Kirby Vacuum Cleaners

Wow, there are a lot of complaints on here. My thought is that people don't want to take the time to learn their Kirby and they get frustrated with it. Recently, my husband let the Kirby guy through the door. I have always turned them away because I know how expensive Kirbys are. Yes, the sales people are very good at selling the vacuums. That's what sales people are supposed to do - sell the product. He was at our house for the evening explaining the vacuum. And by the end of the night, we were sold on it. We purchased our first Kirby and I've got to say - this thing rocks! Absolutely no other vacuum that we've ever owned comes close to the power of this one. Is it heavy? Yes. Is it noisy? Yes. But it pushes with ease! I could care less about the noise and the weight - what I care about is cleanliness! I'd rather have a noisy, heavy machine that provides deep cleaning versus a light, quiet machine that can't clean worth a hill of beans.

This machine is very versatile, too. It does an amazing job shampooing and cleaning and it has all kinds of attachments. At first, it's intimidating with all the attachments, but after a few days of getting used to it, I am absolutely thrilled! Hank explained everything to us on how to operate it, but I don't retain information too well (it also came with a DVD). I am sending out a huge thank you to Hank of Watertown for knocking on our door and for his professionalism and honesty. I'm glad he came!

I've read some of the complaints and almost all of them have the same experience that I had: unmarked van, late at night and willing to shampoo. I unfortunately fell for the little round circles of dust left all over my house, even on my dining room table. This salesman even brought his family in to my home. I thought that was unprofessional. Being tired and late, I fell for it. Now, I'm stuck with a very "user-unfriendly" vacuum and expensive payments with a high interest rate.

I would do anything to throw this heavy thing back at them. I would even let them take it back and keep the payments that I've made. I also can't believe that they only left me with two refill bags. At their price, they should supply all products until the vacuum is fully paid for. The prices for the refills are outrageous and they even wanted my old vacuum, which was bag-less and fairly new. They took it and never cleaned up the mess they left all over my house. They only cleaned a section of my living room, sat for three hours and drank my tea and Cokes. I wish they would just take this piece of junk and release me from this heavy burden.

I had this grubby looking lady come to my door in a blue minivan. Three other grubs got out of the back and began to dust off each other (which I thought was weird). They were trying to sell me a $3400 vacuum. After about 10 minutes of watching this big dumb stupid idiot kid and this lady who stunk like cheese in ripped up jeans try and be my friend, thinking I was actually going to buy this thing, I decided to kick them out. I told them on the way out that I thought it was funny that they actually think someone like me was going to fall for this crap and buy something so stupid for so much money. People of low class, I guess, think that intelligent people fall for the same idiot pranks they do. I laughed them out and threw them a bar soap and told them to head around the side of the house and turn on the hose and wash each other.

Just like 99% of these reviews, this was a long, boring, and painful experience. Two men (one of them mute and had only 1 eye) showed up with no credentials, biz cards, or even a decal on their truck and promised me a free carpet shampoo. I know I am about to be "Sham-pooed" but I was polite and let them in thinking it wouldn't take long. More than two hours later and only a minor shampoo job, I had been taken for a fool. Then they started asking for my social security number and other personal info. So I told them no. They wouldn't accept that. Finally, the main salesman got quite upset and stormed off, put his Kirby vacuum back in the box with its $10,000 parts, and left in a huff, also leaving the little coffee filter type things covered in dirt (more than 30 in total) all over my house. My dinner was cold, my wife was annoyed, my baby was crying, and I thought I was on some David Lynch version of Candid Camera. This is a scam! Be warned.

Same thing happened to me as most of the other people posting here. I was told via phone call that it was a free carpet cleaning. Two young guys showed up with a Kirby and proceeded with their seedy sales tactics. I kept telling them no, but they insisted on calling their boss and every time, the price got lower, finally down from $1500 to $900. They were there so long I finally said yes. This was back in 2003 and my wife has hated this vacuum since day one. It is so user unfriendly.

