Tip of the Day: How to handle door-to-door vacuum-sales reps

In an era when you can buy just about anything with the click of a mouse, door-to-door sales of vacuums seem a quaint anachronism.

But don't be fooled by that image. Door-to-door vacuum sales are big business, with sales reps from Kirby Company moving about $400 million worth of merchandise last year alone. Kirby sells its vacuums to 600 independent distributors nationwide, whose nearly 10,000 sales representatives do in-home demonstrations.

Cleveland-based Kirby sells one model, updating it about every two years. The Kirby Sentria upright (shown; model information is available to subscribers) excelled at cleaning carpets and bare floors in our latest tests and rates very good overall. Kirby is also among the more reliable brands of upright vacuums in our surveys. The MSRP is $1,350, although the distributor has the final word on price.

Kirby's sales methods don't always have the same solid reputation as its vacuums. A Web search will yield many pages filled with stories from disgruntled people about Kirby and alleged scams.

Kirby must be aware of all the chatter—its customer-service policy states that over the last 10 years the manufacturer has adopted a culture of continuous improvement in customer service. The company also requires distributors to sign a contract agreeing to operate legally and ethically. "We can't control every step of the distributor's business, but we have the ultimate power in whether we do business with them," says Rob Shumay, a Kirby spokesman.

"Kirby is extremely interested in customer service. However, not all of its distributors are cut from the same cloth," says Sandra Prebil, a spokeswoman for the Better Business Bureau in Cleveland. "One, two, or three distributors will be really bad. We know that Kirby has stopped shipment to a bad distributor and the company will make good on an order for a distributor who's disappeared. For Kirby, trying to control so many different people is difficult."

Wanting to evaluate the Kirby experience myself, I arranged for an in-home demo through the Kirby Web site. I also called a local rep I found in my yellow pages. In neither case did I identify myself as a Consumer Reports employee. I didn't go into this process intending to buy a new vacuum; I also had an in-home demo from Rainbow, another vacuum company.

Within an hour of the phone call, a Kirby sales rep was at my door. The vacuum she showed me was impressive. And pricey: She quoted me a price of $1,755. Of course, she noted, I could finance the vacuum—over 18 months at a 28 percent annual interest rate, for a total cost of $2,219.

The experience was not unpleasant and the sales rep did not pressure me to buy, though she did linger at my house for 2 hours after the demonstration ended, waiting for her boss to pick her up.

A week later I got a call from another distributor who had received my online demo request. When I told the distributor I'd already had a demo and informed him of the earlier quote, he offered me the same model for only $900, claiming his overhead was lower.

The price seemed too good to turn down.  I wondered whether the distributor was selling me a used model. Sales reps can resell vacuums that have been returned to the distributor. The distributor is required to disclose to customers whether a vacuum has been returned or refurbished. Such vacuums should have a different warranty card from new models, according to Shumay.

While my experiences might differ from those of other Kirby customers, they can provide you with some useful advice to follow the next time you set up an in-home demonstration or when a door-to-door sales rep from any company calls or unexpectedly shows up at your door:

• If a sales rep calls and says you've won a prize you'll receive during an in-home demonstration, hang up immediately. The call is probably a scam to get the huckster's foot in the door.

• Before you agree to a demonstration with a company, learn about the distributor by checking it out through your local Better Business Bureau.

• Don't fall for sneaky sales tactics. These include the sales rep leaving a vacuum with you for a few days, as happened when a Rainbow rep said he didn't feel like putting it back in the box at the end of his demo. Another sketchy move is when the rep tries to get you on the phone with his sales manager.

• Before you sign any deal, verify that a vacuum is new by calling the manufacturer's customer-service department and checking the serial number.

• Use the manufacturer's suggested price listed in our ratings as a reference. To get the best deal, buy on a Friday or at the end of the month—sales reps have goals to meet and might be more flexible on pricing at those times.

• Carefully calculate the interest rate on any payment plan. Some rates are exorbitant.

• Ask about the cancellation policy. For example, Kirby gives customers age 67 and older 1 year to return the vacuum. Younger customers have only three business days.

• Don't let your parents be duped. The elderly are often targets of unscrupulous sales reps, but are embarrassed to admit it. So alert them to potential scams.—Kimberly Janeway

Essential information: Read our latest report on vacuums to find standout models. Ratings of canisters, uprights, and small vacuums are available to subscribers.

