Well a Riccar is crossing the Atlantic :-)

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Bags and belts....

Hi Steve
Tom G is sending me a decent supply of bags and filters- It has a lifetime belt :)
Problem is if you order more on the same order you become liable for Import tax etc which is more than the postage.....

My last Kirby bags came from that seller- I can confirm they are the real deal and arrived in a few days :)

Seamus

P.S its not been run yet - no point until I can use it lol....
 
Jolly good - is he doing them for you at a competitive rate? (Tom that is)


 


Still not sure about the Truvox - getting parts for them isn't easy, as they are strictly commercial vacs. not keen on the orange cable either. Postage is high as its in Ireland.
 
Tom wants a Dc03? I suppose he wants it for the vacuum cleaner museum, as they never got the DC03 in the US. I hope it arrives there in one piece - you know how fragile old Dysons can be lol


 


I prefer the Riccar versions too - the Simplicity is nice, but not as nice as the Riccar. I love the double R logo on the handle. Reminds me of the double D Dolby logo (I'm sure you remember Dolby NR Seamus). I'd still run the cleaner to make sure it works.
 
That is certainly an attractive machine. Great deal I would say. Tacony is something of an anomaly. They don't seem to have much interest in pushing their brands outside the boundaries of North America. You can somewhat understand the challenges of doing so. They are a relatively young vacuum company (begun 1946). They have little brand recognition overseas. They are positioned in the "high-end" market and have "high-end" prices. It's expensive to set up shop overseas. They probably don't feel it's worth it to enter Europe. It would be a near impossible task to dislodge Miele and Sebo from their thrones over there. Those two behemoths would likely make it very hard for Tacony to survive as a new startup on their home turf. They certainly do make a quality product though. People on here who own them generally judge their build quality as superior to Miele, though I wouldn't know that for sure as I've never owned one. They have been known to last well. I believe they possess a 6 or 7 year warranty and an expected lifespan of 20 years. Having seen them tested on Youtube, they are quiet too. The tools seem well made also. I think you will be happy with it. My only caution would be to be cautious of the brush roll. I wouldn't use it on an fine delicate rugs or handmade items as they might cause damage. If shown the most basic maintenance and care it SHOULD last many years.
 
There could be a couple of Major reasons...

There are 2 major reasons Tacony would be up against it in Europe- apart from the Miele/Sebo thing

1. The Made in America marketing isn't really a selling point outside of America......

2. They are able to control the resale prices in the US- this is Illegal in the UK and I believe most of Europe. I believe Miele do the same and that's a big part of the reason their US prices are at least double what they are over here.....

It is a pity though as initial impressions of my Riccar are VERY good :)
Seamus
 
"to dislodge Miele and Sebo from their thrones over there"

That's a laugh. I think you said that because of the picture which people on this forum have painted. The only vacuum cleaners with any real status here are Dyson and the Henry. Not even Numatic as a brand, just their flagship Henry.
 
I think the people of the UK are only interested in Bagless vacs, whatever the brand, and Vax sell much more in the UK than Dyson. The market for used and "re-conditioned" Dysons is bigger than that for new Dysons nowadays, with the likes of ebay awash with old Dysons that people have pulled off the rubbish dump and then cleaned up, to sell as refurbished. Dyson has lost is crown here now I feel, as he has priced himself out of the market, and people can get Vax machines for a third the price with 6 year warranties.


In the UK, you are hard pressed now to find a quality bagged upright unlike in the USA, with TTI (Vax in the UK) offering not one single bagged upright and Hoover still supplying only 1 model - the 17 year old Purepower.


Dyson has affectively brainwashed people that they only want bagless - but I think that may be starting to change now at long last, with Miele and SEBO seeing much more interest here than they used to. And not before time.


 


Oh, and whilst Miele may be a behemoth, SEBO most definitely is not, they are a small company, much smaller than Tacony. SEBO are still relatively unheard of in the UK domestic market. There are even some Germans who have never heard of them! SEBO remain committed to the commercial market in Europe, with sales to domestic buyers taking second fiddle, although more people are now finding out about how good they are. SEBO would pose no danger to Tacony, who already own companies in the UK like Truvox, who make commercial machines.


