In today’s mail was a letter from Dirt Devil (Royal Appliance Mfg. Co.) about a voluntary recall on certain models of the Dirt Devil Total Pet Cyclonic Upright Vacuum.

Why the recall? Well their plugs have apparently been coming off in electrical sockets. I got the letter because I had (for once) registered an appliance when I bought it almost a year ago.  Nice little vacuum, easy to manage, lightweight to store.  I got tired of heaving vacuums up and down stairs, so this was my upstairs vacuum.

So, if you have an affected model but have NOT registered the unit, call Dirt Devil Customer Service. 1-800-373-6290.  They couldn’t be nicer. They will walk you through the process and open a case for you and tell you how to return NOT the entire unit but a certain section of cord and the other info they need. They open a case for you and you will receive a replacement that is essentially the next vacuum up in this line of vacuums is what an e-mail I received just said. I will further note that my vacuum was a factory refurbish I had purchased from them at a discount and I am still going to get a new vacuum out of it.

Again -the defect is serious – the cord plug prongs have been detaching from the plug and essentially getting stuck in electrical outlets which is quite a hazard. Dirt Devil says they have had no instances of injury but are recalling before that occurs.

Anyway, I have not seen this being reported by consumer affairs reporters so I thought I would post about it.