This Blog Sucks, or, The Vacuum Blog

Arlene Blackman Yolles ♦ March 9, 2024 ♦ 5 Comments

My cleaning lady of 3 or 4 years is a clutz.  Not only has she broken several items in my home (including one of the mugs in my collection) but she often did not put things back where they came from.  Also, after she’d leave, I’d come across a rag on top of my desk or on the floor of a closet.  One day, she broke my husband’s beautiful vodka shot glass that he bought in an antique store.  During her last visit, I came home to find her confessing, “I did something.”  The something that she did was dislodge a ukulele from its hook on the wall and broke the backing wood that affixed to the instrument.  Not an ordinary ukulele, my husband had bought it in Hawaii about 50 years ago from the Kamaka factory.  The equivalent of what Gibson (or Fender) is to guitars, or Stradivarius to violins. When he looked it up on the web, a Kamaka ukulele in good condition (ours had some dust on it) would bring in $500.

Needless to say, that was the last straw. She wisely left her salary to help “pay” for it and offered to give more money from other jobs.  We decided to not have us clean for us anymore.

Yesterday I interviewed two potential cleaning women.  The first told us she could not use our vacuum (A Shark/Ninja upright bought last April) because it was too heavy for her.  The second was a good match for us.  When I showed her the vacuum, she said, she’s familiar with it.  I then showed her how to remove the power consul, which essentially is the motor.  Guess what?  The button did not do what it was supposed to do and it was impossible to remove the piece.  Neither would the wand release.  Guess who was the last to use it?

I went to PC Richards where (I thought) I had bought it but neither they nor I had a record of it in the database.  Otherwise, they would have fixed it for free under the warrantee.  I then remembered that although we tested it out there, we actually bought it from the website because the savings was considerable.  So now I had to deal with service on the phone… on a Saturday! I was not looking forward to that.

I phoned customer service for Shark.  The BEST experience I’ve had with help on the phone.  First, she sent me a link on my phone for video watching.  While I talked to her on my house phone, she watched me do what she instructed.  She was patient, clear and helpful.  There are several buttons on the vacuum to release different parts (the wand, the dust cup, handle, hose, power lift away and wand).  We removed the hose and the dust basket and after about 20 minutes with careful instruction, first the wand released, and then the power consul.  With her watchful eye, I attached and detached it several times to make sure it all went smoothly.

I had resigned myself to spending $200 to have it fixed at a shop; the issue resolved itself with much better results!