She can't carry it upstairs and you have to take everything apart to use attachments. Well today, I found out how bad the Kirby is. I bought a Shark Navigator Pro from Wal-Mart for $188. After vacuuming a 12X14 carpet with the Kirby, we went over the same carpet with the Shark. The Shark picked up 100 times better than the Kirby. We have one cat, and the Shark picked up all the cat hair the Kirby was missing. Kirbys are just outdated. The Shark is light, user-friendly and picks up better and no moron salesmen to deal with, and $700 (or more) cheaper!

I like the vacuum power of the machine, but the attachments are made of cheap plastic and break continually. All of the accessories with brushes have lost their brushes after just a few strokes on my furniture. I went to a Kirby store and showed them where the design was flawed. They gave me another brush that seemed to fit tighter, but the brush came off in two strokes again. I have now written to the company asking for a complete replacements of the attachments and told them what cheap parts they were on 5/6/2012. We'll see if they have made any improvements and stand by their warranty.

My wife purchased a Kirby vacuum about 15 years ago with her ex-husband. After the divorce, she had the Kirby. My wife and I have been married for many years now. We contacted Kirby about the refurbish program. We were told that since her ex's name is on the warranty, he is the only one authorized to request info. They would not allow my wife to update the warranty info either. So if I need anything done, I will have to track down the ex who could be dead or in prison (most likely prison) and politely ask him to handle any issues that have come up with the vacuum. It sounds odd that they have no policy to address this issue in this day and age of 50% divorce rate. Oh, and it's very professional for the employee at Kirby that hung up on my wife.

I called to see if a rep would come to my home to see my broken vacuum cleaner and was given different numbers to call, and finally, a place to take my vacuum. I carried the vacuum there and was told they did not honor the Kirby warranty and I would have to pay. I left with my broken vacuum, went home and for another hour was on the phone .The local number never answered and the complaint number I was given was not in service. I finally was told it would cost $184.00 for an overhaul. My vacuum is still under warranty. The salesman told me it has a lifetime warranty on parts and service and he would be glad to come to my home anytime I needed him to. I paid $3000 for this vacuum cleaner and feel I was ripped off by Kirby. The closest Kirby dealer is in Opp, Alabama - 2 hours away and I cannot go there. I need help before I take further action.

This afternoon, **, a Kirby Distributor, and **, a Kirby Manager, came to our home in Kaneohe, Hawaii, and offered to demonstrate the Kirby vacuum cleaner by dry-shampooing our living room carpet. They were so courteous and pleasant that my husband, who always denies strangers access to our home, introduced them to me and invited them inside.

From beginning to end, they were exceedingly polite, the demonstration was pleasant, and ** was methodical, thorough, informative and friendly. In addition, our living room carpet at the end of the demonstration was visibly and dramatically improved. I don't know how long the demonstration lasted, but I can tell you that ** was efficient and expedient. I never felt he was wasting my time and in fact, appreciated his time, energy, effort and dedication.

We'd purchased the Kirby 2000 model in the year 1999. We still have it (but it's at our primary residence in another state), we have been glad to have it, and we're glad to see that the current model has been much improved in appearance, ease of operation and with additional thoughtful features. We asked to purchase two units (one for ourselves and one for my mother-in-law) without hesitation. The Distributor offered that his Manager would package our purchase by applying a discount and, as promised, the Manager then wrote up our purchase paperwork with a generous discount.

The Kirby vacuum price is, admittedly, "expensive" compared to pricing of most other vacuums. However, if you consider all the wonderful Kirby accessories, features and the Kirby cleaning power effectiveness, there leaves no room to wonder on the price differential. Truly, in our experience of owning a Kirby with satisfaction for 13 years, and now seeing the current model perform even better, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand and acknowledge that no other vacuum can do everything like a Kirby, so no other brand can compare.

The upright vacuum we will be replacing with our new Kirby here in Hawaii is a reputable brand from a solid retailer. In the number of years, we owned our Kirby at our primary residence on the mainland. We purchased, broke and replaced enough non-Kirby vacuums at our secondary residence to wish we had saved ourselves the hassle, expenses and drama by instead getting a Kirby in the first place.

The current Kirby warranty is fabulous and amazing. I expect to never have to purchase another vacuum for this residence during my lifetime. No other product or appliance, as far as I'm aware, promises all that Kirby does. The cost of a Kirby, as we see it, is wholly justified when we consider the longevity of the Kirby and thereby the time value of the money to purchase it.

