Last year (circa 2008) I had been seeing these late night and weekend infomercials on television for cleaning with steam. I watched several of them, because there are several units out there on the market. I finally made a decision as to which on to purchase sometime early in the year.
I ordered the Shark Steamer. First of all let me say, I was disappointed right on from the ordering process and should have taken that as a clue to just cancel the order. First of all, they did not bill me correctly, the amount that showed up on my credit card did not match the amount on my order confirmation. Seven, yes SEVEN weeks later I was finally credited for the difference after faxing my confirmation receipt from the internet to the company. It would be another week later that the unit finally arrived at my home.
Despite the problems I had with the ordering process and the actual delivery time I was still excited the day that UPS finally showed up in my driveway with the unit. I immediately started to unpack the unit, this is when once again disappointment set in.
From first glance, everything looked to be in tact. There was some water in the machine, but upon reading the booklet that come with the unit it did say there could be some, this is a result from testing the unit at the manufacturer. So I prepare the unit as all the directions stated and I start to clean. It was really neat, and worked really well.
The tank which holds the water is small, so you need to let the unit cool off and refill the unit and let it heat up again about every 30 minutes or so. To me that was not so bad, it gave me a break while the unit was getting ready to go again. On the third round of filling the unit with water, the unit showed the light that it was ready, I pull the trigger…. NOTHING…. No steam come out, nothing was happening. So I went back to the directions to see if there would be any trouble shooting tips. That was not of much help. So I went to the internet to see if any information was available out there, still not much luck.
I finally decided to call the customer service phone number, as I did when I had billing and shipping issues before. Keep in mind, I really do not like talking on the phone, so you can imagine my frustrations. Phones just are not for me. After being on hold for no less than thirty minutes I finally am talking to a real person.
The representative on the other end explains to me that sometimes these units get clogged and need to be cleaned, so I am now instructed to put some vinegar and water in the unit and let it sit for several hours. GREAT! If you are like me and get excited about having a new toy, not being able to use it is frustrating. Yes, I pouted like a spoiled child.
So overnight the unit sat with the vinegar and water solution, and as instructed, I drained the solution from the unit and refilled the unit once again. This time the unit worked once again and I was a happy camper to start cleaning with steam. This time the unit kept working and I managed to clean the entire house. The family was so amused with the unit that everyone decided to help in the cleaning, let me tell you, that was the first time any of the alpha males who reside in this home have ever asked to clean instead of being clubbed over the head or bribed to clean something up.
A full month goes by and every person in this house was in love with the shark steamer. My house had never had so much attention, especially from anyone here other than myself. On the 32nd day of having the unit it died, and when I say died, I mean the unit was no longer useable in any way.
Once again I call customer service. They were of no help at all. They wanted me to send the unit back to them at my expense, they would take up to eight weeks to fit the unit and then ship it back to me once again at my expense. I decided to check shipping rates before I committed. Well, you see, what I found was that after I did shipping both ways the cost to do so would run just ten dollars less than I originally paid for the unit. Not to mention that in the eight weeks the company would have the unit I would also be out the cost of cleaning solutions. In the end, to get the unit repaired I was better off purchasing another unit.
Everyone in my house said they loved to clean with steam as well they understood the cost involved to get the unit repaired, however we all still wanted to clean with steam. So the decision was made to purchase a new unit from a different manufacturer. This is when we decided to give the Monster 1200 a test drive.
The very same day that we as a family decided to order the monster 1200, the order went in. Ordering the unit online was very simple and we even opted for the floor attachments which were extra, because that was one thing we really enjoyed about the shark.
Two weeks later our new Shark 1200 arrived, and with this order our credit card was correctly billed. These were both good signs. So just two weeks later we were excited as the UPS man arrived at our home and we were once again in the steam cleaning business!
The excitement however was not the same as it was when the shark first come to our house. As far as the monster goes, you carry it, as the actual steamer head is attached to the unit meaning that the steam does not have to travel through a hose, but it really isn’t that bad as it is not that heavy.
The monster cleans just as well as the shark, when the shark worked anyway. We enjoy using it to clean windows, the bathrooms, and the kitchen, just about anywhere EXCEPT… the floors. If you decide to purchase a monster 1200, a word of advice would be not to spend the money on the floor attachment. The pads that you use on the extension have to be clipped on, and once they get wet they tend to slip off the floor unit, whereas with the shark steamer Velcro helped to keep the pads in place which worked out really well. The thought that we could use the extension from the shark on the monster was a great idea, however even though made similar and with the same materials, the attach points did not match up.
The good part about all of this however though is that the monster has never had to sit overnight with a solution in it in order for it to work again, it gets used daily, but not on the floors. We do shoot steam to the floors to help the cleaning process, but for now we have resounded back to using a mop in order to clean the flooring.
We are looking towards getting a dedicated floor unit, there are several available for purchase. When that move is made I will update you as to how that works out.
All in all, we love cleaning with steam. Before cleaning with steam we used to spend anywhere from $40 to $60 a month on hazardous household cleaners, that amount has gone to $10-$15 a month now. This means that in only a couple of months, the unit actually pays for itself.
The unit claims there is no need to use cleaners, but I do not totally trust steam. Monster 1200 would like you to agree to auto ship their own solution to you, which costs you money. I did not agree to those terms, as an obligation to a reoccurring bill was not something that I wished to be a part of (things like that are too hard to get out of if you decide you do not like it). Instead of using their solution, we dilute Lysol (from the brown bottle) or if cleaning the bathrooms, we dilute some bleach and fill the cleaning solution container on the bottom of the unit. It gives me peace of mind.
Cleaning has taken on a whole new meaning in our home. I feel like we are cleaner than we have ever been before, we are not endangering ourselves with harmful chemicals, and were saving money all at the same time. If you have considered ordering one of the units you have seen on TV I suggest you take the plunge.
