I bought a Dyson DC07 Full Gear vacuum cleaner 18 months ago; I was convinced it was worth paying £300 for this Rolls-Royce of vacuum cleaners.

Doubts surfaced when I got it home, because it’s really heavy and as I’m lazy this means I don’t vacuum my stairs any more. And when you want to take the cylinder off to get rid of the dust, there’s another problem — the parts are really stiff and it’s a nightmare to take it apart and put it back together. Are Dysons made exclusively for men or something? The worst part is tipping the dust away. Much is made of a Dyson being bagless, but when I try to tip the dust into a bin liner it doesn’t matter how I do it, clouds of dust go absolutely everywhere.

And lately it doesn’t seem to suck properly — I still have pine needles on the carpet from Christmas. I should phone Dyson and get it fixed but I’m sort of in denial about it. At that price it should jolly well work, dammit. I sorely miss the £30 secondhand Henry I had before.

Ali Bastian was talking to Mark Anstead. Bastian played Becca Dean in Hollyoaks for five years before her character was killed off this month. She will be in The Bill from midsummer

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