Kirby vacuum cleaner scam

drxym

george19842010 wrote: »

all in all kirbys will save you money you just need to get the right deal never pay more than £1100 for a machine and you will save money over time oh and dont buy on ebay as only kirby engineers know how to repair them as a rule and will charge you the earth if it not registered to you

No one is arguing that Kirby machines aren't good. But that doesn't justify their high price or the disgraceful manner in which they are sold.

I also disagree that dropping £1100 is ever a sound proposition for a vacuum cleaner. You can get perfectly good cyclonic vacuum cleaners for £100 or less which is more than adequate for most households. Even if they lasted you only a 3 years (and likely it will last a longer than that), most people would be drawing a pension or dead before they'd see the value of buying a Kirby.

That's not even counting the fact that you could buy a £100 cleaner, stick the other £1000 in the bank and you'd probably have accumulated enough interest to pay for the replacement and still be left with £1000.

Goose1987

I literally today had my first day 'training' to become a Kirby Salesman. I replied to a job advert in my local newspaper and within two days they had me in for an 'interview'. They did not ask me for any sort of work history or any sort of references. I got the impression they were/are trying to sell the job to me? forgive me if I am wrong, but surely it should be the prospective employee trying to sell themselves to a prospective employer? Anyway, not thinking much about it at the time I just went along with it, after all we were blinded by how easy they make it sound that you can earn £1,200 per month, Oh, and that making AT LEAST £400 PER SALE! Myself and the other guys who were in the room also a part of this so called interview were later discussing how the whole process seems dodgy and "not what they were expecting from reading the advert". Anyway, went in today, Wednesday 21st September 2011, to start my training and it was just 3-4 hours of learning to put the machine together and all it's different uses. The demonstrator kept referring to his favourite line, "Well, you wouldnt watch a tv that only showed half the picture now would you? so why have a vacuum cleaner that doesn't even clean?!" At the end of the day I got a sheet put in front of me where they wanted contact details of family and friends where I had carried out so called 'practices'. I shall not be returning this sheet to them as I don't want any sort of salesman harassing any of my friends, relatives and loved ones! This is clearly just a way of collecting more details and broaden their database.

In my two days of Kirby experience I am quite disgusted at there techniques. The machine really is a very useful and really good at what it does. I am very impressed with it. Surely though, if they reduce the salesman's commission from the price as well as possibly a few other bits and bobs which I guess are included in the price, this could be sold at a much more affordable price in stores? Saying that though, the machine would probably still be around the £1k mark! I only came across all this negativity against Kirby after researching the product. I didn't know it was a Kirby from the advert I read or even in my interview! It was after this that I found out it was a Kirby. Trying to get more knowledge and maybe i was trying to impress them i found all these complaints. And after today's so called training, I am really disgusted! Going through their processes of how to make a sale and force it upon people really is just wrong. I found myself in the dilemma where I could really do with the money but i think my morals and ethics will be taking a stand on this. I don't think I would be able to sleep at night possibly knowing that I have sold a machine to someone I have forced into doing so. Really does seem a bit like a adapted Pyramid Scheme in all honesty. I wish I could return to tell the other people who were in the training with me that it's a horrible business, how Kirby carry it out. The fact they want all their so called employees to be self employed, to me means that they are just distancing themselves from possible problems with sales reps? (Maybe this is my paranoia?) Even as handsome as the pay could possibly be, I can't go through with this AFTER TWO DAYS! I have asked questions they haven't or wont answer! Just seems like they're not being up front and honest from the get go and pick on the needy and desperate, including myself in there, but I don't think I am that desperate to throw away my morals.

I won't be going back!

stevemurray_2

i also today went to my first day of training. i rang up about a week ago after seeing ad in paper for electrical servicing personel 400 pound a week.went to interiew which was 5 mins. so went along today with3 other blokes there all 3 werent the smartest and werent even electricians...basically they brain wash you into thinking your guna die if you dont buy one!!!! i beleived it untill i researched them.the reason they make you go self employed is so theres no contract so they dont have to pay you a particular rate.i would be suprised if any of them lads last i week. they trade as spot on in somerton. they make it so unclear how much you earn, they make out you will earn nearly a 1000 a week. maybe you/they even taught us how to manipulate customers and how to make them feel sorry for you. the funny thing is they are brilliant vaccums but not for £1500+ and i would never buy one of a salesman tat come to my house.......I'm not going back tommorow!

nestle-elvis

I read many threads with a smile on my face as many years ago a friend became a Kirby salesman;unfortunately gave it up after several weeks as he couldn't convince people to part with the £1100 asking price, which would then drop down to £900 after two miraculous phone calls to his manager!
I managed to buy one at a fraction of the price as my mate needed to sell one more to qualify for a free holiday, which does go to show the profit make up on the vacum.
Our Kirby is now over 20yrs old and still going strong. Parts are easily changed if you're mechanically minded and the vacum does an excellent job, the proof in carpet life ect..
It's such a shame the market price is so high as the build quality, in my opinion, is superior to any other upright vacum cleaner I've come across and does an excellent job.
It would be interesting to see what the purchase price would be if they just sold them in the high street without the patter they use at the moment.


:idea:

libra10

We fell victim to this scam over a year ago.

Won a carpet shampoo in their draw and date was set.

At first I was surprised at how the salesman was clearly demonstrating some of the cleaner's attachments and tools, waiting for the shampoo to start!

After about 15 minutes I realised we had been had ................. as the salesman droned on, and on, and on!

How naive we had been!

I told him there was no way that we would spend so much money on a vacuum cleaner; he offered finance, we declined,and told him what he could do with it!

Eventually the bloke did leave but we thought we had a lodger for life!

skooldaze

Just had one of these. The missus had told me they were coming round for a free carpet clean after 'winning' a competition prize draw.

