Thread: My strange day with the Kerby people, apologies to door to door salespeople ...

I had a cute young woman come to my door yesterday and offer to clean one room for free just for my time. Warning red flag here.

I had one room that could use some cleaning so I thought what the heck and they may have a good product. So she left and in came a football player--300lbs. to demostrate the "KERBY" vacuum for me. She leaves, cause there are others on the block and she needs to help the other salesmen start with them.

See how easy it is to put together. I'll put a filter in here to show you how much dirt it picks up. Look at all that dirt. Goes over the same spot about a million times and each time. Look at all that dirt. Ok, I am impressed, wow.

It can clean my curtains. Demostrates that. Look at all that dirt. Has a canister that converts into an upright that converts into a carpet shampoo machine, that converts into a blower to blow up air mattresses, blows your leaves away in your yard, little attachment blows dust away on any surface and is great on computer keyboards.
First put the pig snout on it, what they call the plastic dealy to make the air come out instead of suck in. Ok, very impressive. Probably will never use the extras but ok.

What is the dirtiest room in your house? This is a guesing game. I guess the bathroom or the kitchen. No, I'm wrong. So we go into the bedroom and he has to show me how dirty mattresses get with all those dust mites. This will help with any allergens and you will wake up with a clear nose, no stuffed up nose anymore. First mattress has a plastic cover on it so can't do demo on that since dirt won't suck out of plastic. Well maybe dust mites won't be in a plastic cover mattress. Anyway we move on the the bedroom that has no mattress cover. This one is an ancient mattress whose next trip is to the dump. He shows me how much dirt and dust mites the vacuum sucks out of there for another million times. Each time the filter comes out filthy dirty. For me this is expected from an ancient whose next trip is to the dump.

Ok, well show me the shampooer. That's what I'm interested in. Back to the living room we go. He pours small amount of shampoo into a container, adds some water, puts the shampoo attachments on the vacuum and he starts to shampooing. One little spot mind you, not the whole room. It has a special feature that foams up the shampoo so you can leave it on there to disapear on it's own. Has a scotch guard and deordizer in the shampoo but your children can get it in their mouths cause it won't hurt them. The children can wash the car with the same shampooer. It comes with that kind of brush.

So on and on we go. This vacuum will not only do a million jobs in the home, you can take it outdoors cause it is a paint sprayer and insecticide applier. It also vacuums the hair off your pet. I remind him my cats would scratch me bloody before they would let me vacuum them with that loud vacuum and it's high power. They may be missing a beloved part when it is over or more likely, I may be--my thoughts.LOL
Although, my little kitty who is so paceve would drop dead from a heart attack first.

And in addition you can get extra parts for just a small price and then you can sand your furniture with it, buff with it, and massage your hubby's back or head with it. At this point I asked if it cut hair while it was sucking on his head. Dang, no it doesn't do that, maybe next year. Oh well then I can't get it. LOL

Ok, now that I know this machine is the best thing since sliced bread just how nuch is it? Well since the young woman hasn't come back for ages he needs to call his boss. Ok, the machine with all the parts that you see here is-----roll drums here. $1708.

Not really surprised but I can't spend that kind of money without first talking to my husband and it also gives me time to think. $1708 for a vacuum, are you crazy.

to be continued

Ok, well I'm not spending that kind of money without talking to my husband and, I think, it will give me time to think about it. He leaves with the understanding that he will come back when my husband comes home from work at around 7. Oh and he will leave the vacuum as well. That's a good idea cause I want my husband to see it.

In the mean time I get a call from my sister. I tell her about it. She tells me that is was to high for a vacuum which is exactly what I was thinking. She has friends that have bought the Oreck for around 300 and then you can get a shampooer for around that price as well. Also she never buys things from high pitched salespeople. Never get it today or this deal will be gone forever kind of thing.

After talking to her I decide to run it on my own. First thing I do is to try to lift it to carry it. I do need to vacuum my upatairs too. OMG, it's heavy as lead. I can hardly lift it. Ok, this is the deciding factor for me. I don't care if it slices and dices and does any and everything. If I can't lift it what good is it? So I call the number and tell the person that answers that I have decided I don't want it. At first they learned my husband wasn't home cause they called at 7. When I call them, they are in a meeting and can't talk to me right then but now that I tell them I don't want it they are at the door in three minutes flat. My hubby is there as well at the same time.

