I got hired on at a vac&sew shop a few months back, and I can say with all certainty that, while I was never very fond of Shark or Dyson before, I absolutely despise the brands now.

I'm aware that this sounds like your traditional "old man yelling at the sky" stuff that gets posted a lot, but I can confirm that these machines are just...they aren't worth the money. They'll perform well for a bit, and then they'll just start to break down. Worse yet, parts (more for Shark, Dyson DOES have slightly better parts availability) are incredibly difficult to come by. 

So...yeah. If you are in the market for a vacuum, try to avoid them. New, you can usually find a machine in the same price range that is much higher quality. Used, you're likely to spend money on a machine that is dying, or has failed irreplaceable parts. 

Also, I'm aware not everyone's experiences are the same. If you have one of these machines, and you love it, awesome. Personally, I just would recommend staying away from them. That's all. 

I'm just going to reply in order, bare with me. 

@bagintheback

So, mostly non-warranty repairs, at least as far as Sharks are concerned. Of just my time there, both warranty claims resulted in Shark just sending the customer a new machine, both cases were power nozzle failures. Also, that's partly the problem. Big box stores just don't carry anything good (for the most part), and often people don't seem to know that vacuum shops even exist. 

@blackheart 

Yeah, Dyson is better-ish about parts availability, but still iffy at best. I honestly don't know where we get our Shark parts, but I'll be asking now.. Sometimes we get a trade-in machine that we'll pull parts from if it's in decent enough condition, but that's rare. (Again, only been there a few months so rare based on what I've observed).  Also don't know much about Lux or FQ parts yet. I know we get hoses for those machines occasionally, but not many come into our shop that I've seen yet. 

@fan-of-fans
Have you seen Kenmore's newest bagged lift off vacuum? It looks so much like a bagged Shark that it makes me wonder if they worked with Shark to make it. Also, what models do you have? I think that they have some good ideas and such, but their execution is (in my opinion) not great. I'm also not judging what you like. I mean, we're vacuum nerds, so I have no room to say anything at the end of the day. 

@hooverman99

I'm with you there. We actually still have a lot of the Hoover Self-Propelled machines come in for yearly maintenance, and I'm genuinely surprised at how well people have taken care of them. I just feel bad when one is beyond repair and we have to tell the customer that there just isn't anything like that machine made anymore. I mean heck, I'd even consider owning one, just because I like how they feel. Heavy as sin though. 

@vacuumdevil

Haha, thanks for the welcome. It feels weird to say it's almost like a dream job I didn't even know I wanted. 

We carry Miele, Sebo, Riccar, MD, and Beam. I've actually gotten to do come CV installs, and I'm really starting to appreciate the things, and I really like MD's bag set up. But you know all about those.