I have the same complaint as most owners. I would like to say it sucks, but it doesn't. It pulled the water out of the carpet fairly well when new. Now it seems to leave more water in the carpet than it pulls out. We have cleaned it thoroughly but it barely improves. We also have the leakage problem. On the backstroke it often drips water / cleaning solution leaving ugly dark spots. We have pulled out our old Hoover to suck water. Bissell cleans better, Hoover sucks better.