Someone came into our house (I live in Australia) and tried to sell us
a vacuum cleaner for over $3000.

I was not impressed by the salesman’s manner, or the method by which
he got into our home. He used high-pressure sales tactics, and he came
over because my partner was told that she had been selected to receive
a free clean.

The brand of the vacuum was Kirby, which I had never heard of before.

I would like detailed answers to the following questions:

What sort of sales tactics does this company use?

What sort of salespeople does Kirby use?

What sort of pay structure are they on? The salesman insisted that he
was not on commission, but I found that very hard to believe.

Was my experience, which was largely negative, typical?

What do customers who have bought the vacuum think of it after the
purchase? Are they happy or do they regret it?

What sort of reputation does Kirby have?

What stories are there in the media about Kirby? Are they mostly
positive or, as I would suspect, negative?

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Clarification of Question by markabe-ga on 23 Jun 2003 02:24 PDT

tarauncg,

Well I did check back and I did read it. I'm going to assume that
you're in America, judging from some of the things you said.

It seems as though Kirby is not content with using high-pressure
tactics on customers - it has top use them on its employees as well.

Yes, that high pressure technique is typical, and the "free clean"
approach is standard. (We made our guy actually do it, too!) The
machines themselves are rather good, though I'm not sure they're
$3000.00 worth of good. Definitely one-up on Godfrey's standard stock,
though.

I can't take on all those questions at the moment, since it's bedtime
here in Oklahoma. But here's a newsgroup post that might interest you:

http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=6gh9s0%248ln%40newsops.execpc.com&oe=UTF-8&output=gplain

I also live in Australia and own a Kirby. However, I wasn't silly
enough to buy one new. Have a look in the "trading post" or online
classifieds, and you'll see plenty of perfectly good near new units
for less than a quarter of a cost of a new one. These are being sold
by people who were pressured into buying something expensive they
didn't need.

The cleaners really are excellent, but not worth the new money. The
moment you buy, it has depreciated by more than 50%. The high pressure
sales tactics are disgusting - a friend used to sell them and has told
me all the tricks - like promising a "family and friends" discount as
if the customer was related to the salesperson.

markabe-GA..... I really hope you check back and read this.  I am a
college student who is out of school for the summer.  Two weeks ago  I
am looking in the paper for a job.  I see: guaranteed $2,000/month
call ...... Of course I call, get accepted, go through 2 days of
training starting on a Monday..  The 3rd day I realize that it was
Kirby's we were supposed to be selling.  All I was told was that I
would be "setting up displays for a supervisor."  I thought, this
can't be bad especially making that good of money being a college
student who pays her own bills.  Well, on Friday we are told that we
will take one home and show family and friends in order to get
practice.  I start showing my friends.  I had to call my trainer when
I was starting a "demonstration."  Well when I would call he would get
mad if I was showing someone single.  When he told me to show friends.
 After doing 5 demonstrations I sold 1.  The asking price is 1950
which is ridiculous.  Well anyways, the following Monday I was told to
be at work at 12:30.  I get to work, some guy says "you're ocming with
me." I then get in my car and go to another office, hop onto a van
with some man I have never met, and 3 other guys.  We start driving
down the road and I am told we are going to a small town an hour and a
half away.  I was lied to from day number 1!! I got no pay for the
week I spent training.  I was not told that we worked monday-saturday
from 1pm-11pm or 12-1am.  Nor was I told that I was not paid by the
hour but only from commission. So I spend 2 weeks all togher including
training and only made 150.  Now I am stuck looking for anothre job
since I quit my last one for this job only because it sounded too good
to be true and of course it was.  For your answers: Kirby's are
awesome household cleaners that amazed me when I saw how good they
worked.  The so called "supervisor" whom I was supposed to be "setting
up and displaying" for, knocks on random doors, hands a gift out and
says something to the terms of: "my boss sent me out to give u this
nice gift if you'll take a look at another one." this fools people. He
then grabs one of us and we go inside with a kirby. This gets us in
the house and then he would leave me alone with people I didn't know.
He lies his way into someone's home just to get us inside and make us
look like fools.  I'm supposed to work tomorrow but I think 3 days of
travelling and working 36 hours are enough for me. I'm more worried
about my safety.   Kirby uses anyone who will work, anyone trust me! I
was stuck with a 19 yr old white rude guy, 2 African AMerican men, and
a girl. The girl quit after the first day I worked.  Employee turnover
is really high which is the reason there are training classes going on
each week. Your experience was probably typical because I don't like
listening to my supervisor talk to people. He will lie saying "it'll
only take 15 minutes" when all in all it takes over an hour.  He lies
to people to place us in their house to deal with.  I hate this
company.  Kirby's are good quality and worth no more than 1300 I would
say but the way EMPLOYEES and customers are treated and LIED to is NOT
fair.  Kirby's are good, kirby people are BAD!

The "free clean" is common, although I've never felt like I was being
pressured into a sale. My mother actually bought a Kirby some years
ago, and it has upheld extremely well. (She used to buy cleaners that
were in the $400-500 range, and had to replace them every couple of
years; she's pretty hard on them.) In addition, her Kirby can clean
carpets.

kriswrite