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“Utterly Shambolic!”

written by Eeyorebee on 17/10/2020

I’m a single parent on a very tight budget and researched carefully before purchasing a VAX U85-AS-Pme Air stretch petmax at £99.99 in January 2020.

I was amazed by how great it was for the price and even recommended it to friends and family two of my friends bought one off the back of my recommendation.

After around 6 weeks of using it there was a burning smell when I hoovered my daughters room. I assumed it was from the brush bar as it collected lots of her very long hair. I regularly cut off the hair from around the bar and cleaned the filters etc... after a while I just turned the brushes off in her room as the smell continued.
During lockdown the VAX started to smell of burning on other carpets (in my very small 2 bed bungalow) so I turned the brush bars off each time and continued to ‘half clean’ my carpets.
After lockdown ended and we returned back to school/work I decided to get in contact with VAX about it.
I spent several very frustrating hours trying to use the VAX ‘chat’ facility to no avail. I explained in great detail the issues then the ‘chat function’ stopped replying so I had to start several times over. I got so stressed out about it my friend said he would deal with it for me.
He finally managed to get someone to agree to send me a letter about it.

I received a letter telling me about VAX’s ‘easy returns policy’ so they could repair it! Oh the relief - I practically skipped for joy!!! Sadly that’s where the joy ends!

It took me 10 days to find a box big enough to return their vacuum via UPS (as bags were not permitted). I taped the parts securely together and placed bubble wrap over the top of the handle before placing it in a box and taking it to my local UPS drop off point.

Today I received an email to say they’re sending me back my faulty machine because the cable has ‘damage to it’ - therefore they won’t repair the brush bar fault!!! So basically the warranty is not valid unless I pay a qualified electrician to fix it (and prove it with a receipt / certificate).

I must admit I sat and wept.

The lady at the end of the customer service phone line confirmed that the damage to the cable means that their repairers won’t even look at it.

So now I’m left with a faulty VAX that’s on its way back to me and no money to either repair the cable (by a qualified electrician) as per their request or the mental capacity to deal with the fact that I am out of pocket by £100 and have no working vacuum cleaner.

I don’t know any company that treats customers in this way.
Faulty machine, less than 8 months old, should equal replacement!
I have the receipt. (dated 25/1/2020)
I have no vacuum cleaner.
I have no money to repair or replace.
I’m absolutely astounded by the lack of compassion shown in this situation.

Seriously - what is £100 to a multi million pound company!!! Safe to say I’ll never buy a VAX or recommend them again.

Utterly exhausted by their lack of morals on this one! Shame on you VAX.

UPDATE:
I received a ridiculous response from VAX:

Hello

Thank you for your review. I am very sorry to read of your experience and that we were not able to assist you with your product on this occasion. The cable is not something that we support, however you can use a service engineer to complete the replacement of the cable. Once we have repair confirmation we can update our records and can provide you further support under the guarantee. Kind regards,


So my response is this….
Thank you too for your utterly useless reply. I clearly stated that I cannot afford a service engineer / electrician. What an utterly ridiculous response that proves you cannot read or understand my complaint as well as don’t care about your customers!!

The Saga continued….
After a call from a customer service manager, and after I told him the woeful tale of my VAX nightmare, we came to the agreement that VAX would send me a replacement brush-bar that I could fit myself. I did ask where my machine was at that precise moment in time… he couldn’t tell me! He asked ‘Are you not in possession of the machine currently’. Errrr NOPE!!! I then received an email on Friday to tell me that the machine was being dispatched imminently. I even received a tracking number (which didn’t actually work!)

So today, on the doorstep was a very battered box. It appears I have received my unrepaired machine back via Yodel. I opened the box and to my dismay there was no evidence of careful packaging of the machine, no bubble wrap, no tape securing the handle etc… Nope it was in several pieces, simply chucked into the box and therefore it’s been broken in transit.

I was careful to tape my machine together and bubble wrap it to send it. No such care was taken with the return. Now the handle mount has been broken and I can no longer use it. So after a very stressful two weeks I am now still without a working machine!!!!

I wonder what the next chapter in the VAX saga will hold for me. Who is responsible for the state of the machine now? VAX? YODEL? I’m damned sure it isn’t me! I look forward to my Vax response this time!