Two of them turned up with one the 'salesman' and one the 'engineer.' They explained they were just after feedback and pointed out several stains on the carpet that could be gone with the vacumn. Also it was 100 years of the company - hmmm funny that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirby_Company

I stupidly let them use my land line for them to check in but only realised what was probably going after handing it over. He used it to say he was checking on his engineers commission as we could help him win a holiday. Obviously it is so we have our landline on record. :money:

Anyway, the 'salesman' said the other guy was just an engineer so apologies if he was 'shy' and he would clean our carpet in 40 minutes and we just wanted feedback. The salesman left and again I realised that he would be back later (for reenforcement if needed). :j

The shy engineer soon came out of his shell as he began using all the sales technique of closed questions, stupid leading open questions, using our names etc etc. He did want to go to our bedroom (we said no), wanted to compare our dyson (thinking it should be illegal to sell bad cleaners), how a deaf guy called ernie sells them in america and he can't speak but doesnt need to as the cleaning does the job for him without words, wanted us to do the demo to see if the cleaner was good.

And yes the cleaner is good and when asked if we could have the budget and qualified (another sales technique) for credit would we buy one like that. Of course its expected we would say yes (another sales technique to say yes to something) but I responded with similar to how I would love to own a ferrari and would say yes to that too but I can't and thats why I drive an old beat up corsa. He also quoted how they used the vacumn on The Cube TV show (glamour!). :beer:

Pretty much this machine could cure cancer.

He finished off the carpet eventually (probably two hours later). After he realised he was onto a no winner after several more tactics. He rang his 'boss' again in Liverpool (I was going to say why not use your mobile that rang earlier) and he wanted to speak to me to ask if the guy had done a good job.

Surprisingly he didnt give me too much hard sell as I was quite monosymbolic but tried the cheaper deal routine. When I questioned where the original salesman had gone, he replied with "Who? Oh did you think he was a salesman as well". Which made me laugh considering yes thats what he said and also "as well?" - thought you were the engineer. :T

Anyway he packed up rapidly but to be fair was still polite and nice. He asked me to fill a feedback form (obviously I mistakedly put a few errors in my contact details) which I am sure they will use to contact me again.:cool:

So as it stands it wasn't too bad and the carpet looks decent now but overall I wouldnt recommend it (and this is without future negs to come!) :eek:

UsernameAlreadyExists

Great thread.
I too can hold my head in shame as I worked for them for 3 days back in the late 80s. Sounds like nothing has changed at all. I've just skimmed most posts here and everything has already been said.

Brilliant machine, dodgy as hell sales technique.

I'd consider buying one off ebay but I don't have enough carpets in the house to justify it.

nedchester

Just had the sale 'experience'

Bloke knocks on the door offering to clean our carpets for free as long as we recommend his new company. Fine we said.

Come round later and we're subject to the hard Kirby sales patter. He claims to be on the phone to his manager (convinced he was just holding the phone to his ear). Wanted £2500 for a bloody vacuum cleaner!

Anyway we did get our carpets cleaned for free and we parted with no money!

Seriously I can understand that some more vulnerable people could fall for this scam.

bonnieb_3

I have just had the same experience as reported in 2009. So [FONT=&quot]you may like to be aware that the company (I did not get a name) are employing the same tactics in Barnsley at present.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]We had someone at our door last week explaining they were a new company just starting in the area and gave us a card in exchange for our telephone number stating we would be entered into a prize draw. Exactly as listed in your posting, we received a follow up call stating they were a new company based in Rotherham and we had won a free deep clean in the draw, we were advised that it would not cost us anything and they could come and clean either a suite, carpet or mattress which would take half an hour of our time. We did make it clear we were not prepared to buy anything and was reassured that the service was entirely free. During the telephone call, there was no suggestion that a presentation would need to be done before the alleged clean. [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Whilst being quite sceptical about this, we agreed and a date and time was arranged. Two salesmen appeared at our door and proceeded to fit together a Kirby Cleaner which they then began to demonstrate. They produced a laminated card with a price of approximately £2300. (Again this was a ploy as I am sure that the price was going to be reduced drastically should we start to express an interest). One of the salesman then phoned his boss to explain that he was starting the presentation. [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]50 minutes later, we were still being subjected to the presentation/demonstration with an emphasis on the fact that our carperts/suite could be cleaned more efficiently than with our present appliance ( a Dyson). We asked how much it was being sold for and he said he could not give us a price, he would have to call his boss. 15 minutes into the hard sell, I explained again that we were not prepared to buy the appliance, but he continued. After 50 minutes, I stopped him and said I did not want any further demonstration; I got fed up with being told my home could be cleaner. He then said he could not go ahead with the free deep clean we had won without completing the presentation. Therefore we had not won anything at all and the whole thing is a ruse to get into people's homes. [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I said that was fine and asked them to leave. Whilst the whole episode was annoying and we should not have agreed to the appointment initially, I do have a concern that this sort of sales pitch could be very frightening for vulnerable people. I have an elderly person who lives next door to me and I know she would have been extremely intimidated by this hard sales pitch and could see that these guys would not have left her house so easily. [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]

fatpiggy

I must be a horrible person but no person who has ever knocked on my door has ever made it over the threshold. If they persist in trying to talk to me I'm afraid I have no qualms about telling them to go forth and multiply. If they doorknock me about my windows or the drive (that's usually the local travellers trying their luck) I just say I don't own the house and my landlord is a tight git.

I recommend buying a carpet cleaner and then lend it around the friends and family. I bought one via Groupon, through Topcashback and got a free hand-held steamer thrown in. It was a very good buy and I use it regularly with good results. That and a second-hand Dyson - infinitely cheaper than not being able to say no to a complete stranger