Complaint Review: Rainbow Vacuum

I worked for a financial services company and have no problem paying for tiers within reason. I actually have a comment about the product. It is true the machine has lasted over 15 years and the water filter beats any bag filter any day of the week but I find the machine very annoying to use. The wheels are MUCH too small and it doesn't glide over anything but a smooth floor. The parts don't stay together properly and when I want them to stay engaged they fall apart. Other machines have more power and the accessories are constantly needing repair or replacing. I am not sorry I purchased this one but would never buy another to replace it with. The original salesperson made claims about the machine that were extremely exaggerated and really wasn't that familiar with the vacuum. Vacuum demos can be misleading and all of them pick up dirt. Also the dude asked for referrals and I gave him 10 he requested. Within minutes somebody was on the phone calling my brother stating I mentioned he is interested in seeing a demo. My brother told me to never to use his name again and to this day I refuse to supply names to any salesperson no matter what the benefit is to me. I thank Rainbow for this....good thing. One final note....the water filter must have helped the flea situation because I've never had one on my pets since the Rainbow has been is use. People don't realize that bag filters contain flea eggs and they escape into your home.

I am a guy who was an independent contractor, or dealer,  for three different Regional General Distributors (RGD) as they are known as in the Rainbow business.  Each RGD has satellite distributor offices and those, in turn, have area distributor offices.  I began my adventure with Rainbow back in the late 80's and have continued off and on with different RGDs. I worked in Portland, OR, in The Dalles, OR, in Longview, WA, in University Place, WA, in Phoenix, AZ and in Tempe, AZ.  All RGDs are required to run their offices the same.  The training is similar as well as the commission structures. 

First off Let me say rainbows are expensive to start with.But they don't need any bags either.And they don't spit out as much as they pick up like the bag models do.As for sales its usually left up to the person who is operating the individual store.I've sold them part time no quotas no pyramids.But the machine does exactly what they say it will do.Is it worth the price? Well we've owned ours now since 1987 now my math at this writing tells me its 22 years old and still going strong 2009.That would make it worth while.It cost us about 1500.00 dollars new.It's cost us about 68.00 a year to own since we bought it.A bag machine would have cost that much just for bags.No bags no repairs no worries just good service.I really don't see the point in saying it's a rip off! Personally I think they are great! how ever some people trying to sell them may insult others and be a complete jerk.But that don't make the machine bad.Just some people representing it.And not all included. THANKS HAPPY RAINBOW OWNER

We bought a Rainbow about 2 years ago and love it.  Yes, it's pricey but at the time we were able to afford it because we were in the market for a new vacuum anyway, we had been saving and even considered installing a central vacuum system which would have been more expensive.

The original complaints sound like (1) the product wasn't good enough and/or too expensive, and (2) the sales person was too pushy.

My response from personal experience is that if you don't like a product or the price tag is too high DON'T BUY IT!!   It's not a ripoff if you agree to buy one.  It's not a ripoff if you let someone ramble for 2 hours (you could interrupt them after 30 minutes and say ENOUGH - GET OUT)

The complaint about a sales person being too pushy or intense is BS.  No matter how pushy they are you can always say "NO"!    If they ask you how many hours you work and etc. you can say "NONE OF YOUR d**n BUSINESS".

A ripoff is when someone promises you something false and their product doesn't deliver.   This complaint looks more like someone bitching and complaining.  Wah wah, if you don't want a salesman in your home, don't let them in.  It's not their fault you said "yes" when they asked.  you could have said NO and it would have been over.

For what it's worth, we are quite happy with the quality, performance, and function of our Rainbow system.  We're also happy with the service we get after the sale.  There is no need to haul it to the store for repairs.   Ours had a crack in the bottom frame (our fault because it got knocked off a step - not the manufacturer's fault).   The salesman that sold it to us showed up at our house with a loaner unit that he left with us for 2 days while they repaired ours.  They didn't have to do this because the damage was clearly our fault from misuse but they did it anyway - free pickup and delivery, free repair, free loaner while it was out.   That hardly classifies it as a ripoff.

Full disclosure: I used to sell Rainbows (though not for the distributor mentioned).

But how were you ripped off? I can certainly see how this guy was a jerk, and perhaps your friend (the one who did the demo) might have some cause to complain if he was abusive towards her, I don't know enough to say one way or another about that. But how were you ripped off?

From what you reported; you were made an offer, turned it down, and that's the end of it for you. It sounds like the guy was abusive towards your friend, and so perhaps she has cause to complain and tell others so they don't work for him. But I just don't see how you were ripped off.