Comments

[Laura]

Who in their right mind would buy a $1700 vacuum? You might as well put the money towards a new carpet. This entire operation sounds like a scam to me, regardless of how the company fares with the BBB. Conscientious buyers, in my opinion, should be wary of any company that needs to come into your home to do a "demonstration" in order to make a sale. This leaves the door too wide open for sneaky tactics on vulnerable, overly trusting buyers.

I am appalled that CR would leave out in this article that other vacuums of comparable quality (as evidenced in the Ratings) are hundreds of dollars cheaper.

[bakinrin]

This is quite timely. One Kirby sales fellow came to my house yesterday. Quite aggressive and as much as I told him I was not interested, he still brought the stuff to my house for a demonstration. I told him we newly moved and the place does not need the cleaning he offered. However, he kept insisting and even went on cleaning the staircase and telling me it was not my fault the place was not well cleaned before we moved in. I told him that was none of his business and eventually I had to throw him and his companion out. It was too much aggravation for whatever he was going to sell and I was NOT interested. Trying to be polite did not help matters. He was just too aggressive and I did not appreciate that.

[Jan Itor]

There's an old saying that holds true: you get what you pay for.

I will confess now that a couple of years ago I was a Kirby salesman. I quickly worked my way up the ranks and became a sales manager, responsible for hiring, training, and developing Kirby salesmen. Yes, I was the manager they called to help close the sale. And no, I did not encourage anyone to use any deceptive practices to get "in the door" or any hassles to close the sale.

That said, I'll admit that I was skeptical of the Kirby as well. But when I went through sales training, I quickly became a believer. We had new models from nearly every manufacturer that we did hands-on comparison tests with. The Kirby blew them all out of the water. No tricks, no gimmicks.

So let's talk about that price/value of the Kirby.

The average life span of a $300 Hoover is 1-3 years.
The average life span of a MSRP $1700 Kirby is 30 years.

Over the course of 30 years, you'll have bought at least 10 Hoovers at a total cost of $3,000, and 1 Kirby for $1700 or considerably less, depending on your negotiating skills. (On that note: Never pay more than $1200 for a new Kirby. Ever. Good negotiators should be able to get $1000, perhaps as low as $800-$900 if you can put it on a credit card or pay cash.)

The reason Kirby sales people do an in-home demonstrations is because it's the only way you can see how the vacuum will work in YOUR home and compare it to what you're using now.

Another cost/value consideration is that a lot of those cheaper vacuums can actually do damage to your carpet. These value vacuums don't have the suction power of a higher end unit like a Dyson or a Kirby, and so they have a feature called a "beater bar" that literally beats the dirt they can't suck up deeper into your carpet. Not only does the dirt damage your carpet, but the beater bar also does significant damage.

And then there's the Kirby's carpet shampoo system, which is worth hundreds by itself.

If anything ever happens to your Kirby 10, 20, 30, 40 years down the road, you don't need to pay $1700 for a whole new Kirby. You can send it to the Kirby Company, and for $175 they'll do a complete rebuild of it. Not just a refurbishment... but they'll build you a completely brand new Kirby. Important note: this service is only available on purchases from Kirby reps on in-home demonstrations and it isn't transferable, so you won't get it if your grandmother hands her Kirby down to you or if you buy it used or from a third party.

Like I said before, I'm a firm believer in the Kirby product. It WILL pay for itself AND save you money over time.

Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself. Schedule an in-home demo and see what the Kirby can do for you. If you don't like it or you don't see the value, tell the sales rep and don't buy it.

If you have any questions let me know. It's been a few years since I've worked with the Kirby company, but I'll answer any questions to the best of my ability.

Hope this helps. :)

[David]

My Hoover has lasted 10 years, and only recently the on/off switch got stuck. It worked great for those 10 years (who knows, maybe I'm a lucky one). Anyhow, to say that Hoovers only last 3 years and Kirbys last 30 years is misleading. That's what they call "fuzzy math".

I have never seen a vacuum that is worth $1700. That is insane. Perhaps the $900 quote would be more reasonable. Maybe.

The one time I saw a Kirby demo at a friend's house, the salespeople didn't even bring the free gift that they had promised. In addition, when they realized that my friend would not be buying the vacuum at that time, they tried to sell him a ridiculously priced air purifier unit. Just my one experience.