Lastly, we feel that purchasing the new Kirby is an investment in our family health: for me, our elementary school-age sons and my mom-in-law in her own home where all of us battle inhalant allergies and for our infant daughter who just learned to crawl and spend the majority of her wakefulness exploring everything accessible to her at ground-level. The heap filtration and the power of the Kirby can function toward improving and maintaining our health. With the cleanliness that the Kirby can provide, is there any amount of money that quantifies the value of having and maintaining good health?

Perhaps, the AC Kirby company in Waipahu, Hawaii is exceptional among Kirby stores nationwide and as a corollary so too are **, our Kirby Distributor, and **, the Manager. Surely, the Kirby vacuum with its features, performance and warranty, stands on its own and surpasses all other brands.

As I write this review now, our home is quiet. Our sons have been asleep for several hours now, undisturbed and peaceful without their characteristic coughing, sniffling and wheezing despite our around-the-clock use of air purifiers and ionic fans throughout this house. Consequently, they are not in their beds in their bedrooms. They are sprawled in comfy slumber and piled with toys, blankets and pillows, like puppies as only little boys can, directly on the living room carpet that was Kirby-cleaned this afternoon. Thank you, Kirby, AC Kirby Waipahu, Distributor ** and Manager **!

When you take the head off the vacuum, it is so hard to put it back on. It's very frustrating. I should have bought a vacuum that isn't so difficult to use. It's not that great for the money they charged. They don't care. They make the sale, and that's it. I'll probably wind up not paying and donate the piece of crap to Goodwill and go out and buy a real vacuum.

I bought and paid cash, then I was promised bags and shampoo - I never got it. Sixteen days later they came to my next door neighbor's house and sold them one for $500 cheaper than mine, and financed it also. I have called the store and no one will call me back. I have contacted the news and also an attorney.

Broken in two weeks - The belt that drives the beater bar would not engage. When my husband finally got it to engage, the belt snapped.

The Vacuum Cleaner Model # G10D was purchased a few years ago and it was to be the ultimate and the last one we need because we are both in our nineties. First, it's too clumsy and way too heavy. Secondly, the rubber bands that run the brushes are extremely hard to install and use. Every single time I want to clean the carpets, I spend more time fixing instead of cleaning. Lastly, I paid $1,200.00 for this useless piece of equipment. I want a replacement and I want one that works like the "Hoovers" that they have at one-third the price and much better cleaning is achieved.

A young guy comes to the door selling Kirby vacuum cleaners, my wife, for some unknown reason let's him in the house because she wants to see the Kirby vacuum cleaner. I start checking out Consumer Affairs website on these guys to see what reputation they have and apparently it sucks! So, after more than an hour of this guy in my living room, his buddy, that was driving him around comes back, once he is in the house, I go and tell them it's time to leave, demo over, leave! The second guy that came back doesn't want to leave. He start's addressing my wife instead of me, stepping in between me and my wife. He keeps this up and refuses to leave until I start cussing him out, then he walks to the door and starts making a pass at my wife, like she's going to leave me for him!

At this point, I picked up the phone and called 911 because he's telling me to come outside so he can start a fight with me! What a guy! Great thing you have going here Kirby! Your sales people suck and I will never ever buy a Kirby! Do not let these people in your house ever!

When I let go of the handle, it just falls flat to the floor. I have tried the adjustment but that doesn't help. Any ideas?

My husband and I purchased a Kirby 2 months ago. The salesman told me to try it out for 3 days. If I don't like it, I can reverse the transaction. So the next day I did just that, but could not get a half of them of course. So 4 days later, I contacted his manager and they told me it was too late to return the Kirby, and there was no one else I could speak to about the matter. No corporate office, no one that cared that I don't want their product after I was promised I could return it! There's nothing I can do. Do not open the door to these people! If you do, shoo them off your property ASAP! Don't fall for their innocent young looks. It's a trap.

Now can someone please tell me how I can get rid of this thing? I'm stuck paying for a $2000 vacuum that I don't even know how to use! Someone please help!