Just not liking the sales pitch, or the price of an item, or the person selling it (here I'm referring to the distributor, not your friend), does not constitute being ripped off.

Just my two cents here:

First off, I noted that one of the comments stated that there was nothing else like the rainbow but I'd beg to differ. What about the HYLA? It's not billed as a vacuum but as an air purifier. However it has a wheel base and all the vacuum attachments with it. It also uses water, just like the Rainbow, it even has the same "fresh apple" scent you add to the water.

Secondly, having just sat though their sales "training" it sounds exactly like the Rainbow sales efforts. It's basically a pyramid scheme, you can get your's free for referring 6 friends (if they buy one too).

For HYLA you have to make 12 (qualified) demos, 72 referrals and 50 "registrations" per week to get your base pay. Or your commission, whichever is higher. The "A" sales and credit probing practices seem about the same. In fact, the only thing different about the two products is the name and some design aesthetics. Everything else, including the high price is about the same.

And just an FYI:
While HYLA tells it's sales people that Consumer Reports rates it #1, there seems to be no mention of it on their website.

I would like to express my feelings on this post. First of all my husband has been a Independent dealer for 2 years now. Rexair inc. manufactures the Rainbows,however all offices are independently owned by rainbow distributors. It is sad to hear that there are people out there who are running their offices like that. With those types of business practices they will not last long.

As far as saying all dealers are pushy, that is not true. If they are taught pushy tactics, then it is because of the individual training they recieved. My husband refuses to try to force someone to purchase from him. Almost everyone he demos to wants to buy one, unless they are prudes, it just may not be the right time for them financially. He asks them to consider buying one from him in the future.

About leads, most distributors require the dealer to get 8-10 leads per house for the demo to be considered qualified, but its not mandatory for you to get paid. There are other ways to get a lead bank by getting registrations for contests to win groceries or gasoline drawings that they do every 3 months, or alot of offices set up booths at homeshows and fairs to draw potential buyers.

I love my Rainbow vacuum, because its not just a vacuum. Its so much more. I owned one before my husband started working for the company. I will not own anything but a Rainbow. Why waste your time using a dustblower that you are going to have to replace once a year. Consider this, if you pay $60 - $100 once a year to replace your dirtbag, plus bags, filters & belts times that by 20 years you are going to be spending well over $3000, and your house is still going to be dirty. All Rainbows are built to last 30+ years, You will be heathier and can feel better that your carpet, furniture, & most importantly your air will be clean.

I also worked for Rainbow. There are two parts to the original poster's complaint; two of which have nothing to do with each other.

The fact that it was high pressure sales and her friend's dislike of the way the company was run had nothing to do with the product itself.

Although I used to work for Rainbow (and it didn't work out for me either as I have zero sales personality) I love the product, and I don't think for one minute that there is another on the market to come even close to comparing! The fact alone that you don't get the vacuum cleaner stink when you turn it on says it all for me.

It is extremely important for a Dealer to get referrals because that is his lead bank. No referrals, no shows, no sales, no money. I have personally seen dealers make a ton of money in this business and work in the industry for years. Again, it all depends on how good you are at selling, getting referrals from people and a little luck.

Sorry your experience was a negative one, however don't disvalue the product because of the experience.

Thank You.

I too was not an employee, but contracted out. When you sell for Rainbow, you really work for yourself.

But what she is saying is kind of true. There are no minimum SALES you have to make to get paid. You can sell one and if it is a qualifying sale, meaning they paid cash/charge/check or have A+ Credit you will make like $200 on each sale.

When you train, before they give you any demo equipment you have to have 4 or 5 demos lined up. We used those demos to get other demos and so on.

It is a great machine. But it is high pressure like she said. When I would be at a demo and I could not get the sale, I would thank them, gather any demo leads I could get by offering him the baby rainbow as they called it. I would leave all the demo dirt and dirty water out in the open and would start taking the attatchments apart, slowly while talking to the customer. I was then at that point supposed to call my manager or the owner of that location on the phone and would tell them I was done in case they would have another demo they needed done.

Now this phone call is a planned call for when the sale doesn't happen. It is all scripted. When the manager asks the question, when you answer, you are supposed to answer kind of loudly so the customer can hear you and really play it up.

They will ask, did you get the sale and you answer, no they didn't want it and give the reason. Now I have never done the demo where the customer didn't love it and want it. It was just that it is very very expensive. Then they ask well, did they see the water and theatrically I hold it up and Oh, yeah, they saw the dirt in the water. It's pretty disgusting actually, don't you think so? And I make an ugly face just to get their mind off of the price and onto the dirt that the machine picked up.

