ComplaintsforThe Kirby Company World Headquarters

• Initial Complaint

  10/23/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  At 6 p.m. October 19th, I discovered 2 strangers standing on my front porch. I went outside and amidst a lot of giggling, was handed a GAIN dish detergent bottle and asked what was the dirtiest room in my house. They BEGGED to show me their product. I, a bleeding heart empty nester, reluctantly agreed after it was obvious THEY WOULD NOT LEAVE MY PROPERTY. Three hours later, I felt guilted into having my Credit Run, after I explained I am NOT credit worthy and that my Spouse has ZERO INCOME. I was somewhat impressed with the cleaning capabilities of this product however after 2 business days, I have decided to not go into this substantial debt for a mere vaccuum. I was coerced into paying $102 deposit despite the fact their laminated agreement for payments did not show ANY required downpayment. I was not given ANY copies of my alleged contract and I will be sending a Letter to KIRBY postmarked TODAY to ensure my Rights under the Ohio Revised consumer Code are protected. This company attempts to make it virtually impossible to rescind by not providing anything on paper (or even e-mail)! I have no clue "who" ******* the Sales Shiester is but I recollect seeing a West Broad Street Distribution address and am doing my due diligence to protect myself. THE FINANCE COMPANY has not APPROVED my file YET. My complaint centers upon NO WRITTEN DOCUMENTATION as well as no address for The Company who attempted to sell this for over 3 hours. After dark. I just wanted them GONE. I will not be coerced by Kirby into fulfilling ANY contract based upon all of these Facts.

  

  Business response

  10/31/2023

  RECEIVED VIA EMAIL BY BBB STAFF MEMBER:

  *****,
  
  Thank you for getting back to me and confirming you received the credit for your down payment.. I heard back from ********* ****** and they did not finance your deal so it does not need to be cancelled.
  
  If, on the off chance, any finance company ever contacts you about payment for the Kirby, please contact me immediately about that company name.
  
  I appreciate the opportunity to mediate this for you. Travel safely!
  
  Respectfully,
  
  ***** *********
  Manager, Consumer Relations
  

• Initial Complaint

  03/20/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On 3/15/23 I was at home and around 7 pm some lady got out of a huge brown pannel van, walked up my walkway and waved at me through the window as if they knew me. So I put my dogs outside to answer the door the lady at the door gave me a bottle of gain fabric softener and I asked he what it was for and she told me she worked for a company that I had never heard of ( I cannot remember the name of the company but I know that it was NOT kirby). This woman asked if she could asked me if she could ask Me a few questions and I said yes thinking she was going to ask me through the door this was when she just walked into my house then as she is walking in a young man walks out from behind the van towards my door and proceeds to walk into my home. At this point I was very scared as I was home alone with my 8 month baby and 2 strangers just invited themselves into my home and then tried to make me feel bad by telling me that my neighbors have all been rude. They proceeded to ask me if I was married and my husband was home. He was in class and would not be home until 9 30 but being terrified I told them he was on his way home and I then had to text him to come home so he had to class to come 9home. Meanwhile, the guy with the box named Ryan then opened the box and started to assemble a vacuum it was at that point that I realized they were kirby salesmen but then the lady who pushed her way into my home just left and I politely told ryan that I was not interested in the vacuum multiple times and he would not leave. My baby was sick and coughing and had goop coming from his eyes and I kept trying to tell him I couldn't afford it. He told me that if I couldn't afford it I could sell my dogs. My husband finally got there and he told him the same thing I said and we continued to tell him no and after 2.5 finally lost my patience and yelled at him to leave my house he then pouted and acted like the victim. This man did not leave until 9:30 pm

  

  Business response

  03/23/2023

  RECEIVED VIA EMAIL BY BBB STAFF MEMBER:

  Hi ******,
  
  

  I hope this email finds you well.
  
   I wanted to update you on this case.  If you need something more official or something else, don’t hesitate to let me know.
  
   I have attempted to reach out to Ms. ****** by phone, however her mailbox is full, so I could not leave a message.  I’ve emailed her twice asking her to call me if she wants to discuss the situation.  At this point, I have not heard back from her.
  

  Because her desired result it to not be contacted again, I have added her to our Do Not Visit/Do Not Call list and emailed every active Kirby distributorship within 210 miles of her Zip Code asking them to keep off of her property.  It is always our hope that when we take this step, it solves the problem.
  
  Again, please let me know if I can do anything further.
  
