Kirby - Vacume Cleaners Kirby Ripoff tried their sales pitch on me today too Waukesha Wisconsin

Wow. Glad I read these reports today. I'm mowing my lawn in the middle of the afternoon. TONS of things to do today, little time to do it. I dropped a soda in my kitchen yesterday, all over my persian rug. Haven't cleaned it yet and I've been dreading it all day. Have to clean that up.

As I'm mowing my lawn, a guy approaches me and offers me a box of carpet freshener and says he's doing demos in the area. Doesn't really say who he works for, but hands me his laminated printout saying that they're doing free carpet cleaning today and he can have his partner finish mowing my lawn for me. I said free carpet cleaning? Yes, free. How convenient. I don't need anyone to mow my lawn, thank you. But, I just spilled that soda yesterday and was not looking forward to pulling out the Bissell today. I ask where is your truck? He says down the street with my business partner. They are doing this on every block today. Also, he wins some trip to Arizona if he sells his "last" vacume cleaner today. Like I care if this guy goes to Arizona or not. But, whatever. So, I invite him in. I really didn't want to Bissell my rug today.

Right away he goes THROUGH my kitchen and starts looking around my living room. My first thought is, they are scoping out homes, this is a scam, I'm going to get robbed, or worse yet I'm going to be a statistic. Then he has to use my phone. I thought, don't you have your own? I'm getting a little panicky, but he says he has to check in with the "office" to let them know he's here. I make sure I don't turn my back on him. He probably uses my home phone to "call in" so they have my phone # on file with the use of current technology, caller I.D. My phone, by the way, is unlisted and unpublished. I know these suckers are going to keep calling me. He then grabs my Hoover Windtunnel (which I love) from the living room - he knew where it was as he helped himself to walk around my house without asking - and proceeds to vacume areas of my kitchen rug with my Hoover.

I make an excuse to go outside for a minute. My cell phone is in my car. I can still see him through the kitchen window, and then I call my husband on my cell as I'm watching this guy vacume my rug with my Hoover before he "shampoos" it. I tell my husband who is here, and that I don't know if I'm getting scammed. He laughs because I'm suckered into a Kirby sales pitch. I go back in the house and the guy says, now do you believe that I'm a Kirby salesman?

His partner from down the block arrives with the ever so expensive Kirby vacume cleaner and all his equipment. Then he shows me all the dirt that the Kirby picks up after he goes over it again. He keeps asking me, would you want a cleaner house for just $2/day? Would you want cleaner lungs for just $2 day? I keep asking, what is the final price, what is the final price, what is the final price, he avoids it every time. $2/day for HOW LONG, I ask? He tells me he'll go over that with me later. He's sweating like a pig, I'm watching the sweat beads fall off onto my carpet all the while thinking, I'm glad you are washing my carpeting today. I hand him a paper towel and ice water. Many more details that are similar to those listed in other posts here as well.

After he's done with most of his pitch, he starts trying to pressure me into making a decision right then & there. He sits down and asks me if I have any other vacume cleaners. I have two. I can get $150 for a trade in on my Hoover, and $50 for the second one. I can also get more $ off if I give them my Bissell carpet cleaner. Additionally, I get $20 off for each name and phone # I give of anyone I know, and then $10 off per name for up to 10 more names. I told him that I am not comfortable giving this info without getting permission first. This is personal information. He says, well, we don't tell them where or who we got it from. Pretty shady, don't you think? I told him I'll have to think about it. No fricken way! I'd be so mad if I found out one of my friends started handing out my personal info to sales people. He starts asking me what I do for a living, and what my husband does. He's watching me coddle my Chihuahua who wants to chew this guys head off.

