Kirby Vacuum vs. regular vacuum?
11-22-2004, 12:07 AM
#1
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Kirby Vacuum vs. regular vacuum?
I thought this only happens on TV. Around 8PM this guy came to my door and offered me to clean my carpet for free. After some talk, I was like sure, why the heck not. At this point I thought he was trying to sell carpet cleaning service and willing to do one room for free to 'suck' me in.
He then said, he'll be back with the equipment after I agreed to let him in. While he was gone, I looked up the company on BBB and called the number on the web site, which is the same as the one on the flyer. And confirmed that this guy was legit. Hey, gotta be careful to let anyone in late at night you know.
Once he got in and started talking I then realized he is a freakin vacuum cleaner salesperson. I think it's a pretty cool vacuum with all these very unique and useful feature, but the price was CRAZY! $1799 for the whole damn thing. To name a few things this vacuum does.
- leaf blower
- vacuum
- shampoo carpet
- unclog drains
- ...
Looked pretty cool and the demo was pretty impressive, but still too expensive. I recently bought a hoover vacuum and thought that sucker was pretty good, but this one seems to be sucking up things even my vacuum doesn't.
Here is the funny thing, they don't sell this vacuum in ANY store, you have to buy it when they come knocking on your door ONLY.
At the end, I told them no, even they went all the way down to $900. I am really curious how well does this stack up against my vacuum cleaner. I mean forget about all these other features it has, just to compare the vacuum side of it. Anyone here has one? Thanks!
He then said, he'll be back with the equipment after I agreed to let him in. While he was gone, I looked up the company on BBB and called the number on the web site, which is the same as the one on the flyer. And confirmed that this guy was legit. Hey, gotta be careful to let anyone in late at night you know.
Once he got in and started talking I then realized he is a freakin vacuum cleaner salesperson. I think it's a pretty cool vacuum with all these very unique and useful feature, but the price was CRAZY! $1799 for the whole damn thing. To name a few things this vacuum does.
- leaf blower
- vacuum
- shampoo carpet
- unclog drains
- ...
Looked pretty cool and the demo was pretty impressive, but still too expensive. I recently bought a hoover vacuum and thought that sucker was pretty good, but this one seems to be sucking up things even my vacuum doesn't.
Here is the funny thing, they don't sell this vacuum in ANY store, you have to buy it when they come knocking on your door ONLY.
At the end, I told them no, even they went all the way down to $900. I am really curious how well does this stack up against my vacuum cleaner. I mean forget about all these other features it has, just to compare the vacuum side of it. Anyone here has one? Thanks!
11-22-2004, 12:35 AM
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This is funny. Believe it or not I used to sell Kirby's when I got out of the service for a little while. To answer the question "How good are they?" They are really that good. The method in which they provide suction is unlike any other vacuum in the world. 12hp motor this thing is ready to suck. The G5/G6 are the newest models. They have a transmission in them that was developed by NASA to aid in manuvering the machine. The best HEPA filtration on the market. It is quite heavy. It only takes one penny to shatter the impeller. This is not covered under warranty. It's not a shop vac. Of course the price is outrageous. It was a really hard sell for me. I knew that I was selling the best thing around when it came to vacuums, but I just couldn't justify the price tag for a vacuum. It was really hard to convice someone they needed a $1500 when I couldn't come to terms myself. You can find really good deals on used and refurbished models. Many sales companies take trade-ins, refurbish them and sell 'em off. If you can find a G5/G6 for $350-$500 you might want to pick it up, if your into that kind of thing. I personally like my Oreck. Sucks, light, cheap, warranty. Good stuff.
11-22-2004, 02:55 AM
#5
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Dude, my gf bought one of those for the house before. We still have it, sitting in the ****ing box. Never been used. I was pissed that she spent all that money and the woman still uses the crappy hoover vacume we have. I'll sell the kirby for $750 or a set of JDM projectors. C'mon now, who wants it. 
