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Kirby Vacuum Cleaners

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Linda of Gustine, CA (1/22/06)
A Kirby salesman came to my door yesterday and asked to clean one carpet, in one room. I told him, "no, thank you" nicely three times. I then was a little more forceful in saying, "NO thank you". Finally, I said, "NO!" and he replied, "even if it means I won't get credit"?

When I said, NO again, he gave me the creepiest, most frightening stare I've ever experienced. I finally closed and locked the door. I am so sick and tired of Kirby salespeople frequently coming to my door and being pushy, but this is the first one that has actually frightened me.

I've owned a Kirby and would NEVER buy one again. I think they're awful!

Nichole of Marshville, NC (1/11/06)
A young lady showed up at our door at 7:00 pm and asked if we would like to see a demonstration so that she could win a trip. Since it was dinnertime we asked her to come back. She returned the next day, left her partner at our house and drove away.

He started his demonstration and after one hour I told him we could not afford a new vacuum because we just had a baby. He used our phone to call his boss, and never spoke another word until his boss arrived to pick him up. Then he tried to sell us the vacuum again. After another 30-45 minutes they finally left, both very rude after we turned their offer down. (I don't really consider a $1400 vacuum much of a deal!)

This company needs to be stopped of their crummy tactics.

Tom of Springfield, NJ (10/17/05)
Assuming it to be a 15-20 minute sales pitch, I let a Kirby vacuum cleaner salesman into my apartment to do a demonstration. An hour later I politely asked him to wrap up and leave. He was visibly upset as he was trying to earn some kind of sales credit. I felt sorry for him, however I still kicked him out because I was late for another appointment.

It is ridiculous to expect anyone to be available for such a long sales pitch and like the product or the salesperson at the end. Fortunately for me, I did not get into the trap of buying the product. The product itself may not be bad, although it comes with a hefty price tag.

Cindy of Rockport, MA (10/10/05)
Taylor, a new employee with Kirby demonstrated a vacuum cleaner in my home. Quite frankly, my daughter and I were impressed with the vacuum and decided to buy one. Taylor told me that if I gave him a down payment of $50, I could pay the balance off through my checking account and he would leave the vacuum that night.

He made a few phone calls to his office in Danvers, MA and told me they approved the transaction. My daughter and I gave him three $20 bills. He came back with $6.00 in change and said he'd apply the $54.00 to our balance. Then he asked for one of my checks so the payments could be taken out of my account on a monthly basis. I voided one of my checks, signed a few forms and thought everything was finalized.

As soon as I gave him the cash and a check, the deal changed. I was informed that my daughter and I would have to be approved for credit. I told him that we did not have great credit and he assured me that there would be no problem getting the application to go through. I knew better. I asked for the money back but he said that he needed it to turn into his office to make the deal go through. Then he informed me he could not leave the vacuum but would either bring the vacuum to us or return our money the next day.

This never happened. It's been 3 weeks since he was here and I can't reach him by phone. Obviously we didn't get the credit approval, so I want the money and check back.

Christina of Portland, TX (10/10/05)
A young girl came to my house and asked if I would like to have a free carpet scrub. I was taken in and decided to buy one.

After speaking to my husband the next day, I changed my mind and called Kirby to let them know. Then I went to sweep my floors with my Bissell and found it wasn't there. The Kirby salespeople had taken it without telling me or giving me anything for it! I was furious. I called them and said I wanted my Bissell back and they should come pick up their vacuum.

They did, but still to this day I have not received my deposit on the Kirby. I have complained to everyone. Kirby takes no responsibility, saying they just manufacture them. They deposited my check the very next day, and keep promising I will have my money back within ten working days.

Damages: Solicitors beware on my lawn.

Amanda of Grand Island, NE (1/4/06)
A woman came to my door, gave me a free candle, and asked if she could have one of her employees show me something from Kirby.

Kirby is probably a good vacuum, what I'm sickened by are their tactics. The Kirby guy first started his price at $2210 (way out of our price range).

