Vax Powermax Carpet Washer ruined my carpet - help?

Mary_Tillington

I bought Vax Powermax Carpet Washer from ASDA a few days ago, and it has ruined my carpet. Is there anything helpful you can suggest (do I have any Consumer Rights in this case?)?

The first time I used it, it soaked my carpet and could not suck up the water. I had read the instruction leaflet carefully and assembled it carefully, and I used it carefully according to the instructions. I tried for 3/4 of an hour to get the liquid up. It sucked up 30ml of the full tank, that is all, the suction just was not good enough.

I phoned the Vax Careline for advice, but after 20 minutes of hearing an automated message, I gave up. Then I used the Chat feature from the Vax website. The operative there told me to test the machine, which I did under her guidance. The main part of this was testing if the Vax had suction, and it did. From that point the operative kept repeating that there was nothing wrong with the Vax, and that it must have been my fault, and that I had not assembled it correctly (I provided her with a photograph of the ruined carpet with the Vax). She said there was nothing she would do so I said thanks and ended the conversation. I telephoned ASDA headquarters and was told to take the Vax back with the receipt.

When I got to the ASDA Customer Services I said, I'd like to return this item, which doesn't work correctly, and the lady said, "it doesn't suck up water, does it? I have the exact same model, with the exact same problem". I nodded to her and I said, "that's exactly it, it doesn't suck up the water from the carpet". ASDA refunded the price of the Vax, I asked what about my carpet though that's been ruined, and the lady said, take it up with Vax. I said they wont do anything. She asked what else they said and I told her and she said, Vax is a company outside of ASDA so we can't help, plus, Vax said it was your fault, so it must have been. I said, you can see the Vax I returned right there, you can see it's correctly assembled, but the lady just moved onto the next customer.

That was 2 days ago and I've been doing everything I can to get the carpet dry (I used clean white towels, then tissues to try and dab up the water, and I had the heating on full to help it evaporate). The carpet is drying out though it's still damp (and stained where the Carpet Washer was used) and now I realise there's another problem - it stinks, really badly.

I blame the Carpet Washer for ruining my carpet, for having water on it and not sucking up the water, which has lead to staining and now the carpet stinking. The carpet needs to be replaced, but what can I do if Vax wont do anything?

Do Vax have to do anything if their product puts water on a carpet then doesn't pick it up again, when it's supposed to be a Carpet Washer?

Am I supposed to independently get an expert and go to small claims court or something? Or just replace the carpet myself?

I am having house guests over for the holidays, I wanted my carpet to look as good as possible, right now I can't walk on the carpet and I can't be in the room with it for long as it stinks so bad, and I only have a few days to buy and fit a new carpet before my guests arrive.

Thank you for any helpful comments you can give.

I will make these statements, I cannot recommend Vax Powermax Carpet Washer (it did not suck up water well enough, and ruined my carpet), or Vax Chat (which was unhelpful).

tykesi

You've had a refund, why not buy a new carpet washer with that and use that to clean the carpet? It will do what you initially wanted and also clean where the VAX hasn't done it's job. All this talk of replacing carpets is overly dramatic and isn't going to happen at anybody's cost other than yours.

DaftyDuck

Asda hire Rug Doctor carpet cleaners, normally at the front of the store - as do almost all supermarkets. They'll do a far better job than most that are sold, but you'll still only get half to two thirds of the water back, that's just the nature of carpet cleaners.

With a small bottle of cleaner, you'll probably have change from £40.

ssparks2003

First off your contract is with asda and not vax. You are wasting your time and effort talking to vax as they have no contractual obligations to you.

Have you thought you either hiring a carpet washer which would of sucked up the water or hiring one in now to see if you can rescue the carpet.

hollydays

Ask Asda to give you a free loan of a rug doctor cleaner or pay for it

[Deleted User]

Tissues won't do much to get water out of a carpet in this amount. I can't believe you emptied a whole tank on the carpet and only then noticed the cleaner wasn't sucking the water back up lol? I assume this is what happened if the carpet is soaked to the extent you describe.

I have managed to towel almost dry carpets. Just keep at it.

And/or, as suggested hire a rug doctor. Although in my experience they aren't much better than the ones you buy (why I now buy them). Once you have rinsed and got as much water out of the carpet as you can, then allowed it to dry they should lose the damp smell and stain.

You normally have a tube attachment that will suck up water. If I am having problems with the main part of a carpet washer, I use this. Its slower but can be more effective if suction is broken/not very effective on the main part.

You carpet is not ruined, it just needs to be washed properly. I suspect that you haven't really looked at using the washer properly however much you have said you've read the instructions. Emptying a whole machine load of water on a carpet and not noticing its isn't being sucked up tends to reinforce this, whatever you are saying about reading the instructions etc. Common sense should kick in at some point lol.