I went to Dyson's website and look specifically at your vacuum to see if there was a downloadable owner's manual and could not find one. I would hope there is a way to adjust the height of the vacuum head. That may help with the suction. Their website has a customer service number on it. For others wishing to help Tessa, the Dyson web link is below...

Here is a link that might be useful: Dyson Animal

I have had the same problem after a top of the line frieze carpet was installed. Even my incredibly fit daughter had a difficult time trying to use the Dyson Animal on my carpet. These vacuums have a "floating" brush which is supposed to automatically adjust from floor to any depth carpet, and it's OK with floor and low level carpet, but when you get into the deep depth carpet, it just doesn't work. I have retired the Dyson, and hope to sell it on Craig's list eventually. What you need is a decent vacuum that has the capability of YOUR being able to adjust the level for different surfaces. I do have my instructions for my Dyson, and there is no provision for truly adjusting the carpet level.

jbranch - I e-mailed Dyson and they e-mailed back that I had to call. I told them I needed the answer via e-mail because I am hearing-impaired and they told me to "find a relay because it's too complicated to explain in an e-mail". What?? "too complicated" ?!! That really ticked me off!

I have heard that they have come out with a new adjusting cleaner so apparently they're aware of this problem and just wanted to blow me off. Well, I'm not going to shell out another $600 to a company whose customer service sucks more than their product.

gee, they offered you a call to walk you thru the process but you wanted a e mail and that is bad customer service? Have a friend answer the phone.
How many companies never respond to an e mail?

Does anyone know anything about the relatively new Dyson DC 28 Animal with the air muscle technology? It supposedly has adjustment settings for bare floors, low pile carpet, medium pile carpet, and deep pile carpet. The adjustments are made by pushing one of 4 buttons next to the power button. I am looking for a good vacuum cleaner for my recently installed Smartstrand Intelligent Style carpet (also known as Posh Origins). It has about a 59 oz face weight (96.5 total weight). The pile height is 0.721 inches. I already have a Dyson DC 14 that I got at Costco 5 years ago. I love the DC 14, but it is not adjustable, and when I tried using it on my new carpet, I could barely push it. It seemed like it was digging into the carpet way too much and it left rake lines. So I immediately stopped using it (and really need a new vacuum cleaner since I have no way of cleaning the carpet now).

I really love Dysons but am hoping to find one that will not ruin my brand new carpet. Any thoughts?

I had my original Dyson 07 animal vacuum for over 13 years and loved it enough to replace many parts over the years, but it was beginning to go downhill. When I found a new top of the line Dyson DC41 @ 25% off after Thanksgiving, I jumped on it. Received it a few days later and was thrilled with it. A few weeks later, purchased new carpeting--the Mohawk's Smartstrand for our family room, hallways and bedrooms. Had it installed about a week before Christmas. Disclaimer: I do NOT recommended any home improvement projects right before the holidays. Not sure what I was thinking :-)
That evening I whipped out the vacuum and couldn't believe how difficult it was to push. Literally stained my back. The carpet was dense,but not super high like a shag so I thought this was an issue with the vacuum. I couldn't find anything regarding the Dyson having an issue on thicker carpets and after spending about 20 minutes, it finally occurred to me to do a search using the key words Mohawk, Dyson, vacuum, and problem. Bingo. I was crushed when it hit me that there wasn't anything I could do, including leaving the vent open on the wand, to make it work. I was going to have to let the Dyson go and, as far as I knew, there wasn't another vacuum that came close to its level of performance.
I read everything I could find regarding vacuums that performed well on the Smartstrand, including Mohawks recommendations (short list on Mohawks site--which they seem to have created after talking with some popular/ mainstream names.
After more research, I still lacked a firm recommendation. The only name that stuck out: brand Riccar , series name Brilliance. Price tag (0ver $700.00) was a deal breaker--I thought Dyson was up there.
After getting by with a Eureka for a week, I knew that I had to find something else, so I contacted the owner of a local vacuum store (small business, one owner/operator with about 20 years experience. Luckily, he had recently become aware of the Smartstrand issues and had helped a fellow Dyson lover the week before that had the same issue. His recommendation: the Riccar Brilliance. Price tag was slightly lower (around $600.00). He gave me a brand new one to test drive for a couple of days and I couldn't be happier. It actually works better than the Dyson in terms of cleaning multiple types of floors, especially the Smartstrand (on extra high level) and is made of higher quality materials. I called the owner on the second day and said I'd be keeping her. VERY happy, worth the extra $100.00 and is outperforming my Dyson. My family includes 3 sons, a hubby (general contractor), 2 dogs with light coats, 2 long hair cats--redheads, no less ;-) and a maroon-bellied conure. I'm a clean freak, so this combo is beyond challenging.
I am skeptical of people that write long recommendations like these and am only doing so because it may save someone else from spending as much time going from site to site looking for something that will not only work on the new smartstrand, but make letting go of their well loved Dyson pain free and because I am avoiding a huge pile of laundry...never ending.
I'm a teacher, have no affiliation with Riccar or any other businesses. Try going with a local vacuum shop, borrow the Riccar and try it out. It will cost you nothing but a little time.
Hope this helps! Julianne

This post was edited by annieoakli on Thu, Jan 10, 13 at 5:37

Shark is only 250 and 10 times better than Dyson