Kirby review: sales tactics 22

I answered an ad for employment promising $400 a week for cleaning carpets. I went to Cezo Inc. in Grand Rapids, MI to apply, and talked to a woman in the front office who said there were no sales involved and that I would be a 1099 employee bc they pay out of the sales of the entire company. I got told to call and talk to another gentleman later that day, so I did and a girl answered and asked if I was available for an interview at 3pm in the middle of the week. I said I was. I went to the "interview" which consisted of about 15-20 scummy looking ppl in a large dishevled room. I thought I was in the wrong place, but this man stood at the front of the room and started talking about how we were choosen bc he felt that through the previous interview we would be great at this "job". He told us we would be paid a minimum of $400 a week for a mere 15 demos. If the person we were showing bought the machine we would make a 10% commision. We were told that most the reps were already making $650-$880+ a week. The hours were from 11-8:30pm, and that we wouldnt be selling anything. Finally he pulls a Kirby out...I should have ran right then and there. I was told I would not be selling the machine, just demoing it, and that I wouldnt have to sell it. I was told the appointments were already set up. I stayed thinking that it wouldnt be so bad. My first day after the unpaid 2 day training I reported for a 30 minute meeting at 10:30am and when it was done I thought we would head to work. We stood around and didnt even pack up and leave in the work vans till nearly 1pm. Then we stopped at a store and got "premiums" which are the gree gifts for ppl to get them to open their doors. (I didnt know this at the time) then ran some more errands and started work at around 2pm. I was told I would be "knocked into" a home, meaning the crew leader would go try to get me into a house to demo the machine. This isnt what I was told I would be doing. I got into the house, pulled some rags of dirt and just told the ppl what I was told in the morning meeting. I was supposed to be selling this $2k machine when I was told there were no sales. If they wanted to buy it they could buy it. Then the crew leader came back and tried to pressure these ppl into buying it. We didnt get back to the office till close to 10:30pm. What happend to 11-8:30pm?
I could go on and on about my experience which was terrible, and after 46 hours in a 4 day period, I wont be seeing a paycheck bc I only got 7 shows in. The ppl in the work van smoked and swore the entire time, and I dont smoke and dont want to smell like it, and I find swearing A LOT offensive and unprofessional. I refuse to work another 10-14 hour day. Even if I got the 15 shows in, and made $400 after 56-60 hours that breaks down to $6.60 an hour which is less then minimum wage!
If the ppl working there are making so much money, and made it to crew leader, then why dont they dress nicer, and have working vans to work in?
The Kirby machine itself is a good vacuum although not worth the $2k price tag even THOUGH they can drop it down to $800-900.
It isnt just the consumer that is being scammed, its the unsuspecting person answering an ad for work bc they need to make money. Now I am jobless. Oh WAIT! I was jobless when I was working for Cezo Inc too bc alll the hours I put in I got nothing in return. I shouldnt say nothing, I learned if I find out it is a kirby job to RUN!.

It's unfortunate that you were so short-sighted with your perspective about Kirby sales. I was one of those twenty "scummy looking people" in that room, and I have learned to be profitable in door-to-door sales (but needless to say it took longer than 4 days). It's funny actually; that so many undereducated illiterate people, like yourself, are so quick to give up on Kirby. (I wonder how your insights would have changed had you stuck it out for a month or longer.) I hope that you are able to find a menial job that you're content with but for some reason you strike me as the perpetually unhappy type. Good luck!

I also went to apply but when i got there not a soul available! I did find a stack of apps on a table so i filled one out. I waited and waited for someone but... hmmm... nobody showed up. I walked upstairs, and found the room full of "scumy" people. I did not talk to anybody in room. i walked back downstairs and continued to wait approx. 20 minutes. Finally I seen somebody in the hall, they told me i should just leave the app. on table and someone would contact me later. O.K. lets see ss # drivers license # address, personal info... I DONT THINK SO! They say a sucker is born every minute, guess what? HA HA Im not one of them. You know, Im a firm believer that honesty is the best policy, so why lead the people like myself and others into false pretenses. Hmmm... FALSE PRETENSES google that up im pretty sure that is a crime. dont believe me? ask those doing time for that charge! As for "thatgirl123", good luck in future! I just wish i read this before i wasted my time! WONDERING... is a kirby good enough to suck out all the bs out of these people?