 


Dyson are not used in commercial environments, basically because they are not capable of hard usage, like SEBO, Nilco, Nilfisk, Truvox, Lindhaus, Victor and Numatic machines, which incidentally all make bagged machines for commercial use, not bagless. Dyson may have brainwashed the domestic user, but not the business user.


 


If Kirby can sell their vacuums in the UK, then I can really see no reason why Riccar or Simplicity cannot supply some 240V machines to the UK market as well, even if its only by mail order. However, most UK people would be unlikely to be prepared to pay over £500 ($850) for a Plastic vac, which is probably why Tacony have never bothered with the UK domestic market.
 
I think if Hoover hadn't faffed up with the Air Miles, we'd still be getting models from the U.S company - that could easily provided a wider channel for Tacony to enter.

The UK is no stranger to U.S vacuums - Kirby and Oreck are known in the UK - but they both command far too high a price for the models IMHO. Oreck UK prices are a joke on their UK website.

Also there isn't much of a reluctance in the UK for buyers to actually care about where their vacuums are made. Reason being that our industry died out so many years ago, we no longer have the conservative government telling us to Buy British.

Dont forget though, the Tacony/Fuller Jiffy upright is a China produced model for Morphy Richards in the UK. Those bagless uprights cost on average $179 which is equivalent to £106 odd pounds and the actual model in the UK from Amazon UK costs £70 to £90

sebo_fan-2014052608564600119_1.png
 
Ok I'm blind apparently ...

I went to recycle the box yesterday and I had missed the bags!!
Had a quick play last night and will do a vid later. Very impressed so far....
Seamus
And yes I did refund my refund from the seller lol....
 
Don't think Tacony's management hasn't seen this thread - they have because I showed it to them. The problem with importing American-Made Tacony vacuums into the UK is, there are very few vacuum shops to sell them. They are not made to be sold in retail stores like Hoovers. They need to be demonstrated, turned over to show their quality metal soleplates and brush rollers. A Tandem-Air vacuum needs to be explained, how the two suction motors work together. The agitation needs to be demonstrated, so you can see with your own eyes how the sand just boils out of the rug to be caught by the suction. Maybe TruVox could hire a bunch of door to door salespeople to demonstrate the Riccar like Kirby does in the UK?
 
I suppose the problem would be the price. If these Riccar cleaners sell for up to $1500 in the US, then people in the UK just would not be prepared to pay that much. This is maybe one of the reasons Miele do not make the S8 Premium and other power nozzle canisters available in the UK, as they simply would not sell, due to their price being too high.


The top ceiling in the UK for domestic vacuums is about £500, which is $850. You will find that only Kirby is more expensive. There are of course many commercial vacuums that sell for over £500 in the UK, but the domestic user is not interested in these vacuums, and Riccar/Simplicity is aimed at the domestic market. I would also say many UK people only like spending up to £200 max on a vacuum, and these people are catered for by the cheap brands like TTI (Vax in the UK), HooverCandy, Panasonic, other Chinese made brands, and lower end Mieles such as the S2 range. Those who do want to spend over £200 are usually ushered quickly towards the Dyson offerings by store staff, and websites.


 


I can see the reasons why Tacony do not make Riccar and Simplicity vacuums available to the UK market, and understand your points about demos and door to door sales. DTD is not popular in the UK since Kirby were exposed for poor and underhand selling tactics, and this method of selling is now largely outdated, in the internet age.


People like to see something advertised on TV, go online to look for it and look at other potential purchases, decide on one for them, click on buy it now, and get it delivered in a day or so.


 


If Tacony were to advertise their products and their benefits heavily on TV like Dyson does, and stock the cleaners they sell in the USA for under $850, by mail order, they would be more likely to sell this way than by DTD in the UK. However, people would not be prepared to pay more than they do for a high end Dyson or Miele, which is £450 - £500 here. The truth of the matter is that Dyson has a stranglehold on the premium end of the UK market, and big box stores like Currys, Argos, Tesco and Sainsburys are heavily biased to selling his machines. People know no better, until someone new comes along and blows Dyson out of the water. At present, Dyson only has competition from TTI in the vacuum market.


People need to be educated that bagged is best again, but so far, no one is interested in challenging Dyson's marketing in the UK. Trying to find bagged uprights in UK stores now has become almost impossible, with only the smaller independent stores selling bagged uprights from SEBO or Miele, usually by mail order via the internet.