[LBC]

I've had an Electrolux for 18 years that I splurged and paid $300 for and just bought a new acessory hose for it on ebay. I just had an in home demo from Filter Queen vacuum. They wanted $2400 down from $3300!!!! They tried the have me talk to the manager on the phone stunt. I said I would pay $560 tops which is what they wanted for a down payment and $196 a month. The manager kept talkinf I had to hang up on the mnager. So $900-$1800 for a Kirby is a steal (LOL real Loud)

[Tried the Kirby]

I am an engineer by profession and had heard a lot about the Kirby both good and bad but wanted to make an objective decision so I scheduled a Kirby demo. My conclusion is that while the Kirby is well built, it suffers from a number of drawbacks that make it an impractical choice for me.

While it's possible that the Kirby would cost less in the long run, Jan Itor the Kirby Sales Manager above made it sound as though I'm going to have to buy a $300 vacuum cleaner every 3 years. In my experience, this just isn't the case. I paid about $400 for a Kenmore canister vacuum cleaner about 10 years ago and was looking to replace it in the near future. While it hasn't been trouble free, all but one of the repairs were due to cracked or broken external parts. I found that these parts can easily be ordered and replaced by the owner. The only major repair was done under warranty. How long is the Kirby warranty? Certainly not 30 years or even 10 years, so I'm still going to be stuck with repair bills. How much does it cost to repair a Kirby? I don't know, but if it's well built using high quality parts, it's not going to be cheap either.

Any powerful vacuum cleaner is going to be heavy and my Kenmore is no exception. However, I found the Kirby significantly heavier than my Kenmore. This is likely due to extensive use of metal parts which while durable, make for a very heavy vacuum cleaner. That wasn't exactly encouraging. I dislike vacuuming and having to lug an even heavier piece of equipment around certainly wasn't going to make it more enjoyable.

During the Kirby demo, the salesman vacuumed my carpet using my Kenmore followed by the Kirby. He placed a circular filter where the bag would attach to the house so that I could easily see what dirt would be picked up. The point was to show me what the Kirby picked up that my Kenmore didn't pick up. While that was an impressive demonstration at first, it later fell flat because the sales manager came over afterward and gave me the same demo on the same carpet. Problem was that the carpet had already been cleaned by the first salesman using the Kirby. To me it shouldn't have picked up anything significant. But the Kirby picked up as much dirt as the first demo. So all that little demo told me was that second and third cleanings will pick up stuff that a first cleaning didn't. If I could do the same demonstration in reverse (i.e. Kirby first, Kenmore second), I'd bet it would pick stuff up that the Kirby failed to pick up. The demo simply didn't prove anything. It's possible that the Kirby does a better job, but unless he ran the test in reverse on a similarly soiled carpet, it's hardly a conclusive test.

The Kirby does appear to be designed to pull dirt out of carpets. It's not so much that the motor is powerful. My Kenmore actually creates more suction at the hose which even the salesman admitted it after trying it out. But the Kirby is designed so that there is a good seal between the carpet and the vacuum cleaner. Because of that design, it is possible that the Kirby does a better job than my Kenmore although I haven't yet seen any evidence of it. It is certainly a more efficient design, which as an engineer, I certainly appreciated. The less powerful motor also means that it does not have the same cleaning power as my Kenmore for hard floors, or other cleaning situations. In most cases, this isn't an issue because hard floors, drapes/blinds, and dusting don't require a lot of power.

Like most canister vacuums, my Kenmore canister has a lot of features that make it convenient to use. I like the retractable cord; it makes it easy to put away the vacuum cleaner which means I'm more likely to pull it out to use in the first place. Secondly, all the attachments fit inside the canister so they're all quickly available wherever I go. With the Kirby, they have to be stored separately and when I move from room to room, I have to figure out how to lug these attachments along with me.

As I see it, there are 2 ways to vacuum the house. One is to go from room to room switching between vacuuming floors, drapes/blinds, and dusting furniture. The other approach is to do all the dusting first, followed by all the drapes/blinds, and then finally all the floors.

I have a 2 level 2700 sq ft house. I find it a lot easier to move a heavy vacuum cleaner to a room and clean the floors, drapes/blinds, and dust the furniture while the vacuum cleaner is in the room, rather than doing one type of cleaning at a time. To do that, I need a vacuum cleaner that can switch between these 3 functions easily. My Kenmore canister does that. The Kirby, on the other hand, isn't designed to let you rapidly switch between cleaning hardwood floors, carpet, drapes/blinds, and dusting furniture. To me, the Kirby has the worst of both worlds. You can't easily go from room to room and you can't easily switch between attachments. At least not as easily as my Kenmore. For me this is a deal killer. The price I could live with. But I also want convenience and the Kirby fails to deliver.

