Well, I finally did it.

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jfalberti

Well-known member
Platinum Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2010
Messages
1,177
Location
Visalia, CA
As many of you know, I've loved Kirby vacuums since I was a kid. I've owned many over the years and have a few to this day.

Let me tell you a little about my family history. When I was growing up, we never lived in a house that we were buying. We rented all my life. We also never had anything new. All our furniture and appliances were bought used. Fast forward to the present, nothing much had changed even though I have a good job I've been working at for over 20 years. One day a couple of years ago, I decided I was going to work on buying my first home. I spent a couple of years building my credit rating, and this past January, it all paid off. I bought a 2 bedroom, two bath in park mobile home. It has beautiful hard wood floors in the living/dining room areas and tile in the kitchen/bathrooms. I also bought all new living room furniture. Needless to say, I love it and now look forward to visitors.

When I was younger, one of my first jobs was selling Kirby. I did that for a few years until the bottom fell out of the steel industry and people had the choice of paying their mortgage and putting food on the table, or buying a very expensive vacuum cleaner.

By now, you are probably wondering what this has to do with buying a new vacuum. Well, when I sold Kirby, when we didn't have an appointment, we used to do a lot of canvassing. One of our favorite places to door knock was mobile home parks. You were almost always guaranteed to get into at least one door, and if you were lucky at least one sale. I've been here for 4 months now and was thinking about this on Friday when there was a knock at the door, and low and behold there he was. He introduced himself and identified himself as a representative of a local house cleaning company and offered me a free room of my choice of floor cleaning, and he showed me a flyer with the picture of the machine he was going to use and it was a Kirby with all the labels and logos covered up. I mentioned the fact that they used Kirby. He was shocked that I knew it was a Kirby and said they did because Kirby was the best. I told him that I used to sell Kirby and that I have owned several in my life and he was impressed. I invited him in and we talked Kirby for a while and then got down to business. He showed me a price for the Avalir Platinum plus canister attachments and the floor care kit of $3999+tax, and I about fell out of my chair. I told him there was no way in hell I was going to pay $4000 for a new Kirby, no matter how good they are, and he tried to justify the price. I again told him no, and proceeded to bring up the Kirby website and went to the Buy It Now page and showed him he was trying to sell me a middle of the road package for $3000 that I could buy online for $2500. The basic package, which was just the upright and canister attachments was $1,999, which is all I wanted, since I have a floor kit and zip brush for my Avalir II. He said he would have to "call his boss" to get permission. He proceeded to do so and came back and said his boss approved it, and asked me how I wanted to pay for it, cash or financing and I told him credit card. He looked at me and told me that they did not accept credit cards because the CC companies charge a percentage of the sale in fees to the merchant. He asked me if I could pay cash instead, and I said no because I don't keep that kind of cash laying around the house. I said if they don't take credit cards, then I couldn't buy it. He called his boss again, and suddenly they accepted Master Card or Visa. I gave him my card, and he ran the numbers and of course, it was approved so the salesman proceeded to assemble my new Kirby. I was really happy because the machine I got is brand new and has never been out of the box before I bought it. I justified buying it since everything else in the house is new, a nice new Kirby would be the cherry on top. With everything being done, the salesman packed up his stuff, thanked me, and then was out the door and gone. As part of the deal, he threw in the floor kit and a zip brush, even though I didn't need them, but at least I have a matching set.

Sorry for getting so wordy but this was my first dealing with a door to door Kirby salesman, and I was excited about my new machine. If any one else has any stories to tell about their dealings with Kirby, I'd love to hear about them.

Thanks, and have a great day. [this post was last edited: 4/20/2025-16:17]

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I have a salesman story!

From 1995 to 2005 my great grandmother probably spent about $4000 on vacuum cleaners. First she bought an Oreck with the buster b. Then in 2003 she bought a Kirby. Finally in 2005 she bought a patriot. She must have not been able to say no to a sales person! I couldn’t believe she would have spent that much money on vacuums in 10 years! She got rid of every vacuum except her patriot, which still runs perfectly.
-Jack
 
Well, congrats on your new Kirby and on sticking to your guns with the salesman. I hope the machine gives you many years of great service. Your story kind of reminds me of my late father, a retired car salesman, haggling at the dealership over the price of a car. He was one tough negotiator, which was a trait I didn't inherit, but that doesn't mean I don't know how to say no.