   
  
  Respectfully,
  
   
  ***** *********
  
  Manager, Consumer Relations

• Initial Complaint

  02/21/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Predatory sales. February 20, 2023, at 2pm-5pm, a group of door-to-door salespeople were knocking on doors in my neighborhood, claiming to be giving out free samples. **** knocked on my door handed me a packet of ***** Unstoppables, so I thought he was going to talk about my water quality. When I agreed to chat he ran away and grabbed a giant box out of the back of an unmarked SUV. Another person (***-a trainee) jumped out of the car and they barged into my house, where only then they said they were with Kirby Vacuum. They began taking an inventory of my things (electronics, art), and asking me about my car and my husband's car. I immediately told them I had no interest in their machine, and would not be purchasing, but he began unpacking and starting the demo anyway. In the middle of the demo a woman (only identified herself as their boss) also knocked and let herself in when I opened the door, but she left quickly. When I realized two hours had passed, I told them they needed to wrap it up and leave because I had work. **** ignored this and multiple subsequent requests, which I made over the course of the next hour. During the demo, **** used multiple filters, which he immediately threw on the floor, leaving giant clumps of dust I had to clean up after they left. They vacuumed our bed, and similarly left dust bunnies splayed on the sheets after. He finally finished, but took another half an hour trying to sell me the vacuum, at one point taking dust into foil and burning it, insisting I smell it, which I refused. I refused to purchase. I was then guilted, **** saying he won't be paid. So he asked me to give him something, requesting a "board game, something to drink, or a gun" as form of consolation payment. A GUN. I gave him a soda, so he would shut up. They were here three hours, a full hour I spent telling them to pack up and go. This was extremely violating, and if I ever see another Kirby rep again I will be calling the police immediately.

  

  Business response

  02/22/2023

  RECEIVED VIA PHONE BY BBB STAFF MEMBER:

  The business has stated that the consumer has been removed from their solicitation list. They should not be contacted by anyone associated with the company in the future. 

  Customer response

  02/23/2023

  [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,
  
  ****** *****
  
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  02/20/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Despite clearly marked 'no soliciting' signs posted at the entrance to our development, a sales representative has been trespassing on private property and disrupting our residents making unsolicited sales calls.

  

  Business response

  02/22/2023

  RECEIVED VIA PHONE BY BBB STAFF MEMBER:

  The business has stated that they have removed this consumer from the solicitation list. The contacted the consumer by phone to inform him of this as well. 

  Customer response

  02/22/2023

  [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,
  
  Andrew Blanchard
  
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  11/11/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  May 22 and June 5th of 2021 I paid $2.4K for 2 ***** ****** 2s. $4800 total. ******* **** claimed he worked as an independent distributor for ****** I didnt receive the vacuums the day I bought them bc he traveled to OK from NE. During this 6 months I saw him bring multiple vacuums to OK claiming he brought them to ****** OK to a distributor underneath him named Ben to sell. I opened a ****** dispute on the vacuums after he started asking for extra money. Claiming he couldn't come back to bring me the other vacuum bc he spent so much time on me he hadnt focused on sales. And then again for more and more money because he couldn't come back and show me how to actually use them because he didn't originally. PP immediately withdrew the funds from his PayPal acct and he started calling me at work. He used another number from an app to call me and multiple social medias to contact me to make me cancel my dispute. I canceled them bc had sent a msg saying he was on his way here. It got worse, I decided to contact his friend ***** ******** and found out ******* had been scamming me, that he didn't work for Kirby, and they actually thought I was a client of his from another side bus that he does, which is even more grotesque. I contacted Kirby and after multiple calls found out ******* doesn't work for ****** My two vacuums serial numbers trace to Midwest Distributing where he used to work. ***** from Midwest told **** ********* that ******* hadn't worked for him since Mar 2021. I called ***** he told me he hadnt seen him in almost 2 yrs. I told him **** explained to me that the vacuums he sold were distributed to MidW to sell, someone was giving them to ******* to sell and its fraud. His buyers are not backed by the warranty. ***** offered me warranties but continued on how he didnt have involvement, he would email me about the warranties and I sent the receipts for the purchases. All while ******* is claiming he is waiting on ***** to provide receipts to prove his story.

  

  Business response

  11/22/2021

  Scheduled reply to Complaint #********

  Customer response

  12/11/2021

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********* and find that the potential resolution to be satisfactory however I do want to clarify two things. I did not ask the representative at Midwest Distributing for any additional products. She offered them and said it was for “all my trouble”, in her words. Also, how ******* obtained these vacuums is supposedly still unknown. Midwest still claims they did not give the vacuums to ******** They offer a possible name of someone within their company that possibly gave ******* the vacuums, the same name given to me from the Kirby rep mentioned in the above response from **** and she also informed me he doesn’t show active with Kirby Company since 03/2021.. before I bought the vacuums. My resolution was to know the actuality of how ******* got these vacuums to be able to scam me, warranties for both vacuums, and action to be taken to prevent ******* from doing this to anyone in the future. 
  
  ****** ******
  
  
  

*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. ↩