Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/09/2025

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  The complaint is related to your local owner of Kirby products. My cell number was forwarded to a local owner by a family member and Ms. Alicia, a Kirby coordinator called confirming a demonstration of your Kirby Avalir Platinum Vacuum Cleaner, on December 19, 2024. After the demonstration, we wanted to purchase. My husband, who is an expert car salesman, made every effort to negotiate what we felt was a fair price with the Kirby owner by phone. After going back and forth with the local owner for approximately 15 minutes, the negotiations went no where. The owner was entitled to decline our offer of purchase, however, that did not mean another family member, namely my Mother, would not negotiate to pay the owner's asking price. At the demonstration, my husband gave the presenter at least five referrals. Approximately two weeks later, January 8, 2025, my Mother was scheduled to have a demonstration. Ms. Alicia sent a text the night before confirming an appointment date and time of January 8, 2025 at 4:00 pm. I responded stating that we were waiting. At 4:00 pm no one showed, and Ms. Alicia did not call or text. I waited until 4:15 to send a text to ask if the presenter was coming because my Mother needed to rest, and Ms. Alicia provided an unprofessional reply for a business that confirmed a demonstration the night before. The jest of her reply was, "We are not a cleaning service." I made no reply or suggestion by phone or text that anyone in her office or organization were cleaners. The furniture was moved, me and my Mother were waiting, and I had another person who left work early to see the demonstration. Ms. Alicia was aware that I saw the demonstration prior, but she scheduled an appointment with my Mother anyway. Kirby sets the parameters surrounding their free cleanings for carpet sales. You do not stand up potential customers because you assume they will not buy because they saw a prior demonstration. I attached our full text conversation. Please review.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/24/2025

  Thank you for allowing The Kirby Company (the “Company,” “we,” or “our”) the opportunity to
  respond to the concerns brought to your office by ****** ****** (“*** ******”). As you may
  already know, the Company manufactures home cleaning systems and markets them to
  independently owned and operated businesses or “distributorships.” These distributorships,
  
  through salespeople, then demonstrate and sell the systems directly to consumer end-users via in-
  home demonstrations. As such, the Company is not a party to the demonstrations or sales
  
  contracts between the consumer end-users and the distributorships. We do, however, act as a
  mediator between consumers and distributorships to help resolve matters amicably.
  Upon receiving your message, the Company spoke with *** ****** and was able to identify the
  distributorship involved in the demonstration (***** **** ** ****** **** ********** ** ******* *** ******’s desired resolution was to try and prevent a similar situation from
  reoccurring. As such, during the Company’s subsequent conversations with the owner of ****,
  we were assured that the appointment setter had been counseled on her behavior and interactions
  with *** ******. When the Company relayed this information to *** ******, she stated she was
  satisfied with the outcome of this matter.
  If you have any questions, please contact me at *************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/03/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  The rebuilt program is gone to crap. I finally received my vacuum back after two months and it didn’t work. I’m 77 years old and couldn’t put the dog on thing together visited the local vacuum shops three different times they told me the part was wrong and that I needed to contact Kirby the last place I went was ********, vacuum company and the gentleman there was strong enough to get the bag connected to the Machine today I go to use my vacuum cleaner hose and the vacuum won’t start once again The parts that they gave are very, very cheap. I’ve used a rebuild program before and never had these issues. I’m demanding a full refund for inconvenience for all the problems and issues $341.85 on 10/11/2024 after real, I can get around three different times. I finally got to use it yesterday for the first time then convenience has been just awful carrying it up and downstairs and carrying it into businesses. I’m too old for this nonsense. The company is very unresponsive and Care uncaring specially the **** that says he’s a manager. His employee called me while I was at work and asked me if I Could look at my vacuum yes I always take my vacuum to work with me

  Customer Answer

  Date: 12/11/2024

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
  
  Regards,
  
  **** ****
  
  
  

  

  Business Response

  Date: 12/11/2024

  RE: ********* ** ********
  Dear Ms. ******:
  Thank you for allowing The Kirby Company (the “Company”) the opportunity to respond to the
  concerns brought to your office by **** **** ***** *****). As a matter of information, the
  Company offers a Factory Rebuild Program, whereby the Company restores customers’ Kirby
  systems to “like new” condition for a nominal fee. *** ****’s concerns relate to the recent
  rebuild of her Kirby system.
  Shortly after receiving her rebuilt Kirby system this past November, *** **** contacted the
  Company to advise she was upset that she had to take her Kirby to a service center to have it
  assembled; to avoid damage, rebuilt Kirbys are not shipped assembled. *** **** was offered
  technical support but declined as she was not with the Kirby at that time. She then said she was
  unable to call during business hours because of her work schedule and expressed dissatisfaction
  with having to take The Kirby somewhere to be assembled. Due to her dissatisfaction, she asked
  to speak to the Rebuild Department’s manager, who was unavailable at that time.
  The manager attempted to call her back on November 20 and November 21, leaving messages
  both times with no return call.
  After receiving the complaint from your office, the manager called *** **** again and learned
  that the Kirby was working properly, with the exception of when *** **** used the attachment
  hose. After receiving pictures of the hose from *** ****, the manager deduced the hose was
  broken and shipped *** **** a brand-new hose on December 5, 2024.
  Once the Company confirms delivery, we will consider this matter closed. Please do not hesitate
  to reach out if you have any questions.
  Respectfully,
  ***** *********
  Manager, Consumer Relations
  ******************** ***** ***********0
  

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/18/2024

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  We had invited one of ******* sales reps to come into our home and show us their vacuum. We are in need of a new one so we were very exited to see how well the Kirby vacuum worked. At the end, me my husband decided that with the price of the vacuum we were not able to make it work at the moment and told the lady that we will not be buying one that day but will be buying one in the future. She then continued to say me and my husband were bad parents for letting our kid play on our floor. She had said she couldn’t believe we don’t care about our kids and their health a dozen times. She was swearing like no other in our home. I don’t care if she would have dropped the vacuum down to $50, I would never have bought a vacuum from her after what she was saying. She doesn’t get to come into my home and tell me I don’t care about my kids because I can’t afford an expensive vacuum at the moment.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/03/2024

  Dear *** *******:

  Thank you for allowing The Kirby Company (the “Company,” “we,” or “our”) the opportunity to
  respond to the concerns brought to your office by ****** ******* (“*** *******”). As you
  may already know, the Company manufactures home cleaning systems and markets them to
  independently owned and operated businesses or “distributorships.” These distributorships,
  through salespeople, then sell the systems directly to consumer end-users via in-home
  demonstrations. As such, the Company is not a party to the sales contracts between the consumer
  end-users and the distributorships. We do, however, act as a mediator between consumers and
  distributorships to help resolve matters amicably.

  Upon receiving your letter, the Company spoke with *** ******* and identified the
  distributorship involved in the demonstration (*** ************ ************* **** *** ******** ***** ***** *** * **** ********** ** *****). *** *******’s desired resolution
  was to try and prevent a similar situation from happening. As such, during our subsequent
  conversation with the owner of RTS, he assured the Company that this matter would be addressed
  with the salesperson by counseling her on appropriate sales techniques. *** ******* was
  satisfied with the outcome of this matter. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to
  contact me at *************

  Respectfully,
  ***** *********
  Manager, Consumer Relations
  The Kirby Company