During the demonstration he dumped all our baking soda on the floor; he used our paper towels to dry off the vacuum; he used our bathroom and he was there for close to THREE hours, partially because after he "called" his driver, the driver didn't come for another hour. When he finally left, his driver had the nerve to ring our doorbell at 10:10 p.m. to give us the final price of $800!!!

Jill of Cabot, AR (12/30/05)
Typical sales pitch. A woman knocks on my door stating she needs to clean two more homes to win a trip. I let her in thinking it would be quick. She left to get her equipment and brought a man in to do the cleaning (it took over 2 hours). She never came back.

He was a sweet salesman and I did like him but was not all that impressed with the Kirby (our home is quite clean thanks to my husband). I was not comfortable having a man in my home and only agreed to the demo thinking she was the one doing it.

I don't appreciate them using my phone, asking for something to drink and wasting two hours of my evening. I would not buy a Kirby based on this experience, regardless of the quality.

Penny of Fonda, IA (11/15/05)
I am writing this for a 72-year old woman who has no computer. She and her husband were "invaded" by a pair of Kirby vacuum cleaner salespeople last week. During the demonstration, the salespeople actually broke her existing vacuum sweeper!

The salespeople did not register at City Hall so we have no way of contacting them. Calls to local Kirby Sales companies produced no results. No one knows of any Kirby representatives in this area.

This is a real hardship for this elderly couple.

Ron of Round Rock, TX (11/15/05)
My wife and I allowed a man and woman sales team to demonstrate the Kirby system. We did not purchase one. They proceeded to a neighbor's home (a single female) and told her that we purchased one and that we recommended they go see her. We did not do that!

Seems after the saleswoman left, her male partner stayed in our neighbor's house and pushed her to buy the vacuum after she'd told them NO several times.

Gregory of Salem MO (12/21/03):
While at my mothers home a woman knocked on the door. She explained that she and her associates were canvasing the neighborhood signing up residents for the opportunity to win a $4,000.00 grocery giveaway. She futher explained that the giveaway is being sponsored by the Kirby vacuum cleaner company and if we would allow her associate to clean a couple spots out of the carpet for us that thay would gain "points" making them eligible for a trip to St. Petersburg, Florida.

She made it sound as though he would be in and out. I take responsibility for not kicking him out once I saw him setting up his props for his demo. However to add insult to injury the young man asked if he could use my mother's telephone. We mistakenly assumed that he was making toll free calls back to St. Charles, Mo. The young gentleman had been instructed by his boss to call him at various points during the sales pitch, no less than 4 times. We discovered on the 4th call that these calls were costing us. Needless to say we did not buy a vacumm that day.

Ronald of Indianapolis (12/22/03):
A guy knocks on the door and says he's in the neighborhood to ggive a gift to all the happy homeowners (.99 Candle). Once we accepted he said he'd like to give a demostration, 15-20 minutes so I said okay. Four and a half hours later, I was still trying to get this guy out and he insisted that I had to purchase this Kirby because of all the dirt he had shown me. My complaint is that this guy used false pretennse to enter my home and continued to lie and in the end would not leave.

My wife was cooking dinner when they arrived and they knew this but still wasted a lot of out time. I would not like for these guys to come to my home again or anyone else's for that matter, They are rude and out of place.

Ronni of Katy TX (11/19/03):
They represented themselves as a new company for carpet cleaning, and would clean one room for free in order to get a good response. It was totally false, it was a KIRBY salesman. I was told at the beginning there was no sales involved. The whole ordeal was a sales pitch. It was almost impossible to get them out, they cleaned half of the rug and wanted me to buy a $2,000 vacuum! These people are scum and I cant believe I let them in my house! I am glad I have an alarm and two large dogs.

Karen of South Riding, VA, writes:
I accepted from a telephone source, an offer for a free rug shampoo. At no time did the caller identify herself as a representative of the Kirby vacuum company. She said it was a new dry foam system and asked to demonstrate it at no cost or obligation to me.

I was quite surprised on Tuesday, February 8, when 2 young men entered my home and set up their sales presentation and demonstrated how dirty my wall-to- wall Berber carpeting was. I never doubted that the new Kirby 2000 would not perform as demonstrated; it was an incredible machine.

