2.3K views
New Reviewer
41 comments

If you work or are thinking about working for Kirby I Beg you to take a moment of your time and read this!!!

I had the worst employment experience of my life, and Ive had some HORRIBLE Jobs...

The truth is, of course they have to keep and pay a few people, and I mean a few... those who are smart enough to understand whats going on, are willing to keep their mouth shut, and will at LEAST be complacent, and at WORST would throw their Grandmother under a bus for a quick buck.

The first sign of this and how they test whether you are morally corrupt is they have you start training by having you set up appointments with your own friends and family, so you can "PRACTICE", then they have you hard sell/pressure them after you promised your own family that you were only asking them to help you practice!!! MY AUNT, AND TWO COUSINS ARE FURIOUS THAT KIRBY PUT US IN THIS POSITION, AND AM LUCKY THEY DIDNT TAKE IT OUT ON ME OR HURT THE RELATIONSHIPS WITH THOSE CLOSE TO ME!!! I LATER LEARNED THAT THEIR SALES TACTICS ARE BORDERLINE ILLEGAL...

The only way for the few people who do well can make money there is because they exploit the poor, disenfranchised, newly or desperately employable, the youth, elderly, and veterans... and both the Customer AND Salesperson are victims of this!!! Some "Employees" work there for up to two years before they realize the damage and loss of pay they have taken...

LAST, IF YOU HAVE ANY DOUBTS, AND YOU ASK YOURSELF "WHY DOES IT FEEL LIKE THEYRE TRYING TO SELL ME A JOB, AND I'M NOT TRYING TO SELL MYSELF TO THEM?"... FOLLOW YOUR INSTINCT, OR TAKE THAT "INDEPENDENT DEALER CONTRACT" TO A LAWYER OR BUSINESS OWNER IN THE FAMILY... BECAUSE THEY CARE ABOUT YOU THEY'LL EXPLAIN WHAT THE CONTRACT REALLY MEANS!!! I DID AFTER I LISTENED TO NUMEROUS FRIENDS OVER A WEEKEND OF TRAINING!!!

I DID AND WAS TOLD TO GET AS FAR AWAY FROM THEM AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!!! I WOKE UP AND LEFT THIS MORNING!!! PLEASE FOLLOW YOUR GUT... AND TO CUSTOMERS? PLEASE FORGIVE THE SALESMAN IF HE IS NEW... HE MAY NOT REALIZE ANYTHING... BUT DO NOT ALLOW THEM TO USE HOSTILE TACTICS!!!

Monetary Loss: $2000.

Location: Haverhill, Massachusetts

Do You Have Something To Say ?
Write a review

Comments

chat-icon

Please avoid publishing any personal information and promotional content

You will be automatically registered on our site. Username and password will be sent to you via email.
Post Comment
Guest

I responded to a Craigslist ad, and I got a call from a Vietnamese guy. His interviewing method was so unimaginably rude.

I'm myself Vietnamese, and he only hired me because I'm Asian like him. He literally told me that he usually hires only women, but since I'm Vietnamese like him, he'd give me a shot. But the company lied to their teeth! I was told to work only from 9:30am to 6:30pm, but I had to stay all the way til 10:00pm.

I was told to do demo only by appointments set, but I never knew appointments were set right on the spot. I had to lie in order sell the vacuum, but who is in the right mind to pay for a 3000 dollars vacuum. I feel bad for lying to the customers!

I knew I am going to quit so I just told my customers that we promised a free cleaning service, then I will do the service for you and you do not have to buy the product at all because it is very very pricey. I didn't show up the next day

Guest

Your are the biggest *** In the world. The reason why you are talking g *** about the company is because you didn't want to put in any work or work hard.

It's people like you why kirby has a bad name. Let me guess you worked a week. Or a day??

Enjoy your life. I sell kirbys and love it!

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1058175

Enjoy being on welfare? LMAO!!!!

Guest

I agree my son was taken in by them worked 4 weeks and got nothing ???? Is that legal???

It is not!!! I am calling on them Monday

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-945701

File a complaint with the labor board, the consumer protection division of your state's Attorney General's Office and take them to small claims court. You could also contact a consumer investigator with the local news station.

I'd also report them to the IRS..you know, just in case they aren't correctly filing their taxes... :-)

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-945701

It is legal. The contract says that it is all commission based, unless you do a certain amount of demos per week. Also, everyone selling is an independent contractor.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1111879

Independent contractors, by law, set their own work schedule. Kirby distributors don't follow that law.

If a person proves in court they were treated as a W-2 employee, the distributor has to back pay them hourly and overtime. And yes, that has happened!

Guest

The actual product itself is fine, as long as you don't pay the insane amount they ask for. They try to get up to $3200.00, but you can get one on ebay and elsewhere for just a few hundred.

You can get the Kirby manager to go down to $800 if you stand your ground and pay cash. Be prepared for the guilt trip about how now the salesperson won't get a commission. Ignore it. Kirby vacuums are very heavy and not suitable for the elderly, handicapped or the frail.

This, however, will not stop the salesturds from trying to sell one to those kinds of people. The Kirby job is a joke. The distributorships post misleading job ads to lure applicants in. The turnover is crazy high and for good reason.

When you have to post misleading job ads to get applicants, what does tell you? For me, it says they are desperate to get bodies out there in the field. You will be give an impossible number of demos in order to make a base salary and you will be working on 100% commission. A job at McDonalds pays better and offers better working conditions!

