Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsFactory assembly error and terrible customer service
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 10, 2018
There is an error in factory assembly of this model that will cause the water spray to fail prematurely (see pictures and explanation below).
I purchased this carpet cleaner for a Christmas gift for my husband and I, and it is still under its one year warranty. We have used it four or five times at most for light duty such as small spot cleaning. It worked fairly well, until today, when it stopped spraying water mid cleaning. The machine appeared fine, no funny noises or smells, just no water. I flipped the carpet cleaner over (after removing the tank and unplugging it) and noticed that a clear plastic hose was lose on the inside beneath the black connector to the tank. It looked like the connection had snapped, as there was black plastic in the clear hose and a rough edge around the hole in the black plastic piece that connected to the tank.
I called Bissell's customer service number on the bottom of the vacuum and explained where the tube had broken off. The representative was very hard to understand and I repeatedly had to ask her to repeat what she said. She told me that they couldn't send me the broken part and kept asking me to check and clean various parts of the machine, which obviously did not help. After a while of doing that, I reiterated my findings about the disconnected hose, the broken plastic, and my question of what could be done. She said that they did not have that piece available and then proceeded to explain that the warranty only covered manufacturing errors, so it likely wouldn't be covered anyway. She asked for my zip code and gave me the name and address of a Bissell approved repair provider, and said that if it was ruled a manufacturer's defect, that it would be repaired at no charge, if not I would have to pay.
I called the repair facility and tried to explain the situation, but was rudely told, with lots of noise and a dog barking in the background, that they couldn't answer any of my questions on what would be considered a manufacturer's error over the phone. I would have to go to their location with the machine if I wanted to talk about it, and that they would be closing in a couple hours. (I looked up the place, and found that they had an average of 1/5 stars on google).
Frustrated that no one would give me a clear answer or solution, and that I may or may not have to pay for the repair, I decided to take it apart myself. I followed the hose path and found the initial connection between the hose system and the water tank port where the problem was. After trying to place the hose back on what was left of the broken plastic, I noticed that the hose was excessively tight, which explains why it must have broken off in the first place. Then I noticed that the hose was going over another hose, instead of being tucked under it where a plastic piece was located that would have held it in place (see pictures). I weaved the hose under the other, and it sat perfectly against the plastic with a good amount of slack. Whoever assembled this in the factory made an error laying the hose over, rather than under, another hose, which put undue stress on the connection because the hose wasn't long enough. This caused the plastic connector to snap off.
I decided to just fix it myself rather than work with a vacuum repair company that was far away and had a ton of one star reviews. I drilled out what was left of the plastic connector and stuck a metal tube in it to attach the water hose to. It seems to be working fine now that the hose has slack.
Overall this was a very frustrating experience, I feel like my time was wasted by Bissell, both while I waited to talk to someone and while I was working with their hard to understand representative. The Bissell one year warranty seems useless, because if something breaks, it must be your fault. They have little respect for their customers, as they refer them to businesses with one star ratings. I would not recommend this carpet cleaner or Bissell as a company.
