Kirby Company ONE Industries Brainwashing desperate people Muncie, Indiana

Kirby’s website says: Kirby Distributors/Salespeople observe the highest standards of character, honesty and integrity. They abide by the Direct Selling Association’s Code of Ethics.

I went to the Direct Selling Association’s website & Kirby is a member. You can file a complaint against them because Kirby is a member. http://dsa.org/ethics/complaint/

I worked for these bozos for a short period a few years back. It was the same tired story- they lie to you to get you to go door to door to peddle their vacuums. Some time after Kirby, I worked in law enforcement, and found out all kinds of neat things that the Kirby company is guilty of. First, there are strict labor laws in every state, that say that you are an employee of a company, if said company expects you to be there at a certain time, follow it's selling rules, or commands or directs you in any way.

Employee means not an independent contractor. That is one of the big reasons that Kirby gotin trouble with the State of Arizona. There are a multitude of other issues with these con artists that I don't have to go into here, concerning pay and hours and what not. So Joe, you KNOW better. You KNOW what you are doing to these desperate job seekers is wrong. I HIGHLY recommend that anyone reading this who has been ripped off by these liars as far as job pay goes, consult with their state department of labor and/or attorney general along with a personal attorney. You WILL get what is owed to you if you fight for your rights!

Thank you I appreciate your comments (Sir Nick-katy)! Although I don't recall saying that I ever took a Kirby home for the weekend...

Amanda never took a Kirby home for the weekend so lets get this right.  Kirby or the Distributor never made you do anything you have a mind of your own ( I hope).  Everything you did was your choice.  If you were such a great person in Kirby why not give your name so I can check out your story?  I have been in Kirby for 17 years and do not lie to anyone who comes into the office, I tell them exactly what they will be doing, so if you were lied to or lied to others that is not me or where I work.  So before you go bashing people you do no know at least have the facts correct.  Not every Kirby distributor lies and deceives people, they only hear what they want to hear.  I am sure I you gave the name of the company you work for now I would be able to find ex-employees who were not happy with you either. 

Joe / Jeremy or whatever you choose to be addressed by, It is a sign of true ignorance to attack a woman like this. Especially since everything she has said is 100% FACT about the Kirby Co. I started in Kirby when I was 15 in Dyersburg TN., I was fed the same line of crap that the others here were but I had the advantage / dis-advantage of being hired by some people that I liked and they really liked me, they liked me so much that I dropped out of high school 2 weeks into the 9th grade to pursue this wonderful world of riches known as The Great Kirby Opportunity.
 
I was a horrible salesperson at the time and rarely had any of my demos closed, but I was one of the very very very few people that stuck around, the distributer used the theory that the best coach is not always the best player so he promoted me to DPS (you know what that is right joe/jeremy?) So now my job at 16 was to be the trainer (AKA LIAR) of new recruits. I was very good at my new position, so much so that I qualified for my first trip with Kirby with this position; it was a trip to Aspen had a blast. I had the opportunity to meet Ernie Villanueva when I was there and he gave me his complete set of
motivational tapes (this was a game changer for me). About a year later my distributer went to prison for an unrelated issue and I moved to Memphis and went to work for R.M. and Assoc. 

Here I was offered a position as van master AKA crew leader (now I am the guy pressuring people into buying after the demo) Oh man let me tell you, I was awesome at this, my best month was 96 sales with 4 dealers, the secret is 3 demos a day and that is nearly impossible to do. The month of 96 made me #1 in the country at the time. I went to Hawaii 2 times and 3 cruises won 2 Rolexes and a Mazda Miata while I was in Memphis, but after a few years the distributer ended up with a ton of tax fraud and eventually went away.

I called Gene Windfeldt (the president at the time) and asked him where would be the best place for my skills and he sent me to CA. My job was DPS again I was to hire in masses, train in classes and kick'em in the A%%#s.

