Friday, August 11th, 2006, there was a knock at my door at 2:30 in the afternoon. I answered to find a man with a bright pink flyer in his hand. He told me he was with the Kirby vacuum company and would I be interested in a demonstration. I told him up front that I was definitely not interested and was on my way out the door with my three very young children in tow. I also commented that my husband was gone til the next day so there was no reason for the demonstration, I would not buy anything. My children and I returned to the house around 8:30 that same night. I was upstairs putting clothes away in the children’s rooms when I heard voices downstairs. My children had let the Kirby men into my house! Here were these strange men unloading a vacuum to show me. I told them I did not have time as I had to work from home and my phone and computer would keep me busy in a few minutes. They promised it would take 15 minutes, if I would just watch the demonstration one of the salesmen would get to add my name to his list and he could go to Cancun for a business trip. Ok, FIFTEEN minutes, I said.
Needless to say, no matter how many times I told the man that I had to work, he would not leave after his time was up. The other salesman had left because he had a demonstration to attend to down the street from me. I told the man I had to work. He said to go ahead. Remember, there is no one else in the house but my children and myself. The children were upstairs in bed so I went over to the computer. Every time the phone would ring the salesman, named Eddie, would start talking. I take orders for AARP memberships, Life Insurance Policies, and various television advertisement products. I stopped working at 9:30, looked at Eddie and said, “I REALLY need to work.” In the meantime he chose my cleanest carpet to show me how the shampooer worked. It was an area rug and right next to the rug on the carpet was a huge stain he would not even attempt to try. I could not get him out of my house and my carpet or area rug did not look any different! Eddie kept insisting that my vacuum could not do all that! Well, I got a brand new carpet shampooer for my wedding last year which works wonderfully and actually faded the big stain that Eddie refused to touch. He told me I could get this vacuum for just $2000. That’s it! Sorry, but to me, $2000 is a lot of money. I told him I could not make any big decisions without my husband and he can leave his business card. If we decide we were interested then we would call him. Since my bluntness would not get rid of him I thought maybe if I expressed slight interest even though I could not get it right away it might convince him to leave. Instead he calls his manager on his cell-phone to come back to my house.
Eddie and Jimmy are sitting in my living room at 11:50 the same night. I was exhausted and had missed enough work to upset me. They were packing things up when all of a sudden Jimmy says he is leaving the vacuum with me for 24 hours so that my husband can see what it does and then he can purchase it for me because a happy wife is a happy life. He kept repeating that as I kept repeating, “Take the vacuum, my husband is not going to look at it tomorrow and we cannot afford it right now.” This went on until 12:15 when they left, and STILL refused to take the vacuum, even after I told them my one-year wedding anniversary was the next day and I refuse to fight with my husband over a stupid vacuum.
The next day, I called the men to come get it after my husband yelled at me for even letting them in the house. They told me they would not be in the area until the following week and they assumed I would buy the vacuum and they could do the application over the phone. I gave my husband Jimmy’s cell phone number and he had to call them. Jimmy actually told my husband that I put money down on the Kirby which was an ourtright lie and that my husband needs to co-sign for it. I was very infuriated. I called toe local police who informed me this happens all the time with Kirby even though they are based over 2 hours away from my house. The police station allowed me to take the Kirby to their office and the salesmen will pick it up when they are in the area next. I called Jimmy to inform him where the vacuum was and he said they pick their vacuums up from the “cop shop” all the time. How is Kirby still in business when the salesmen are rude and pushy and actually drive people to call the police about them?
Kirby definitely gives all telemarketers and salesmen a bad name. I will never again open the door if I do not recognize a person. Why should I feel unsafe to answer my own door? No one should have to feel that way every time someone knocks on the door. This was definitely a terrible experience and I want the world to know what I’ve gone through with Kirby.
