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KIRBY Vaccum cleaner

Discussion in 'Homeowners Corner' started by overlander, Oct 29, 2005.

  1. overlander

    overlander New Member

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    If anyone is planning to buy a kirby.. please hold. I have a very bad experience just now ( 2 mins ) back. I am not in a mind set to write details right away. but wanted to put this much here. Tonight I will write it detailed.

    Thanks
     
  2. overlander

    overlander New Member

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    We purchased a kirby vaccum cleaner couple of weeks back .
    We purchased it after a demo. Before the sales person gave us a demo , he told us that he brought a brand new machine for demo so that if I like and buy it I can do so. and he mentioned that that is how Kirby machines are sold.
    At the time of purchase , we were told that if we trade in our present vaccum ( Hoover windtunnell bagless) , we can get Kirby for 950$ and a free zip brush.

    All thru the sale ,he called from our speaker home phone to his boss asking the deals he can give to us etc.

    Before signing , we asked him if he can come next saturday and show us how to attach the different accessories as we were seeing how the machine works , also he ws in a hurry to go to next demo . He said he has to come anyway to give us the zip brush and also he always goes next week to uostomers to show them how to set up accessories. also he told us ( we heard his boss telling him on speaker phone) that we should not tell anyone that we purchased at this low price a new one but asked us to tell us it is demo one. But he repeatedly told us it is a new one. I believed . and we paid him on credit card .

    He never called or came . So on 26 th or 27th of this months( October) , we called the dealer and expalined what happenned. the lady who picked up our call said some one will call us before 9 PM on that day. No one called .Today ( 29th october) morning we called again. This time the sales guy ( Frank washington) was available and he said we come to store and pickup.. we reminded him his promise. he said he will come before 4:30 PM . Finally he came at 6 PM. We asked him why did not come as promised..

    This is his response ...

    " I have thousands of customers. I have no time to call "

    I was shocked .Told him it is a part of his job , when he promised something he should deliver . And he repeated the same to me saying , he has many customers .We then told him " had you not promised to come back ", we would never have purchased something we are not sure how to use even though we like the product. He started to say.. so you purchased it not because u like it etc..I tried to again expalin .. he would not .. He says you got kirby because u like it ... we again try to tell him .. never worked.

    So I told him I dont want this product anymore because I cant use it. Please return my old one and take back the new one .He said he cannot do that. Then I told him , okay give us the zip brush and then I will figure out how to return the product.

    He gave me one that clearly shows it is used. I asked him why are you giving an old one ? he says " u expect me to buy a brand new one worth$60 and give it to you for free? I told you you will get a used one" . He never told us . and I insisted he give me a new one. Then he gave me another one in a plastic cover. I asked him how come a new one doesn't come properly packed. he said so u know more than me about Kirby. I told him it is common sense that when you buy something you get in a pack.
    At this point he said , okay give me the entire product, I will give you yours but remember you can never get your money back. I told him I am going to keep the entire product and I will figure out how to return .
    Then he said " You bought a used one .. how about that" . I was totally speechless and got shocked. Then I asked him what made him to say new one before starting the ?.. then he goes saying .... well now I am telling you it is old.
    He raised to shout his voice and the topic deviated. I was shocked and also with his behaviour my 3 yr old daughter got panicked . At this point I told him he cannot threaten me with his behaviour and cannot threaten me that I can't get my money back . If he continued to talk like this, I told him that I might have to call police. Then he hit my sofa with the old zip brush and started to shout that he is going to tell police that I stole his new zip brush. I told him to please leave . Then he said instead of spending his time with people like us he can buy an expensive home like ours .. which is an unnecessary talk as well.

    Then again I told him to please leave and I know how to deal with this issue further. He closed his tool box, and walked out so harsh, threw open our door.. hit his box on his way out to the wall .. result of his anger .


    After he left I opened the paper work and looked , It says renovator. Even if I looked on the sale day , I would think that they wrote like that ,because he told us not to tell our friends whom we referred that we got a new one for that price .

    We were totally taken for a ride


    Thanks for taking time to read this. Just want to tell everyone about this so no one else will get in to thsi situation.
     
  3. brim

    brim Member

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    Sounds like you just got rooked into an over priced vaccum. $950? You could have gotten three Dysons for that...
     
  4. vacliff

    vacliff "You shouldn't say that."

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    We bought a Kirby 7 years ago and love it. Fortunately, we didn't have an unpleasant sales experience. They used that same sales pitch about having to turn in our old vacuum to get the best deal. After we agreed to buy one, he let us keep our old one.
    Have you tried going over to their office off Sterling Blvd? That's where we go to get supplies.
     
  5. hberg

    hberg give me some of your tots

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    A couple of things, take the item to their sales office and speak only to a manager. Then ask for your refund. If that does not work, get the phone number or address of their corporate headquarters, go that route only speaking to managers. If that does not work, call your credit card company, explain you purchased something that was misrepresented to you, explain the steps you took to return it and receive a refund. Your card company should take it from there. I think there is some law about you having a certain amount of time to return something for a full refund. Not sure if this varies state to state or what the exclusions are.
    Good Luck!

     
  6. boomertsfx

    boomertsfx Booyakasha!

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    Yeah any company that sells exclusively from door-to-door salesmen is questionable. I think the consensus is is that they are pretty nice vacuums, but overpriced. Check ebay =) also check BBB on your dealer to see if they have 'issues'.
     
  7. JLC

    JLC Member

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    hberg may be referring to this:

    "You have three days to change your mind if a door-to-door salesman comes to your home to sell you something, or if you buy something from a telemarketer, and you have a three-day right of rescission after financing a loan."
     
