Oreck HEPA Swivel Upright Vacuum Cleaner

The short version: David Oreck sold his highly profitable and debt-free company in 2003 to private equity investors, who bankrupted it over the next 10 years. The Oreck family then tried to re-acquire the company but were outbid by a Hong-Kong tech company. Customer and warranty service as well as product quality have suffered after huge cutbacks in personnel and retail storefronts. Machine broke in a week. Warranty not honored. The long version: At 8 lbs, the machine is incredibly light, maneuverable and powerful. Suction power must be experienced to believe. Design aesthetics are, as a matter of opinion, elegant and very appealing. After much research, and considering its great warranty, I was initially very pleased. Unfortunately, after a week, the carry handle (made of plastic) snapped off the main upright section (also made of plastic). This began a 3-week saga of attempting to get warranty service, or at least replacement parts. Days1-3 I spent literally 6 hours, in 20 minute intervals, trying to get an agent using the chat feature on the Oreck website. Day 4 I sent my first email, which was answered 3 days later, asking for the machine serial number, which I replied to immediately and never received a reply. Days 8-9 I spent 3 hours apiece waiting for an agent on the phone line. Day 10 I sent another email with all information. No reply to email after 4 days. On day 15, I finally got an agent on the phone after 1 hour. She was pleasant and apologetic. She plucked away on her clacky keyboard and asked a series of questions; my serial number, model number, purchase date. After about 30 minutes and more apologizing for her slow computer (the industry standard) she said, "Ok, well you should be all set. There is an Oreck service center 30 miles away. Just take your receipt along with you." (The Oreck service center was across a bridge, in another state.) This is the answer I got after 15 days of failed communication and nonexistent customer service. She also recommended that I call before showing up, and I did so. The guy who answered sounded like he was having a bad day (or a bad life) and was quite miserable. I told him my situation and he asked where I purchased the machine. Upon learning that it was purchased through Amazon, he chuckled, as if I was proposing something ridiculous and stated that he did not service machines purchased through Amazon. He said he was sorry (he wasn't) and promptly rushed me off the phone. After contacting Amazon, I was told (in broken English) that I could keep the vacuum, with the broken handle and receive a partial refund of $69.00, or, I could return it for a full refund; which I did. If you are a machinist, or have access to CNC machinery, you may be able to fabricate your own replacement aluminum part for the main plastic upright section, which is manufactured from plastic (no doubt for weight reduction), because it WILL BREAK, it's just a matter of time. While disassembling the machine for return shipping, I removed the vacuum bag, and a plastic tab on the same main upright section snapped off. Gone are the days where a made-in-the-USA Oreck vacuum will last 2 decades with sensible service and an honored warranty. Only after this aggravating experience did I learn that David Oreck sold his company to private equity investors in 2003. At the time, the business was doing extremely well: profitable, growing, and debt-free. In 2013 after a decade of mismanagement and poor business decisions including a completely baffling ineptness toward the consumer shift to online shopping. The final straw was a classic private equity approach to making money: Buy a business, rack up the debt and pull cash out, and then drive down costs to service the debt. The Oreck family tried to re-acquire the company at this point, but was outbid. Poor Mr. Oreck died last month at age 99. Unfortunately, he did get to see his company mutilated by private equity investors, and then finally purchased after bankruptcy by a Hong-Kong-based tech company who lowered operating costs by closing all Oreck retail stores and laying off the vast majority of employees, leaving an overwhelmed skeleton crew in place, now incapable of handling any meaningful capacity of customer service. DO NOT BUY THIS VACUUM.