[shaun_pearson]

Hi all,  had the week from hell and it got worse today. Cleaning with my steempro powermax and the pump went. Been going to buy another machine anyway so phoned the dealer who said hes not stocking the prochem machines anymore.
He recommended the powerflite machine and assured me it was a great machine. I have always used ninjas or steempro's for the last nine years but he said the powerflite was very popular now and all his customers were raving about it and it was as good as if not better than my prefered machines. So I went for the 100 psi twin vac which is what i had in the steempro.  The dealer is quite far form me and he agreed to meet me in between our locations which helped. First thing i said to him was that the machine parts looked very cheap, i.e hoses casing and generaly all over the components felt cheap. Again he assured me they have had no porblems at all with build quality.  Got back to my job started the machine expecting great things and the first thing is the wand is hopeless, it just doesn't grip the carpet at all. After 10 mins the pump just stopped.  Phoned the dealer who put me onto the technician. After 10 mins downtime the pump started again, lasted 5 mins the same again. This is how it went for the next hour, work 5 mins work then 15 mins before it works again.
Dont like the design of machine at all i.e empty hose, wand is a pig, capacity is poor, fill hatch is rubbish  cant run my business with this thing at all.   
If its your first machine it may seem ok but i personally found it very poor.
Dealer says he will fix pump under warranty but cant give me refund as its been used now.

Is anyone else using this machine? how do you find it.  Has anybody changed from prochem or ninja to powerflite and how do think they compare. Anybody had a problem with pump on powerflite?

Sorry its a bit long guys  especially for friday but any help or advice would be really appreciated.
Thanks Shaun

[AJB]

I have had a Powrflite px 1350ph for 3 years now. It is a very good machine,
yes filling it is an art. The 1080 you bought is a different body so filling may be
worse, but it sounds to me that you have been sold a pup.
If it broke down on first use it is not fit for purpose. You should have masses of suction
as it uses the same Imperial vac's that mine does.
They are good well made machines, you need to tell the dealer that you reject this
machine and demand a replacement or refund. Unless it's second hand he is in no
position to refuse.
If it fails immediatly you cannot be expected to accept a repair.

[richie]

Shaun,

This is where you need to be careful.....DO NOT ACCEPT A REPAIR.   You are well within your rights to have a refund as it is not fit for the purpose.  If you allow him to repair then this changes things slightly.  I recently bought a used car, it had a problem within 3 days of me buying it.  I allowed him to do a repair but it still wasnt sorted.  I called Consumer Direct just so i knew where i stood.  I was advised that if i had not accepted a repair i could have got a refund with no questions asked. 

Call Consumer Direct, Tell them what has happened, they will advise you.  Then call your supplier letting him know you have spoken to Consumer Direct.  You should have no problems getting your refund.

Richie.
PS
Let us know how you get on mate.

[richie]

Good speaking to you Shaun,

Hope im right with the advice i gave you, give Consumer Direct a call on Monday morning before speaking to your supplier.

Richie.

[davep]

If they offer to do a repair in reasonable time your rights are no good 

[Mr Dvae]

you won't beat prochem, stick with what u know!

[Len Gribble]

Don’t know what richie advised but a business buy think may be different hope not! Also a crap lawyer would pick your post too threads, oh a mate got the 1085 and I like the build quality also like my ninja 135psi would not buy there 400 don’t like the plumbing   

[richie]

Not sure if business buys are differnt or not.  I was advised by consumer direct that i id not have to accept a repair on he car i bought .

Richie.

[davep]

I had same problem, bought a car and it had a fault.  Wasn't happy so said I wanted to reject it, but trading standards said as long as they repair it in a reasonable amount of time there isn't anything I could do..

[Len Gribble]

richie

I don’t know ether, but I bet it is. The wife (deaf, dume and blond) buy’s and loan me the money, a loan shark would be cheaper , think cars come under category   

[shaun_pearson]

Thanks for the advice guys and thanks for the call richie im going to call cosumer advice on monday.
Has anyone else had a similar experience with a brand new machine and do any of you know what my legal rights are?
I certainly feel morally he shoulkd give me a refund ive no cofidence in the machine at all.
Was looking at the airflex pro 200 last night looks and sounds nice, anyone got one?
Again thanks   shaun

[Richard Cole]

I hate to say it but consumer law, ie sale of goods act, will only protect non-businesses for products they purchase for personal use.