Ok, I tell them it is just too heavy for me so I can't use it and won't be buying it. Oh well, you can take the bag off and the other parts then lift it this way. Then re-assemble it when you get upstares with it. Ok now try lifting it. It's still feels like lead cause I am lifting the motor which is the heaviest part on the whole thing. No, still too heavy. By this time they have another sales guy--I think the big Kahuna in here now and he is telling me that he will come out an carry it up the stares for me. Yeah, right.

I tell them that I know this vacuum if like the Mercedes of vacuums but I can get by with a Toyota if I can't use the Mercedes. The Oreck is 8 lbs. and with me getting older, in the future, I will need that lighter vacuum not a heavy one. It will only get worse.

Oh and about the price. This is hilarious. At first it is $1,708. But if I trade in my old vacuum they will take around 200 off of that. But I tell them I may want to give my old vacuum to someone in the family. Well ok, then you can buy back your vacuum for a dollar. HUH? Weird but ok.

When I tell them I can't see paying $1,700 for a vacuum, any vacuum. I couldn't pay over 1,000 for one. Guess what price it became? They can let me have it for $999.00 but for today only. OK, that is all well and good but I can't get this upstares. Well how about buying two? One to keep upstares and one for down stares. That was quickly dismissed by the look in my eyes. $1,000 twice????? So it's back on the phone with the boss for the hundreth time. Now he says he will let you have a returned vacuum and this one for $999. Why was it returned? The people wanted a later model. Yeah, right. Will the second one be guaranteed? Don't know about that. Well I don't have room to store it in my closets upstares so guess not. Well you and tip it just like this and it will stand up right and take up little space. No it's still too big. But you are getting two for the price of one. So now it's a $500 dollar vacuum. But I'm guessing the second one ia a piece of junk. I say, no better not.

My hubby is there listening to all of this and he says, I don't think you understand. She doesn't want it so pack up your vacuum and all the parts and take it out to your van and go on down the street. By this time I have gone upstares cause I figure I am the carrot on the stick for them. As long as I am there they will never give up. The boss on the phone just won't let them leave without a deal.

They decide to leave thank God. Door to door sales people, geesh.

And the kicker is they have been using the same tactics for years. I remember whan I was a child many moons ago them coming to my parents house and giving the exact sales pitch. Almost word for word. The guy tried to suck dirt out of a mattress that has a plastic cover on it and couldn't figure why nothing was coming out. My mother finally remembered it had plastic on it. I was ready for that one but I was also ready for the sales pitch. But some people do buy on inpulse. We do have the three day deal to cancel but how many know about that and how many use it?

Originally posted by FishmansBetrHalf
Hey Janelle.... I have a THERMAX... they are better, and now you can buy them for a whole lot less than $1700 . They will Do all the same tricks a Kirby will do. They will do a free room cleaning for you too if you have a salesman locally. Look them up. I bought mine when they first came out, paid about $1100 for it. Now I think they are around $400-$500. I could kick myself for not waiting till the price went down, but this machine has been a lifesaver with the allergy sufferers in my house.

Is it easy to pick up and carry around? LOL

This time I got a free small candle in a little glass holder for letting them come in. My parents got some cheap steak knives but I am still using them. Only to slice and dice with them not on steak. Hey, I guess I did get the slice and dice thingy with it. LOL

That's funny. If I see them coming I make sure my door is good and locked. I had one come once selling some sort of spray cleaner and he didn't leave for 2 hours until I bought some.

Fishmansbetrhalf, I couldn't help noticing your user name. Are you married to a minister by chance?

janelle, I am LMBO!! My mom will only use a Kirby. A few years ago she got a new one and gave me her old one. I used it a few times then gave it back to her. It was so heavy there was no way that I could lug it around. LOL I have a self-propelled WindTunnel and love it. It`s great b/c it has a red light that shows the carpet is dirty then the green light comes on when it is clean.