"undereducated illiterate people"

Wow your actually bragging about being a KIRBY SALESMAN and using that phrase in the same posting...lmao. Stay with the job...They're better than you deserve.
How many LOLOL "UNDEREDUCATED ILLITERATE PEOPLE" have you met ?
Good times are ahead in your perpetually Happy little world...

Slow down on the corporate ladder will you..Every other dumb AS* is trying to learn via your mentality.
You were right you are one of the scummy people. Although the smarter ones are laughing at your foolish life.

Vacula =

Using compressed air, the built-in venturi system creates a powerful vacuum that is used to bleed and flush.

Yup, Door to door serves you well

OH VACULINA !
Kirby Vacuum Company Crime Chronology
Compiled: 02/19/08
Grand Forks Herald (ND)
July 30, 1992
DATELINES: REGION COMPANY LOSES IN RAPE SUIT
Author: Herald wire reports

The state Supreme Court upheld a $150, 000 jury award Wednesday to a woman who was raped by a Kirby vacuum cleaner salesman in her Fargo apartment.
--------------------------
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
November 18, 1994
Jury award shows need for background checks, lawyer says
Author: Associated Press

AUSTIN - A jury award of $1.7 million to a woman who said she was raped by a Kirby vacuum cleaner salesman with a criminal record proves the need for thorough background checks of door-to-door salespeople, the woman's lawyer said.
----------------------------
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
April 24, 1996
Dateline: Neillsville

A con man serving jail time for bilking an elderly woman out of $30, 000 pleaded guilty Tuesday to violating his work-release rules when he went to a Minnesota casino and won enough money to apparently finish paying her back.
Clark County officials thought Alan J. Heath, 39, was selling vacuum cleaners when he drove to the Treasure Island Casino in Red Wing, Minn.
The other charges accuse Heath of:
Selling a Kirby vacuum cleaner to an elderly woman in Dunn County, and then asking her to write another check because he said lost the original check. He cashed both checks.
Selling as many as 11 vacuum cleaners and seven carpet shampooers in South Carolina, and then taking them back.
-------------------------------------
Ventura County Star (CA)
May 1, 1997
Man sought in senior scam arrested

A vacuum cleaner salesman who allegedly used his sales techniques to scam elderly residents out of more than $100000 was arrested in Santa Barbara authorities said Wednesday.
Raymund Michael Crawford 39 of Thousand Oaks was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of grand theft burglary and writing bad checks said Oxnard Police Department Detective Ken Kent.
Crawford acted as a Kirby Vacuum Cleaner salesman and after selling to his victims he would recontact them to try to persuade them to invest in business ventures Kent said.
Detectives believe Crawford promised high interest rate return on investments but either failed to pay at all paid only small amounts or paid with bad checks.
Crawford allegedly bilked senior citizens from Oxnard Camarillo and Ventura out of $115000 Kent said.
-------------------
Great Falls Tribune (MT)
April 3, 1999
Teen charged with stealing deluxe vacuum
A would-be vacuum cleaner salesman has been charged in Cascade County District Court with theft of the demonstration model he was issued at the end of his training.
Jeffrey John Lanners, 18, 3024 1st Ave. S., is charged with felony theft.
------------------
Jan 1, 1999.
Firm liable for rape by employee Texas Supreme Court rules vacuum maker should have required check on salesman;
Dallas Morning News.
AUSTIN - The Texas Supreme Court sided Thursday with a woman who accused a door-to-door vacuum-cleaner salesman of raping her, holding his employer liable for her injuries.
--------------------------
- April 20, 1999
Cincinnati Enquirer Ohio
Persistent salesman who frightened homeowner is indicted

The eager pursuit of a sale has landed a Kirby vacuum cleaner salesman in court. When no one answered his knock on the front door of a Meadow Lane residence Dec. 7, salesman Jeremy Osborne decided to try another, police said.
------------------------------
The Knoxville News-Sentinel
March 8, 2001
Convicted bank robber charged in more robberies, plot

A vacuum cleaner salesman already convicted of robbing a Lenoir City bank has been charged with robbing other East Tennessee banks and plotting to kidnap the wife of a bank president to extort money.
Gregory Earl Jones and fellow Kirby Vacuum Cleaner salesman Steven Wayne Mendenhall got the idea to rob a bank after watching the television show "Cops, " according to court documents filed by FBI Special Agent Todd Sandstedt in 1998.
-----------------------
Dec 13, 2003
Woman claims vacuum salesman groped her
Charleston Daily Mail. Charleston, W.V.