[family trucker guy]

We just had one of their sales guys leave about an hour ago. A young man came to the door and anounced himself under some name, not mentioning Kirbys, offered to shampoo 1 room for free and said all they ask is to 'tell your friends' about us. I asked my wife and she jumped on it (she'd been wanting to clean the carpets), we both had thought they were a local carpet cleaner and figured if they did alright and the price was reasonable we'll pay to do the whole house. Wrong...turns into a Kirby sale. Even better yet, with the promise to not try and sell anything, that he only gets paid by 'appointments' and not commision....giving the impression we could pick one up later if we wanted. Wrong again. By the end of the whole deal he proved he could get some dirt on a filter (I personally like the engineers impression- lets reverse the test), the new matress was already nasty, and the stains on the carpet weren't coming up - not even with that Kirby.
The overall price?- $3,000....not a chance. Then when the kid calls his boss to come get him the guy tries to do a sell thru the kid over the phone. He hacked the price in half....I said 'nope,' then asked what I would pay, ....said I'd have to research it and asked for a card. The boss said they sell by word of mouth and didn't have cards, so I told him then 'no.' Then he told the kid to ask me if I saw the matress test and asked if I liked dirt...told him I'm a trucker and constuction worker by trade....so yeah.
Turns out the poor kid was on his first sell, getting ready for trade school, and had been told that they weren't gonna have to try to make sells, and a bunch of other junk....on his first day....and 'Tada!' ....boss is doing sells thru him.
Wife liked the vacume, but not enuff for what they asked. We'll keep our Dyson. Feel bad for the kids these guys sucker into the world of sells.

[Rainbow Lover]

Rainbow is the best cleaning system, no bags ,no nasty smell, constant airflow (filters always clog up and loose airflow, you have to wash or change them) every attachement is designed not to lose airflow. Thats just the vacuuming part of it. In addition you can clean the air (Rainbow is certified air cleaner) aromatize, sanitize and desinfect it. 12 years manufacture warranty is not bad at all. I would better pay 2500$ and leave in healthy clean house than 3000$ for a freaking plazma Tv.

[Lisa]

I don't have a problem getting rid of DTD salespeople. It's called a dog, a BIG German Shepherd dog, that barks at the first sound of the doorbell. I let her bark until I learn who is at the door; and if it's a salesperson, I let her keep barking - the few salespeople who do persist are told in no uncertain terms that if they attempt to enter I will not restrain my dog. Hey, there is no law that says I have to tell them my dog is quite friendly, if she sounds menacing and keeps them at bay that's good enough for me!! LOL

[Sean Harris]

Just thought I'd shed some light for some people.

This comment goes to Jan Itor first of all you say you were a sales person for Kirby and moved up , how long ago was this? For you to say never pay more then a certain amount. The MSRP of the thing is near 1700...

Secondly, if you all do some minute research you will come across the fact that Kirby actually isn't too expensive for what it does. Here's a link to a site that lists some vacuums that are quite pricey.

http://www.shopping.com/xPP-Vacuums--price_range_350_186990-price_range_1100_186990~S-6~OR-1#stt

I also disagree with some of the things that I've read about Kirby as well. But have any of you ever thought of this? The company is over 90 years old, in 2007 produced $400 Million in sales, Let's say average selling price of Kirby is $2,000.

That is 200,000 units. Out of 200,000 units how many complaints do you see? I've done my research on Kirby and from the reporting sites that have around 50 complaints or so, 80% of the post that are on there are over 3 years old.

I've READ certain things about Kirby I don't like but, also thought they've sold MINIMUM 200,000 units in 2007. That means there are A LOT more satisfied customers then there are disgruntled ones.

I've done sales in the past and EVERYONE knows this fact that I am about to state. 10 Angry people can tell more people about their unhappy experience then 100 can about their happy one.

You all should know as a consumer, when was the last time you bought a car and you were satisfied with the sales person that you went out of your way to thank him for the pleasant experience. On the flip side how many of your friends did you tell about that sly and good for nothing sales person and even went as far as to say don't go to that DEALERSHIP, not just that person alone but that DEALERSHIP.