11-22-2004, 04:50 AM
#6
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I bought one five years ago, great, actually the best vacuum, if you are in to clean things, like you are an adult, great for the car (has this spinning head with britsltes the clean the **** out of the crappy sti carpet), the shampooer is great, and I even polish my hard wood floors with it, it really does, no pun intentended suck
11-22-2004, 08:26 AM
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I bought a used Kirby.......
Originally Posted by Roo
Dyson > Kirby. Hands down.
I bought a used Gen3 Kirby off ebay for $130 (they really haven't changed much since Gen3). I even bought another one just for the garage for $60, but it needs an on/off switch. I got suckered into a bagless hepa vac... it worked great at first but ended up being a POS. The filters plugged up like crazy. I'll take a Kirby hepa bag over bagless any day of the week.
Last edited by HellaDumb; 11-22-2004 at 08:36 AM.
11-22-2004, 08:56 AM
#11
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Kirby is a gimmick. It is a pyramid scheme. The dealer buys them from the factory for about $179, the team leader then buys them from the dealer, then the van driver buys them from the team leaders, then the van leader buys them from the van driver, finally the guy that knocks at your door buys them from the van leader, usually for about $1000. If you want to haggle down you need to talk to the van driver. Realistically the vaccuum is worth about $500. Other than that tell them to bugger off.
It's basically a very well built vaccuum with a lot of ingenious attachments. If you can't find one for $500, You'd be better off getting a good regular vaccuum, a bissel steam cleaner, a leaf blower, and a plunger, all for less money than you'd pay for a kirby.
How do I know all of this? I sold those freaking things for about 3 months until I realized I needed sleep. I made crazy money because I'm very polite and somewhat articulate, as well as a hell of a salesman. The van would usually leave for it's route at 7am, and come pulling back in the lot at 9pm(sometimes as late as 1am because we'd drive for hours targetting new housing developments, usually looking for the lower end ones because they were more apt to get suckered into the deal). It took me an hour each way to get to the dealer(I lived in boulder creek and the dealer was right by the great mall), so sleep was hard to come by, and try driving highway 9 at 1am after you woke up at 5am the previous morning. In three months I made about $40K, so that should tell you how much the markup on those bastards are.
It's basically a very well built vaccuum with a lot of ingenious attachments. If you can't find one for $500, You'd be better off getting a good regular vaccuum, a bissel steam cleaner, a leaf blower, and a plunger, all for less money than you'd pay for a kirby.
How do I know all of this? I sold those freaking things for about 3 months until I realized I needed sleep. I made crazy money because I'm very polite and somewhat articulate, as well as a hell of a salesman. The van would usually leave for it's route at 7am, and come pulling back in the lot at 9pm(sometimes as late as 1am because we'd drive for hours targetting new housing developments, usually looking for the lower end ones because they were more apt to get suckered into the deal). It took me an hour each way to get to the dealer(I lived in boulder creek and the dealer was right by the great mall), so sleep was hard to come by, and try driving highway 9 at 1am after you woke up at 5am the previous morning. In three months I made about $40K, so that should tell you how much the markup on those bastards are.
11-22-2004, 09:53 AM
#12
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My wife made the mistake of letting one of those guys in the house one day. She kept calling me.. I told her to get him OUT OF THE HOUSE. He would not leave. I told her I was on my way to throw him out myself (I live about 5 minutes from work) and told her to call the police incase I need some help.
When I got home he was gone. When she started dialing the police, he finally clued in that he was NOT getting sale. Oh yeah.. he left a Kirby 'dustbuster' behind and never came back for it. It works OK for cleaning the motorhome, but it's still just a dustbuster.
When I got home he was gone. When she started dialing the police, he finally clued in that he was NOT getting sale. Oh yeah.. he left a Kirby 'dustbuster' behind and never came back for it. It works OK for cleaning the motorhome, but it's still just a dustbuster.
