Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I find it hard to believe that a company that spends a great deal of time marketing the design excellence of its product would fail so wholly at something so basic as phone customer service and parts replacement. I purchased a V8 Absolute vacuum in late September from Amazon.com and was fairly pleased with its operation until very soon the hard floor cleaner attachment stopped working properly. It was clogging frequently and easily and after inspection it became clear that the flexible purple hose that routes dust into the vacuum was crimped during the manufacturing process. This crimp was causing dust to snag and was severe enough that reseating the hose was not possible. In November I began the process of trying to replace the part thinking a simple call would take care of things, but was stymied on a few occasions by hold times above 30 minutes, and it wasn’t until December 17 when I finally had the time to 'wait it out' and speak to a representative. After he apparently pulled a demo unit out to see what I was talking about (I offered to email photos) and tried to convince me that the crimp obstructing nearly 50% of the hose diameter was part of the design, he created an order for a part and informed me that in 5-8 business days my problem would be solved. Great! So I waited and waited and decided to call today (Jan 3) to check the status of the order. After more than 50 minutes, I reached a representative who then had to place me on a further hold to tell me that parts were not available for the vacuum since it was so new, and that in order to replace the part, I would have to replace the entire vacuum. The call lasted an hour and seven minutes. I was told without any humor that replacing the part cannot be completed without my FIRST going to a UPS store with the vacuum and its attachments, receiving a tracking number, and then CALLING customer service back. CALLING! After protesting, the representative gave me her personal company email and said I could email the tracking information when I had it (the only bright point of this ordeal) and that it would take a further 7-10 business days to receive a replacement. So: 1. Why if no parts were available was I forced to jump through hoops a second time, and why do I have to send the entire unit back? If all of the relevant parts are already boxed up with vacuums why can’t Dyson send ME everything so I’m not without service for weeks? At a minimum why can’t Dyson send me a label and schedule a pickup so I don’t have to haul everything to a UPS store? 2. Why can’t they get a call back system for the phone service? Even glacially slow-to-adopt USPS allows callers to opt out of physical hold times and receive a phone call back in the order they were received. Even an estimate of wait time would be something. I have now spent about two hours holding with Dyson. I have to say that I am stubbornly seeing this through because I am pleased with the vacuum itself, but I will NEVER pay a premium for another Dyson product when the service stops when the transaction clears. It has been made very evident to me that the problem is on me to solve, when Dyson is supposed to be the company that solves problems. Will update if I ever get a part. Update 1/4/17 UPS Store had no record of reference number. Had to call Dyson again. Only 34 minutes this time. Told me I went to "wrong" UPS store. Wasn't told which UPS store in a nationally-linked chain would have reference number.