AMERICAN VACUUM SALES & SVC

Upon returning home, I googled the R20S and found that it's true MRSP is $399.  I called Dave the next day and complained.  He insisted that the MSRP of the R20S was actually $699, that my Brilliance Premium was a poor machine which he had no use for. Eventually, though, he admitted repairing the Brilliance (on the same day I traded it in- obviously in order to sell it ASAP).  To appease me, he offered my old machine as part of the deal.  I told him I had no use for two machines and insisted upon a refund for the R20S.  He finally relented.

When I returned the R20S, Dave insisted its MSRP is $699, that it is a superior machine to the Brilliance, and that he regularly throws Brilliance machines in his dumpster as they are prone to damage and are not worth reselling.  He charged me $140 for the repair to my Brilliance; which he claimed was the replacement of the brush motor (i.e. the Brilliance has two motors, the R20S only one).

I then consulted with a competing Riccar dealer who told me that the R20S is a discontinued model considered inferior to the Brilliance Premium, which retails for over $600.  Further, since my damaged Brilliance's brush still rotated freely despite a loud noise when the brush was engaged, it is likely that Dave only replaced the brush motor fan; not the motor itself- a repair that would have cost me only $35 from his competitor.  

In summary then:

-The owner tricked me into buying an inferior, discontinued product by lying about its cost and the inferiority of my machine with the objective of stealing my machine for resale.

-He likely overcharged me, by approximately $100, for a simple repair to my machine by claiming he had replaced an entire motor when it was probably only a motor fan.

-Please note another F posting for this company (05/29/13) complained about "Dave" doing the same trick with two rug shampooers.  He traded a better machine for an inferior machine; claiming that the trade was an upgrade.  As with this reviewer, Dave provided me an un-boxed upgrade and claimed it was new.  For the other reviewer, he went so far as to remove the serial number so that the date of manufacture could not be determined.

I joined angieslist today for the specific purpose of warning other consumers about this unethical businessman.  Please don't patronize any of his stores

Had to bring the power head back twice after the first repair but they did get it fixed.

My husband and I recently purchased a new home that had a Vacuflo central vacuum in it. We started to use it and found that the power would kick off after a few minutes of vacuuming, then resume after a few minutes not in use. We called American Vacuum at around 4:00 on a Friday afternoon assuming we'd have to schedule an appointment for next week. To our surprise, he sent a man over about 30 minutes later! The tech did some troubleshooting on our unit and found that the motor was going bad and showed my wires that were being burned by arcing. We had already been talking about the various central vac brands and their pros and cons and the tech made a recommendation . He got a price from the store owner and offered it to us. As we weighed out whether we wanted to replace just the motor or the entire unit, I did a quick look-up online for reviews of the unit he recommended and it received high marks. I did find a lower price though. I asked if they would match it -- they didn't match it exactly, but came to within 20 bucks! And the price I had found on line did not include installation time!
A couple of days later, we visited their store to purchase a new powerhead, hose and tools. The owner, Dave, helped us and he is really quite a charming character. Went out of his way to offer good service, through in a sock hose for us and an extra hard surface cleaning tool he thought did a better job than the one that came with the kit. And offered it all at a price better than what we had found on line. We went in expecting to have to negotiate and left feeling that we had quickly and easily gotten a good deal.
I would definitely use their service and store again. We had a great experience!

I took my Hoover in a couple of weeks ago, with the above complaint, to their store on 95th St. in Overland Park. The lady there said she would send it to their store in Gladstone. I hadn't heard anything in a few days, so I called the shop in Gladstone. After a few minutes of trying to find the correct vacuum cleaner, they said they would call me back. When they did call back, they said there is nothing wrong with it. They used it and the belt stayed on just like it's supposed to. So a few days later, I picked it up and brought it home, where after a few minutes, the belt came off again. I then returned it and went through the same procedure, with the same result. So I brought it home again and ... you guessed it... the belt came off again. At this point, you might imagine my consternation. I went out at that point and just bought a new vacuum cleaner. After a couple of days, it occurred to me to ask for a refund of my $35. I went back to the Overland Park store and told the lady there that I would give them this vacuum cleaner that they say works just fine, if they would just give me my money back. She called the home store where they flatly refused. I received a phone call that afternoon from someone at the Gladstone store saying I could take it back to them a third time and they could give me a and quot;partialand quot; refund. I refused. None of this made any sense. Needless to say, I'll never do business with these guys again. My next task is to get on line with the BBB.

The above is what I wrote back on June 25. Around July 12, I received a check in the mail for $35 from American Vacuum. It appears this company does have some integrity and wants to do the right thing. Though I doubt that I will do business with them again (I also doubt they would want my business), in view of the many positive reviews they have gotten, I don't want to discourage anyone else from giving this company a try.

I took the machine home. The 3rd time it was used, the part that holds the handle upright, broke. I took it back. Instead of offering to repair it he said here take this one - Hoover Steamer - instead, its better and I won't charge you any extra. Again, there was no box to indicate the machine was new. I asked Dave twice if this was a new machine. He assured me that yes it was.
I took this machine home. When I attempted to attach the squeegee, it would not stay on the machine. This time, instead of taking it right back, I called Hoover. Imagine my surprise when I found out that the Hoover Steamer that I paid $250 for was a refurbished model normally sold for approximately $130.
I returned to the store that very same day to return the used machine and get my money back. Dave refused to give me my $200 that I had paid thus far. He said his return policy is3 DAYS! We argued, I told him I did not appreciate being lied to (about the Steamer being new) and certainly did not appreciate paying $200 for a $130 machine.
He absolutely refused to return my money! The only thing he would do was repair the Extractor for me to pick up the next day ad extend my warranty. By the way, he had taken the serial number off the Extractor, therefore there is no way for me to know if the machine is indeed new or refurbished.
I will never do business with Dave Day of American Vacuum again, and would advise any of my friends to stay away as well!

The process was great. We went to the N Oak store and saw what they had to offer and the owner was working and I really felt like he explained things well to us and demo'd what we would be getting. He seemed really willing to work and give us a fair price on things. When it came time for the actual instal I believe it was Tom who did our install and he was wonderful. He worked hard all day Saturday and came back Sunday to finish up. His work was as though he was doing it for his own home I was really impressed with how nice he did things and how well the system works.

He is really good. It is a hysterical little store, but he always has the part and it's always cheap. I think they do installation and they carry all of the equipment, but mostly I just go in there for parts because I already have my system. He's a really good guy. His demeanor is a little bit odd, but he's really cool once you get to know him. He doesn't use a lot of words, but he knows his business and has been doing it forever. If you're not put off by him then you'll probably get a little bit above the amount of service that you're even expecting, but you have to be able to get pass his sort of abrupt mannerism. He's old, so he's earned it. He replaced my wand and could have just told me that it was broken and sold me a $200 part, but he didn't and I thought that was awesome.