Vac Plus

All I needed was a hepa-​filter style 8 … Had seen them for $ 3.00 in other stores… but they were the wrong size… I was shocked when I was charged $ 20.47. I asked why it was so expensive, I was told the quality and brand. My instincts told me they were just over charging, but I purchased it anyway. Sure enough, when I got home I googled the brand and product. I should have paid no more that $ 10.00. Once again, if your instincts tell you you are being over charged… google it on the spot.

These guys are crooks and liars. I bought a Miele vacuum from them 2 years ago so when it stopped working I took it back to them. They told me it wasn’t worth fixing that the circuit board was shot and would cost over $ 200. They tried to sell me another vacuum. I was suspicious based on the other Unilocal reviews so I went to another repair shop that has a much better reputation. They fixed my vacuum for $ 139 and diagnosed the problem. They also told me that this shop cut wires and made things worse by disconnecting things in the vacuum.

²⁄₃ people that I dealt with in this place were helpful and friendly. 1, apparently a co-​owner, has no business coming out of the back room. Brought a repair in and wanted to rent a carpet cleaner. Got the first cleaner home, carried it around all the displaced furniture and filled it w/​water, no soap. The pump won’t work. Take it back and get another, I live nearby, stuff breaks, no problem. Got home with second unit, rinsed but not checked out in any other fashion by Nasty ¹⁄₃. Got it home, filled it half full with water, again no soap as I’m tired if moving full carpet cleaners around. Again, pump doesn’t work. Back to the store, Girl very helpful and apologetic about Nasty ¹⁄₃ but Nasty ¹⁄₃ blames me for his machine not working. Nasty ¹⁄₃ over behind the counter mumbling stuff at me, when I approach for clarification, says he’s calling the cops. I welcomed them but they didn’t show. Got my repair back, got the refund for the machine and will never darken their door again. Pity too as it’s close and they’ve been helpful in the past. He also quibbled about my custom being repair and rental, as opposed to purchase. Not a fan of the cash apparently.
Ps. After this review, I went over to Encinitas Sewing and Vacuum and they didn’t have the cleaner I needed. The owner sent his son to San Marcos to get the cleaner I needed, 45 minutes later he was back and it worked perfectly. Much better machine than VacMinus tried to give me and half the price.

I will never shop here again. I spent $ 1,000 on a new Miele vacuum. I brought it in for warranty work about a week later. One of the plastic clips had fallen out of its mount on the telescoping metal tube. Their solution was to bend the metal tube with a flat head screw driver to pop the clip out, scratching and deforming the chrome tube. Then, a month later they discontinue selling and servicing the Miele brand (after their sales pitch «We’ve been here for 20 years»). The guy I dealt with (I believe he’s the owner or affiliated with the owner) could care less. He didn’t understand why I was upset that they no longer sold bags and filters for or provided warranty work for a vacuum that I just bought. Fortunately, HOMELUX is just down the road on El Camino Real. They professionally sell and service Miele and have outstanding customer service.

The old Hoover vacuum cleaner’s power cord started coming apart where the cord and plug meet creating an unsafe situation. The wife (ok, actually the house cleaner) really likes the Hoover, so had to fix versus replace.
First took it to the other Encinitas vacuum repair place that has all the great Unilocal ratings. They told me had to replace the entire cord and started writing up a ticket. I asked for the estimated cost, and was shocked ($ 50+) as it was likely more than what the darn vacuum was worth given its age.
I told him to hold onto the receipt and visited Vac+Plus up the street to see what they had to say. Immediately told me they could just retrofit a new modern plug onto the existing chord while I waited, and best of all at less than ½ the cost of the other place.
Cheap, fast, works great. And I got some shopping done at the Sprouts (Henry’s) next door while they did the repair.

Location, Location, Location.
Nice Hispanic family but very expensive.
I bought 6 Kirby bags at $ 28.00 which i thought was pricey.
Went home and saw them on Ebay for 14.99 including
3 day free shipping. The reviews here aren’t much better.