I let a very seedy looking young male person into my home. He successfully sold me the vacuum even after I had told him several times I would not buy it. My husband was not home and happened to be working very late on this particular evening. This person was in my home for over 3 hours and I could not get him to leave, even though I had asked him several times to do just that. I was alone with my 4 little girls and did not have the common sense to call 911 when he wouldn't leave. I ended up buying the vacuum, thinking that maybe he would leave if I just bought it. I feel as though my home and life was totally invaded. My husband was able to successfully return the vacuum, thank goodness. I would absolutely love to own a Kirby vacuum, but will simply because the salesmen are rude, ignorant, and unkempt. Is this terrible experience my fault? No, not entirely, but I certainly will think twice the next time before opening my door to a complete stranger. I just hope he doesn't come back and try to rob us. His eyes were everywhere the entire time. Please learn from my mistakes.

I will call this a review and not a complaint! On Friday, February 17, 2012 a Kirby vacuum cleaner was demonstrated to us by 2 gentlemen. They did offer to clean one of our carpets as part of the demonstration if we would let them show us the vacuum cleaner. I do not remember how long they said it would take. They were here about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Their names are Dave and Vernon **. They were well dressed in business suits and during the demo treated us with respect and answered all our questions to our satisfaction. They were always polite, and, I felt, did a good job with the demo.

We were impressed with the vacuum and did end up purchasing one; however, we did tell them we were hard pressed to afford one as we thought we were going to need to put a new roof on our house as we had had leaks during some recent rains. They gave me a good price on the vacuum and I wrote a check for the full amount. That very night it rained again and our roof leaked again right over our bed. We thought we had stopped all the leaks by patching it up with rolled roofing and tar, but it had not worked. Needless to say, we knew we were going to have to re-roof.

The next morning I called them and left a message that I would like to cancel the contract (this is allowable within a certain period of time and states this on the contract) and the reason. Dave ** returned my call within the hour. He was very nice and said he understood and said they would come and pick up the vacuum cleaner and return our check to us that very day if they could and if not that day, then definitely Sunday the 19th. They did what they said they would do with no hassle whatsoever. Came Sunday, they picked up the vacuum and returned our check. So, you see, we had a positive experience with Kirby vacuums and their salesmen. I wanted to let everyone know that there are still good honest people out there!

Yesterday, for the second time in a month, a Kirby Salesman came to the door. First time, they had some tissues and used, the "I'm doing a survey about who uses tissues line". This time, they brought some baking soda. Well, the first time they came to the door, I told them flat out, that I don't want to buy a Kirby, and we don't need one. The guy gave me a line about how he has to do so many cleanings, or he won't get paid, and I told him to find someone else to work for then, because you are not wasting an hour of my time.

The second time they came by, I knew it was the Kirby guy, as soon as he held up the box of cleaning supplies, and I said "look, you guys were here 2 weeks ago, I am still not going to buy from you". He gave me the line about not getting paid, and can I help him out. I told him he can come clean my rugs if he pays me $50 for my time, and the moment he tries to sell me anything, I'm going to throw him out. He did not accept my offer.

So two young people came knocking at my door one day, trying to set up a time to clean my carpet for free. We set up an appointment for the following day (we set all appointments aside for this). So 2:00PM came around, and no one showed or called me. I made 5 phone calls to a cell, that the guy gave me, and no response and voice mail was full!

Finally, he answered two days later, but told me he's sorry it was his day off! At that point, I just let him have it in a nice firm way, and told him I wasn't calling him back to set up an appointment, but only to tell him that he was wrong and unprofessional for not keeping that appointment. He apologized and we hung up. 2 weeks later, the girl called me, trying to set up another appointment. I explained to her what happened with the other sales dork, and she was so sorry! Yeah, right, so then she said she would call me back to set up an appointment, because she was in my neighborhood. So I thought I'd give them a chance!

She never called me back (liar)! So I called her back to give her a piece of my mind. I said I would report them to their manager, and that their customer service sucked! They best not ever knock on my door again! However, I am very glad I did not allow them to come in, and make my carpet worst with their messes I hear they left on other people's carpet. Reading all the reviews, wow they have not one good review! Better Business Bureau might want to hear about this product, and maybe someone needs to give them some real training.