[this post was last edited: 5/29/2014-11:16]
 
A good place to launch them in the UK could be through one of the two main shopping channels we have here, QVC or Ideal World. A small amount could be produced for our voltage and sold exclusively on either channel to test the market. QVC have regular guests from the USA, so the British public are used to seeing American brands being sold in this way and they can be demonstrated by someone from Tacony.

I know it takes a while to get a product on a shopping channel, but it may be worth looking into.

http://www.qvcuk.com/Vendor_Process.content.html
 
Again Roger, its the price that would put people in the UK off. There is no getting away from the fact that Riccar is a very expensive brand - we know why its expensive, because its made in the USA instead of China, and its produced to a high standard. The problem is going to be in convincing people in the UK that they should buy a Riccar (or Simplicity) over a Dyson. The fact that a Riccar uses bags, whilst that may well appeal to some, wont appeal to the majority thanks to Mr Dyson's activities of the last 20 years. Don't forget too, that whilst we know all about Riccar - 99.999% of the UK public will never have heard of them, much like it was when Dyson launched his DC01 in 1993 - but look how dyson's success ballooned from then.


 


I think Tacony would only consider exporting domestic market machines to the UK if they could be sure of a good level of sales to make it worth their effort. The brick wall standing in their way is Dyson, and re-educating the British public that they can get much better quality for their money than a Dyson. But unless someone actually gets the balls to stand up against Dyson, then he will continue to rake in millions a year from the British public for quite frankly, sub standard machines. Tacony would need to be aiming their products at current Dyson, and possibly Miele and SEBO customers, as they are the ones with the money to be able to afford a Riccar. The market is there, and Dyson was able to dominate it from 1993, so it IS possible for those that really want to do it.

[this post was last edited: 5/29/2014-13:13]
 
Steve,
There are a lot of people in the UK with large disposable incomes and QVC sells quite a selection of high end goods including Dyson and Miele. There's even a Miele coffee machine on their website now costing over £1300 and they sell Miele washing machines and dishwashers too, so another premium brand like Tacony would fit in with their existing offer.

If a company wants to survive in a global market, they need to at least try to get a foothold in other countries such as Dyson did in the USA. I'm no fan of Dyson, but he seems to have brainwashed a lot of the vacuum buying public in the States like he did in the UK. Fortunately people are becoming a lot more savvy and are starting to look for appliances with a bit more longevity than Dyson currently provide.

It's up to the powers that be at Tacony if they want to expand their business and I am personally not bothered either way, but if I was working for that company, I would expect them to be looking into expanding into the UK and Europe, even if it's just dipping their toe in the water. All famous brands had to start somewhere, for example Apple Computers was a niche brand before things started taking off for them with the iPod and iPhone. If most people in the USA know what a Dyson is, then why can't us Brits
be introduced to Riccar vacuum cleaners?

http://www.qvcuk.com/CatalogSearch?...ogId=10152&sc=SRCH&keyword=Miele&x=-898&y=-81
 
Roger - did you know that Tacony are already here in the UK anyway - They own Truvox commercial cleaning machines, based in Southampton?


 


Also, if a small company like SEBO can sell to the US domestic market, then I really think that its getting time to introduce Riccar and Simplicity brands to Europe. They could perhaps try marketing some lower end Riccars or Simplicitys through Truvox? The UK is desperately short of domestic bagged uprights now, and Simplicity do sell some more reasonably priced bagged uprights, that might be popular in the UK, after all, not everyone wants a bagless upright, and all we have to choose from now is SEBO really. Miele sell the S7 in the UK, but its too big and cumbersome for most people. A decent bagged upright alternative to SEBO's X series and Felix may well sell here.



http://www.truvox.com/
 
Used it properly and WOW!!!

Hey Guys

We now have a Brilliantly Brilliance cleaned lounge, hall and bedroom. I have to say the standard upholstery tool is amazing on Cat hair. Considering I vacuumed with the Ensign SM1 (Sebo G1) on Tuesday the fact the inside of the bag was Black and with hair very much in evidence shows it's very impressive.

Will do a video ASAP

Seamus
 

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