Complaint Review: Kirby Vacuum Sales Person - Fallbrook California

I have nothing against the Kirby company. I own and love my Kirby vacuum. But the sales people in my neighborhood use illegal practices to gain entrance to people's home and give them the Kirby demonstration.

The first time the Kirby people came by my apartment I was told that there had been "complaints" about the state of my carpets and management had authorized them to come and clean the spots. That didn't make any sense because we had just had the entire apartment re-carpeted a few months prior. I told them that if management was interested in cleaning the carpets, they needed to notify me themselves.

A few months later two different sales people came by. The girl who spoke launched into a speech about how if I let her clean 1 room of my apartment she could earn $25 for school. Then she noticed our service flag and announced that military actually got 2 free rooms. I said I wasn't interested and that's when the other person (I assume a "handler" of sorts) said once again that management had authorized them to come and check the carpets. In order to get them to leave I told them they could come back and clean in half an hour. Once they were off my porch I walked to the managers office and asked her, and she called the police.

Then today I was carrying groceries from my car when I was approached by 2 female sales people. One of the girls claimed she lived in the complex, although I have never seen her and the apartment she pointed towards is actually occupied by someone entirely different. She flashed a flyer at me, but wouldn't let me get too close to look at it. She just said they were cleaning the carpets. I told them I wasn't interested. A few hours later they came to my door, this time one of the girls was gone and a guy was in her place.

I told them I wasn't interested and that the complex was a "no soliciting" complex and they weren't allowed to be there. The guy gave me the same speech about earning money for school, management had authorized them to be there, yadda yadda. I apologized and closed the door.

From what I was able to get from my brief glimpse at their flyer, they market themselves as being part of "Tri City Cleaning", but the Kirby name and logo is in the corner and all the products are Kirby brand. I did a search and was unable to find a "Tri City Cleaning" in the entire state.

My friend had the misfortune of actually letting them into her apartment after they told her management authorized them to clean the carpets. They stayed there for an hour or 2 cleaning the living room and doing the Kirby demonstration and trying to sell her a vacuum.

I've spoken to my apartment manager several times and she said they have had a real problem with the Kirby/Tri City Cleaning solicitors in the area and they will oftentimes prey on single or alone women, specifically military apartments where they hope the husband is deployed and the wives are vulnerable and unable to say no. That scares me because some of the Kirby men I've seen didn't come across as being necessarily that honest.

If Kirby wants to sell vacuums, they need to stick to their appointment system. That's how I got my Kirby. I made and appointment and a sales person (who was actually a relative of mine) came and did a demonstration. I am not interested in having people lie their way into my apartment or use my husband's military service to gain entrance to our property.