Then they will ask about the test cloths and the dirt on them and I do the same thing. Then he just talks sports or the weather or whatever and we have little idle chit chat where I just answer yes or no, but it sounds like we are talking about the demo.

Then I chime in and say it is the price today. (Now keep in mind we dis offer payment plans. There was a contract we had which was for a loan. They would fill out the credit app and then would get approved. Everyone gets approved. If you have great credit it is with one of the better banks and that is how you get paid the $200 commission.

If your credit is not that great or flat out sucks for a lack of a better word, you will still get financed inhouse, but the commission is like $25.

So then since the timing was off and they always say oh if it were 3 months later we would be able to do it. That is when they get on the phone and offer them a 90 day defferment to get the sale.

Then if they still say no, we leave as much of the dirt out as we clean the basin and start putting it away piece by piece and then when all away, we leave.

Now, we still have that unit that we just used and cleaned and when we get home we clean it real real good then repack it as new.

When we go on our next demo, we are using that same machine and taking the plastic off as if it were the first time being used and do the demo there.

Let's say that person buys it. That is the unit they are getting. The one you used to demo another persons home.

That is the main thing I didn't like. But we had fun at the meetings although it was really the same information over and over again.

Is it a great product? Yes. I think everyone should own one. It is the best system out there. Is it expensive? Yes. But since it lasts at least 20 years, if you factor in everything you buy for your vacs, the bags if any, carpet powder cleaner, candles for scents, lysol, floor cleaner. Anything you buy, even the 2 or 3 vacs you will purchase in that 20 year period and carpet cleaners like Stanley Steamer or something like that and factor it over 20 years. You are actually saving yourself lots of money.

But it is high pressure sales and you need to realize it will take 3-5 demos before getting a sale.

That is my experience with the company.

First off, I am the friend of the person who first reported this, and my ex-boss was a complete jerk to her. And the bad thing about that was he was not only a jerk to her, but he degraded every single person I did a demonstration for. If they did not buy the Rainbow E2 then me along with them were degraded. He said that all the people I was going to could not afford it... HELLO- NUMBER ONE!!! We are in Gaylord MI where thousands of people just got laid off from GP and are crunching for money because winter is coming and the last thing they are going to buy is a $2000 vaccuum... Plus, it was my first demonstrations, I was only doing them to get comfortable with the machine, not sell. If I sold then all the better! And everytime I called him after the demo was done (I HAD HIM ON SPEAKER PHONE) and he downed me over and over again, UNTIL I finally sold one and then everything was happy go lucky again. My boyfriend heard everything he was saying to me, and he is the one that told me to quit, that I didn't need to deal with an a*s like that.

Secondly, you are wrong when you said there were no quotas. I HAD to do six demos my first weekend to get $200. And if you didn't have to then my ex-boss is a liar, well he already is, but he is lying about the company too. And I had to do 12 demos the following week to get paid... If I did 6 demos then I wouldn't get paid.

Also, another thing about your so called #1 company, IT TOOK ME TWO WEEKS to get my gas incentives... and they told me they weren't even going to give them to me. And to top that off they gave me a speedway gas card knowing that the speedway in gaylord and grayling are closed down for remodeling.

Rainstorm Distributing is full of a bunch of "characters" and you all have some serious issues that you need to deal with or your company is just going to fall.....

Thank you,
Danielle

I actually do sell the rainbow e2 series. I am not in any way reporting on the companies behalf nor am I reporting or marketing anything other than a few thoughts. I must say first I am a sub contractor of the company not an "employee". I am really surprised by some of the things listed here.

First of all there are no quotas. I imagine that most of this story came from the friend as you I'm sure didn't ask anyone at that particular branch the pay scale. There is a bonus if you achieve a certain amount of sales upon your first two weeks of sales. There is never a quota. It's a welcome bonus so to speak. So I'm not sure why that was put out there that way.

2nd I am surprised you received that type of service from some one selling from the company. Those statments should have never been said. You should never be talked to or about that way by anyone providing a service for you. However, this is not the fault of the machine and nor is it the fault of the friend who did the demonstration. I hope your friend finds a better team. It truly is a great product and does everything they say it does.

One bad sales experience though I would certainly hope wouldn't tarnish your image of the product. I would say it would tarnish my image of that store or branch but, not the product. Good Luck to you and on behalf of someone who has that job from time to time... I am truly sorry that was the experience you had!