The key to was to keep the trainees long enough to do their Count Down weekend,

Amanda you mentioned showing your dad a Kirby for your first demo, that was the plan all along, it is called a countdown weekend, the DPS / Trainers job is to get you excited about showing your family and friends they tell you that way
you will be more comfortable when it comes time to show a stranger if you practice on your family and friends first, but the real deal is that they know some family and friends are going to purchase from you when they never would from anyone else (just to help you in your new career), the trainers entire pay is normally based on this process.
 
Well after a couple years of the travel ( I was brought to In,Il,Mo,Ms,Ky,Ks,Az,Ar. all on the companies dime to help train DPS's to be better DPS's) I grew tired of it. I went back to TN. as a factory distributor, meaning that now I was able to purchase a Kirby from the headquarters for the low low price of $450.00 and then turn around and have someone sell it for
$2200.00. Lots and Lots of money made annually but something weird happened to me around the time I turned 30, somehow someway I actually started to feel bad about all the people I was hurting with the constant barrage of lies to both
people working for me and to the people buying a 2000+ dollar vacuum cleaner.

It got so bad that I couldnt stand to go out in public for fear that I would run into someone that had put their faith in me that they would be able to take care of themselves as well as their families based on the lies they were told that is the foundation of vacuum sales.

 I do not have %'s based off of studies done but based off of my experience I would have to say that maybe 1 out of 100 people hired in the business last longer than 3 months if that many. So, Joe / Jeremy for you to have the audacity to post a rebuttal saying FULL OF IT or PULL YOU BIG GIRL PANTIES UP when you know for 100% fact that what these
people are saying is the truth is just wrong.
 
Now Joe/Jeremy before you post some bad rebuttal to me please realize that the year I left Kirby I made $180,000 in the last nine months and I left because I finally had a conscience about the harm being done with the business practices used and I left and did much better with my life, I make more money and far happier now as are and do the people I employ.

Joe / Jeremy or whatever you choose to be addressed by, It is a sign of true ignorance to attack a woman like this. Especially since everything she has said is 100% FACT about the Kirby Co. I started in Kirby when I was 15 in Dyersburg TN., I was fed the same line of crap that the others here were but I had the advantage / dis-advantage of being hired by some people that I liked and they really liked me, they liked me so much that I dropped out of highschool 2 weeks into the 9th grade to pursue this wonderful world of riches known as The Great Kirby Opportunity. I was a horrible salesperson at the time and rarely had any of my demos closed, but I was one of the very very very few people that stuck around, the distributer used the theory that the best coach is not always the best player so he promoted me to DPS (you know what that is right joe/jeremy?) So now my job at 16 was to be the trainer (AKA LIAR) of new recruits. I was very good at my new position, so much so that I qualified for my first trip with Kirby with this position, it was a trip to Aspen had a blast. I had the opportunity to meet Ernie Villanueva when I was there and he gave me his complete set of motivational tapes (this was a game changer for me). About a year later my distributer went to prison for an unrelated issue and I moved to Memphis and went to work for R.M. and Assoc. Here I was offered a position as van master AKA crew leader (now I am the guy pressuring people into buying after the demo) Oh man let me tell you, I was awesome at this, my best month was 96 sales with 4 dealers, the secret is 3 demos a day and that is nearly impossible to do. The month of 96 made me #1 in the country at the time. I went to Hawaii 2 times and 3 cruises won 2 rolexes and a Mazda Miata while I was in Memphis, but after a few years the distributer ended up with a ton of tax fraud and eventueally went away.  I called Gene Windfeldt (the president at the time) and asked him where would be the best place for my skills and he sent me to CA. My job was DPS again I was to hire in masses, train in classes and kick'em in the A%%#s. The key to was to keep the trainees long enough to do their Count Down weekend, Amanda you mentioned showing your dad a Kirby for your first demo, that was the plan all along, it is called a countdown weekend, the DPS / Trainers job is to get you excited about showing your family and friends they tell you that way you will be more comfortable when it comes time to show a stranger if you practice on your family and friends first, but the real deal is that they know some family and friends are going to purchase from you when they never would from anyone else (just to help you in your new career), the trainers entire pay is normally based on this process. Well after a couple years of the travel ( I was brought to In,Il,Mo,Ms,Ky,Ks,Az,Ar. all on the companys dime to help train DPS's top be better DPS's) I grew tired of it. I went back to TN. as a factory distributor, meaning that now I was able to purchase a Kirby from the headquarters for the low low price of $450.00 and then turn around and have someone sell it for $2200.00. Lots and Lots of money made annually but something weird happened to me around the time I turned 30, Somehow someway I actually started to feel bad about all the people I was hurting with the constant barrage of lies to both people working for me and to the people buying a 2000+ dollar vacuum cleaner. It got so bad that I could'nt stand to go out in public for fear that I would run into someone that had put their faith in me that they would be able to take care of themselves as well as their families based on the lies they were told that is the foundation of vacuum sales. I do not have %'s based off of studies done but based off of my expierence I would have to say that maybe 1 out of 100 people hired in the business last longer than 3 months if that many. So, Joe / Jeremy for you to have the audacity to post a rebuttal saying FULL OF IT or PULL YOU BIG GIRL PANTIES UP when you know for 100% fact that what these people are saying is the truth is just wrong. Now Joe/Jeremy before you post some bad rebuttal to me please realize that the year I left Kirby I made $180,000 in the last nine months and I left because I finally had a conscience about the harm being done with the business practises used and I left and did much better with my life, I make more money and and far happier now as are and do the people I employ.

