Kirby

To buy or not to buy....

kirby is basically a scam

if you are gonna buy, get a used one off ebay for a tenth the cost of new.

Read what cockeyed has to say about the kirby scam. Seriously.
http://www.cockeyed.com/citizen/kirby/kirby.html

http://www.cockeyed.com/citizen/kirby/kirby_techniques_2007.shtml

http://www.cockeyed.com/citizen/kirby/kirby_recruiting.shtml

http://www.cockeyed.com/citizen/kirby/kirby_techniques.shtml

I totally agree with glatt. Buy ten brand new Miele vacuums for the same cost.

Why not leave it up to Flint to pick what kind he wants to use.;)

From glatt's link:

Regarding your marriage: If you are married, and haven't yet experienced a Kirby vacuum salesman, it might be a good idea to discuss the absurdity of $1,290 vacuum cleaners right now, before a vacuum salesman arrives. Consider drafting a "love contract to not buy thousand-dollar vacuum cleaners". This pre-planning may help prepare you for that day when the Kirby man comes calling.

What about Dyson? My mom likes hers.

I vaccumes, mopped and swept 3 times last week and was shocked at what the Kirby pulled out... seriously... I'm not a frivilous spender... I'm pretty much a tightwad to be truthful, but I couldn't believe what I saw... it was amazing... the crap it pulled out of the pillows and mattress was insane...

Our neighbor has a dyson, I've seen her floors... not impressed... and it won't shampoo my rug or scrub and polish my tile like the kirby can. The price is crazy, but I'm willing to consider it to have clean verses tidy.

Have any of you owned a Kirby before?

Dyson is only three times as expensive as it should be, not ten times as expensive, like Kirby is. (In my opinion.)

Can't speak for the Kirby but I am super pleased with the Dyson I got a few months back. Maybe your neighbor just sucks at vacuuming? :)

Pooka;670863 wrote:

I ... was shocked at what the Kirby pulled out... seriously... I couldn't believe what I saw... it was amazing... the crap it pulled out of the pillows and mattress was insane...

How was your experience with the salesperson? Did they use all you paper towels to clean the vacuum and put it back in the box?

I had a client who was a Kirby dealer and another who sold the rainbow (a competitor of Kirby). They were both challenged personally (pretty much like failed used car dealers). They also skipped out on their bills. I had another client who sold other vacs as well and he said they were nothing special.

i knew someone who sold kirbys briefly. he was honest at it, a decent salesperson, and actually made a tolerable amount of money at it for a little while and got perks from the company. said the vacuums really seemed good too, but yeah, super expensive and you can get something that is only slightly lesser for about a bajillion dollars cheaper.

i like my $140 vacuum, myself. it's kinda heavy but it does a really good job (particularly with cat hair) and has all sorts of weird dangly bits and doohickeys that i don't know what to do with.

My mom swears by Miele.

Pooka;670863 wrote:

I vaccumes, mopped and swept 3 times last week and was shocked at what the Kirby pulled out... seriously... I'm not a frivilous spender... I'm pretty much a tightwad to be truthful, but I couldn't believe what I saw... it was amazing... the crap it pulled out of the pillows and mattress was insane...

Our neighbor has a dyson, I've seen her floors... not impressed... and it won't shampoo my rug or scrub and polish my tile like the kirby can. The price is crazy, but I'm willing to consider it to have clean verses tidy.

Have any of you owned a Kirby before?

My folks got into the same scheme with Kirby - back in the late 1940's !
Years of monthly payments, but with a bright shiny vacuum with more attachments than you could ever want.

It shaped my personality because I hated the thing...
One attachment for waxing and polishing the car (which I had to wash it every Sat)
One attachment for spray painting the picket fence in around the front yard
One attachment for sharpening knives that made a hideous sound
Individual attachments for vacuuming walls, ceilings, venetian blinds
and the monsterous thing, itself, for vacuuming rugs.

I still cringe at the sound of a vacuum and that thing lasted forever.
I think my folks finally donated it to Goodwill when they downsized around 1965.

So you pays your money and takes your chances !

So, that thing could suck the chrome off a tailpipe?

Happy Monkey;670880 wrote:

My mom swears by Miele.

I talked to my buddy today - He also recommended Miele.

I've had a Kirby for 15 years or so. It will do hard floors, carpets, edges, blinds, dusts, even use it to blow the dogs dry, and I just shampooed all the carpets, too. At the time, it was the only machine that I knew of that could do all that and last forever. There are more, less expensive, and perhaps better choices now, but it does a thorough job. I would not buy another because it is heavy, but I don't expect to need another for a couple of decades yet.