11-22-2004, 10:04 AM
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hot damn! Went to sleep and wake up with all these info!? Thanks guys!
Yeah, I couldn't see myself spending 4 digits on a VACUUM! While he was doing all the demo, I thought, hey this thing is actually pretty good. I said to myself, if this thing is ~$400 and if I didn't just buy the hoover for recently, I would get one. Then later the guy said he could do a full trade-in for my vacuum for $200 (I got it for $150). I was like, okay, so it's only $200. I THEN ask him how much it is. He showed me the price, I was like HOT DAMN! For a vacuum cleaner?
The whole process was like buying a car. They had to call 'higher' up and going down on the price and keep on asking me 'So, how would you like to pay for it?'. They went all the way down to $900 and I am like, damn, that's one heck of a rip off with the original price.
Thanks again guys, IF I still want one, I'll look into an used or refurbish one.
Yeah, I couldn't see myself spending 4 digits on a VACUUM! While he was doing all the demo, I thought, hey this thing is actually pretty good. I said to myself, if this thing is ~$400 and if I didn't just buy the hoover for recently, I would get one. Then later the guy said he could do a full trade-in for my vacuum for $200 (I got it for $150). I was like, okay, so it's only $200. I THEN ask him how much it is. He showed me the price, I was like HOT DAMN! For a vacuum cleaner?
The whole process was like buying a car. They had to call 'higher' up and going down on the price and keep on asking me 'So, how would you like to pay for it?'. They went all the way down to $900 and I am like, damn, that's one heck of a rip off with the original price.
Thanks again guys, IF I still want one, I'll look into an used or refurbish one.
11-22-2004, 10:11 AM
#14
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i sold them as well for about 3 months and they are hands down the best vacuum. dyson's weren't out at the time, but i'm sure it will suck the pants off it.
i don't sell them anymore, but would be willing to put up $$$$ that it will outperform anything on the market today.
People spent sometimes up to 20 minutes sucking up a 2 X 2 area, then I would come in with the kirby and suck a ridiculous amount of stuff out with 3 or 4 passes...
as for the price, yes its expensive, but can you really put a price on having a clean house?
think about how much money you spend on detailing for your car etc. why not spend the equal amount (cost of house / cost of kirby = cost of car / cost of detailing) on your house?
i don't sell them anymore, but would be willing to put up $$$$ that it will outperform anything on the market today.
People spent sometimes up to 20 minutes sucking up a 2 X 2 area, then I would come in with the kirby and suck a ridiculous amount of stuff out with 3 or 4 passes...
as for the price, yes its expensive, but can you really put a price on having a clean house?
think about how much money you spend on detailing for your car etc. why not spend the equal amount (cost of house / cost of kirby = cost of car / cost of detailing) on your house?
11-22-2004, 10:21 AM
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Have any of you ever heard of a Rainbow vacuum?
My pops used to sell those back in the day and he'd bring a hoover and kirby to his presentation.
The Rainbow one is cool but it's a ***** to put together. It's a water based vacuum so it sucks all the dirt and DUST into the water and traps it all.
Pops used to bring those kirby and hoovers because their bag/filter system is the weakness. Try this at home guys. Take a bright lamp and shine it on your vacuum while you vacuum your carpet. Shine it on the bag/box/filter where the dirt comes in and watch how much dust escapes.
Peep those Rainbow vacuums out. Especially people with allergies and stuff like that.
My pops used to sell those back in the day and he'd bring a hoover and kirby to his presentation.
The Rainbow one is cool but it's a ***** to put together. It's a water based vacuum so it sucks all the dirt and DUST into the water and traps it all.
Pops used to bring those kirby and hoovers because their bag/filter system is the weakness. Try this at home guys. Take a bright lamp and shine it on your vacuum while you vacuum your carpet. Shine it on the bag/box/filter where the dirt comes in and watch how much dust escapes.
Peep those Rainbow vacuums out. Especially people with allergies and stuff like that.