You do not have to go door to door so what they said is true and no one lied to you!  Yes you did have to go into customers houses but YOU did not have to make your own appointment.  We do have people who go door to door and love it and we do have people who do not go door to door, but you would have know that because you did not give it a chance did you?  So until you have the facts about the whole situation you should go back to doing whatever it was that you did and leave selling to people who want to make money and better them selves!  I wold have left crying as well because you did not even try and that makes you a quitter.

Actually if I had been told the truth from the start about what the job was, I would have said okay thanks but no thanks and went on my way, with no hard feeling to anyone that you work with or for. When I specifically asked multiple times what the job would be and was lied to each and every time, that is crazy and completely dishonest. Yes I do have a motivation to make money, but I have no desire to go peddling vacuums door to door to do it. 

I told these people in interviews I would  not accept the job if that was the case and they reassured me that was not the job I would be doing. I was completely lied to multiple times and that is not my fault, that is their fault so don't you even try to turn around and put this on me. And as far as your "maybe 5 hours or training"comment and saying I didn't put anything into it, I told them that I could not start until a certain date and they had me come in before  that date and they should have been happy that I went out of my way to try and start before the date. 

I never expected to be compensated for travel or training. As I said before, I said that they said out front there would be no pay for training. I'm not blaming them for that, what I am blaming them for is lying to me multiple times because if I had been told the truth about the job, I wouldn't have taken it, therefore, I wouldn't have wasted my time and gas to drive to Muncie the 3 or 4 times that I did.

I am glad that Kirby worked out for you and that you enjoy your job I really am, but I don't understand how you can sit there and defend these people who completely lied to me and at least four other people. If they are getting anything out of this they need to learn to tell the truth, the complete truth about what the job is because I know there was at least one other person hired around the same time I was that asked the same question about door to door selling and was lied to. He said oh no absolutely not, you can't believe anything you hear on the internet. I guess in a way it's my fault for being so trusting of people. This experience has taught me not to trust people as much, so I guess I did get something out of it....

First of all you are full of it!  You only did maybe 5 hours of training.  You did not even participate in training like you needed to.  And Im sorry but what job pays you to come and fill out an application, or to go to training?  Yes companies do pay for training for the time you put in but not for your travel.  From the very start you are told training is not paid.  So you want to blame others for your lack of information?  Your crew leader does get you in front of customers, your job is to demonstrate the Kirby!  I have been doing this for 17 years and have always made money to feed my kids and pay all of my bills, just because you do not have any motivation to make money is not Kirbys fault!

