P & L Vacuum

Excellent, quick, quality, and friendly service at a superb price! I left with a happy wallet and vacuum, in record time!
MY DYSON
I own a Dyson and have been known to be a bit overzealous in testing its’ limits. I’m one of those people who vacuums up tree trimmings, glass, bark — really anything and everything to avoid bending over and picking stuff up. Admittedly, I expect a lot from my vacuum, because it’s a Dyson (my treatment may be slightly abusive). Well, recently I outdid myself when I vacuumed up some very large glass and the remains of what used to be a very healthy jade plant.
SERVICE
I called P&L to confirm that they would give me a free quote for fixing my vacuum. I spoke with the owner, Paul, who said he wouldn’t be able to get to it the same day, but he lied. He opened up my Dyson right in front of me, and then told me to come back the following day. However, a few hours later, he called to say my Dyson was ready for pickup! He also gave me a 25% Unilocal discount, along with the free diagnostic. Honestly, I couldn’t have been happier.
Paul also went above and beyond my expectations in his customer service, by explaining to me what was wrong, and the advantages and disadvantages of owning my particular model. He further explained to me how to avoid common costly problems with my model, later on down the road — I honestly would have done exactly what he warned me not to do, which is force the release.
PRICE
I spent a little less than $ 25 with my 25% discount and the free diagnostic. Rather than buy yet another $ 400+ Dyson, I’d say that I got a good deal.
BOTTOM LINE
If you’re looking for quick, quality, friendly and efficient service for your vac — come here. I actually didn’t know whether it could be fixed, but I thought it was worth a try, rather than buying a new one at $ 400+. I’m glad I took a chance on P&L — I’ll be back if necessary!

I will never go here again. The owner was extremely rude and just generally unpleasant. I would highly recommend finding somewhere else to buy your bags or have your vacuum fixed. How he has stayed in business is beyond me. What a jerk.

This guy knows his stuff. Brought my vacuum cleaner in, and he diagnosed the problem within 30 seconds, fixed. We both had a laugh (on me). No charge.

My Hoover needed a new belt. I called the store, was told to bring it in, and it was fixed immediately. The owner knows his business. Efficient and reasonable.

I called with a problem with my Dyson vac. The man I spoke to on the phone was pleasant and suggested the machine might be under warranty and that I should call Dyson. I did, it was, and I will be receiving the replacement part in the mail. In the meantime I managed to wrangle the old part back in place so the vacuum is usable until the part arrives.
Honest and pleasant; next time, I will definitely take my vacuum to P&L. Thanks!

Called up Dyson when ours made a weird noise. They suggested P & L Vaccum, I walked in and met Paul. He was sitting there diligently working on another vaccum and its parts. He immediately took our Dyson apart and suggested hair could be the problem… I do have lots of hair, so does my kids. Hubby doesn’t have this problem, he’s bald. Paul said, «hair keeps me in business.» He is a witty guy, extremely knowledgeable about vaccums, which is hard to find these days. He examined the internal parts and advised the main filter needs cleaning, and offered to clean it at his shop. He normally charges for this service, but he will call Dyson to charge them directly. What a nice fella, remember to talk baseball with him.

After nearly fifty years, this guy knows his stuff. He’s both businesslike and friendly. Prices on machines he’s rebuilt are great, and he can give useful advice on the kind of features you should seek to meet your particular needs. Highly recommend.

A MOST unpleasant human being! Went in to the shop yesterday to get a belt and had the great misfortune of meeting… Paul? Must have been him because I see he has replied to a couple negative reviews with the same argumentative and defensive attitude as I encountered. Perhaps the other guy is pleasant and helpful but Paul was a big fat jerk to me and wanted to argue about any of the info I had on MY vacuum which he initially said he never heard of. Took me a while to shake off his rudeness after walking out of there. Will NOT ever be doing any business there thank you but no thank you, Mr. Grumpy pants.

I brought in my Kenmore vacuum cleaner for repair. Jeff had some difficulty figuring out what was wrong. He contacted several other vacuum repair shops to figure out what to do. In the end, he figured it out — and it wasn’t an easy solve. It ended up saving me having to purchase another vacuum cleaner! The total cost was less than $ 50 even though I know he put a lot of effort and time into solving the problem. I really appreciated his tenacity and desire to figure out the solution!!!

Charged me $ 12.95 for one minutes work to put a wire through the vacuum hose to clear some debris.
Next time I will go somewhere else

Great experience.
Knowledgable.
Personable.
Honest.
No-​nonsense.
I love this store. I grew up in an apartment across the street and my mother bought her vacuum here and had it serviced here. When it was time for me to buy my first «grown-​up» vacuum, I did my research and went to several stores around Marin, and I ended up back here.
The owner is no-​nonsense, kind and honest. He listened to what I was looking for, and gave me advice and opinions that I could understand. He really helped me narrow down my choices. I was about to choose a $ 500 Simplicity whose MSRP was more like $ 800 (so I was already stoked). But then he realized that he had a rebuilt machine of the exact same type for $ 250. Completely rebuilt, with all attachments, etc., and a 1 year warranty.
He took my craigslisted mini-​Dyson with no attachments for a $ 50 trade-​in toward that, and I was off. Great!
Nine months later I just brought it in because the wand stopped staying connected to the body (it’s a cannister vac). The connection was clearly warn down by wear and tear from me as well as from the previous owner. He gave me a new wand for free, no questions asked, since it had been less than 1 year since I bought it from him.
Here’s a brand new part, in stock. Tested and working. Thank you very much. Good bye.
Awesome.

Well, I have a very stressful work life too but, I don’t take it out on others, especially not «potential» customers. Actually, it worked out best for me because I took my business elsewhere and ended up with a new replacement for my vacuum as the person there took the initiative to contact the manufacturer and get my unit replaced. I never expected that, thinking this repair of my expensive, 4 year old vacuum would cost me close to 300.00 or so. Would you have done that for me?

The shop reminds me of something from the 60’s — not fancy — so you’re not paying for high overhead — just great vacuums and old-​fashioned service. This man has 30 years of vacuum knowledge and experience. He’s honest — and he’s not going to oversell and only going to carry quality. Old-​fashioned hard-​working shop owner.

This guy is awesome!!! He fixed my vacuum for a great price. I love this guy. I also asked about an indicator button on my vacuum and he said it happens all the time and he took his the back end of his screwdriver and hit it and it was fixed.
And he has refurbished vacuums that are for sale. He knows all! If you need to buy a new vacuum or need your old one fixed GO TO HIM! Forget about the huge chain stores.
Update: I brought in my vacuum for another repair (bad sears product) he knew exactly what it was and had it repaired within a few days for a very reasonable price. And he also gave me a free part when my stair vacuum didn’t work.
Plus he had fresh apples from his garden that he was giving away to his customers.
His customer service is unbelievable. Reminds me of the old days. Thank god he is here in San Rafael!!!

After our Dyson became more trouble than it’s worth, we set out to get a new vacuum. We had a list of models we were interested in, and stopped into the local vacuum shop for shopping.
Paul was informative, honest and friendly, with no pressure — a rare combination of salesman these days. He highly recommended the Simplicity brand, and we walked out with a Simplicity canister vac. Best part is we know where we’ll take it if it ever needs repair.