According to the lawsuit, Bush let White and another, unidentified Kirby salesman come into her house to show her how the Kirby vacuum cleaner works. After the salesmen completed the demonstration, the unnamed agent used Bush's bathroom and left the house.
Bush broke free, but White followed her around performing a sex act, according to the suit. After he finished, he told Bush "he would come back to her residence later that evening, to determine if she would be interested in purchasing the Kirby vacuum cleaner, " according to the suit.
-------------------------
Dec 15, 2003
Salesman accused of scam
AP. Columbian. Vancouver, Wash.
Mickey Brown was ranked among the top 10 distributors three times during his 17 years selling Kirby vacuums in Tigard, Ore., officials said. Lili Brown operated a separate distributorship from 1989 to 1996.

PORTLAND (AP) -- A former vacuum cleaner salesman and his wife are facing lawsuits claiming they ran a multimillion-dollar credit card scam that defrauded the elderly, disabled and fellow church members.
Johnny "Mickey" Brown and Lili Andersen Brown allegedly took money for vacuum cleaners from their customers and instead invested it in real estate, according to lawsuits and complaints seeking nearly $4 million filed with the state.
U.S. Bank has the largest claim, seeking $3.4 million in its lawsuit that accuses the Washington County couple of fraud and racketeering.
-----------------------
www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/kirby_salesman.html
Kirby Salesman Swept Up in Crackdown
February 20, 2004
A Kirby vacuum cleaner salesman was arrested and charged with financial exploitation of an elderly person, theft by deception, harassment through electronic communications, and violation of the
Thomas Schierer, 37, of East Peoria, obtained money and a vacuum cleaner from a Canton couple in exchange for a Kirby vacuum cleaner he falsely represented to be "new."Schierer appeared in court Feb. 10, and bond was set at $25, 000.
-----------------------------
07/26/04
Door-to-door peddlers arrested
WAPELLO, Iowa - Four Des Moines-area men were arrested Sunday evening by Wapello police after a local resident complained to authorities that they were going door-to-door selling Kirby vacuum cleaners.
According to a Wapello Police Department report, Aaron Alexander, Michael Feller and Johnathan Johnston were charged July 25 with peddling without a license.
A fourth man, Dallas Gamble, was arrested at a Wapello residence during a demonstration. Gamble was charged with peddling without a license as well as possession of a controlled substance, suspected methamphetamine, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
--------------------------
March 2, 2005
CLERMONT, Fla. -- A Lake County community is on alert after two men allegedly sexually assaulted a young girl in her home.
Girl Sexually Assaulted By Traveling Salesmen, Police Say
The two teenage men were going door to door in a Clermont-area neighborhood offering
carpet-cleaning services, WESH News Channel 2 reported.
----------------------
Sep 11, 2005
Wisconsin State Journal. Madison, Wis
CUSTOMERS REACH LAWSUIT DEAL WITH VACUUM SELLER ; TWO WOMEN SAY THEY WERE AGGRESSIVELY PRESSURED TO
BUY KIRBY VACUUM CLEANERS.
Madison residents who said they were aggressively pressured to buy Kirby vacuum cleaners from a local dealership have reached consumer lawsuit settlements with the dealership, the Kirby company and a finance company.
---------------------------
Times Tribune
Door-to-door salesman guilty of sex offenses
A New York state man was convicted in Lackawanna County Court of three sexual offenses Wednesday, but cleared of three others.
A seven-woman, five-man jury deliberated more than six hours before finding Delmar Hooks, 27, of Elmira, guilty of statutory sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault and indecent assault. He was acquitted of rape, sexual assault and indecent exposure.
Police alleged Mr. Hooks, a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman, sexually assaulted a 15-year-old Clarks Summit girl who allowed him into her residence twice the evening of March 9.
----------------------------
Mar 20, 2006
Former salesman ordered to pay $12 million for credit-card misuse;
The Oregonian. Portland, Or.
A former vacuum cleaner salesman accused of bilking more than 100 customers by misusing their credit cards, has come up on the short end of a $12 million civil judgment.

