Vroom! Crucial Vacuum Launches A Freshly Redesigned Website!

There is nothing more inspiring than a clean and beautifully designed website. Today we have officially launched our newly re-designed website designed to embody the our forward-thinking vision and commitment to the growing needs of our customers.  Our homepage features a fresh design that offers better usability and navigation, allowing visitors to quickly find the information they are seeking. The site has a few crucial new features, including search, custom replenishment…shopping for your vacuum has never been this fun! 

Our products remain the same.  High quality at a low price.  Our service remains the same.  Free shipping and free returns.

When any tragedy happens it’s sad, but this one we felt very close to our hearts given that it happened at a elementary school. For us at Crucial Vacuum, it was a difficult day but our business had to carry on. While we were picking and packing orders and doing what we do to WOW our customers, we came across an order for Pam, a resident of Newtown, CT. Abdul, our warehouse manager said “I would like to write Pam a caring message regarding what happened in her town.” I liked the way Abdul was thinking and gave him the OK to do it!

Abdul wrote Pam the following:

“Our prayers and thoughts go out to you guys” All of the warehouse employees signed it and off the 25-pack of Crucial Vacuum Miele Vacuum Cleaner bags went.

Then yesterday, we received an email from Pam. She wrote:

This is why we strive to make our customers happy. It’s the small things that make a big difference.

Again, our hearts go out to those still struggling through the aftermath —may all beings be free from suffering

The true test of  character is how they stand during test of adversity – Unknown

After Hurricane Sandy broke our routine, we’re picking up business and going back to our normal work flow. The way we worked through Hurricane Sandy was a story to tell. Crucial Vacuum is featured in Fast Company magazine telling our story on how our team managed to work through the devastation.  The article speaks about the obstacles that Chad (our CEO) and the Crucial Vacuum team members joined at his home to fielding requests for our customers.  It also explains the uniqueness of our business model with our own brand vacuum parts and how Sandy disrupted it.

Without further ado, click the link below and scroll down to the Crucial Vacuum paragraph:

http://www.fastcompany.com/3002710/how-squarespace-grouper-and-east-coast-companies-worked-through-sandy

We’ve been very proactive with our customers through every step of the Sandy impact.

1. Facebook & Twitter have been updated throughout the process.

2. The header on our site was constantly updated and linked customers to more information on how the storm impacted our orders. www.crucialvacuum.com
The blog as you saw had been updated to further reach our customer audience.

3. We reached out to thousands of customers via email starting from 10/25 and continue to let them know about potential delays.

We are extremely proud of how the Crucial Vacuum team handled this crisis.  Our primary goal was to deliver the product our customers ordered and we did that by any means we had. Hurricane Sandy was a great test for Crucial Vacuum and the characteristics of the company truly shined in a time of a natural disaster.

Our team here at Crucial Vacuum carried out business to take care of our customers, despite this natural disaster. We had employees joining us at home, those that could make it. For those that couldn’t join us to work, they worked from home. We conducted google “fire-side” chats. Our employee Josh, pictured below in the dark conference with Chad to help out in the best way he can even though he was a hostage in his own house. While Josh’s life was impacted, he is back to work, however we have an obligation to help others in need.

Now that electricity and internet are running in our HQ, we are back to work but people in across the tri-state area still need our help.

What We’re Doing at Crucial Vacuum

Crucial Vacuum has teamed up with the American Red Cross to help in recovering Hurricane Sandy Relief.  We created a program where we can join hands in helping by donating the 5% you saved on your purchase in crucial relief.  While you save, we give. Use the coupon code: crucialrelief at the checkout to save 5% on your purchase and we’ll donate to the American Red Cross for the month of November.

What Else You Can do to Help

We are donating as you shop on our website, so that alone is you helping.  If you would like to help more, we are working  with the American Red Cross and have seen the passion and integrity with which they pursue their mission. They are doing a great deal to help communities affected by Hurricane Sandy. Learn more about their efforts at www.redcross.org

To find a shelter near you, we recommend the following tools: the shelter directory on PetFinder and the shelter finder from ASPCA. Also you can try VolunteerMatch It’s an easy way to find opportunities and contacts to help out in your area.

Give Blood

Nearly 100 Red Cross blood drives were canceled because of Sandy, so blood supplies are low in the areas affected the most. If you’re in New York or New Jersey, you can give here.