I received a knock on my door at 2pm on Wednesday by a nicely dressed, petite girl. She said she was helping "promote" her friend's cleaning company, Escondido Cleaning Solutions, and was offering a free couch or carpet cleaning, and it would take 10 minutes. I was stupid enough to fall for her bit and I figured the couch needed cleaning since it smells like dog.

Fast forward to 5pm, she arrives with a man and another woman, and a vacuum. I told them immediately there was no way I was going to buy the vacuum, but she insisted that she still get "credit" for demonstrating the Kirby. Two hours later and after she had vacuumed practically every surface in my new construction house (which is not dirty!) and after she called her boss no less than 6 times, they lowered the price of the Kirby from $3,000 to $1,000. I must have told her and her boss-on-the-phone 15 times I wasn't buying the vacuum. Then the boss-on-the-phone had the audacity to ask why we wouldn't open a credit account, is there something wrong with our credit. I was seriously offended and told her to tell him that for the record, my credit is perfect, and I'm not marking it by opening an account to buy a vacuum. If I happen to have an extra $1,000 to spend, it surely wouldn't be on a vacuum.

By this time, the kids and the husband were getting cranky and hungry. I told the girl she needed to pack her Kirby and go. Of course, her boss-on-the-phone wasn't there to pick her up, so she spent another 10 minutes in my house waiting. The boss finally arrives and he tried to offer me the vacuum for $30/month, 0 down, blah, blah, blah. I was on the verge of tears and I said they had to leave. That was the end of it or so we thought.

A few minutes later, the demo girl knocks on our door claiming to have left her cell phone in the house. I handed her my house phone. "Call your number. I can't have you walking around my house looking for it." Of course, at the moment, the other girl comes in, "Oh! Your phone is in the van." And then to me, "My boss said he'll lower the price even more if you take it right now." I told them both again that they need to leave. Now! Fortunately, that was the end, but then I was awake all night worried they were going to come back and rob or vandalize my house.

I was so upset by the outright lie the girl told me to get in the house. She didn't clean anything. In fact, she made a bigger mess by taking her Kirby filters and putting them all over my floor and coffee table, thus getting whatever dust and dog hair she vacuumed up everywhere. And the fact that she was in my home for over two hours, after I had politely (and then not so politely) asked her to pack up her stuff was just flat out rude. And the boss-on-the-phone bit had my hair standing on end. I have to honestly say, this company has the worst sales tactics ever; tacky, pushy and rude.

I am the male in the household. There is only my wife and I that live here, so I try to help her out with household chores. We had a couple of your sales people show up to "demonstrate" your Kirby last year. I stated plainly that we did not want and could not afford a $1300 vacuum, but the guy insisted on doing the demonstration - and the pressure was on - something about he had to sell it to get his "trip" and the price kept going down, lower and lower. I admit my wife and I are both more compassionate sometimes than we should be, but we let this guy talk us into buying.

After using your vacuum for almost a year, I have come to the conclusion that if I had not foolishly paid almost $800.00 for this monstrosity, I would take it out back, drag it behind my truck through town, and then after reaching the town square, would publicly shoot the thing. It is the hardest vacuum I have used in 61 years. The accessories are cheap and won't stay together. It runs over your feet, so you need steel toe shoes to use it. Carrying it up steps is a real pain, and changing it over from carpet to hard wood floors is a chore.

If another Kirby sales person ever comes to my door, they may want to consider quickly saying hello and getting the heck off the property. Your "Kirby" sucks in more ways than it was designed to. I wish I had never given up my old Sears vacuum and I may put this thing out by the driveway and mount a mail box on it, go to Sears and get a new one that doesn't take a body building, muscle bound, mechanic to operate.

My husband was home when a Kirby salesman came to the door and tried to talk to him. My husband stated that I was not home, because they require that both the husband and wife be present. Truth be told, my husband was probably just trying to get rid of the guy. Well, later that night, another knock on the door. The salesman came back and made it sound like it wouldn't take long and that they were just going to clean our rugs for us. They have to do this or they don't get paid. Since we were in the middle of homework and fixing dinner we declined. But he begged us to let them come back another day. I told him there was no point since I had just bought a Dyson and have no desire to purchase another vacuum or cleaning system at this time. He said that's okay they would skip the sales pitch and just clean the carpets, after all they only get paid if they clean so many carpets a day. So we said come back on Wednesday. Well we changed our minds because it just sounded too easy and I had an unexpected appointment come up. So I call the Sharonville office located in Cincinnati Ohio and spoke to someone to inform them that we cancelled.