Police are constantly called on Kirby salespeople and if you don't have a solicitors license/permit, don't be surprised when you get fined and/or jailed. No, your distributorship is not going to help you in this situation, you are on your own. to sell the Kirby, you have to get annoyed (and sometimes downright enraged) homeowners to let you in. Ask yourself, in this day and age, how is it safe to go in a stranger's home?

The bottom line is: if you want to OWN a Kirby, go for it, it is a great product IF you pay the right price and are physically able to use it. But working for Kirby: I wouldn't do it unless I had absolutely NO other choice and even then I might not. Oh and don't forget folks that at the end of the year, since you have been a 1099 contractor, you are responsible for ALL TAXES to Uncle Sam. Can you afford that?

Can you afford to sell Kirbys? Think about it!

Guest

You people saying the Kirby is a great company and that only "lazy people" don't make it are lying like crazy!! My husband worked his freaking butt off!!

He had "no excuse January" where him and his friend weren't going to take any days off the whole month. He only took two days off the whole entire month. One to help us move and the other because he was exhausted. Working from 9:30 am or earlier to most nights past 1 am.

He sold over 40 vacuums. Then conveniently his boss informed him that there was a change in the pay scale and that the MOST he could make per vacuum was $200. He told him that he was paying them wrong the whole time and that this is how it was always supposed to be. He tried to force my husband to sign a new contract saying that this was all he could make.

My husband refused!! He got very verbally violent with my husband and yelling at him to sign the new contract. Well my husband quit and now his ex boss is telling all the people left that he fired him. I'm not sure how many people are left because I know of at least 10 who have left his branch in the last couple weeks.

So needless to say that if my husband would have been on the new pay scale for January when he sold over 40 he told me he would have only made $625 the whole month. Who can survive on that?! My husband would talk to new employees and tell them what a great guy his boss was and stick up for him when everyone was so worried they were getting into a scam. He even talked to one kids parents!!

He thought he was involved with an honest dealer. So all you people saying that my husband is technically "lazy" why don't you tell me what happened then?

Guest

Kirby is an amazing job! Anybody who says its not,most likely never really tried!

You can't be lazy, you gotta work hard and it does pay off. People are full of it if they say otherwise...and its not a scam, if it was, I wouldn't still be doing it....I'm just a regular dude, not a high pressure salesman ***! I've worked a lot of jobs in my life, I was a machinist for 7 years, I know hard work! And kirby doesn't tell you what your worth, you can make as much or as little as you want!

If you can't work a job without a supervisor holding your *** hand, kirby isn't for you!

If you like money and financial freedom and your not lazy, kirby is the way to go! Anybody who says you can't is full of it!

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-849354

A machinist requires watching at the machine does the work. Loser! You work at McDonaldโ€™s!

Guest

Here here! I wish the that there were more things like this on the internet when I was hired back in 1999!

Guest

Theres money in kirby if your sharp enough you can make up to 800-**** a week . Ive been in kirby for a year i really like it won two trips already ,a tv ,a tablet and many prices and im 8) really looking foward on opening up my own office ITS NOT A SCAM people !!!

You just werent sharp enough to learn how to sale !!! :x

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-753527

You mean sharp enough to learn how to SELL. what school did you attend?

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-753527

Nobody gets ahead at Kirby. Nobody wins trips. This was disclosed to me by a salesman for this lackluster company.

Guest

All i do all day is service calls for Kirby.

I have serviced machines that range from 6 months old to 28 years plus.

Most are easy to service with very little ever going wrong with the machine unless it suffers some kind of abuse at the hands of an over zealous or lazy owner.

Easiest job in the world.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-542407

If you had paid attention, this posting is about the selling of Kirbys, not about repairmen.

Guest

I have been selling Kirby's for 8 years. I love what i do.

Kirby is a wonderful opportunity for those who don't have college, didn't finish highschool. Even if i did leave Kirby went to college i would recomend the product to anyone. We get alot of new people to Kirby all the time, it's DIRECT SALES, not every one can handle it. But lets be honest there are people out there who don't really want to work.

To be sucessful at anything you have to work hard. There are alot of people out here who let's face it are ***. I hate hearing people say they don't like the Kirby. The real problem is that they don't know how to use it.

Kirby is not a scam, it is a very reliable company, lets see, since 1914 with no factory lay offs is pretty *** good. Not many companys can say that. For those of you who feel you were scammed or pressured to buy a kirby, Im sure the Kirby guy/girl did not put a gun to your head to make you buy anything, neither did the sales agent who sold you your house or car. Since i brought up house and car sales.

If you think Kirby is a rip off you may want to contact that Sales agent who you bought your prefab house from built of lumber and sticks for almost two-hundred thousand.

How much do you really think it cost them to build it? But hey everyone has opinions, just like everyone has ***.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-525432

Hey kirby106 me and my fiancรฉ just started Kirby two days ago. I was wondering if you could give me some good edvice on how to sell the and how to get good leads.

And how to sell them. If you could teach me the skills. I've heard nothing but good things about Kirby and really want to edvance in the company. Hopefully you could teach me over the phone or through email.

I'm 23 years old and have done sailed a lot. My email is BladeColosimo6464@***.com

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-632004

Sry sales not sailed. Lol

View more comments (21)

Kirby Reviews

  1. 77 reviews
  2. 35 reviews
  3. 20 reviews
  4. 10 reviews
  5. 11 reviews
Kirby reviews