U.S. District Court Judge Ancer Haggerty's ruling, sought by U.S. Bank National Association, found that John Henry Brown, also known as Mickey Brown, did not refute evidence showing that he committed breach of contract, fraud and violations of the Racketeering Influence Corruption Act, or RICO.
www.wnbc.com/news/10249571/detail.html
November 6, 2006
Vacuum Salesman Charged With Burglary, Grand Larceny
FREEPORT, N.Y. -- A door-to-door vacuum salesman in Freeport allegedly stole a car of a potential client after failing to make a sale moments earlier, according to Nassau County Police.

Police said 24-year-old Giovanny Martinez took the car keys left near the front door of the home and drove off Saturday about 11 a.m. The vehicle was recovered and Martinez of Richmond Hill,
Queens was arrested on charges of burglary and grand larceny.
Martinez pleaded not guilty and is being held on $2, 500 bail. Police said Martinez, who worked for Kirby Vacuums, stole the keys after he was turned down for carpet cleaning services.

Wait you awnsered an add to clean carpets! Let's not get all high and mighty here. At least for those of us who realized quickly what was going on made peace with it and flourished! I'm sorry you are so disillusioned that you couldn't make it past the interviewing phase. What do you think would have happened to your week as* after you had a few doors slammed in your face. I hate to break it to you but just as in life only the strong survive! So don't down us because you can't hack it. Oh and let us forget that this country was founded on that great entrepreneurial that we are pursuing! I don't care whether people are laughing with me or at me, I'm laughing all the way to the bank!

Thanks for the history lesson. I'm not surprised. Just like you probably wouldn't be surprised by the fact that there are equally as many (or likely more) crimes commited by law enforcment professionals, accountants, and salespeople of all sorts of products. Your stories are a testemonial to human nature and not specifically to Kirby. Thanks for the insights though. As far as the whole "undereducated" discussion goes... I have a better degree than you do (gauranteed); it ends there. Just re-read your post, you are seriously illiterate, I can't sugar coat that. Kirby is 100% American made, we are a fortune five hundred company owned by Warren Buffet, and we create more millionaires per year than any other fortune five hundred company on the globe. Yes we give people a chance who might otherwise go unemployed, sometimes these people have character flaws, but all in all Kirby is a great company. Ask the hundreds of people in Cleveland Ohio who manufacture Kirbys whose side they are on!

Listen, Vacula. Warren Buffet doesn't own Kirby, Berkshire Hathaway does, which means me and a lot of other people. I can tell you as a shareholder I'm embarrassed it is part of the holdings because of its sales tactics. What you set out is the stock Kirby sales line to those dumb enough--or desperate enough--to stumble across it. I'm not surprised you have a degree of some kind. Many fast talkers and confidence men are actually somewhat intelligent, even educated, and very good at selling out of an empty bag. Just ask Bernie Madoff. The funny thing is that the product itself isn't disputed, it's the sales tactics. The fact you would participate in that speaks volumes about you and the people who populate the sale of the product. As for making more millionaires in a year--name them all. You bought that line, too. Are you a millionaire? Have you been at it a year? Did the things they tell you come true? How many people who were told that became millionaires? Incremental sales still add up, so that is both how the unpopularity is diluted and how you get away with it. It's like any scheme. I don't know what is going on until my neighbors tell me when I'm not in a position to see it, but I'm not ignoring it when the facts start to come out. A few smooth talkers with little conscious can profit off everyone else. You don't have to sell much when someone else is doing it and you're reaping the reward. Out of all of the people trained in the last year, how many still work for this place? How many had to buy at least one unit to participate? You blow smoke up their butts, make them buy a unit to 'demonstrate' and then run them around in a van exhausting them to sell a few more off the rallying cry of get rich quick and faked up pay scales. The complaints are too numerous to be wrong given the relatively small number of Kirby people as compared to the vast majority of operations of a various nature. Bring your methods out in the sunshine and see how long it lasts. Let the market judge it with open sales. If it's that great a deal, they won't need you now will they?

