Dyson DC07 Animal Review

Overall Rating

I bought the DC07 Animal about 6 years ago and, considering I paid £330 for it, expected a nice, reliable vacuum. I was trading up from a 5th-hand, 25 year old, bagged Panasonic, so I was really excited about my purchase.

This hoover is probably the worst purchase I have ever made! The pet turbo attachment blocked within two weeks, and I'd only used it four times! Okay, so I had long hair back then, but the only other furball in our house was a shorthaired cat, and she only ever stayed in the hall, stairs and kitchen!

Further spotlighting the ANIMAL as an ineffective 'bag of rubbish'(pun intented) is the fact that we have wooden/slate floors through 95% of our property, so our hoover doesn't exactly have the hardest job in the world!!!

The only fitments that are still working are the crevice device and the circular brush. The animal tool died after about 4 months, no longer able to spin regardless of how much we tried to clean it. A 4th tool snapped the first time I used it to clean our (wooden) stairs, and a 5th tool broke in two the first time my husband used it to clean the car.
We contacted Dyson about all of these faults, but never received a response!

The hoover no longer workes if pushed, it only workes when using the hose, and even then the suction's not brilliant. It just about picks up bits off the floor, but doesn't work on the 5% of rug/carpet we have! It's faster for me to sweep the floor and hoover up the pile...

It's not a joy to use; it's heavy, noisy, bulky and cumbersome. It doesn't float easily behind you as you clean and falls over regularly.

The hose split in three places and has had to be tapped. When Dyson did finally respond to our complaints, they said as the hoover was over 12 months old, we'd have to pay for reconditioning. I swore I'd buy a different make before Dyson got any more of my money!

Several parts of the the main body have broken off or cracked. I noticed a few months ago that the edge at the top of the dust container has broken off, and now the handle is 1/3 cracked. As this it part of the carrying mechanism, this is most concerning, and I am sure it will only be a matter of time before this too snaps; Sod's law says it'll happen when the damn thing is being carried downstairs!

So, I'm going to buy a new vacuum before the Dyson does someone an injury.

As an interesting footnote: I went to Tunisia in 2001 and met a woman who worked on the managerial side of Dyson, and she advised me absolutely NOT to buy a Dyson! EVER!

I wish I'd listened...