Vacuum Cleaner Hospital — Local services in Chapel Hill

I wish I could write a glowing review, as I was very excited to find this place and felt confident they could help me with my Dyson after a phone conversation and reading reviews. I have a five year old Dyson that was just out of warranty and serious lacking its normal suction. I wanted someone who was knowledgeable about Dysons to take a look at it and tell me what it needed. I called and the woman was very nice, telling me they offered a $39 diagnostic test.

I drove to Chapel Hill from Raleigh and when I got there, I was "greeted" by a less than enthusiastic man who told me I first had to call Dyson and go through their phone diagnosis before working with them. I explained it was out of warranty and he looked at my machine like it was a dinosaur, quickly pointing and rattling off problems with it and telling me that it was going to be easily over $200 to repair. He didn't offer much beyond that, other than to suggest it didn't make sense to repair.

The woman from the phone came out and was kind enough to show me new Dysons that I could purchase. While she was nice and they had some good sales, I was disheartened. I went home with my vacuum and weighed my options. I ended up, on advice of a friend, trying to take it apart and clean it myself to see what was wrong.

After five years of heavy use on pet hair, it was an absolute mess! With no skills, I used Youtube to easily take it apart and thoroughly clean it. In the process, I saw no problems with the belt, cyclone, or other parts the gentleman described as issues. After a thorough cleaning, it is working like day 1!! I couldn't help but feel they were pushing me to a new vacuum, rather than trying to get the most out of my current one. For the $400-$500 that my Dyson originally cost, you would think it should still work after five years.

My advice is if you truly want to save your current vacuum, this is not the place to do it. Try it yourself first by cleaning it! (I bought about $25 in tools to open up the cyclone, otherwise it was free for me to do.) Parts are also available online - do note that opening the cyclone voids the warranty, so you may not want to do that yourself. For me, it was a mute point since it had been over the 5...

The Vacuum Cleaner Hospital has regained our strong endorsement because they have an employee named Joe whose customer-service skills and fund of knowledge are exceptional. Because he provided instruction rather than a sales pitch, we now own a vacuum that definitely out-performs the Mieles and the Dysons we’ve owned, at least for the needs of our household. Of note, we went to the store a couple weeks ago just to get a vacuum repaired, with absolutely no intention of buying another one, but we left with a brand new Riccar! And we have no regrets. This seems to be one of the best vacuums we’ve owned, perfectly tailored for people who have shedding dogs and don’t like cannisters. Had Joe been pushy or ‘a typical salesman,’ we would have resisted and would never have been open to purchase another vacuum. He instead listened to what we’d liked and disliked about previous vacuums, and he then tactfully informed us about new possibilities we might consider, at some time, without the least bit of pressure.

We are writing this review (which isn’t typical of us) because we would hope that the owners of Vacuum Cleaner Hospital appreciate the skills of this relatively new employee named Joe. This same store had a salesman a few years ago who was so pushy and “in our face” that we stopped going there for vacuum shopping and began purchasing our vacuums elsewhere. Joe’s style is a positive contrast to what we’d begun to associate with Vacuum Cleaner Hospital. He knows how to earn trust through the respectful instruction he provides, his emphasis on listening without pushing a specific name brand or vacuum, and his ability to match a customer’s needs and preferences with a product. We appreciate the very positive experience we had in purchasing our new vacuum, and we’re especially grateful to have found one that is optimal for owners of large shedding dogs. As long as a salesman like Joe is there, we’ll again be regular customers of Vacuum Cleaner Hospital. We’re happy about that, because it’s a small local business with an assortment of high-quality products and...

I used to drive by this place and thing "Why would anyone go there?" Now I know. I was recently in the market for both an air purifier and a vacuum. We used to be huge Dyson fans, but our most recent one we could tell the quality took a nose dive. So we started looking into other brands and came across Miele - I did a ton of online research and found the Vacuum Cleaner Hospital was our local seller. For a big purchase like this, I wanted to see it in person - not just blindly buy on Amazon. Same with the air purifier we were looking at - the IQAir. The Vacuum Cleaner Hospital also happened to be a seller. I figured I could kill two birds with one visit.

Joe Hoffman was the guy that helped me - and he was awesome. First, they offer a 5-day in home trial of the IQAir. I read all of the positive reviews, but you always wonder if it will work for you. Joe took the time to walk me through all of the features, even showed me how to take it apart and showed me the individual filters. I was able to take home a demo unit that day. As for the vacuum - Joe did a great demo. Took the time to understand my requirements and made a recommendation. I had already done some research, so I had narrowed it down to a few models. So Joe took the time to explain all of the differences. He didn't give me a sales pitch, didn't do any infomercial type cleaning examples - just showed me everything the machine could do - and let me decide which was best. In the end I went with a more expensive unit - not because Joe upsold me, but because he did such a good job explaining differences that I didn't know of (nor did i find in any of my research) and those differences I was willing to pay for. Joe even unboxed and assembled the vacuum so all I had to do was go home and plug it in - no boxes, no styrofoam.

Please give this place a shot - one trip was all it took to change me from a "What is this place for?" to a "What else can i buy from them?" Joe and the rest of the team there are great - you won't be...