Well needless to say, the guy still showed up later that night. I explained to him that we had called the office to cancel, but he pretended not to get the message. Although, I find it odd that they waited till hrs past our scheduled time to show up after we cancelled. I told him before I even let him in the door, that I have no intentions to buy one of these vacuum/shampoo machines no matter what. The guy was like pleased, I only have to do one more house today. I ask my husband if we should let him in to clean the rugs in the rooms he said why not. Well, that was a big mistake! The guy was nice at first, vacuumed all 3 of my rooms and cleaned the rugs (if that's what you want to call it). I could have done a better job with some resolve and a scrub brush. He handed us a sheet with price listings and payments and ask us what it would take to buy one. I said, I told you when you came in here that I was not going to buy one. I would never spend $2,000.00 on a vacuum regardless.

Well, after the salesmen realized he wasn't going to change my mind he turned into a jerk. He called me a liar and told me he knew I could afford it. He continued to tell me that do you think I would have knocked on your door if I did not think you could afford one. I was so mad, it took everything I had not to take his vacuum and throw out the door along with him. But Kirby leaves you stuck with their salesman because they drop them off. So let's just say while he was putting his stuff away it was tense. I did let him know that I don't like being called a liar and asked him if he always turns into such a jerk when you don't make a sale. All I can say is Kirby door to door sales seems like a big scam with loser salesmen that need to get real jobs.

Today, on a Monday morning about 10:45, I heard a knock on the door. Very unusual where I live because most homes are used as vacation homes and we're kind of far out from anything. It's very quiet around here with little to no activity. When I got to the door, there was a woman at the door with a box of Puffs tissues. She asks if I'm the homeowner and tells me the tissues are for me. She quickly tells me who she is and who she's with all so fast I didn't catch any of it. She said she wanted to show me something. I asked if I had to come outside as my infant baby was laying in bed where, only moments before, I was feeding her.

She says they are with Kirby vacuums, had I heard of them and no, they will come inside. I quickly explained my baby was breastfed and I was in the middle of feeding her. I asked if she would be coming back by (in efforts to politely get rid of her) and she said yes, could they stop back by in about 45 minutes. I said no, maybe later, to which she replied "Oh you'd like to set up an appointment?" I said "no." So she tells me it'll only take 30 minutes and they'll clean my carpet. She'll make $50 just for doing the demonstration, etc. I finally say, "Yeah, go ahead and come in." The only reason I finally relented was because I recognized her from a previous job I had where she and her mom were regular customers and her mother works at the same place as my husband. I figured she was innocent enough. She motioned to the van that was to the side of my house and they drove around to the front of my house. She went to the van and she and two men began unloading their gear.

She came back in, along with a man and he began setting up the cleaner. As he was getting the cleaner from the box, she tells me that she is going to leave and go knock on my neighbors doors because that's her job, to knock on doors. She leaves me with this man in the house, whom I never met, never would have let in while me and my five-month old daughter are home, out in the boondocks, without my husband. I would never do something to be so naive that could endanger either one of us and here I am with the stranger.

He starts telling me how his business is running a contest, that he had the poster for it, but lost it. No he didn't lose it, he left it at another person's house and hadn't been back to get it. In this contest, he could win a trip to Florida, yada yada yada. If my business were doing a contest like this, I would do anything to win it, right? So he reads his introduction, from the paper, word for word, as quickly as possible. Not interested in what he was saying or selling, in my opinion. So he shows me the attachments, the light bulb changer/plumbers tool/dog groomer, the different pipes, cleans a spot on the floor, the ceiling fan, the wall. He does that whole spill, which took over 30 minutes.

He then tells me he needs to clean my mattress. Now, I'm supposed to let this stranger into my bedroom? Negative. I tell him he can skip that to which he replies, somewhat in an angry tone, "I have to do it or I don't get credit. " He tells me he can just do a pillow. So I bring him a pillow so he can show me the disgusting things I'm breathing in at night. I have the cushion to a papasan chair laying on the floor where I let my daughter sit and play, in case she topples over, so that she won't hit her head on the floor. He starts cleaning that and shows me all the dirt in it.

