Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I purchased my Dyson DC41 Animal, new, less than a year ago. Here is a list of problems I have with it. 1. The right side of the ball broke. The right "wheel" (the one without the filter) literally just fell off while I was vacuuming. The plastic was broken inside. A week earlier, I found pieces of plastic on the floor and I wondered where it came from. Now I know. I take good care of my things, and this was just poor quality construction. When I tried to get it repaired, I just got ignored from their support team. This alone should warrant a 1 star, but there's more... 2. The wand attachment does not work. What happens is, the suction, perhaps because it is strong, collapses the wand on itself so that there is no suction at the end of the wand. Talk about poor design. Sometimes this causes the machine to overheat and it just shuts off. So don't plan any last minute cleaning. Again, no word from support. They won't even let me register on their site so I can write a review there. Perhaps I'll try some other time with a different browser (using Chrome atm). 3. The vacuum does not pick up anything other than dust. If you want to vacuum up a piece of broken pasta, a grain of rice, or anything bigger than dust, forget about it. You could go slowly for five minutes trying to pick it up or just pick it up and throw it away on your own. I end up swiffering the floor first before running the vacuum, which to me seems kind of silly. It's unnecessarily difficult, especially since the vacuum is so hard to prop up. Which brings me to my next point... 4. The vacuum is extremely difficult to maneuver. The thing is heavy. My wife has such a hard time with it, she prefers to swiffer and mop the floor instead. Not only that, but the ball is such a stupid design. Basically, it moves like a car, meaning that it has wide turns. You can try to move it like a normal vacuum, but it's heavy so it's not that comfortable. Verdict: I could go on and on about what I don't like about this vacuum. The truth is, it cleans the house, but at $600, you don't expect to have so much negatives associated with it. I expected to use the vacuum for 10 years, but it broke before 1. I would never recommend this to anyone, and I'd advise everyone to stay clear of it. ________ *** Edit 10/17/13: I was contacted by Dyson shortly after writing this review. They were very friendly. Apparently, they had server issues which resulted in my problems with the support team. I took my vacuum in for repairs and received my vacuum back today. This is what I found out. 1. The hose folding up on itself is not a common issue. It has been fixed, according to them. 2. The warranty covers any non-accidental damage for five years. The warranty does become void, however, if you vacuum up flour or any powder-like substance as it weakens the suction power (seriously). 3. Frequent maintenance is required to maintain suction power, especially "if you have dust in the house or a lot of animal hair" (direct quote). With an active warranty, it costs $65.00. It is double that without a warranty. Keep this in mind when calculating costs before making a purchase.