Oreck XL

I had an Oreck for over 20 years and it was brilliant. Nothing ever went wrong with it during that time.

I purchased an XL10 at £395.95 in 2011 and I can honestly say it has been nothing but trouble. It has been back to Oreck 3 times. Always with the same problem, the power cutting out.

Don't waste your money on this machine.

£369 for £50 worth of very basic, poorly assembled parts - the rest spent on marketing. A smooth talking yank and a bowling ball thar most vaccums are capable of lifting with a good seal.

I originally bought the commercial red XL about 12 or so years ago and, besides being noisy, found light to use and reliable.It still works. Seven years ago we bought the XL7 having passed on the red XL to a relative. The XL7 is obviously aimed at the domestic market and promised quieter running, a light, a switch on the handle and more stylish appearance. All for a whopping £400 inc the obligatory hand held canister which we didn't need as we already had one.We found no noticeable reduction in noise but a noticeable increase in weight. After two years [it comes with a 7 year warranty] the wires in the main power lead fractured and it was sent for repair [which I can't fault although we were without a cleaner for about a week]and it was fitted with an additional cable strain relief attachment.3 years later the same fault occurred to the cable that linked the switch to the motor which I repaired myself although still in warranty thinking that I needed the original packaging to return it which I no longer had. This lead is not subject to any strain during use. This year the handle tube snapped within it's housing and again I repaired that myself.

We are retired people and only use the cleaner once or twice a week.

I can only conclude that the materials used were not adequate and the price and sales hype of quieter running inappropriate.

I am so pleased with the service,when something went wrong with my oreck xl7,(this is my third one)it was picked up and delivered back within the week,i like everything about it and wouldnt have any other.Thank you oreck.

S.mcCarthy.

Have had my Oreck for nearly seven years with no problems - it stopped working a week ago, so I contacted Oreck because the product has a seven year guarantee, not really expecting a positive response becasue it is nearly out of guarantee but they could not have been more helpful, the cleaner was collected from my house and returned within four days - apart from black plastic casing virtually everything else has been replaced and it is working better than ever. Amazing service and I would recommend them to anyone - worth every penny.

I have been VERY disaapointed with my Oreck XL. It was expensive. It has next to no "pick up" power. It smells of burning rubber (presumably the belt wearing out). Pre-Sales service slick - After Sales service poor. Am now planning to give it away on Freecycle in the hope that someone can fix and use it.

would like to know if anyone with an XL10 has found that the sharp brushes and insuffient bumper all round has damaged their skirting boards?

I have three dogs so I need a vacuum that is good enough to keep my carpets

tip top.Ihave tryed dyson.vax.panasonic.hoover none of them can match my two yes two orecks one upstairs one down stairs . I have never had any

smells from my oreck .I cant find any fault with my orecks

The Oreck XL Platinum (upright vacuum) runs away from the vacuumer, have to hold it back, tiring. It eats the ends of rugs regardless of high or low power setting. Not having a tool attached is a problem. The sidekick canister is not convenient in many ways: hooks for winding the cord are on the bottom, difficult to re-attach cover on bag compartment, difficult to attach over-the-shoulder strap to the hooks on machine, strap tangles with cord, and just the inconvenience of having to store and haul out a second vacuum to get the room cleaned makes this an undesireable vacuum cleaner. Bags and replacement parts are very expensive. Many regrets.

After a year I sent the Oreck XL back to be checked as it did not pick up well and was smelling. It came back a little better. For the next 2 years I put up with it, replacing belts, brushes - just about everything you could replace. Bought the super-duper bags - it still smelled after vacuuming. The bags were not even an eighth full after a month of vacuuming and the carpets were looking worse and worse.

The Oreck went back again and came back again, still no better and still smelling when vacuuming. After a month I bought the new Vax Mach-Air at a fraction of the price of Oreck - guess what, after a vacuum of the lounge and dining room the container was full. After vacuuming the carpets three or four times and getting vast amounts of dirt and grit from them, the carpets look wonderful. I wrote to Oreck and told them. They requested the vacuum back. It has just been returned with the note "no fault found" - that's it, I'm going to sell it cheaply to the first offer!

And as for the little hand-held vacuum, it is so user-unfriendly, an absolute pain. Who wants to get that out to do the edges every time - the Oreck does NOT get to the edges.

There are various lightweight vacuums on the market now - go for them, the Oreck is overpriced, smelly and not up to the job in my opinion.