Several hours into the demonstration, I agreed to purchase the Kirby 2000 after discussing with both salesmen that I would indeed exercise my 3-day option to use and determine if this vacuum was suitable for my needs. I gave them what cash I had on hand, gained approval for a 90-day same as cash transaction, and relinquished my 2-year-old Riccar 8850 vacuum cleaner.

On Thursday, February 10, I vacuumed every room and floor in my house. On Friday morning, February 11 (3 days later), I contacted the Kirby company in Sterling, Virginia and explained to the office girl that I was not satisfied with the performance of my Kirby. She said she would sent a representative to our home at 5:30 Friday evening to retrieve the machine.

As it turned out, no one from Kirby contacted us that night to say they would not be able to retrieve the vacuum. I called on two other occasions, until a representative finally retrieved the vacuum eight days later on Wednesday, February 16. Two Kirby representatives arrived, I explained my problem with using the Kirby and he said I was vacuuming "against the grain" and accepted the Kirby return.

I asked him for my Riccar vacuum and he said he would return it tomorrow night. He noted on my receipt that "Riccar TBD."

On Monday, February 21, I contacted the Kirby company and asked about the return of my Riccar. The office girl said she would look for it and call me back; she did not return my call. Later that evening I received a call from the office manager, Cary B, explaining that my vacuum had been released to a wholesaler in New Jersey and that I should stop by the office and pick up a substitute and he would attempt to retrieve my vacuum from the wholesaler.

We went to the Kirby company in Sterling on Wednesday, February 23. I asked to see the manager to inquire further about my Riccar vacuum. The office girl contacted Mr. B by telephone and I explained to him that I was picking up my substitute but I wanted to know if he had any updated news on my Riccar vacuum. Mr. Brown tersely informed me that Kirby owed me nothing at this point and this offer of a vacuum would result in just parts being returned to me.

Twelve days after I cancelled my agreement with Kirby, Mr. B then accused me of not following proper procedures with the cancellation. I told him I was never asked by his office personnel to sign or return any paperwork whatsoever. Mr. B was extremely rude with both myself and my roommate Steve, so we left the store with nothing. The following day I called Kirby to say that I would indeed take their offer of 2 vacuums to use in the interim, then trade-in both when I could afford to replace my stolen vacuum.

I arrived at the store Tuesday, February 29. Kirby's "generous" offer of my choice of 5 dilapidated vacuums, all uprights with no attachments, was insulting. I took one filthy upright vacuum and the office girl promised she would call me when they received a machine with attachments.

Now I must make my third trip to the Kirby store for yet another dilapidated vacuum and Kirby still has not returned my cash down payment.

How the Kirby company feels entitled to come into my home, make invalid claims on their product, take my personal property, and then feel NO responsibility whatsoever to return my personal property, is beyond comprehension. I learned an invaluable lesson and my experience with Kirby has left an indelible impression on me. To never again allow myself to be "swept" away by in-home salesmen who prey on my capacity to be kind enough to allow them to demonstrate their products to me under false pretenses.

Sherry of Grand Haven MI (2/2/01):
We fell for the old "won a free carpet cleaning, no sales pitch, demonstration only" phone call. The guy was 2 hours late, obnoxious, went into other rooms without permission, used our phone twice (said it was toll-free but I doubt it) and then left the carpet dirtier than when he arrived!

I am furious. This was an upsetting, deceitful scam. Thank God we did not purchase anything! Yes, there was emotional damage, certainly. Plus, we had to move furniture for this creep (we both have sore backs), and he probably ran up expenses on our phone bill.

John of Geneva IL (5/16/01):
We were contacted by someone and were asked if we wanted a free carpet cleaning. This was supposed to be no obligation and would take about an hour. All we had to do was answer a few questions afterwards. It sounded OK to my wife so she set up an evening appointment.