Crucial Vacuum’s headquarters are in Little Ferry, NJ. Our office and warehouse are on the Hackensack River and our entire town was severely impacted by the storm. Thousands had to evacuate. Our office is currently without power and it is closed until further notice. Since our offices are at the top of a hill, we are hopeful that there was no interior damage. Though we haven’t been able to get into our warehouse due to the lake that is parked currently in front of it at the moment. See the picture below. We do however, hope the water recedes quickly with a little sun and look to our power being restored to our warehouse very soon.

Crucial Vacuum Warehouse Complex

About 2/3 of Crucial Vacuum’s employees are currently without power. The other 1/3 of us with power are welcoming those without power into our homes.   For the past and next couple of days, a small team of Crucial Vacuum will be meeting at a kitchen table, where else, to work together to make our customers happy and move beyond the current crisis at hand.

Admittedly, Hurricane Sandy did slow us down and has delayed our response times a tiny bit but didn’t stop the hustle. We are working hard the next couple of days to earn your business. We are thankful for your business!  We have and are taking certain steps to making sure customers are taken care of.  Since we don’t have access to our warehouse, we have had our partners and vendors ship most of our orders on our behalf. We’re thankful for those relationships!  We’ve reached out to every last customer since October 25th to let them know about the delays due to Sandy.  Stephanie (seen above) has been handling all customer related issues and resolving them as fast as humanly possible.  Justin (seated behind Stephanie) has been in constant contact with our partners and getting all of  our orders processed.  In the midst of all the hurdles, we have managed to move  forward. And as far as me…I’m finishing up the day, with a scotch in one hand and the keyboard in the other learning new tasks and doing whatever needs to be done for our customers.  Coming from the Marketing Dept., I have taken on new tasks from customer servicing to tracking orders for customers and keeping them informed with the status of their orders placed.  Its new grounds for me but I must say its been a great learning experience.

As they say, as one door closes, another opens.

Be safe,
Maz

]]> http://blog.crucialvacuum.com/2012/10/hurricane-sandy/feed/ 0 http://blog.crucialvacuum.com/2012/10/hurricane-sandy/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CrucialVacuumBlog/~3/1zOs2heR2E4/ http://blog.crucialvacuum.com/2012/10/change-your-life-by-simply-changing-your-vacuum-filter/#comments Fri, 26 Oct 2012 19:05:26 +0000 Chad http://blog.crucialvacuum.com/?p=576 A good filter changes a person and makes the world a little better, makes life something special, more enjoyable and cleaner.

An allergy-free clean home begins with your vacuum. However, it’s what is on the inside that counts, right? Inside every vacuum is a vacuum filter.  The filter is what prevents dust, dirt and bacteria from being recycled back into your home. It’s useless to have a vacuum that sucks up all the dirt to just throw it right back into your home. So it’s CRUCIAL to have a high quality clean filter in your vacuum while you clean.  Dust and micro particles should be trapped by a good filter only letting clean air back to the environment so you can feel better about the air you breathe.  So before you turn on your vacuum, we urge you to take a look at your filter and make sure your change it every 3-6 months.  That way the health of your home is maintained and allergies/asthma is minimized.

After changing your filter, magic happens. You may notice that you sleep better at night. You may notice that when you open the blinds, you don’t see the lighter dust floating around through the sunshine that glares into your home. You’ll start to notice that your overall sense of being is clean, fresh, pure and clear.  Having a clean home will become something special again.  The family will enjoy the clean home and it’s so much easier to enjoy life when allergies are not something to worry about.

Peace & Progress,
Maz

Luckily we have the good ole’ internet, and I researched small  and easy steps to minimize my symptoms! Here’s what I’ve come up with:

- Changing your  filter every 6-18 months on your  IQAIR Air Purifier will maximize the removal of particles in your home.

- Change vacuum filter- now is a good time to do so!

- Having the proper Pet Vacuum Attachment to keep the hair from your pet off of your couch is a great look!

- Even change air conditioner filter as frequent as needed. Air conditioners could bring in small particles in the air that you breathe causing the dry throats and constant sneezes every time its turned on.

Having pets could be pets and their dander all over.  Using the proper pet vacuum attachments for your vacuum can definitely reduce the dander which might be the solution to your sneezing.  Also, a high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter in your vacuum will remove particles from your air  that reduces your chances of allergies.

In my case, I didn’t have any pets nor did I have any carpet to vacuum.  An air purifier was the best investment I have made for my allergies.  Most of the microscopic particles were out of the air in my home and I was able to breathe without sneezing.  Staying indoors and breathing purified air also helped a lot.

If you are suffering from allergies, here are some things you might want to check out.

