Ugh this is a difficult review for me to write/rank because on one hand you have an amazingly powerful carpet washer that I fell head over heels in love with at the very first push of the start button.
On the other hand you have a new design with the latest technology...which like everything else when it first comes out has a few rough spots that need fine tuning.
IF I had purchased this washer right here on Amazon I’d be all about the 5 stars because even though the washer I received was defective I am certain that amazon would have taken care of it and I’d of had a working carpet washer to handle the pile of cat barf the day before Christmas guests arrived instead of having been on my hands and knees scrubbing the old fashioned way in spite of the fact that I had just dropped two bills on a fancy smartwash the month before!
Lesson learned I guess. I purchased my Hoover smartwash directly from Hoover themselves. I used it twice. Both times it was amazing and an unforgettable experience. Rainbows and butterflies, true love’s kiss, the bees knees, whatever you want to call it. The third time however, which happened to be the day before Christmas Eve, everything fell apart. The honeymoon was over and it was a long fall from the top.
There I was washing away while singing and smiling when all of the sudden the self propulsion ceased and the washer began making a noise that can only be understood if you have ever gone to visit Alcatraz in the spring when those weird sea birds are nesting. They make the strangest sound I’ve ever heard and that’s exactly the sound that my vacuum started making on that fateful day last week. I stopped singing and leaned down to see what was going on when I caught a whiff of burnt rubber.
I immediately turned off the smartwash and proceeded to freak out! As a mom of three kids two bills is a LOT of bread to spend and also as a mom of three (plus dogs, cats, turtles, who knows what else) my carpets had a LOT of work needing to be done to them before guests could come over! I even cried. I’m not kidding. Maybe it was the stress of losing my job right before Christmas, plus lack of sleep but I actually honestly did start to cry about my beloved vacuum. It was my favorite appliance and my best friend. It’s demise meant having to go back to feeling the carpet stick to my bare feet because my toddler left a trail of slime from one end of the house to the other. You would cry too.
Anyways, I looked it up and saw that there was a warranty it was under! All was not lost! I wrote Hoover and received a reply telling me to call Hoover. I called but they were closed for the holidays. I handwashed my carpet over the holidays and then called and explained my predicament. They listened and then said that I needed a replacement. I was very grateful and excitedly gave my address as requested. I was then told the process of how I needed to ship the broken washer back and then I’d be receiving my brand new one! It all sounded wonderful!
Then right as I was about to hang up a happy customer it popped into my head and I asked about the cost of returning the defective smartwash as it had never been mentioned. I was then told that I have to pay to ship THEIR defective washer back to them!!! That’s going to cost a LOT of money! I don’t have a lot of money!!! When I expressed this I was further told that there’s no way that they would ship me a new one without having first received the defective one (I did not even come close to remotely asking for them to do this nor did I expect it at all by the way) and by the tone used it was clear that the customer service agent actually thought I wanted to keep their broken, defective washer for who knows what reason other than to take up space I don’t have as its completely useless!
I called around and the cheapest shipping option is over half the value of this stupidwash which would mean I pay nearly double to get a carpet washer that I’m not even sure won’t break again on the third use!
I’ll leave you with this: for the two and a half times I used it this washer was the best I’ve ever had. It is a little heavy but I’m 30 and work out daily so the weight and size is not a huge problem. I can see it being one for my mom though who is 70. Also, it’s very loud but they all are and so are my kids so that’s not enough of a con to steer me away from this one. Additionally, it does not dry very well, but it cleans better than any and all carpet washers combined and that’s including the professional ones so I didn’t mind letting it air dry and it was worth it in my opinion.
I can’t tell you if the gear jamming which caused the belt to slip off and melt and quite possibly burn or ignite (which is what I believe happened based on the black burn marks inside the washer above the belt) is a problem with all SmartWash cleaners or if mine was just defective. I can tell you that it was out of the blue. My carpet wasn’t even a 2 on a scale of 1 -10 dirty and I wasn’t doing anything wild or crazy. It was just normal light washing. If you knew my luck you’d lean towards the belief that I just wound up with the rotten egg though.
If you’re thinking about trying it and you’re going to buy it here on Amazon then I highly recommend you do so! It is practically risk free and Amazon is an honorable company with integrity! Just DO NOT buy it from Hoover!
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