  8. Imaginary Friend

    Imaginary Friend New Member

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    We got a call from the Kirby sales folks offering their "free room cleaning" for our house. A quick google search of "Kirby Vacuum" pulls up a bunch of articles related to customer related and state attorney general lawsuits. Figured out the room cleaning was an excuse to get them in our house to sell us a vacuum.

    Obviously we decided to steer clear of them at that point.

    Has anyone had a positive experience with Kirby. I'm not familiar with them. Do they sells exclusively door to door? Is the company this shady nationally or just locally?
     
  9. L0stS0ul

    L0stS0ul hmmmm

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    First let me say that the Kirby salesman goes back many many years. My parents back when I was very young had a kirby salesman come to their house to try and sell them one. It was quite remarkable when the sales pitch had not changed in many years when I had a buddy run the sales pitch by them. We all had a great laugh.

    When I was in college I had a buddy that took a job as a kirby salesman. He used to practice his speach on me and trust me the calling back to the head shop is a big trick they use. Along with using the machine to clean a matress only to then show you all the "nasty" things that they found with the machine. He explained that the main goal is to guilt the customer into purchasing it by making them feel that they have neglected their family with this filth that they now live in. It was amazing and when it's done well the speach is very convincing.

    The calling back to their boss is the biggest thing though. Once they already have you sickened by the filth that their machine has found they initially give you sticker shock at the price of their machine. They then guage by your responce how low they will need to go to make the sale and that's when they start making the calls back. Obviously the better salesmen can get you to pay more for it.

    I personally would never buy one from one of these guys but I must say going through the sales pitch alone is something I suggest everyone go through. It's quite amazing what these people will do and are trained to do to get you to buy one.

    The machine itself is not bad at all but I would not pay more for it than any other vaccum. Consumer Reports did a vaccum cleaner report a few months ago. I think one of the hoover wind tunnels even came out on top above the more expensive cleaners.

    My wife and I bought a dyson though. The dyson Animal. We both love this vaccum and it does an amazing job.
     
  10. brim

    brim Member

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    I wonder how these people that buy Kirbys have any money left over to send to the Nigerians to cover legal fees. :)
     
  11. afgm

    afgm Ashburn Farm Resident

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    This is very funny! Thanks for the laugh

     
  12. southernwalkres

    southernwalkres New Member

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    No, it's much easier than that. You simply give them your bank account number and they transfer millions into your account. How could that not work?
     
  13. overlander

    overlander New Member

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    Update : We wrote to Kirby cusmoter relations from their web site and got a prompt response. They followed up with the area dealer who called us immediately. He apologized on behalf of the sales person ..and explained to us that the sales guy spoke like that in frustration and if we can go to the store ,he can show us that all machines they have ,have their serial numbers start with RP and that doesn't mean they are repaired products and that the one sold to us is infact new. and also about the work renovator.. he explained that it doesnt mean renovated (He also explained what it is but I forgot now , will check with my husband and write that again) . and also said he is sending us a new zip brush as promised during the sale . He said he is sending some other accessory also for the inconvenience caused.

    All we wanted is to make sure that we got a new product and the new zip brush . we did like the vaccum cleaner as such.. Though I don't know if we ended up spending way too much .
     
  14. SK8R

    SK8R On the Clover Meadow

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    Wow.
    First of all. I hate vacuuming and engage in it only on rare occasions, twice monthly. Okay maybe three times... if people are coming over to visit.
    Secondly, what is the matter with dust? It is everywhere. You can't avoid it. The whole planet is covered in it.
    I have two vacuums, a Hoover bagless that works really good and a Hoover "drag around vac" (canister, I guess) that works wonderfully great. I think I spent $600 max on the two together, and the supplies are inexpensive.

    I hope you enjoy your vacuum cleaner.
    Yeeesh. Cleaning is over rated.
    edited for spelling[:I]
     
  15. Zansu

    Zansu New Member

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    we went for the whole house vacuum when we were building. The dust goes out of the house, and you only have to drag around a hose. It's also a little less noisy (but the cats still don't like it)
     
  16. tyger31

    tyger31 Member

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    LOstSOul - how do you like your dyson animal? Does it pick up dog hair good? We need a new vacuum and that's one of the ones we're interested in. I'd be interested in your review. Thanks!
     
  17. L0stS0ul

    L0stS0ul hmmmm

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    I love this vaccum. We have a dog and a cat and it's picked up the hair so well people with heavy allergies have been able to sit on the floor without breaking out. My wife used to have yoga classes in our basement (the cats room) and I would vaccum the floor the night before really well. Some of the girls had pretty bad allergies to cats but never really reacted while they were down there. I think that's saying a lot about it. It's also been very easy to maintain and it comes with this brush they call the "animal" I think. It's great for doing stairs and cushons that the cat sleeps on. Both my wife and I are allergic to our cat as well and before we got the dyson we had to constantly vaccum to keep it in check. Now once a week and we're good.

    We've gotten so many comments from people that come to visit our home that ask if we just had the carpets cleaned. Nope we just vaccumed :)

    We used to use Hoover wind tunnels. I will say that for us at least the Dyson was very much worth the money we paid.
     
  18. sharse

    sharse TeamDonzi rocks!!

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    Another Dyson Animal owner and lover here!!
     
  19. tyger31

    tyger31 Member

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    Wow - that's good to know!!! Thanks for both of your inputs. Looks like we'll need to get more serious about them now.
     
  20. T8erman

    T8erman Well-Known Member

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    Little tidbit related to a matress and how clean it is...

    For the standard king with 2 people sleeping in it, it will increase in weight 1-2 lbs a year just from the excrement of dust mites. Not a health risk but thought you might want to know. :)
     

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