What a deal

37chief · May 13, 2015

I come home from mowing, the wife says someone is going to clean one room of carpet for free. They are going to be back around 5:00. They show up late. If I hade been home they would not be returning. In walks a guy with a new Kirby vacuum in two boxes. Then start taking things out of the boxes. He has parts scattered all over my floor. I told him I didn't want to buy a vacuum. He says I just want to vacuum your carpet. first he puts these little white pads in the suction line to show me all the dire my vacuum misses. He pulls up hair and dirt from every animal we have had in the house for the last 20 years, including dirt from my boots. I will admit it is a good vacuum. Over two hours later comes the big sales pitch. For just 3,500.00 I can have this wonderful machine. Not long after that he is repacking his stuff, and heading out the door. Then I look on line and can get the same thing for around 1,000.00. As long as I live, I will never pay 3,500.00 for a vacuum cleaner. Stan

pete 23 · May 13, 2015

About like what happened here about 30 years ago. They were just leaving the house when I came home from work. One was really nasty and insulting to wife because she would not buy. They gave us a free steak knife set for just allowing the demo. I walked out and gave them the knives back and said we don't want them. No Kirby's allowed in here anymore.

tomturkey · May 13, 2015

No stinkin door to door salesmen in my house. If I am looking to buy something, I'll go buy it. As soon as one lands on the doorstep, I say, I'm not buyin whatever your selling so just move along. gobble

Tom in NE · May 13, 2015

In our town we had a some people rent a building. They had a constant 'Help Wanted' sign in front. It said they paid good wages. I guess when people went in looking for work, they offered them a job putting Kirby vacuum cleaners together. Only catch was that once they put one together, the person had to go out and sell it before they would be paid.
They were in business at that spot for a number of years. Wonder if they sold any vacuums?

dgasper · May 13, 2015

I had a friend who took a job as a vacuum cleaner salesman. He said he needed to practice his spiel and asked me to listen. I told him OK but be forewarned I would not buy his product. He said oh yes you will. He came, did his demo and the hard sell, picked up his machine and left. He disappeared and never spoke to me again.

gtractorfan · May 13, 2015

Had the same kind of deal years ago, only in our case it was a cute young girl. (That makes it tougher) She started in on her spiel, I asked something and she didn't want to be interrupted from her narrative. I told her we're not buying. That didn't slow her down. When it was all said and done and like you she was packing up and nearly in tears and had to call her boss, man, that's tough. But not tough enough. I told her I'd buy her lunch and offered her a "tip". She wouldn't take it. It's a tough way to make a living.

Gambles · May 13, 2015

Around here the salesmen (or salesWOMEN) always come in twos. It doesn't matter if they are peddling insurance, religion or books, there always seem to be two of them. I guess they think they can gang up on me or think that I will have a tough time saying "NO!" twice. Before they start, I do tell each one of them that I've never purchased anything from a door-to-door salesman and that I don't plan on doing it with the current one either. That usually slows them down long enough for me to tell them to have a good day.
We used to have a harmless german shepherd/blue heeler that would scare them away or at least slow them down, but the dog died. I really miss that dog.

old popper · May 13, 2015

I had them come to my house a couple of months ago. Nice looking young lady, but I told her up front that I was not going to buy. When she was done with the demo, her boss showed up to put the hard sell on me. Full price...$2400, senior citizen discount 50% makes it $1200. Still said no. Deal of the week, boss's cost $800, I still said no. I felt sorry for the young lady, but the boss left talking to himself.

60 acre hillside · May 13, 2015

We have a Kirby that I bought about 25 years ago, I told one of my friends in the National Guard I was going to buy one and he let me have it at his actual cost of $350. When he demonstrated he got about $1200. My sister bought one and periodically she would pay $350 update for an improved model. Lady came by and demonstrated a Rainbow and offered to trade for $1200 and I had rather have my Kirby than her Rainbow. Only complaint I have with the Kirby is you cannot buy the bags at the local stores

M Nut · May 13, 2015

I have NO time for Kirby vacuums. Had one show up at 7:00 pm, dropped off by his boss, and boss didn't return until after 10pm. This is in the middle of winter in MN! I wanted to toss that guy out so bad, but it was well below zero that night. In the process of his demo, he ruined our microfiber sofa. Company wouldn't do a thing. Said if I had a problem with them, I'd have to sue them. Not hardly worth it over a sofa, and they darn well knew it.

