Hoover PurePower, what happened???

[beechs1]

Maybe someone can help?
I've Had my purepower since I left home in '97 Xmas present as it happens, it came to uni with me and all sorts ..... My youngest dog chewed the back wheel off it. So I bought the new one. In nearly every respect it's identical...... BUT....... It's cheap feeling, no bag full light, no way near as much suction and it ignores pet hair, where As the1997 version whisked it away! I've just bought new wheels for the old one so will gift the new version to my elderly grandmother, no pets there. I was so pleased and actually amazed that Hoover still had this range, so thought if anything it would be a huge improvement on the old one, but no! how ridiculous? Anyone know what happened?

 

[sebo_fan]

Hoover Europe have been on a cost cutting exercise, that's what has happened!

I can't count the amount of handle press release pedals I've gone through with some Purepower and DustMinger uprights. Then there's the lousier, cheaper height adjustment slider knobs that break off early.

I stopped buying long term UK model Hoover bagged vacs after Hoover went and faffed up the original Telios cylinder vac. They replaced the ill fated trigger handle with a cheaper feeling Chinese made hose and awful handle, took out the variable suction slider and put fixed suction motors and at the same time also made the Telios even lighter with nasty plastics. The fact that the Chinese hoses kept slipping out made the Sensory models last a few more years.

To top it off, they then brought out the Hoover Telios Cyclone which was worse. It failed to pick up after three uses before the filter had to be washed, cleaned and dried. Even after that, the Telios Cyclone was never the same again.

I recently bought the Hoover Idol bagged stick vacuum earlier this year. It is a total disaster.

Candy of Italy should be ashamed. But they just want to make money, even if buyers have to be put up with shoddy crap. The Hoover company no longer care what they sell in Europe.

 

[sebo_fan]

I and probably a fair amount of Hoover fans await for any new bagged upright from Hoover Europe but I think the reality of it is that eventually they may well phase out the bags and go with the demand for bagless. Its a real pity.

 

[marks_here]

I wish they sold those models here in the USA those designs are awesome!! I may just have to buy a UK model & just rebuild the motor to US specs

 

[parwaz786]

Just curious, are you the person selling the Dyson DC41 on ebay because you preferred bagged vacuums? Your location Stafford, same carpet colour and same green hoover made me think that lol.

 

[parwaz786]

Here are the pics:

 

[beechs1]

Ha ha, yeah that was me, sold the dyson and the bloody dog attempted to destroy the other one lol

 

[sebo_fan]

I may just have to go to the UK...

Good luck with that. I just wouldn't recommend buying any Hoover Purepower upright. Buy yourself a previous Turbopower 2 or 3 if you can though; they're far better built IME and there's a reason to why collectors who collect them, usually keep them.

 

[parwaz786]

Lol
Dyson are good, they don't make an bagged ones though for people who prefer bags sadly. I agree with Sebofan, an older hoover would be good.
I have a few suggestions:

Henry Xtra. A very good cylinder bagged vacuum and really durable and lasts ages. Ideal for pets too.

Sebo upright. They are nicely designed uprights and can go under low furniture unlike the Hoover. Well it can but better than the Hoover

Kirby: very powerful upright, however its heavy and mostly metal. Weighs nearly twice as much as the Hoover

Dyson is good, but bagless. Personally I like bagless. If you have dust allergies from emptying it, I would recommend emptying it into a plastic carrier bag. This way no dust can fly out and you throw the bag away much cheaper than buying vacuum bags and these carrier bags are free from supermarkets

 

[parwaz786]

PS just curious, how powerful and how good was the design in your opinion in comparison to the Hoover from 1997?

 

[sebo_fan]

Did you fail to see what the member said at the start of the post?

".. It's cheap feeling, no bag full light, no way near as much suction and it ignores pet hair, where As the 1997 version whisked it away!.."

