HOOVER SAVVY VACUUM CLEANER PROBLEMS

I purchased a Hoover Savvy Upright Vacuum Cleaner, Model U8163-900, in November, 2003. Since then I have encountered two problems for which the manual was misleading and no significant help was provided by calling the 800 number provided by the manufacturer.

1. Difficulty in removing the dirt cup.
It is usually a struggle to just to get the dirt cup out (it is "bagless"). You pull and pull, and if you are lucky it may come out. Sometimes I can't get it out at all, nor can my wife. I called the company and their instructions were no help - the same as in the user's manual: lift up slightly and pull straight out. It does not help that elsewhere in the Hoover documentation it says nothing about "lifting up slightly." If this example of BAD engineering seems like a small matter to you, wait until you struggle with this for 20 minutes and still can't empty the d**n thing!

2. Simply entangling the brush rolls may require service.
The vacuum has brush rolls in the front that agitate a rug for adequate cleaning. Twice now these rolls have shut down when a string or tassel on a bed spread entangled in them. The first time the vacuum restarted after the rolls were cleared out. The second time we had to get the unit serviced at a cost of $60 (not at the official Hoover service center, which is hundreds of miles away).  There is an error in the manual on this problem. On page 12 it advises you

" ... clear blockage from brush rolls. Reset circuit breaker if necessary (Fig. 2-9)."

But Figure 2-9 in the manual has nothing to do with a circuit breaker. I called the Hoover 800 number and found out there was no circuit breaker on this model.  It seems they are too cheap or incompetent to provide a unique manual for each model, instead you get a manual that may give information for another model without telling you.  Further, there was no way to get the unit started again other than having it serviced. We are much more careful now about avoiding anything that could hang up the rolls, but it would have been helpful if the instructions warned about this peril instead of advising you to reset the nonexistent circuit breaker.


So, yes, you could say that the Hoover Savvy vacuum cleaner sucks!


Daniel VanArsdale,    11/2005 & 5/2006.