I do not see how you can in your right mind defend this company. These people, apparently you included are horrible horrible people how can you live with yourselves knowing that you completely lie to people just to get sales people. Apparently there aren't a whole lot of people who actually want to work for your company or go door to door selling because you have to lie to people to get them to take the job in the first place.

I'm not saying that you are specifically are a liar, unless you are not using your real name because I never talked to you, but you are defending these people. The pizza guy had a point, and you just said that it was all his own doing, which I know for a fact that it was not because I was put in the same exact position by this company.

I, like Matt, had the same experience with ONE Industries. I had two interviews, these guys were very charming and really sold me the job and made me want to work for this company. I already had a good job with another company doing something I absolutely loved, but I just wasn't getting enough hours. When I was guaranteed 400 a week with no sales I thought that was going to be the best thing to happen in a long time. I did a lot of research about the company because everyone I talked to was very skeptical about this job.

During my second interview, I specifically told the interviewer that I did a lot of research on the company and the only thing I could find was that you go door to door selling vacuum cleaners and his response was oh no you won't be doing that we have different divisions and that is a completely different division from customer service, that is our "canvassing" division. So I started feeling really good about the job then a few days later I had an orientation. There were 4 girls in my session and they told us how lucky we were to have the job because there were hundreds of other applicants because everyone wants to work there. During this orientation, he said we would not be getting paid for training, but they would give cash bonuses to compensate for gas and what not. During the presentation he gave of the Kirby he asked if anyone was not willing to do the job(which by this point they still had not said specifically what the job was) because they did not want to waste their time or money(by paying trainers, light bills, etc) on someone who wasn't going to do the job.

At this point, I raised my hand and said, again, that I had done research on this company and wanted to make sure we would not be going door to door selling because I did not want to do that and I would not work for this company if that was going to be the job, once again, I was reassured that that would not be the job I would be doing. At another point another girl asked, specifically, if we would be going door to door selling and they, once again, said no. When she asked exactly what we would be doing he said that there would be "pre-set" appointments with customers wanting to buy the Kirby and we would just have to demonstrate the product. I was still skeptical, but after being reassured by the  third or fourth time now that we would not be going door to door selling, I thought the job sounded like something I would be able to do.

The next day, after finding someone to cover part of my shift at my other job(that I was going to not work very many hours to work for this company) I went to training(non-paid) driving from Anderson to Muncie. I was given an outline, pretty much like a script, and was trained on ways to pressure people into buying a Kirby. I asked this guy once again if we would be going door to door selling because  that was something I really did not want to do and he was like no that's a different division.

A few days later I went in to start my first day. I went in early to go over the outline again and he told me I would be with my "leader" and she would be doing everything and all I needed to do for the first few days was watch and assist with the demonstration, since I was brand new and this would be "training". When everyone else came in there was a big meeting and everyone got excited, it was kind of freaky, and when everyone was getting ready to leave I asked a girl if we went door to door selling and she was like um yeah. So I was like, you don't go to any pre-set appointments, and she kinda laughed and was like umm no we go knocking on doors. She made the comment to the boss that if anyone was "stupid enough to let her in the door" she was not leaving without making a sale, even if she had to be there for hours. By this point I am absolutely horrified and feeling absolutely betrayed by these people because I asked them specifically over and over again if there would be door to door selling and they told me no each and every time without hesitation.

When I confronted the boss about being lied to he was like umm no I never lied to you  the pre-set appointments are made when your leader goes knocking on doors and gets you in the door to sell. Im sorry, but to me that is definitely  not a pre-set appointment.  And I told him that I specifically asked him over and over again if that was the job and was told no and that I could not do that and he said oh honey you're just nervous give it one day she'll do everything you just hang back and watch. So very very very hesitantly, I agreed to get in the van with three of these people and go to a neighborhood to "demonstrate" vacuums. 