If you used your credit card you may be able to dispute payment with them, but again it may be governed by sale of goods act and at the discreation of the card company.

Hope you get it sorted, not sure if you are allowed to name and shame dealer on here but it would be nice to know who they are so we can avoid in future.

[justin brown]

both my sister and brother in law work for trading standards. quote the 1979 sale of goods act that it is not fit for purpose!

[shaun_pearson]

thanks again, i did look up some info online  and the term not fit for purpose is what i was thinking.
There are three main issues apart from the broken pump.

1. The wand is awful, it just does a rotten job, worst wand ive used.

2. The waste dump hose again is awful, you get your hands covered in the muck if you try and empty into buckets, dealer said its best to wheel machine to toilet, come on every time you need to empty your supposed to unplug machine and wheel it to toilet to empty.

3. You cant suck the excess cleaning solution out the tank when your done, there is a deep channel that runs around the bottom of the clean tank and its too narrow to get your hose in. The only way you can empty totally is to put an open solution hose onto pump then pump into bucket which means you'd have to run pump dry after every job. The machine had water in it when dealer brought it to me, as hed just tested it, but obviously he coudnt empy either. This ones a big worry as during winter your going to have about 3-4 lts of water in your machine at night.

Am I missing something with this machine use?
Its the powerflite 1080  is anyone using it and how do you find these problems?

Thanks  shaun

[AJB]

Did you have a Wonderwand with the machine, if so give it time
these are the marmite wands of the industry, they feel very strange
in comparison to a normal wand, until you get used to it. It may be
the other problems clouding your judgement.
The first time i saw the hose to empty it i felt it was carp, it isn't, it
is just different to what you are used to, when you get the hang of it
you'll find it very useful. And it doesn't leak like wastegates can.
Leave some solution in the tank, it is not a problem, i leave about
5 litres in mine.
You shouldn't be sucking the excess solution out anyway, there should
be a short open ended pipe with the machine to pump out excess.
It's a pity you didn't get the 1085 with heat this would have been a
real eye opener as you get a real pump with that, this allows the tools
to function to the best of their ability.

[shaun_pearson]

Hi AJB,  no you dont get the wonderwand with this machine. I think you only get that with the 400psi machine. The wand you get is just terrible, the worst ive ever used. I didnt get an open solution hose with the machine but ive already got one that i use for cleaning inside the waste tank. I dont like the idea of using this to empty the solution tank every time as youd need to run the pump dry all the time which i dont think is good and i dont like the idea of leaving water in the machine every day especially in winter.
thanks  shaun

[Darren O]

Ive got the larger version of your machine and a Prochem Powermax the Powerflight machines are far better the dump hose isnt a problem just takes a bit of time to get used to it you should of got the higher spec machine 500psi with heat. I see your from Edinburgh did you buy from CSUK.

[shaun_pearson]

Yes darren i did get from csuk who ive dealt with a few times and had no problems and sandy seems a nice guy so im hopeful he'll do the right thing on monday and give me a full refund as the machine was broken from the start and even if it wasnt broken id still be asking for a refund as there is no way i could run my business with this machine. Im sure the 500psi is a good machine as a few guys are using it now but its double the price and Ive been happy with my ninja but the smaller machine is more suited to in house cleaning or a starter machine. The machine has good vac power but thats about it.

[JandS]

With the Ninja you can empty the solution tank till there's
about a half inch left in tank using short piece of solution
hose, I use this to rinse out the waste tank after every job.
Ashbys recommend you suck the remainder out using vac
hose so it must be ok to do this.
Wouldn't want to leave anything in solution tank for 2 reasons.
1 - the obvious Winter thing.
2 - first job using say double clean on a trashed carpet then onto
2nd job using F and F Rinse on a suite, mixed in with 5 litres of
Double Clean?
Always empty solution tank after every job.

John

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

I do exactly the same John, plus water left in the solution tank starts to stink, especially if left over the weekend.