The salesman arrived at 7:15 PM on May 16, 2001 and began unloading the Kirby Vacuum cleaner. He spent an hour and a half demonstrating the machine before he even started cleaning the carpet. In place of the regular bag on this machine, he used a small canister with paper filters so that he could show us the amount of dirt that the machine was removing from our carpet.

Early into the demo, we told him that my wife is an asthma sufferer and also is alergic to dust mites. As he was demonstrating he used at least 50 of the paper filters and just laid them out on the floor, couch, and top of the TV. My wife began having an asthma attack about an hour into the presentation. The attack worsened and, after 2 hours and fifteen minutes and only about 25% of our carpet cleaned, I told the guy he had to leave imediately because my wife needed to go to the Emergency Room.

We spent the next two hours at the hospital while my brother stayed with our children. I was totally unprepared for the way the salesman took over our home. What was promised to end by 8:15 ended with me kicking him out at 9:30 and rushing my wife to the hospital. The Kirby representative definitely knew about the harmful effects of household dust on asthma sufferers because that was a major part of his pitch, yet he did nothing to protect my wife's health.

My wife's asthma is is obviously a part of our lives. Nevertheless, in the 20 years that I have known her I have never seen an attack this severe. She was literally 5 minutes from losing consciousness. The recovery period from a single, severe attack can last a week or more. During that time she has limited breathing ability and must be constantly aware of her condition and within reach of medication. My children were quite worried and upset, as you would expect, when we rushed out of the house to the ER late at night.

I have not yet received the ER bill but the doctor also gave us two prescriptions and refered us to a pulmonary specialist. I would estimate that the whole incident cost us or our insurance company over $1000. We felt deceived by the the promise of a "free carpet cleaning at no obligation" and overwhelmed by the saleman's pitch and demonstration.

Nancy of Chico CA writes (7/16/01):
They lied first thing about a "15-minute" demostration. I made it very clear my husband had the flu and they assured me it would only take 15 minutes, so I said okay. After one hour I mentioned the 15 minutes and Jack said that was just to get in the door.

When Jack realized I was not going to purchase he makes this phone call and talks about me and said "she's ticked off". I did not appreciate that and I told him so, he was very rude and I advise different training. I will never buy a Kirby and you can bet I will tell every person I know how you do business.

Pamela of Union City CA (8/18/01):
On 18 August 2001, two Kirby employees approached my husband and myself in the front yard and wanted to shampoo our carpet; told them no, then they wanted to shampoo our couch and we said it was new and did not need it. They insisted, so finally said OK.

They did not shampoo as promised but kept vacuuming two pieces of furniture to show me all the dirt. I told them from the beginning I was not interested in a Kirby as I had a Kirby purchased four years ago. To make a long story short, they insisted I purchase a new one. Told them I was not interested in a new one.

I was originally quoted $2,000.00; then it went to $1895; then to $1695; the final price $1190. How can this be? This is a big rip-off and the public is being taken by this kind of action. I did not appreciate them wasting 1 1/2 hours of my time when they were told upfront that we had no intention of buying a Kirby.

Once the supervisor returned to put "pressure" on us to buy a Kirby, and i told him emphatically no, then he was very upset and stormed out of the house. I do not recommend anyone purchase a Kirby. They admitted once they get in the house they put pressure on you.

Ellen of Keystone Heights, FL (12/4/01):
I would like to "ditto" the complaint of Karen of South Riding, VA regarding the disgusting treatment she received from the Kirby Vacuum con men. My bad experience was at the hands of "salesmen" from Gainesville, FL but it was almost word for word her sad story, except they had not yet sold my 2-year-old Simplicity vacuum and pocketed the money.

As of 2 weeks later they have still not returned my $270 down payment, even though they repeatedly promised to come by and bring it. They came to hard-sell during the recision period at all hours; 8 am, 10 pm, all without first calling and let themselves in, scaring my children who answered the door. I was disgusted!

They lied and cleaned one small spot when they assured me they would clean the entire carpet ... there was no way they were actually going to do that and it made us feel abused and cheated! They frightened my children and stole many hours of our family time, insulted our intelligence and so far have stolen a sum of money which we do not need to be tied up.

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