By this point I am almost completely in tears trying to figure out how I am going to get my hours back at my other job and it didn't help when two of these people, one being the "leader", who were supposed to be helping me and supposed to be "positive", that's their motto, started treating me like absolute crap and talking down to me telling me that they did not want to be in the van with me if I didn't want to do the job because they love what they do and they had to have a positive energy so they could go make their money. At least one of these people was nicer to me which completely kept me from losing it... We stopped at a gas station, so I went into the bathroom to compose myself and came out. The "leader" asked if I would be okay and I said yes and she said are you sure and I was like yes I'm positive, so she said now if I get too busy to help you are you going to be able to do a demonstration by yourself and I was like umm no I was told I wouldn't have to and I wasn't prepared to, so she threatened for like the fifth time by this point to take me back if I couldn't because she had other people to worry about and not just me. So I told her to just take me back because this was not what I signed up to do. To  make matters worse, the other girl chimed in and said that it makes no sense for me to think I wouldn't have to do a demonstration because I wouldn't be working if I didn't.

So they brought me back to the office and I told my boss what had happened and he acted like he couldn't believe she would do that to me. Meanwhile, the owner chimed in and basically said it was my fault that she wasn't willing to help me because I didn't want to do the job, which of course he's going to stick up for her because the "leader" was his sister! I tried to explain that I was completely lied to and I couldn't keep myself composed any longer, so I just walked out the door and pulled into a  near by parking lot and cried for a long time because I have never felt so betrayed in my life. I don't know how anyone can just lie to your face like that. They want to try to make you feel comfortable, ask about you, your kids, etc...So knowing that I had two young kids to take care of, that I already had a job, and that I did not want to go door to door selling these people are completely heartless. I could never live with myself if i did that to anyone. Now I am at the mercy of whatever hours my job can give me and I need to find yet another job, so I hope they are happy that they completely destroyed me and ruined my life!

One last thing, if anyone is even reading this by this point, one of the bosses in orientation said don't believe anything you read on the internet because they are just mad because they didn't want to put the work into the job and they want to blame the company. I had previously read the post about the pizza delivery person and ignored it because these people seem completely trustworthy and amazing. Please please please believe this post and listen to it because I do not want anyone to ever be put in the position that I was in. These people will lie to you to your face and I don't want anyone to find out the hard way like I did, which is why I am being so detailed and specific.  I want to thank the pizza person because they at least tried to warn people and I am so sorry that I did not listen!

The Kirby Company makes promises that just arent realistic. Some people I'm sure can be successful at this but not trying to sale a 2600 vacuum in a trailer park. Not by driving around for hours making occasional drug deals and talking about sex all day. We barely knocked on any doors and when we did we got turned down 85 percent of the time. It was freezing outside most of the time or we are sweating through our dress clothes. I had blisters on my feet for days. I also had to beg that they stop for food. I didnt make a single sale and the supervisors made me extremely uncomfortable. 

I find it hard to believe that someone would work for 3 months under those conditions without leaving!  I have been in Kirby for over 17 years and have never had any of the things happen to me even once.  Yes we do put in long hours, but we make good money.  I have always received a paycheck. 

With any sales job you need to learn how to sell, that is part of the JOB!  My problem is with people like you who go out and only do one demo and than leave, all while you lie to your family and say that you have to work all the time and don't get paid. 

If the "crew leader" pressured the customer how did they not buy a Kirby?  Usually when you are pressured you do something you don't want to do right?  So if the customer did not buy how where they pressured?  One last thing you do not know Jeremy very well because he would buy a $500 suite!

Why was that even important to state that you have POS car and have to shop at Goodwill?  If you went to work at McDonalds you would have the same car and the same cloths, so why do you feel the need to bad mouth someone who is doing better than you?  You created your own situation not Kirby!