Complaint Review: Kirby Distributor Ackerman & Assoc. - Indianapolis Indiana

I Leslie Ryan had been recently employed by a small business called Ackerman & Associates located at 5153 Commerce Square Dr. In Indy and in the 7 days that I went there I had been (as well as several other people) totally employed under False Pretences.

From the initial first interview I was told that it was 1) not Door- to door sales ,that all appiontment were pre scheduled through the office and confirmed before hand 2) that I would be paid for training , 3) that I would be paid a guaranteed salary beginning the moment I began Training None of which was true. They had to so many different lies to all of us who were in the training class that when we asked about them we were told that the paper work we would get at the end of the week would resolve any questions we had, then when we were given our official "dealers packets" at the end of the week we were told that some of the forms in the contract were still out of date and did not apply ( we would recive the new forms on monday ) but none of us would get paid for our training or over-the weekend sales unless all pages in the packet were completed with our signatures. So we were even conned into signing Independant Contractors forms that NONE OF US WANTED To!

I found out after the 7th day ( first 5 were training)that for the two days they had me out knocking on doors till 11pm that the owner who was doing this and trying to train me personally did not have a legal solicitations permit and that if I were to be stopped by the police I should just pretend that I was not solicit ting and that I was unaware of the whole matter in general. There are several things that I had observed the company doing that I know were illegal including writing bad checks to some people for their commissions on the Kirby Vacuum Cleaners that they had sold in the belief that they were going to get a $ 200.00 commission on and only received a check for $ 1.25 however when I confronted the owner Thankful Ackerman she deigned the $1.25 check that I seen with my own two eyes and claimed the girl who got that commission was indeed paid $ 50.00.. I know that the girl Ashley never seen a $50.00 check because she had someone come and pick her up out in Crawfordville ( 30 miles from Indianapolis, In ) because Randy Ackerman refused to bring her back to Indy early. To top it off when I asked Randy and Thankful Ackerman to get my contract and write on it that I was no longer under the shady agreement that we were all tricked into signing (longer story short) they refused to simply release me from the obligation.

The reason I am worried is because I sold a Vacuum for $800.00 and was told I would not get a single penny because I sold it to low , but according to my contract I should had received at the minimum of $ 50.00.. I fear they may have just kept the money they were supposed to give to me just like they did to Ashley. There are many laws being broken here and I would like to make their bogus practices known before hundreds of others lose time and money getting tangled up in this pile of armature con-artists. They are charging up to $ 1966.00 for a Kirby Vacuum Cleaner that they have only paid $ 350.00 for factory price! Some body please helps because not only are the consumers getting ripped off, but so are the employees and any other person who even fills out an employment application because they have also sold these names to a mailing List which I have just reciently found out because I made a couple of friends during the training and all three of us have have been getting the same kind of junk mail post-dated from Cinncinati, OH ( Kirby Head Office Location ). This could not be a coincidence!

Leslie

Indianapolis, Indiana
U.S.A.