Review: Dyson vacuum & service

I married into a Dyson vacuum cleaner. John's Dyson is a DC04, which, according to its serial number and the nice lady we spoke to on the phone, was purchased back in 2000. Yes, it's a 12-year-old vacuum. It had been cutting out lately, and then comprehensively gave up the ghost about 10 days ago. We called the Dyson service line from their website. They said that we could either have £80 off a new Dyson, or have an engineer come out and fix our current machine, for a fixed £73 fee (which we would not have to pay if he couldn't fix it).

We decided to see if we could eek out a few more years before springing for another £400 vacuum, and  so the service chap turned up on Saturday. And proceeded to take our machine completely to pieces. As seen below. The whole breakdown took him about 5 minutes.

He disappeared out to his truck, and returned with a few boxes. We thought he was just going to replace the cable, as that was the part that was faulty. Apparently not. Their policy, according to our repair guy, is to replace everything. New motor, new brush-thingy, new clutch, new internal hose, new filter, and a new power cable. That would be a new vacuum, then. Oh, and once he turned it on he announced that the cyclone bit "wasn't making the right sort of noise" and that a new one would arrive in the post shortly. Oh, and a new hose. The only original bits now: the wheels, tall bit, and the handle (and attachments). 

Another 12 years, please?

The only complaint I have is that the stair attachment doesn't stay on terribly well (I usually have to put it back on once or twice). My mom bought a Dyson on our recommendation and does NOT like it - none of the hoses stay put. We asked the service guy and he said that the American division is a different operation, so fair warning.

And yes, I did just write a post about our vacuum cleaner. Deal with it. (And no, it was not sponsored!)