If I wasn't driving around in one of those 'vans' I'd have more time to respond, but I can sum it up briefly- although I have a feeling you prefer hearing yourself talk rather than listening to what I have to say. Kirby franchises do not ask salespeople to buy units (most our sales people have marginal credit anyway). Kirby creates a volume of millionaires PER year, nationwide, I know about 50. Nobody claims that a saleperson will become a millionaire IN a year. The Kirby sales approach is simple, the machines sell themselves, remember that nobody objects to the quality of the Kirby homecare system. Those of us who sell them work long hours to show as many people as possible, and we do our best to make them as affordable as possible for people. That's it. We "pitch" hard work not exagerated pay-scales. You just hear the word "saleman" and can't help giving in to your natural predisposition to be judgemental and make presumptions. I've been with Kirby 4 years, I am not a millionaire. Thanks for the comment though, I enjoyed hearing your input almost as much as you did.

I had to take Cezo Inc. to small claims court to force them to honor their own contract. Why if this company is so wonderful why have they changed the name of the company 3 times?

BBB Rating
Based on BBB files, this business has a BBB Rating of D- on a scale from A+ to F.
Reasons for this rating include:
•22 complaints filed against business
•4 complaints filed against business that were not resolved.
•Length of time business has taken to resolve complaint(s).

Business Contact and Profile

Name: Cezo Inc.
Phone: [protected]
Address: 3645 Linden Ave SE

Grand Rapids, MI [protected]
Original Business Start Date: February 1991
Principal: Mr. Chris Cortese, President
Employees: 2
Type of Business: Vacuum Cleaners-Household-Dealers
BBB Accreditation: This company is not a BBB Accredited business.
Additional DBA Names: C & L Enterprise
A 3 Inc.

Business Management
Additional company management personnel include:
Ms. Paula Shivers - Office Manager

Back to top
Customer Complaint History
When considering complaint information, please take into account the company's size and volume of transactions, and understand that the nature of complaints and a firm's responses to them are often more important than the number of complaints.
BBB processed a total of 22 complaints about this company in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period. Of the total of 22 complaints closed in 36 months, 8 were closed in the last year.

Contract Issues
Resolved
2 - Company addressed the complaint issues. The consumer failed to acknowledge acceptance to BBB.
1 - Company resolved the complaint issues, but not within BBB's timeframe.

Sales Practice Issues
Resolved
2 - Company addressed the complaint issues. The consumer failed to acknowledge acceptance to BBB.
Administratively Closed
1 - BBB determined that despite the company's reasonable effort to address complaint issues, the consumer remained dissatisfied.
1 - The parties could not provide sufficient information to support their positions nor were they agreeable to make reasonable efforts toward resolving the issues of the dispute.

Delivery Issues
Resolved
1 - Company resolved the complaint issues. The consumer acknowledged acceptance to BBB.
Unresolved
2 - Company failed to resolve the complaint issues through BBB voluntary and self-regulatory process.

Customer Service Issues
Resolved
1 - Company resolved the complaint issues. The consumer acknowledged acceptance to BBB.
1 - Company addressed the complaint issues. The consumer failed to acknowledge acceptance to BBB.

Refund or Exchange Issues
Resolved
5 - Company resolved the complaint issues. The consumer acknowledged acceptance to BBB.
2 - Company addressed the complaint issues. The consumer failed to acknowledge acceptance to BBB.
1 - Company resolved the complaint issues, but not within BBB's timeframe.
Unresolved
2 - Company failed to resolve the complaint issues through BBB voluntary and self-regulatory process.

http://www.bbb.org/western-michigan/business-reviews/vacuum-cleaners-household-dealers/cezo-in-grand-rapids-mi-12000047

Greyskull

Vacula =

Using compressed air, the built-in venturi system creates a powerful vacuum that is used to bleed and flush.

Yup, Door to door serves you well

You got that right!

Cezo Inc is an authorized Kirby Distributor in Grand Rapids Michigan. Its not a crime to change the name of your business. They have never moved or changed phone numbers in case this complaint was presuming that Cezo Inc is or was hiding something. Nobody has taken Cezo Inc to small claims court to make them uphold their own contract, therefore that is an untrue statement. The Better Business Bureau does give Cezo Inc a D- rating. There are a few reasons for this. If anyone reading this is interested in their explanation, you should feel free to call them. [protected].or email them at kirbycezo@tm.net.

