Nics Vacuum & Small Appliance

It's not mentioned on their website, but I ran across a reference to Nic's Vacuum Repair knife sharpening service. Everything I had been checking was a mobile service oriented towards professional chefs, nothing wrong with that, but I just wanted something simple, bring it somewhere, find out what to do, and drop the knives off. So I called over to Nic's, and sure enough they do a lot of knife sharpening services. I checked it out with just about every decent knife in my kitchen and utility drawers. This is the absolute best place in South Orange County to have your knives sharpened! Super-knowledgeable about both chef's and sports knives, including serrated knives and folding pocket knives. And the service apparently can often be done while-you-wait (or while you wander around the wonderful Avenida Del Mar for awhile). It sounds corny, but what a game-changer in the kitchen and for your hobbies to have your knives professionally sharpened by a specialist. Yes, you can drag them though those cheapie "V" knife sharpeners (and damage you knives), or use one of those rolling sharpeners with an angle block and hope you're doing it correctly, or go on the Internet and learn how to use a whet stone, but really, just invest a little bit in your kitchen and sporting sharp-edge tools occasionally and just hand it to the guy behind the counter at Nic's and let him handle it. Super friendly service, surprisingly inexpensive. Amazing!

I debated on writing this review. I do feel like it’s needed though to let people know my experience. Owner (I assume) was very nice. Just bummed I almost lost $125 dollars, but luckily was able to get $70 refund. Bummed he didn’t offer the whole refund but I thought $70 was better than nothing so I agreed. I have an old Dyson I took to get looked at and possibly fixed. When I dropped it off, I told him what was wrong and showed him. The vacuum turned on and off. The whole interaction was less than 3 minutes long and he said “it just needs to be serviced, when was the last time you cleaned it?” Okay, cool. Easy. I do wish he would have told me how much it was, my fault for not asking but I didn’t expect it to be $126. Otherwise I could have cleaned it myself. He said it would be ready by Thursday or Friday (I dropped it off on a Tuesday) I called Monday. Left a voicemail and then a half hour later he calls and says “I’m working on your vacuum right now” which kind of was my first red flag. He had it for 6 days and didn’t look until the day I called which was a bummer. Anyway, I still trusted he’d make it work. I got there 15 minutes before the place closed at 5pm. Got in the car and my husband tried the vacuum and it didn’t work. Couldn’t do anything about it since we were on the way home and I know they were closing up. Oh and not to mention, I had two attachments and he forgot to clean the other one and told me to give him 5 minutes. So right off the bat I felt like he didn’t put effort into actually looking at what was wrong with my vacuum. Go in the next day and tell him it doesn’t work. I said “maybe it could be the battery?” He’s confused and then he says “well how long have you had it?” I said 3 to 4 years. I think these are questions he could have asked me to save me TIME AND MONEY from the get go. Then he confirms, yes it is the battery and he could order one and replace it but not charge labor and I asked how much that was. $150. Which was crazy. I told him in the beginning I wanted this vacuum to be fixed because I’d rather pay for it to work than to buy a whole new vacuum. I genuinely brought it in to get FIXED not cleaned. And if he maybe had an idea it needed a new battery, I would have appreciated him calling me and being honest and telling me to just buy a new vacuum than to just take my money. Had he asked me this from the beginning, and actually took his time to see if it worked or not after he cleaned it then I wouldn’t have spent money or time on it. I do feel like he was rushed and just wanted to make money off of me. Which was a bummer because a lot of people recommended me to him. The worse part is he said he could only refund me $70 and ended up giving me an extra $8 off. He said “well because I did spend an hour cleaning it” I’m sorry, but I didn’t go into the store to get it cleaned, I went in to get it FIXED. So it works… and I didn’t have to buy a new vacuum. Look, I know I could have cleaned it and got a new battery and figured this out on my own (which I regret it now) but like I said earlier, many other military wives told me to come here because they had brought in their vacuums and gotten it fixed. So I trusted his skills. I was bummed because I felt like he just took advantages and “cleaned” it to get money out of me. While I do appreciate the $78 back, I think the right thing he should have done as an owner is take the fault that he messed up and didn’t actually properly check to see what the vacuum needed (which was a new battery) because it could have shamed HIM AND I both time, and money. I wouldn’t have been mad. The point is…. I never went in and asked to get it cleaned, because if that was the reason then I would understand. But he said he would fix it, and the problem didn’t get solved. I know losing out on $46 isn’t much, but it could have been used on the new vacuum I got. And honestly, it’s just the principle of him taking ownership.

I love Jean-Louis and his wife that own this place! They are so kind, very informative and are super honest. Their prices are great and their customer service is off the charts amazing. I have gone here for 5 1/2 years since we moved to San Clemente. I won't go anywhere else! their carpet cleaning powder and machine are amazing as well. We bought a wonderful vacuum there too.