People should reflect on that. Also my friends sell Kirby's they've told me themselves what it costs for them. Anything below 1900 is basically equal to ZERO in commission for them. I'm sure I don't speak for all the states but as for my friends they are in SO CAL.

They are trying to make a living that is all they are doing truthfully.

Also I just called my friend while typing this and asked about the warranty. Someone mentioned that they question their warranty policy etc etc.

It's LIFE TIME MINUS consumables. Consumables are DUH things that wear down over time due to use. You don't expect the dealership to change your brake pads every 50,000 miles just because it wore out right? Same thing here.

Just thought I'd get this out there since it seems good people like my friends are having to go through such a stereotype on the internet.

[Bill Ferrary]

Comment by Jan Itor, i.e. janitor, get it. He's a con man too probably still with Kirby. And $1700 to pick up dirt, get real. I've had the same Kenmore canister for probably 15 years. I've replace a couple of belts and a couple of accessories. If need be I could rebuild this thing, no trouble at all. It's like the Everready Bunny battery, it runs and runs and runs; picks up dirt too.

[Team Leader]

hey there guys i was looking at the comments here and have mixed emmotions about them i am employed at a kirby company here in the great plains division. The kirby has an aluminum diecast housing which is lighter than its previous housing, its got the LED lights up front, two fans one for cooling the motor one for suction, it has rubber coated wheels front and back for all hardwood and or tile, laminate etc. it takes 2.1 pounds of pressure to push. Everytime i did a demo for a couple that had kids 18 months or older. The kid could push the machine easily. it has a 2 horsepower engine when running produces 12,800 rpms and 4,000 rpms at the fan the tech drive is really nice and also the different adjustments at the bottom of the handle the bags are grade 11 hepa filters which are hospital grade, and the kirby has the optional straight suction or deep clean. also has the 7 level touch toe adjustment. Not to mention all the attatchments and shampooer. The kirby does not come with a life time warranty it is a "life time rebuild agreement" which means if anything were to go wrong with the kirby god forbid, the kirby company will come to your home, if they cant fix it there they will leave you with the most up to date kirby so your never without one and ship your broke kirby to cleveland ohio for repairs all this for only $175. Also the MSRP for our office is 1385 i do beleive ours are listed at about 2300.

Now i am a manager, closer, and occasionally dps, i know for a fact the kirby performes better than any other vacuum out there. Every kirby ive sold or closed has been because i dont sell the kirby it literally sells itself, the customers can be a disgruntled about kirby all they want but it is the best and o yea the kirby is 23 lbs lighter than most other vacs so you cant complain about the weight.

Suggestions:
i suggest to anyone out there who is reading this and thinking im an idiot to have a demo, now i know it sounds crazy but if the dealer "guy cleaning your home" knows everything about the machine and does a full demo u will either buy the kirby or at least consider it . my boss always tells me "either the dirt can go and the kirby can stay or the kirby can go and the dirt stays. jan ltor is wrong as far as the selling price goes every kirby out there is worth more than the distibutor sets his price at. If you want a clean home get a sentria home care system or any kirby at that.

The guy who had the brand new kirby kid over:
Ill tell ya what in my few months as a manager i have learned not everyone out there is aspiring to be a kirby salesman so we have to trick them into selling kirbys and making money.

in my five months here at the kirby company ive made close to $20,000 so if you think a clean home isnt worth buyin a kirby then so be it but alot of other people out there think otherwise, thanks trucker guy

o yea ps. we have about 13 dysons in our office and there not being used if you get my drift(there in the trade-in room)

[jp]

We just had a kirby demo the kid said we will clean your rugs and wash them well he thought i would make choice without my husband but i said no so thats when the demo stopped he said imnot into cleaning rugs for free i need to make some money. we might of consider it if he finish what he said he would do but because i wasnt going to rush and buy it within the first 15 min he just gave up. i mean really who is willing to buy somethign with out thinking it over i wouldnt buy something so expensive without thinking he basically cancelled me out because i said i need to talk with my husband so he didnt finish and left a bad taste in my mouth i know as being a sales associate that if you want customers you cant be so pushy. we might of considered it if the guy didnt give up so easy his boss knocked he came in said hi i kinda ignored him wasnt ready to listen to the bs but i guess they thought they needed to move on he said he will come back when my husband is home and we are both willing to make a choice . my husband said if they come back tomm he will tell them to never step foot on our doorstep he even had the nerve to question my husband trust in me asking how long we were married why i couldnt make a choice with out him if my husband came home to a wow wonderful rug we might of consider it but the man didnt even follow through he had to work so when i called and said he wouldnt finish because you left and your the moneymaker he'd comeback i guess he didnt think he needed to talk to me or finish wrong i can make choices its just i wasnt after 15 min and the fact he didnt finish what he promised to do was a no no