Gchase24 · May 13, 2015

Same here. Saleswoman was in my house demo in progress,putting the little white pads in suction of her machine when I came in from work. After her demo I asked for one of her little white pads looked at it a second ,excused myself, went to to the storage closet pulled my wifes old vacumn installed the pad in wife's vac.Went in the living room and vacumed in the same area as she did ,pulled the pad and it was as dirty as hers. She packed her stuff and stated I guess your not interested and left. I still get a laugh out of it.

Patrick Klise · May 13, 2015

An amusing story...a dear friend of mine sister in law bought a Kirby on time payments. She had paid about 3/4 of the total then couldn't make the payments...so my friend took over the remaining payment which was a couple of hundred bucks. The Kirby ran fine and he was pleased with the deal. However he needed some additional attachment for the machine....so one day a Kirby person shows up at the door. My friend says to him " Oh...I'm so glad you came" The Kirby guys jaw dropped. He'd never been told that before! He couldn't beleive it.

Two Dogs · May 13, 2015

There are other salesmen and women who travel in pairs selling a different product , if you know what I mean, that I have told "Don't bother coming in folks, I'll stick with the guy from a couple thousand years ago. Bye." TDF

Two Dogs · May 13, 2015

There are other salesmen and women who travel in pairs selling a different product , if you know what I mean, that I have told to "Don't bother coming in folks, I'll stick with the guy from a couple thousand years ago. Bye." TDF

Bill in IL · May 13, 2015

I will give salespeople one pleasant NO. If I have to tell them again it doesn't come out very nice. They do get the hint I am serious the second time. Last one was selling some miracle cleaner for 150 bucks a gallon.

wisbaker · May 13, 2015

We have a Kirby, bought it at a living estate auction for $100. It's a good vacuum but awful heavy, I personally like our 40 year old Royal better and parts are easier to come buy

notjustair · May 13, 2015

We have two Rainbow vacuums. They are the only ones that I have ever used that I didn't sneeze after using them. I bought one online with a rebuilt motor from a dealer and was very happy with it. About six months later a salesman showed up. I told my wife "DO NOT let me buy a vacuum". When the guy says well, what do you think, the wife says "if you want it you should buy it". She's horrible at the good cop - bad cop thing. Needless to say we bought a brand new one. We have one upstairs and one downstairs. I haven't regretted having two. They will last our lifetime.

Bob · May 14, 2015

SERIOUSLY, you allowed such a waste of time/a home invasion, and you would consider a $1000 vac acceptable???

SERIOUSLY????

Dick2 · May 14, 2015

Carpet is an environmental garbage pit; I don't know why people have it in their homes. Besides all the dirt that it collects, most of it is made with enough chemicals to kill an elephant.

We have all laminate wood floors; don't even own a vacuum. I have chemical sensitivities, so there is no carpet in our house.

kito169 · May 14, 2015

About ten years ago a Kirby salesman showed up at the door saying he only needed to sell 2 more Kirbys to win a trip to Hawaii. After his spiel in which he wanted $3000 for it. I told him I would give $750 for the everything. He left but came back 3 days later. When he came back he was drunk. He asked if I would still give $750 for the Kirby. I said yes but I must get all attachments too. He agreed so I paid him for it. He wasn't here 5 minutes the second time. I guess he got his trip to Hawaii.

rrlund · May 14, 2015

They caught Grandpa in the barn years ago wanting to demonstrate one. The salesman picked up a handful of horse manure and carried it in the house and threw it on the floor. Grandma about came unglued,but the salesman wasn't listening. He was spreading all those attachments out,explaining what each one did. He said "Carl,I told you out in the barn,if that vacuum wouldn't pick up all that horse manure,I'd eat it.".
Gnandpa just stood there in the doorway grinning,a big plug of Red Man in his cheek. He said "Mr,you better get eatin',we ain't got no electricity.".

jimg.allentown · May 14, 2015

Many years ago, while between jobs, I answered an ad in the classifieds. Way before Craig's List. I was told to report to a location where they were giving an orientation. It turned out to be a recruiting seminar for Rainbow vacuum cleaners. I sat through their talk, and realized almost immediately that this was NOT for me. They misrepresented who they were and what the "job" was from the start. Not until somewhere deep into their presentation did they finally hint that this was a door to door selling job. That was after answering a want ad that promised "no selling."

OldBuzzard · May 14, 2015

Many, many moons ago, when I was a LOT younger, I did a stint as a Filter Queen salesman. Tough job, especially if you had a problem with rejection

I will have to say though that the Filter Queen was [b:9169458f3f]the[/b:9169458f3f] best vac on the market at the time.

I could hook one up to a Kirby with the hose attachment on it, and suck the dirt out of the Kirby's bag while it was running.

But, like the Kirby, it was an expensive rascal, and not a lot of folks were willing to spend the $$ for one.