Wow — I don’t think I’ve ever experienced this type of rudeness and terrible customer service. I dropped off a vacuum a few days ago, and called today to check on the status of the estimate. The guy I talked to actually laughed at me on the phone when I answered his question about where I purchased the vacuum (Amazon), and told me the mechanic is very busy he basically had no idea when I might have an estimate. Really? Amazing that these kinds of places can actually be in business. Please avoid at all costs.

These jokers are Hoover Authorized Dealers and I made the mistake of using them for a warranty repair/​replacement on Hoover vac. After 2 months of stalling and delays, they finally got in touch with Hoover about the warranty situation to resolve. Now, 3.5 months later, they finally had the replacement for me, but forgot to give me all of the components back. Total waste of time, horrible customer service. Really surprised these guys are still in business.
It’s times like these that I wish Unilocal had negative stars.
AVOID.

Stay away from this place. I brought my vacuum in for a fan repair on a Thursday and they were courteous enough initially. Said they would call that day with an estimate. I waited until late in the business day and called since I hadn’t heard from them. The man who answered the phone said they didn’t get to it and call back Saturday. He was rude and just couldn’t be bothered with anY level of customer service. Saturday I call and they said it’ll be ready on Wednesday. Wednesday I call to see what time it’ll be ready and I’m informed that they didn’t order the part yet because they didn’t have enough vacuums to repair that week to make a parts order. What??? So I go pick the vacuum up and they have the nerve to try and charge me $ 40 for the estimate that was supposed to be free. I got my vacuum and did not pay any estimate charges.

Not a Unilocal reviewer but am making an exception here. I am not a disgruntled customer; I am a ripped off customer. Took my Orek vacuum in; it wouldn’t turn on. They told me the had to replace the switch. Charged me $ 40.00. I had coupons. Couldn’t use them. Okay. Well, the same thing happened today. Vacuum wouldn’t turn on. Could it be the new switch??? Took handle apart. No new switch. The problem is that the plastic female couple became unattached from the male from the vacuum handle falling to the ground when you try to stand it up. Plugged it back in and put the handle back together and away we go. No repair necessary. Maybe should have charged me $ 15.00 for their time but overcharged plus lied to. Won’t be going back there.

HEY! Stop with all the ruckus about a Vacuum store. They are a repair shop and source of parts. You go in and they tell you what you don’t know. They tell you what parts you need. They tell you they have them right now and you can buy them and take them home (DIY) or they can do it for you. They will also tell you things that may save you time and money. Most people go into a store like this with the attitude they are going to be ripped off and vacuums are cheap anyway. If you have never had a great vacuum then you have only denied yourself and the prices will shock you. I have been here many times over many years and I just priced two belts for a Hoover online. Then I called them to check the prices. Surprise! They are $ 10 for the two and the cheapest online price was $ 11.50. I do take issue with all the people who dis these guys. They are nice and will help you. They don’t cop attitudes. The store has ALWAYS been neat as a pin and clean as an operating room. Over time I have found their advice to be sound and well founded. The prices for stuff… (my daughter bought a Miele wand for $ 80 +tax) may or may not work for you but they know what to do and have what you need and that means a lot when YOU need THEM. They can also suggest alternatives to save you money. So stop grinding them on price… You try to support a store front and pay staff and then tell us how you can give stuff away at cost? Support your local merchants or imagine life without them. (PS: this was not supposed to be a pseudoeconomic/​political rant, but these are nice guys and I’m glad they’re here.) PPS: to the person with the Dyson… you were suckered when you bought a Dyson!!! Ha Ha Ha. Don’t blame the messenger.

I found the staff to be very friendly and helpful. I’m not sure who helped me, but he was very kind and accommodating. I’d recommend to anyone!

I went in to get a plug on a cord replaced. The man told me that it would be $ 9.00 plus $ 15.00 for labor. I don’t know why I agreed to do it. It took all of 5 mins. I felt completely ripped off. I should have gone to home depot and done it myself since all it took was screwing a housing over the cord. This place is ridiculous. I will not return again.