[epigrrrl]

I too had a Kirby newbie come to my home after his manager slyly led me to believe that they were a carpet cleaning business and that all they asked was that I spread the word. They were very pushy (the managers and upper-level salesmen), which left me in a foul mood to begin with! To be completely honest, I wish I had ignored the doorbell, but hindsight is 20/20.

So, I allowed them to do the demonstration...and let me tell you I have very dirty carpets! I rarely vacuum, cleaning is just not my thing. But I was SERIOUSLY impressed with the Sentria system. It picked up dog paw-prints of car oil, that had been there for over 5 years! Seeing more and more of the prices that others have said they've paid, I wish I had held out better, but I ended up buying one for $1800. For other reasons, not related to Kirby, I have not yet used the vacuum myself and again I do wish I had never answered the door, but given all the information I have now I am pretty happy that I decided to make the investment. I am currently financing the Kirby (partly to build better credit), and my interest rate was very reasonable.

Overall, I am pretty happy I bought the system, but I sure wish I had held out longer for a better deal!

DEFINITELY RESEARCH THIS PRODUCT BEFORE BUYING!!! If they won't let you have some time, then you know it's some kind of scam. But I think the Kirby speaks for itself.

[Elliott]

I'm not sure if $1700 is too much. My dad has a Kirby that he used for more than 20 years at a store that sold shoes / apparel (much larger carpet, and more frequent use than a home). He has been using it for another 20 years since then at his home. It was used when he originally bought it, and all he has had to have done with it is replace belts - nothing else. I have been married about 9 years now and we are getting ready to replace our (highly recommended by consumer reports) Kenmore and move on to our 4th vacuum (first was a Eureka or something, then Hoover, then looked at Consumer Reports and bought a Kenmore - now I'm noticing that my dad was right about what I thought was an ugly old vacuum). I'm sure after another two or three vacuums that Kirby will come to our house, and I will still be using it as well. Some cheap vacuums will last for 10 years if you have a 1000 square foot home with a bit of carpet here and there, but I can't imagine anything lasting longer than my Dad's Kirby.

[Brian]

I guess I was lucky with my Demo. My brother started working with a rep about a month ago and I was his first/initial Demo. So there was no pressure, he explained to me what he forgot to explain and all was good. I didn't have to talk to the manager either and he drove to my house, so he didn't have to wait to be picked up.

The demo he did for me was impressive. Especially since I go through a cheap Vacuum every year (but typically keep it around for another year or two due to anger that it died so early!). When I say cheap, these are the 1-3 year Hoover's and Eureka's and Kenmoore's that cost between 250-400. These cheapo's just don't last in our 2500 square foot home.

So, yes, at $800-900, this is a very interesting vacuum for me. Although, my brother no longer works there (I think he lasted about a week because of the tactics mentioned in all the stories above!), he said his price was about 1350 - SF Bay Area. I didn't purchase one, but if I could get one at 800 with a lifetime warranty, it's a no brainer for me!

[Kevin Miles]