Through all of this, he points out that my daughter is breathing this in, that it is more toxic than second hand smoke (did I mention I smelled smoke on him the moment he entered my home, and almost asked him to leave then, if only I had the guts.) He rubs in, over and over, that my daughter's health, along with that of my husbands and mine, should be more important than any amount of money; that dust mites, their poop, and their eggs in a bed is the number 1 cause of SIDS in babies, (thought they didn't know what caused SIDS); that these things could lead to my baby having asthma (even though he admitted if I didn't have asthma, and my husband didn't, then my baby probably wouldn't either.)

Anyway, he asks to see my vacuum, to prove it's a piece of crap basically. He vacuums an area of the floor 52 times with my vacuum, then a different area with the Kirby 52 times, then uses the Kirby over the area he used my vacuum 30 times and then shows me it picked up more. No kidding, it should. It costs $3000. My vacuum was under $200. After he's done with that, he says he has to make a phone call before he starts his 4X4 demonstration. He calls his boss, who is very loud and I can hear her ever word. She asks if I'm liking it so far. He says yes. She asks if I'd buy it if it were completely affordable. He repeats question to me and I say possibly. She asks again. I say we may have different opinions of affordable. She asks what I would be able to afford a month without taking food off the table or clothes off my back. I say not much. She says "**" into the phone.

She then asks him if I can hear her. I can. He says no. She says, "Okay, are you in a trailer or a house?" He says, "House." She says, "Is it nice?" He says, "Yes." She says, "Is the father involved?" He says, "Yes, but he isn't home." She says, "Does it look like they have money?" He says, "Yes." She says, "Do they have jobs?" He says, "He does, she doesn't." (Wrong, I have a full time job!)

She says okay, gives him a lower price, tells him to call her back. He tells me the price, which he's written down on one of his disks, $1699. No money down, no payments for two months, $62 a month. He asks me if that's better, I say yes but I wouldn't purchase one today. I would discuss it with my husband first. He calls her back. She says if it's $800, and $20 a month, would that be better? Well, yeah it's better than $1699. He tells me it's not $800. (That was pointless.) She tells him to call the first girl to come in to help wrap it up.

While we're waiting, he is just steady vacuuming over the same spot, changing the dirt disc out, and vacuuming more. I have dirt discs all over my floor. I ask if he has to do a certain amount of those. He says he has to do 100 discs to get credit. I tell him to triple them up. I'm pretty sure he did after that. The first girl comes back and asks how I like it. I said I did but I wouldn't buy one today. I wouldn't buy it without asking my husband. (Obviously not getting one after hearing the phone conversation.) She writes down a lower price and shows it to me. "This is what I can do for you today," $1100, no payments for two months, $40 a month. Still a no. The guy asks if I have to ask my husband. It's no payments for two months. I'll have two months to talk to my husband. Negative. She gives me the paper with the price on it, with her name and number. I ask her boss's name (the one with rude questions) and write it on my paper.

She says okay and thanks and he starts packing up his discs, etc. Some of these discs were mighty dirty I'll admit and he constantly walked back and forth over them, resulting in dirt being ground into my area rug. I joking said I needed them to clean that up (because I suck at being a jerk) and she said "oh yeah yeah we're going to get that up. It happens sometimes." She takes his bag and leaves. He continues packing up the cleaner and never cleans up the ground up dirt on my rug.

In the end, I got a box of Puff tissues (thanks!), a "cleaned" pillow, 2 square feet of vacuumed carpet and raised blood pressure. My daughter sat in my lap the whole time, got fussy and sleepy, and finally fell asleep (he didn't care at all that she was fussy). He was here a total of about an hour and 40 minutes and they didn't clean my carpet as originally promised. I'll admit the cleaner seemed good and I would have possibly bought it, if only for the sake of my daughter. I try to do right by her, she is breastfed, I make her baby food at home from real fresh veggies, etc. I didn't like seeing what I missed when I cleaned. But with these people's attitudes and rude questions and cussing (the guy cussed several times in his demonstration and also had an annoying rap ringtone that went off three times), I can say I will not be buying a Kirby from them or elsewhere. After reading these other stories, I'm very glad I didn't get sucked in as others did. Take my advice along with others and do not let these people in your home!