JML755 · May 14, 2015

(quoted from post at 19:53:35 05/13/15) About like what happened here about 30 years ago. They were just leaving the house when I came home from work. One was really nasty and insulting to wife because she would not buy. They gave us a free steak knife set for just allowing the demo. I walked out and gave them the knives back and said we don't want them. No Kirby's allowed in here anymore.

Same thing happened to us about 40 yrs ago when we were just married and living in a rented flat. Guy went around and showed us all the dirt the Kirby picked up. Got real insulting so I threw him out. Wife said she REALLY wanted that vacuum. Waited a few days and called the company and bought it from another sales guy. Fast forward 10 years when we're in our first house. Come home and find the next door neighbor's kid in the house demonstrating a Kirby. Ended up buying a 2nd one (wife wanted to help the kid :roll: )

The thing is they are VERY good vacuums. We still have both and one is kept upstairs for the bedrooms and the other on the main floor. Have had to replace the rubber bands that spin the roller but otherwise, I can't complain. They weren't cheap but my kids have had other vacuums that don't seem to last more than a year or so.

In fact, I inherited my grandmother's Kirby back in the '70s and I used it at my office for a number of years and sold it in a garage sale in the '80s for $10, IIRC. I think she bought it in late 30's or 40's.

Dave Sherburne, NY · May 14, 2015

I can't even tell you what brand we have here, It must be alright tho because the wife isn't looking for another one. I have trouble making it fit my hands when I make a mess when she isn't home and I have to get it cleaned up before she sees it. I think it's a SHARK but I'm not gonna go look to see what it is.

Billy NY · May 14, 2015

Long time ago, I got roped into going to one of those darned meetings where they try to get you in to sell Kirby. I've only known one person with one, sure its a good vacuum but the whole deal was not for me, no one is comfortable when you knock on doors, take a hike, that was that. I remember all the tricks showing dust in the air, what other vacuums miss, they have a pitch like the rest of these outfits do. Wonder how it stacks up against a Dyson ????

I keep getting pestered with Insurance sales jobs, and the last one hardwood floors and carpets, same kind of pretenses. I don't know where these people make a connection with a heavy building construction background and the previous. I've even gotten a bunch for IT project management and similar, 0 experience or knowledge and its always presented by a certain denomination of foreign dissent.

merlynr · May 14, 2015

(quoted from post at 02:47:06 05/14/15) Carpet is an environmental garbage pit; I don't know why people have it in their homes. Besides all the dirt that it collects, most of it is made with enough chemicals to kill an elephant.

We have all laminate wood floors; don't even own a vacuum. I have chemical sensitivities, so there is no carpet in our house.

I hope the laminate isn't from china because Lumber Liquidators gets theirs from there and it's loaded with formaldehyde.

fixerupper · May 14, 2015

Marilyn had a Kirby rug sucker for 20 years or so. It Did a very good job but it was a bit heavy for her.

formenwhogrow · May 14, 2015

Nor would I ever pay $1000 for that matter.

keh · May 14, 2015

I have started keeping bees again and saw this on another forum. The gist of of it was about how close to the house could you keep bee hives. One guy said he kept a couple in his front yard because they kept the salesmen religious visitors away.

KEH

K Effective · May 14, 2015

Wife's Grandfather did appliance repair in retirement, he gave her an old Kirby for her first apartment before we were married. We ran it until the armature finally wore out, was about $300 to replace. I bought her a string of new plastic replacements, all for about $100 each, that lasted a year or two at best. One of her student's parents own the local Kirby store, offered her a repo (yes, they repo them when you quit paying the monthly bill), we got it and all the attachments including the shampooer for like $400. Only repair was a shorted cord, which must have come from sitting unused in the closet

Dr. Walt · May 14, 2015

Personally, I still like the old Hoover ELECTROLUX Canister Vacuum that my Mother used for over 50 years, does a good job, & still has all the attachments. Never had any problems with it, provided you do the normal routine maintenance on it.

Never will forget . . . . One day Mom was vacuuming under the bed (no attachment on the end of the wand), vacuuming up "Dust Bunnies" when all of a sudden there was a screech and a tremendous commotion under the bed. Mom pulled out the wand to see what was going on, and stuck on the end of the wand was THE CAT. The vacuum had sucked the cats tail up inside the wand & now the cat was stuck to the end of the wand. Mom had to turn off the vacuum to release the cat. After that, anytime the cat saw or heard Mom get out the vacuum, it would run to the Service Porch (utility room off of the Kitchen) and hide under the Water Heater (Linoleum floor) . LOL

Doc

What a deal

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