Tidy! We help irate hooverer

John Colecliffe was fed up after being sucked into a frustrating dispute over a faulty new vacuum cleaner.

He bought the appliance online from Direct Vacuums in September but when it was delivered, it just wouldn’t work properly.

He soon called the company to make a complaint.

“I need a good hoover for picking up dog hairs but the machine just wouldn’t lift anything off the floor,” said John, from Armadale, West Lothian.

“The brush on it wouldn’t rotate and there was no suction.

“Despite me sending the company photos and a video showing the faults, nobody seemed to want to call me back or deal with it.”

Last month, Direct Vacuums told John repairs would be carried out – but he was ineligible for a refund because more than 30 days had passed since he had bought the cleaner.

At the end of his tether, he wrote to Raw Deal and we contacted the company on his behalf.

After our approach, Direct Vacuums contacted John within hours to say it would refund him the £60 purchase price and arrange for the faulty appliance to be uplifted from his home.

The company, based in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, said: “We have found the customer emailed us within 30 days of purchase, but there was a lot of confusion due to the back-and-forth nature of the emails which caused the timeframe to lapse.

“However, as we were informed within time, we can have it returned for a refund.”

John thanked Raw Deal for stepping in.

“I am amazed at how quickly you got a result on this,” he said.