I just went to a interveiw a month ago and worled for kirby sales for 1 mounth and 2 days i no longer work for them do u no how much money i made in a whole month 400$ thats it its a compleate waist of time and by the way all u kirby sellers are bull [censored]ers the job is wrong and its a scam

Yes, foggyman, I do agree with something you said. It was a complete waste of time for you to work with Kirby. If you worked there for 1 month and 2 days and only made $400.00, you are not a quick learner(seem obvious though), you are not motivated, and you are very foolish, for not taking advantage of thre opportunity you were given. You should probably go back to school.(surely)

you guys are all funny I worked for KIRBY myself too! I was there for about 2 years! and No! I'm not a millioniare yet but I made 15 grand my last 3 months! I took the money and left!

All I wanna say is there is money in Kirby you just have to go get it! and Kirby is not for the weak hearted!

Seems awesome to me!

Bottom line is...Kirby is a good product. Sales tactics are horrible! I seen an ad in craigslist for customer care, job duties were: and I quote " filing, answering phone, greeting customers and small office maintance" LIERS! I called excited because it promised an income of $2200 a month guaranteed. When I called, the lady on the phone asked for my full name and then quickly asked me if I was able to make it in the next day early in the morning for an interview, I agreed and was super excited! I get there the next day and there was about 15 other people there waiting in this small room, very ugly and broke down building. The HR lady who was the one that did mine and everyone else interviews was really crazy and talked very loud, she was ghetto and 3 of us who were there waiting in the room agreed that she had to be on some kind of drugs, she was really that crazy! I started talking to some other people who were there waiting with me and I asked how they had hear about the job, and when they told me what they were told they were here to do it was a total different thing from what I was told, we all quickly started asking everyone else and most of us were lied to, only about 2 people there knew it was a sales position but still didn't knew it was door to door or selling Kirby's. They make all this million dollers but they can't even provide a paid training nor food for the orientation like many other big companies do. And the guy who started talking to us kept talking wonderful things about this company, 3 people walked out very mad and actually screaming at the trainer. I stayed because for some reason I'm easy to convince and I had drove that far(45 minutes) I though the least I could do is sit and listen because I had really never heard of this Kirby;s until that day...he kept saying how he goes on vacations all the times and all paid by the company and how one time in one month he made over $60, 000 because they took a trip for a whole month with his best sales team and dedicated the month too nothing but hard work blah blah blah, he said at one point he was very hooked to buying new cars because of hte amount of money he was making...yeah right! Tell me why his shirt looked like it had been used about 6, 000 times and his dress shoes were so worned out and very old, and the pants he was wearing were just so casual, if he had all this damn money why in the workd is he dressing up like a rookie? He should be wearing like an $800 dress shirt and so on...right? They are so full of BS! This was such a scam! I sure in hell did not go back at all! They are a joke and make me sick to my stomach! Oh and by the way, they mentioned that it was by appointment, yeah right! Come to find out by one of the people that was there in the room which I made friends with and kept in touc, once they got out in the vans, they had other groups actually going door to door knocking and trying to set them up, like seriously an appointment that was made just minutes before they get someone in there to try and demo the damn thing! And then she told me they tried to convince them to actually go themselves and knock door to door and try to find more leads to leave early lol what a joke!

If you need money and are willing to try sales, Kirby could make you rich. When it comes to sales, a special mindset is required. The idea of entering a stranger's home to do some cleaning in the hopes of making a sale can seem impossible when the price asked is $2500. Good things aren't cheap. Cheap things are rarely good. The Kirby hope care system is not good; It's fantastic. The people that tell horror stories of being asked to "sell" are the weak willed. I believe everyone should own a Kirby. The company asked sales people to show its product in the purchaser's home. To do that, we go to homes, knock on the door, show the product in a manner that conveys the exciting alternative to owning [censor] "vacuum cleaners", trashed carpet, and dirty homes. Only the positive sales people succeed; the negative cry babies will always fail and beg for sympathy while at the same time [censor] on the success of others. This is a United States of America company that has use door to door salemen for almost one hundred years. There have been millions sold worldwide. Please ignore the negative [censor]s and talk to the people that own the machine. Kirby is the king of vacuum. Believe it or not, but see it.

