trying to get in close.
Finally, the hose attachments aren’t particularly easy to detach or attach and are a bit tough to twist into the right angle. I wish a full-size hard floor surface nozzle was provided, it would make the hose wand more useful than for just cleaning small areas. You could use it for hallways and closets instead of having to row the entire vacuum cleaner back and forth repeatedly just to clean small areas.
But it removes dirt and dog hair like a champ, so I put up with these shortcomings. Perhaps a newer design addresses these issues.