The Swivel Sweeper
I was doubtful about the sweeper, as I tend to be about any “As Seen on TV” product, but my fears were quickly put to rest. It easily picked up the giant balls of fuzz, recently plucked from a stuffed dog toy, along with the tiny pieces of rubber toy… not to mention the dog hair, dust, and dirt. Amazing! Some pieces required an extra pass or two across the spot but that’s to be expected with any cleaner. It moved effortlessly across the floor and the swivel action made it incredibly easy to maneuver. In fact, the only thing I had troubles picking up with it was a scattering of tiny hard silica beads spilt out of one of those little packages that come in a new purse (thanks again to my massive dog of course).
A few days later it was time to test it out on the carpet in the bedrooms. I was significantly less impressed with it’s abilities on my berber floors though. It took multiple passes across the floor to pick things up. It also only seemed to pick up the large stuff and left me feeling that a vacuum would never be surpassed on this flooring. I still use it on the carpet when the dog tears a toy to shreds and there’s large debris left everywhere, or when our daughter leaves a trail of kid mess from one side of her bedroom to the next. None the less, nothing will beat the good old vacuum cleaner on carpet.
What happened next was very disappointing though, and of course reminded me of my distrust in the As Seen on TV brand. After using my new and exciting toy for about a week the battery began to weaken. No problem, I thought, and I popped it into the charger. Immediately I noticed that tiny red indicator light designed to show that the battery is charging hadn’t come on. I thought this to be odd but figured maybe the light was just broken and let the battery charge for a while. Well, it wasn’t the light. The charger was broke. Hooray!
I looked up the number for Swivel Sweeper online and gave them a ring. After 30 long minutes on hold I was greeted by customer service, who told me that my only choice was to purchase a new charger if I didn’t have the box (which I had thrown away along with the receipt once I realized the sweeper worked weeks before that). I argued and bullied like any insistent customer, but after much perseverance I was transferred to a manager, whom I likewise argued with, only to be hung up on.
So in short the product works great on hard surfaces and mediocre on carpet but the company is questionable at best.
