They are a disposable machine and designed to fail.
The cases are either glued together or use chocolate fastenings (self tapping screws, I have seen one or two machined screws on the criminally expensive models.) which ring off when trying to remove.
They use very cheap plastic, prone to breaking. And because they know the machine will be relegated to land-Fill (another subject entirely) they leave sharp edges exposed.
They rivet components together, I have a commercial workshop so rivets aren’t a problem for me but this construction technique alone should raise alarm bells !
Parts are not available, you have to buy complete units like the motor housing or a complete floor head – even (from what I have seen to date) the stretch hoses are NOT crush proof, you see Crush Proof Hoses on even (sensibly priced) cheap vacuum Cleaners !
I don’t know of any serious person in this business (There are people who will try and fix these machines but in general they are usually just after your money – consider yourself warned) who would entertain dealing with Shark products and that includes their Hair Care range.
Designed to fail:
When you consider the relatively weak Suction (Vacuum) compared to a Dyson, Miele or Sebo and the fact that these machines use a single upturned (wrong way up) Cyclone (if you can picture that) you can imagine that the dust now has to also compete with gravity ! This means that the fine stuff just gets pulled into the top filter which is where it stays ! This restricts the air flow and Shortens the life of the motor – these filters clog quickly.
Also, on these “Lift Away” things there is usually a hidden filter behind a plastic trim under the bin at the front that does not appear in the manual – I believe (as do others) that this has been done on purpose – so that you don’t clean this filter, again lessening the airflow for the motor and again.. shortening it’s life even further.
The front roller on the “Duo-Clean’ heads does nothing but turn, hell look how wide these are compared to other machines (Dyson in particular) – there is no such thing as ‘Edge to Edge’ cleaning !
I could talk all day about the low quality and flaws of this brand but I will spare you that, I hope I have got My point across…
…Just Don’t buy one.
No wonder people get upset when told that their machine is a “Landfill Machine” – they have paid Toyota money and received a Mobility Scooter !
Suffice to say, we do not touch Shark.