I live in Oklahoma...we had a Kirby rep and one of his people stop by and I agreed to have a demonstration as I had nothing else I needed to be doing. I told the rep up front (along with the person actually doing the demo) I could not afford to buy one at this time, and I told them that meant I had NO money for monthly payments...NONE. After the demo I reinforced that statement...that I would actually like to buy one, and that I could pay cash for it in six months but that right now...I could not afford monthly payments AT ALL.

With that said the girl doing the demo tells me "well we don't normally do this but because you could pay for it in that short of time we could do 12 months no payments." That is EXACTLY what she said, not 12 months same as cash (meaning no interest, still with monthly payments)...12 months no payments. I questioned her about that and clarified many times..."so that means I don't have to pay anything at all monthly and can pay for this in total on this date?"...repeatedly she told me "exactly." Her "boss" had left for a bit and came back...when he came back, in front of my husband, in front of the girl who did the demo...and in front of her boss (all standing right there) I told my husband what we were offered (12 months NO payments)...at that point not only did the girl agree to that so did her boss, verbally...not just once but many times, because I wanted to make sure this was really the agreement. Her boss even told us in these words "when you get the payment booklet just ignore that and send in the total payoff when you have it since it will be before 12th month." We did just that...got the payment book, set it aside like he told us to do. Two months later we start getting calls from their financing company telling us we have to make a the $113 per month payments.

I contacted the boss of the girl who sold us the Kirby (he was the other person present and who wrote up our contract and also verbally agreed to what I was told)...he said (naturally) that his understanding was 12 months same as cash (meaning monthly payments no interest)...I told him repeatedly, that's NOT what you agreed to in my home. That's NOT what you said yes to each and every time I asked you "so this means we have no monthly payments if I can pay this before the 12th month in full?" I even heard him say this very thing to the person on the phone when verifying us for financing...with my husband standing there, he heard him too. The only response I kept getting from this guy was "well that wasn't my understanding", know what buddy? I don't care if it was your understanding...it's what you agreed to verbally several times, in front of witnesses (I told him that). "You have misrepresented yourself and this product by doing this and I will not be manipulated into paying something I told you up front I could not pay." Naturally I was pretty angry with him...and told him he was either going to fix this or I would be bringing his product back to him and he'd better have the items I traded in for it to return to me or I would be getting a lawyer involved...even though on the contract he slipped in there 12 months same as cash. I had witnesses (my husband, and one of my friends who stopped by while they were there) who heard me clarifying what I was told...and heard both the girl and her boss agree that we would have NO PAYMENTS, they both made verbal contracts to that affect to misrepresent the contract they wanted us to sign.

Be VERY careful with anyone who shows up to sell you any product. I happen to like the Kirby I bought...it's a good product or I wouldn't have bought it...what I don't like is the tactics used to try to sell it to me. I would have bought the product and paid cash for it if they had come back in 6 months (as I originally asked after the demo) and been happy to do so...instead they've pissed me off! The "boss" is now going to have to re-write up a new contract for us to re-sign and trust me...I'm going over that sucker with a fine-toothed comb.

sounds like a big ### scam

Today, a Kirby sales man chose the spot right in front of our dresser to do his dresser. Soon asked me to get him a phone so he could make a call to his manager. Made me go in and out to get this and that. When my wife came back, and looked at the top of the dresser, her wedding band and diamond rings were not there any more. We have called the police. But be cautious, we can not claim that this man is a thief until the courts judge so. But we can say that be cautious of an 'independent contractor' whose name is Dominique Washington. He is a good looking, well spoken young slim black man. He will pick your master bedroom as the demo area. This happened on the east side of Austin, TX, 10/12/2013. We were also fooled into accepting the demo by the girl that came earlier and said it was some new non foaming carpet cleaning technology, had I known it was a vacuum cleaner sales, I would not allowed it. When the man came I said I was offered the stairs cleaning demo and he said "oh no, I can't do stairs." and scoped out and picked the bedroom spot. I got offered the Kirby for $1000, down $2200 from $3200. I would like Kirby to pay us for the rings.