It’s a mix, you either get the psycho guy that will only be nice when his mood swings that way or you get nice guy that will get your job done in 15 minutes for a small fee.
For me, I am able to get my vacuum bags which are difficult to find and it is convenient, so I continue to go… I will put up with a little bit of rude, psychotic behavior for this.
If you can go into it and know that you may experience a rude clerk, then it’s only upside if you get treated well. :-)
Good Luck!

I have been coming here for 15 years. I bought my Miele vacuum cleaner here in 1996 and it still works today as though it were brand new. I have taken it to Vac Plus for servicing about 3 – 4 times over the years, and it has always been a really good experience. In fact, I just brought the vac in yesterday because the suction was slipping a bit (it had been FIVE YEARS since the last servicing!) and got a complete tuneup, some minor repairs, etc. for about $ 100.
I get my vac bags here too. The shop has a huge selection of professional-​looking cleaning supplies (and cleaning machine rentals) that I must say I’ve never looked at, but they dominate the store.
This time they turned my vac over in less than 24 hours, and I didn’t even ask them to. They were knowledgeable and cheerful. Oh — and I forgot to bring my claim check too. Nobody cared — they even remembered me from yesterday and it was just not an issue at all.
Bottom line, this place is one of those little gems in my opinion. I’ve never seen grumpy or annoyed people working there… not to say that the reviewer below me didn’t. I’m just saying that people have bad days — businesses do too — don’t necessarily hold it against them.
Second bottom line: Miele vacuums. Can’t say enough. We went through about half a dozen vacs that burned out fast before we discovered this brand. And this vac is used CONSTANTLY because I have a cleaning gal who comes once a week and really bangs it around. It cost about $ 1000 (back in 1996, no idea what they cost now) but we were paying $ 200-​$ 300 per vac before this, and not one lasted a full year.

I have had two bad experiences with this retailer. The first time, I brought a vacuum in to be repaired and the owner informed me that he did not have the vacuum I described and even asked me if I was sure this was the right vacuum store. Perhaps I had mistaken it for another one? Call me crazy, but aren’t you right next to Henrys? I chalked it up to an oversight on their part and allowed him to credit me a free Hepa filter in lieu of the vacuum credit. I purchased a canister vacuum. Fast forward three years… the vacuum stopped working, I took it back into Vac Plus on El Camino Real. The same guy who helped me previously (I’m assuming the owner) said – yeah, you have a bad motor, I’ll call you in a couple days. Fast forward 8 days later, I call them to inquire and he says, «I can’t work on it until I give you an estimate. (I was irritated by this point because they took so long and clearly forgot I was waiting for the repair.) He gives me an estimate and tells me he can have it ready later that day. I arrive the following day to pick it up. I misplaced the claim check, so I gave them my information. The staff were extremely rude and appeared to be very put off by my carelessness at losing the claim check. When they finally brought out the vacuum, I remarked that it didn’t look exactly like my vacuum. (It looked shiny and not quite as scratched as my vacuum) The man helping me immediately bristled, whisked the vacuum into the room behind him and informed me that I could not have the vacuum unless I produced the claim check. The other women working with him explained apologetically, ‘We’ve had problems with this before.’ Long story short, I began to doubt if this was even my vacuum, or if he had switched it by mistake and didn’t want to own up to it, due to his abrupt and odd behavior. I left the store without my vacuum and called the vacuum manufacturer to check the serial numbers and sale date just to make sure it was mine. My husband picked it up later that day, and they were equally rude to him. I recommend you go to another retailer. Do not go to Vac Plus on El Camino Real.
Important points:
1. They are extremely unorganized
2. They are very rude.
3. They have inflated prices for repair
4. They are dishonest (what the heck happened to my first vacuum?)
5. Customer service is not the most important quality in their book.
6. If I could give them ZERO STARS, I would.

Very knowledgeable & reasonably priced. Can’t beat it for vac parts.

I stopped in to have my vaccuum cleaner fixed because it didn’t have any suction. They told me it just needed a new filter and asked if I wanted to buy the filter and do it myself or they could do for me right there. Just because they were honest I had them do it and also had them put on a new belt. I was impressed.