The Kirby salesman never would have crossed the threshold at my house, nor would have I shelled out that kind of money, when I've bought more than one used Kirby, along with all the goodies for $50. The most I've ever spent on one was $130, including shipping, for a fully kitted out Sentria that I bought on eBay. Sorry, but I'm a tightwad.
 
Holy gods they are $4,000 now? My mom got conned for a Kirby in 2002 and back then it was $1,000 or something like that. You really need to watch out because Kirby will let anyone start up a sale operation with them. All you need is one guy to be the boss, a crappy run down store for a front, and several friends (or clueless high school kids) to be your street runners. Many of them are scammers and have robbed people. On top of that you pay way over value. Even 10 years ago they were I think $2,200? MSRP?

I just seen one for sale on ShopGoodwill and it went for $350 which is a very good deal but I did not have that kind of money in my bank regardless.


https://shopgoodwill.com/item/226337768
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My grandparents were basically "forced" to trade in their two older brown Kirbys for a G4 back in 1994 when a salesperson came by. They didn't wanted a new Kirby but the salesperson wouldn't leave. Fast forward to 2012 I believe it was, another salesperson came by there and tried to give up their G4 for a Sentria. This time it got nowhere. However my great aunt got suckered into trading in a G7D she had for a Sentria. And just this last Christmas, my uncle had a salesperson come by to do a demonstration of the Avalir Platinum so he could give my uncle a $50 Cabela's gift card. Of course that also didn't get anywhere but he still got the card and ended up gifting it to me as a present.

I did had this one funny thing I thought in my mind that if my grandfather's moving & storage company accidentally threw out his old vacuum and the insurance company would've paid for whatever to replace it, I might've considered a new Kirby if he still had carpet inside his cabin after the flood. Probably the ONLY time I'd ever get a new in the box Kirby but knowing myself, I definitely would've went for something else that I overall like better. But he did however had to get a new stackable washer and dryer because his moving & storage company accidently threw the old one out and the insurance company was paying for whatever to replace, I went ahead and got him a new Speed Queen SF7007WE which was about $5,000.
 
I got my Kirby Heritage 2 today for free !!!

I got contacted by a cleaning company that had a kirby and wanted my Eureka dial a nap for some thing light yet powerfull as he finds his kirby heavy. I agreeed on the trade and voila i have a mint condition Kirby Heritage 2 .He also mention he will ring me up for bags or parts or service if his machine need it down the road i said yes.
 
Kirbys are still being sold door-to-door??

I thought they stopped doing that after the Avalir ii! Right Lane Industries must be doing the absolute bare minimum when it comes to making improvements to the company.

smh
 
I have to admit it’s nice seeing a platinum but it’s Time for a change Kirby in my opinion
 
But there's something about having one brand new in Box... I don't regret to this day buying my rainbow new in 2006...I didn't even get a demo..No one showed up at my door. I just called and they lady was so confused... "You just want to buy one?" She said.

anyway - I found this story interesting I found on youtube.. Check out what they offered him for this.

 
AmtrakSebo1997 wrote:
Right Lane Industries must be doing the absolute bare minimum when it comes to making improvements to the company.

I reply:
That appears to be exactly the strategy RLI is following. As far as I can see, they're just milking the company for what they can, for however long they can get away with it, and when it's no longer viable, they'll start carving up the carcass, selling off the assets piecemeal, including the intellectual property. At that point, we'll see Kirby suffer the same fate that has befallen many once-proud American brands. The Chinese will buy the IP and Kirby critics will get their desired redesign when the Kirby name gets slapped onto cheap plasticrap bagless vacuum cleaners, and just about any other random household appliance that falls off of their assembly lines.
 
Awesome story, Joe! I'm so happy for your success in buying your own home and a brand-new Kirby to help keep it and its furnishings spic and span.

You have a good head on your shoulders in using your Kirby background and strong business sense to get a fair price. You earned it!

Storytelling on VL has become less common, so thanks for taking the time to do so.

Considering 'Happy Hoovering', 'Euphoric Eurekaing', 'Electrifying Electroluxing' ... I'll sign off with

Keen Kirbying!
 
Joe

First off congrats on the new house great story.
The kirby NIB is quite a feat. You have the floor cleaner, the vacuum and I'm supposing hose and attachments. You pretty much got what I'd buy. Iirc the mop thing and other floor cleaners are just brush rolls.
You got a house of your own and a new in box kirby congrats on both landmarks you should be proud and I'm happy for you.
 

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