The vacuum won't suck up lint, dog hair, very small food items, rattles and clangs. I'm very dissatisfied. I have previously owned two Kirbys and never had this kind dissatisfaction. It stinks and I will not purchase another.

I paid cash for a new Sentria machine. My wife picked it up, and brought into the house, where it sat for 4 days while we were out of town. We opened the box, and took out the machine. I noticed the main head was scratched up, and the arrows were so faded, you could barely make out a green or red arrow. I removed the brush head to look inside, and it was full of what looked like cat hair. I took out the handle, and the chrome on the handle was scratched up, chipped, and faded. I took out the bag holder (the part with the zipper), and it was wet. I looked in the end, and it was crusted with dirt. I took out the plastic extensions, and they were chipped up as if someone had been cleaning a concrete floor with them. How can I recommend to anyone that they purchase a machine that was obviously used or a repo. When you pay $900 for a vacuum cleaner, it should at least be in great shape. If anyone buys from Mr. ** in Columbus, MS, check the machine before you accept it.

I feel compelled to state that no salespeople have ever contacted me, but I have purchased several Kirby vacuums for home and business in the past several years.They were bought at auctions for very little, and they are only several years old, hepa bags, and self propelled. They are the finest vacuums with the greatest cleaning power I have ever used. However, I paid about $35-40 each. Go figure.

It's sad to see all of these complaints about pushy salespeople, and yes a lot of these complaints are valid. However, my initial contact with our Kirby Salesmen started out shaky at best; with the line that they wanted to demonstrate a carpet shampoo for free (I thought they were a carpet cleaning business). As I operate a cleaning business, and we have a Rolodex of subcontractors and other businesses we use for jobs we can't handle, I said no thanks. However, my wife asked a few more questions & learned they were actually sales reps for Kirby - my ears popped up!

Back n the 1960's and 1970's growing up in Seattle WA (USA), we had a Kirby upright and I remember it lasting for years and years. It even outlasted a newer Electralux canister. So they returned for their demo, and we agreed to purchase a unit for our cleaning business. They didn't push, and they assisted us with our financial application and have made themselves available for training and assistance. One rule everyone must follow - If you don't want what is being pitched, says no & excuse them to leave. It's too bad not many, young & old, don't have the balls to stand up for themselves - Just saying.

I bought a vacuum cleaner from Kirby and traded in my upright Electrolux. When I called them within the 3-day grace period to come and pick up their Kirby (I had changed my mind about buying it), they brought me a pull behind Electrolux. I have called them several times asking them for my upright. All they tell me is: "We don't have it. You can go to Ocean Springs (about 40 miles away) to our warehouse and find something you want." I'm getting up in age and I have to pay someone to take me wherever I go and I can't afford to do that. Can you help me?

I was badgered for over 5 hours into signing an agreement, which they immediately threatened me with collections, etc. I tried to return the vacuum every day, after the purchase, and never got an answer from them. Their own collection department said I should have read the fine print. I'm 69. It was over New Year's day, and they set it up, so that any customer at that time had no way of returning the item within the three days. I haven't used the vacuum, and have begged them several times (via certified letters) to take it back, and have always gotten the same form letter back with no answers, just a stupid form letter telling us how reliable they are. How many people do they target in such a way? I have a list of questions that should show just how they manipulate unsuspecting customers:

-Why don't they supply the full name and number of the salesman or the owner?

-Why do they put the responsibility on different departments, causing time wasted, sometimes days.

No department took any responsibility. The financial department immediately starts fighting, as the local departments. Why are there so many departments with no customer satisfaction whatsoever? With various facilities in several places, each one claiming they are the wrong one to deal with? Why do they insist on selling to a senior citizen who is trying to live on $700.00 a month, and has just two rooms of carpet? A person who has no credit, a person who cannot handle the weight of the machine, or a person who was only interested in a shampooer?

I truly believe this company is detrimental to the younger generation, instructing salesmen to get the signed papers, despite any moral judgment. Why does the company threaten to sue, and wreck ones credit, when a customer simply wants to return the unused product?