 

[vintagerepairer]

Using an online inflation calculator, the £90 price of this cleaner today would have been £55 in 1997. So, that's well over 100% cheaper in price, when your original cleaner retailed for £130 in 1997. Despite the massive price change, the new Pure Power has nowhere near 100% less quality (it wouldn't exist if it contained 100% less parts). So to me it's a real bargain in those terms.

As the original cleaner retailed for £130 in 1997, that makes it a whopping £213 today.

So, question is, you paid half the price, do you feel you got more than half the cleaner you had already?

 

[marcusprit]

Thanks for the maths lesson Benny

 

[vintagerepairer]

Not a maths lesson

Backed up by the fact I said the new cleaner was more than 100% cheaper than the original - what I meant to say was that the COST of the old cleaner COST was more than 100% of the new one.

The lesson was in fact one of basic business economics and the fact that in life you only get back what you put in. Customers aren't getting a raw deal from the Candy group - they're getting far more for their money than they ever did. If they don't like it they can buy something else.

Sometimes I think that those who have never been in business forget that the core principle of any business is to make money. If that means adjusting prices and quality to stay in the black, so be it. What would be the sense in making top quality goods at a loss? Sometimes the difference between a "business" and a "charity" is totally blurred in many folks minds.

 

[marcusprit]

If they keep producing crap like that they will go out of business

 

[sebo_fan]

Benny, can you think of a company who are making top quality products and making a loss?

The point is, Hoover vacuums are one of the cheapest to buy and by god the pricing reflects that you certainly don't get what you pay for. An example of pricing versus fair pricing? Any of the TTI Vax products are largely better built than HooverEurope products.

 

[vintagerepairer]

"If they keep producing crap like that they will go out of business "

That is my point - it is by producing "crap" like this that is keeping them in business. Only someone who has not run a business would have said that, based on the case-history of the Hoover brand.

People are buying the crap. They like it. Candy have sold top-end Hoover cleaners and have had to come away from that market as there is no longer a place for the Hoover name within it.

You only have to look around you to see the variations in anything in life - would you expect to get a meal from the Savoy at a Mcdonalds price? Or would the patrons of either establishment be seen in the other?

Mcdonalds, Poundland, and so many others all thrive on mass sales of low quality goods, based on the fact it's what their target consumer wants. A vacuum cleaner enthusiast is not any manufacturers target consumer. They build for the mass market.

 

[vintagerepairer]

"Benny, can you think of a company who are making top quality products and making a loss? "

Yes, Hoover. Their free-flights disaster finished them off as they lost millions and millions of pounds. They never recovered and their place in the market was quashed. Candy bought what remained of the Hoover brand as it's name would have still carried a £ value amongst those who were loyal to it, and they've done what they had to do to keep the name alive. It was that or see the Hoover name go altogether.

 

[sebo_fan]

Not quite.

"...People are buying the crap. They like it. Candy have sold top-end Hoover cleaners and have had to come away from that market as there is no longer a place for the Hoover name within it...."

Not quite. Not if Hoover's facebook page has anything to do with it. Very few positive comments, but plenty of complaints!

As for "top end," there are plenty of top end Hoover vacuums in Europe. Hoover UK are not chosen to list or carry them.

The Athos is proof of that. It may not be as well built as others but Germany and other Germanic led countries in the last two years have all had variants of Athos as well as plenty of Telios cylinder vacs and plenty of other models that the UK never sees.

The priority of which speaks volumes; clearly HooverEurope have more of a market with cylinders and stick vacs in Europe compared to the UK alone who still prefer the uprights. HooverCandy have the money but they don't bother, to save costs on that "one" country who love their uprights.

And as for you quoting Hoover - yes that was back in the day when there was still money to be had in production. The Air Miles campaign effectively cut all ties from the U.S - we all know that.

But the quality back then to the quality NOW is shocking. I know myself having bought the lousy Hoover bagged stick vac - it took TWO attempts from Hoover UK to send out a proper bloody floor tool that doesn't stick to carpet and isn't a chore to push. WITH their experience I assumed they knew what they were doing. Clearly not.