So then I tell him that $1200 is WAY too much (and that was with all the discounts taken into account, and the shampooer that he was paying for "out of his own pocket"), ridiculously too much, and that I would never pay that much $ for a vacume cleaner unless it cleaned my house without my intervention. I told him I KNOW that wholesale cost can't possibly be anywhere near $1200. He then goes back to my dining room table where he has his manila folder, and he pulls it out and starts mumbling to himself, but really he was mumbling loud enough for me to hear him say, "lets see, that trip to Arizona is going to be about four thousand..." Again, what do I care if this guy gets to go to Arizona or not? He goes on about how this is his last sale of the day and thank you for letting me in, I get credit for this, I'm so thankful that you are so nice (i.e. he thinks I'm a sucker, but little does he know). Blah blah blah

I do consider myself street smart and not easily taken. Thank god. So then I told him that I don't make huge financial decisions without my husband's consent. That's our rule, and anyone who is married knows that's a golden rule. He then starts giving me a speech about, well can't you spend $2/day of YOUR money (not your husbands money) - I said excuse me, I'm in a marriage, and you obviously aren't. If you were, you'd know that it's not MY money or HIS money, it's OUR money, and WE make those decisions TOGETHER. He then says well you must have credit cards or a checkbook. I told him no. My husband handles everything (not true). He then tells me that I can't think about it for 24-48 hours after I told him that's what I'd like to do, and proceeds to give me the statistics that only 1% of people purchase the vacuum after the fact. Hmmmm....maybe because the other 99% of the population figured out that they were getting ripped off.

He couldn't even offer me a phone # to call or give me a business card so that I could call him in a couple of days. I told him my husband is out of town. He said well can't you call him? My husband is out of the state and probably in a business meeting and this guy literally wanted me to call him to ask him if we can buy a Kirby vacuum cleaner. Can you imagine how irate my husband would be be if I interrupted a business meeting to say, "honey, can I spend $1200 on a Kirby vacume cleaner?" So, I tell him I can't call him because he's on a plane right now. I then convinced him to call us later that evening. My husband will be home at 7:30 pm. I talked the guy down to $800, and that included the shampooer and other nifty attachments. Still, I wouldn't pay that much, but I didn't tell him that. The guy finally leaves 2.5 hours from beginning to end, and I'm off to catch up on all my errands. My rug looks nice and clean. Probably would've looked the same if I had done it myself. I really didn't want to do it.

In between his sales pitch and shampooing my carpet, I snuck a phone call in to our close friend who just happened to be a former salesperson for Kirby vacume cleaners. Years ago. I told him a Kirby sales guy was there, he laughed at me, and said "don't do it". He told me the people who work for Kirby can get a vacume cleaner for about $300, and he went on to say that he wouldn't pay $100 for it, and went on about the sales pitch and tactics. He also mentioned that the filters they use on the kirby (to show you all the "dirt" that is picked up) would be no different if they tried the same thing on my Hoover. Good point. I later also researched on Ebay and found these vacume cleaners for a fraction of the price. Most are used, however, and most appear to be on sale from people who got suckered in and realized it a little too late. I really do like my Hoover windtunnel. I've always been happy with them. Until the Kirby guy came. Kidding!

So, 7:30 pm I come home, I turn up my street and head towards my driveway, and guess who is at my front door? Yep, it's the Kirby guy again. His partner is waiting in a vehicle parked in front of my house. I tell him that my husbands flight was delayed. He thinks I'm lying, but I'm not. I tell him to call us in two weeks. I know he won't call, or maybe he will, but my guess is that he's going to decide to just "drop in" sometime in the near future. I closed all the blinds on the front of my house today.

I'm so irritated that I got suckered into the 2.5 hour sales pitch, and thankful that I'm not too much of a sucker (no offense to anyone out there). Yes, it was definitely appealing and I can see how people get suckered in, but I can't justify spending $800 on a vacuum cleaner. And I'm glad I didn't have to Bissell my rug today.

My golden rule is this - NEVER make any financial decisions on a whim. Wait 24-48 hours to decide. If a salesperson pressures you to make a decision on the spot, then you are likely being taken for a ride. If they have confidence in their product, they will also be willing to let you think it over first.

Also, the $2/day free financing is for the first year. After that, you pay interest, and in the end, you are basically paying the price they originally quoted you, if not more. And, when you sign the papers, you are essentially signing a LOAN which is very detrimental to your credit report.

BUYER BEWARE!!!!

Kimberly
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
U.S.A.

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