-If you have pets, use the right pet attachment tools on your vacuum to remove pet dander.

-Use a HEPA filter in your vacuum to trap all the small particles and prevent them from spreading in your home.

- Do you have a good air purifier?  Investing in a good HEPA air purifier is a key element to having an allergy free sanctuary.

Follow these steps and you are on your way to an allergy free life.

Crucial Vacuum represents the 99%.  You have a lot on your hands and I’m sure expensive vacuum cleaners and cleaning parts are not something that you want to add on your plate.  High quality at affordable prices for everyone with great customer service is what we provide, that’s keeping it real.  Want to  see it to believe it?  We made a rap rebuttal video to the world’s most Expensive vacuum cleaner $1 million dollar gold vacuum. What more can I say?

We take great pride in designing our own vacuum cleaner filters, bags and parts – we refuse to charge outrageous prices for our products.  Crucial Vacuum is pleased to always provide our premium quality vacuum cleaner replacement parts at a fraction of the cost of OEM parts along with free shipping, free returns while planting a tree for every 1,000 filters sold.

The lyrics from their rap say it all [excerpt]:
“This is not a vacuum for the 1%.
You could be dressed in gold, but ya don’t represent.
If ya want to go vacuum, get it from the pros.
Crucial Vacuum Filters! Suck it like a hose!”

Crucial Vacuum is a leading manufacturer and online supplier of vacuum cleaner bags, filters, belts and parts. The website is dedicated to providing its customers with the complete range of premium quality vacuum parts (to all vacuum cleaner owners) at affordable prices.

So, it’s time to meet Stephanie. She is the woman behind our rave reviews, our outstanding customer experience and has been an asset to our customers and our company.

Many E-commerce stores and a lot of our competition do not have a phone number to call when there is an issue or challenge. If they do have a phone number and answer it when it rings (sometimes not even in the USA), they focus on the quantity of calls they can get through rather than the quality of the call.

At Crucial Vacuum, we don’t rate our employee’s performance on average handling time,  which is the quantity of calls the customer support center can get through. We also don’t measure call times (Stephanie’s longest phone call was 1 1/2 hours long). Stephanie is our customer advocate. She is unscripted and in one conversation with her, we know you will know her and develop a strong personal connection with her.  She excels in this position because she is allowed to let her amazing personality shine, without worry of holding back.  Stephanie deeply understands the importance of keeping our customers satisfied and always finds a solution to any obstacle that we come across.  Great Job Steph!

With that said, we have a wall of success in the office. This is where all the letters Stephanie receives are placed. Below are just a few real customer feedback letters from our customers expressing the experience with Stephanie and Crucial Vacuum.

“Muchas gracias! Todo copasetic. I ordered on Saturday and received my bags on Friday. You have good prices and your offer of free shipping led me to choose your company. Now that I received my order, I will add that you have great service and a wonderful attitude. “You” sound young (phrases like “YAY!”, “most awesome experience”, “with love”), and idealistic (planting a tree for every 1,000 filters purchased). Young also in the sense of not being jaded and taking things for granted. That you are sincere in wanting to give excellent service (because all companies SAY that, but we all know that “talk is cheap”). But in your case, you backed up your talk and I respect and appreciate your intention and your actions.” Thank you and I wish your company lots of success. By the way, I send hugs also. ~Alexis

“I received the replacement filter set. Thank you for taking care of this. Your attention to my problem has greatly improved my concerns about your products and service and I intend to leave good feedback with Amazon.” Thank you again for your help. ~Don

We value your feedback. Each of our customers are extremely important to us. Customers are the heart of our business.  Our goal is to have every customer feel like Alexis and Don with their shopping experience on Crucial Vacuum.

The truth is, we want you to love what you ordered and we are confident that our products and service will help you live a healthier life! But, if for whatever reason you are not 100% satisfied with your purchase, you can return your order for a full 100% refund with pre-paid postage on the house! We believe that in order to have the best possible online shopping experience, our customers should not have to pay for return shipping. You heard it right folks – We at Crucial Vacuum just implemented our updated FREE & EASY return policy.

Here’s the bottom line for our returns – It’s just as clear and transparent as our shipping price, which is free! Returns must be unused, in the state you received them, in the original packaging and within 30 days of your order date. That’s all! It’s free and the return can be made right through our website.

So if for whatever reason you’re not happy with your purchase, just go through our easy self-service return process here to print out a free return label.

We want our return policy to make purchasing online a painless process – bingo, bango, bongo.