Well as a former Kirby G5 owner I have something to say about the Sentria. About two years ago I bought the Kenmore Progressive vacuum at Sears under the recommendation of Consumer Reports and LOVE it. But since I had owned a Kirby I did my own two tests to prove which was the best vacuum. First I slowly and thoroughly vacuumed my entire house with the Kirby G5 (with a brand new bag and belt) then I rolled out my new Kenmore Progressive and vacuumed the same carpets all over my house. Let me tell you the Kenmore got almost a HALF bag full of dirt and crud out of my carpets that the Kirby G5 left behind. Also the Kenmore was SO much easier to use, very quiet and my favorite part NO Belts. The Kenmore is a Direct Drive Beltless System which leaves my carpets beautifully groomed. (If you do buy the Kirby be prepared to buy lots of belts and change them OFTEN) So anyhow, wanting to make sure I covered all the bases I called for a Kirby Sentria Demo in my home to see if it was better than my old G5. I rolled out my new Kenmore Progressive when the Kirby guy arrived and we did the test vacuuming. I ran my Kenmore all over the living room, then he put the test pad on the Kirby where the bag is supposed to go and vacuumed, and vacuumed and vacuumed... and Nothing. Even the salesman was shocked that there was hardly anything but a tiny bit of carpet fuzz on the cloth disc in his tester and NO dirt. So I thanked him and even the salesman agreed that he couldn't tell me to buy the Kirby after he saw it didn't pick up anything after my Kenmore. (he wasn't happy, but was nice and honest enough to agree) So it just proves that sometimes spending More money does NOT mean it's better. I am so happy with my Kenmore I bought one for my parents and they love it. Another Note: I even did the famous "Dyson Test" where I vacuumed with my Kenmore, then borrowed a friends brand new Dyson and vacuumed the same area and the Dyson dirt cup had only a tiny bit of lint/fuzz from the carpet and NONE of that infamous powdery dirt they always find on the Demos on the TV shopping channels. Besides who wants to take a dirt cup and dump it out making a huge dust cloud everywhere? So with my Kenmore being quieter, easier to use, onboard attachments, No belts and the Kenmore even indicates when I should change the bag! None of those things on the Kirby, just food for thought. Oh, and as for the plastic versus metal, my Kenmore is built very well and the hard cover containing the HEPA bag is so well sealed the vacuum never gets dusty on the outside and inside the Kenmore where the bag goes is as clean and shiny as it was New, my Kirby used to get dirty inside the cloth bag that covered the disposable bag and I'd have to clean it out every month or so. I will take the convenience and ease of use and maintenance of my Kenmore ANY day!

Thanks, Kevin Miles from Ohio

[Matt]

First we all need to relize that there are bad eggs in all professions. Most of the door to door sales reps we encounter are just trying to make a living. WHATS WRONG WITH THAT this is America and our country was built by entrepenuers. You may not like having a salesman in your home or on the phone but salespeople move product & services and keep others (maybe you) working in manufacturing, wharehousing, distribution etc.

Remember if you don't like the price, product, company or sales rep just say NO

[Vladimir Kutz]

Hi Kevin:

Exactly which model Kenmore do you have?

--
Kutz

[Melissa]

Kirbies are awesome, get one on ebay or craigslist for $500 brand new w/shampooer! Forget the salesman!

[Jim J]

Two days ago I spent an hour trying to get rid of a Kirby salesman - and this was only from my driveway. He had no interest in talking to me - he asked if I was the "king", and wanted to talk to the "queen" of the house. This guy was driving a rusty, beat up mini van (cracked front window, rear window covered in plastic with tape) containing three young children. One child jumped out and handed me the "free" bottle of detergent (which the salesman later took back after he realized I was not buying anything), while a second child rushed out with a brand new "boxed" Kirby....an empty cardboard box, I'm sure, as the child was no more than five years old. I informed the salesman there was no carpeting in my house (which is true), and he asked if I had hardwood floors, which I am in the process of installing. I said no, and that the entire house had plywood flooring at the time. He then said that Kirby specializes in cleaning plywood....I about LMAO. I told him no, and that I wasn't interested. He kept pushing, and we went back and forth for about ten minutes. At that point, I was really annoyed, and gently propped up the shotgun (which is stored around the corner in my garage) in plain view next to the garage door opening. Within two seconds, all the doors on the van closed and he was backing out of my driveway. I can't believe that's what it took to get him to leave. Door to door salespeople should be INVITED out for a sales pitch...not just show up. Seriously, who goes door to door selling used cars??

[kristi]

Why has no one really touched on the filter queen. It is a pretty pricey unit to say the least but its cleaning power truly impressed me and it too has a lifetime warranty, I used to own one but let someone borrow it and never gave it back. It was 20 yrs old when I bought it and still ran really well, my mom and brother also own a newer model and they rant and rave about it. If you really want to know which vac is the best and best buy go to a used vac shop hopefully one that does not sell a part. brand they are more unbiased and they really know which one comes in for more repairs and which are junk or overpriced. Hoover I have never had any luck with one actually lasted a whole 6 months lol. I have owned a couple of dirt devils too but not real impressed with them either. This site while a bit helpful hasn't even tested several brands that should be tested it seems they only test the ones you find at walmart.