TheSamba.com :: View topic

Fri Mar 20, 2009 8:53 am

Hey everyone, I was on craigslist looking for a job, and came across a job that pays 2k a month per agreement. I think to my self that is a guaranteed 2k, im calling. Well I call and almost get hired on the phone lol. I go to the interview and fill out an application, i'm surprised that they don't need my social security but I go along with it, I get hired on the spot and they tell me to come back tomorrow for training. First day of training I find out i'm going to be selling the Kirby vacuum. This was still fine with me untill I decided to do some research on the job I was getting. Turns out i'm just being scammed into working for people and I will never get paid. It also turns out that no one that they try to sell to(door-to-door) even knows that they are going to be showed a demo of a vacuum. They use lies to get in your house and once they are in they high pressure you to buy a Kirby, they say if you want a free carpet shampoo and the customer says sure , next thing you know you have people pressuring you to get a 3k vacuum. Well I won't talk more about it , today was suppose to be my third day in training and I was going to start tomorrow out on the field but I say F**K that.

Anyone ever hear of these scams or have experienced one.
(I'm glad I got out before I actually started working)

Fri Mar 20, 2009 8:58 am

You applied for, and accepted a job, not knowing ANYTHING about it,except for the rate of pay?If you ever tell a Newfie joke,I will kick the shit out of you.rotflmao.

Fri Mar 20, 2009 9:16 am

lol ya well work is so slow right now I was really looking for anything.(Very foolish of myself I know) At least I got out early.

Fri Mar 20, 2009 9:18 am

When I was a kid, my parents bought a Kirby setup (the full enchilada, with shampooer, dog trimmer, flex shaft buffer/polisher) from a travelling salesman. I have no idea what they paid.

That was a heavy-ass vacuum and it went through belts like nothing I have ever seen. Most of the time it smelled like burnt rubber when running. Finally a bearing grenaded.

Door to door sales is tough--even more so if you have any self respect.

Fri Mar 20, 2009 9:23 am

iWANTBUS wrote: lol ya well work is so slow right now I was really looking for anything.(Very foolish of myself I know) At least I got out early.
Welcome to 1964. As a kid, I used to get a nickel for each completed "appointment" card. Product? Kirby vacuums. I lived in a Fed housing complex, so there were plenty of Westpac widows to sign up.

Fri Mar 20, 2009 9:42 am

Did they train you to throw a dirt clod onto the carpet of the house you were calling on as soon as they opened the door? Then you could go in and vacuum it up and show them what a great product you had ;-)

Fri Mar 20, 2009 9:52 am

ho-dad wrote: Did they train you to throw a dirt clod onto the carpet of the house you were calling on as soon as they opened the door? Then you could go in and vacuum it up and show them what a great product you had ;-)
Yes! My other job was as a screenwriter for Desilu Productions. Good catch Maynard. 8)

Fri Mar 20, 2009 9:56 am

It work for Napoleon Dynamite's uncle, it can work for you!!! Seriously, I bought a used Kirby at a garage sale for $80. That was 8 years and around 12 belts ago. It is super heavy and takes up too much space. Anything that requires a door to door salesman is over priced and usually worthless. Anyone interested in buying a rainbow vacum cleaner?

Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:16 am

That job really SUCKS...you sure got HOSED on that one...Knew this girl we used to call Kirby she did most of her work in cars...door to door by appointment only..

Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:19 am

In San Diego, a Kirby vacuum salesman, not only gained entry into an old lady's house, but came back, robbed her, beat the crap out of her, threw her in her station wagon, had two accomplices, and for a period of about 2 days they beat her to a black and blue pulp, never gave her food or water or allow her to go to the bathroom, she was bound and gagged in the back of this car the whole time. A random pull over by the cops saved this old lady's life, and now two scumbags are in jail awaiting trial.

There are all kinds of stories on Kirby vacuum salesman and the deplorable people they hire, as evidenced by their non-existent background checks. I'm really surprised nobody hasn't sued Kirby yet and taken them to the cleaners.

Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:31 am

Quote: their non-existent background checks. I'm really surprised nobody hasn't sued Kirby yet and taken them to the cleaners.

Kirby?to the Cleaners?you so funny

Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:37 am

johnnypan wrote: Quote: their non-existent background checks. I'm really surprised nobody hasn't sued Kirby yet and taken them to the cleaners.

Kirby?to the Cleaners?you so funny
That's right....pun intended.

Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:48 am

HAH! My mom had TWO of them Rainbows too! What a fuckin retarded product that was. Drag around a big old bucket of water on casters with a huge motor on top. I wonder why the hoses always fell apart? Oh yeah maybe it's the fifty pounds of dirty water, steel and plastic you're lugging through the house. But it was the seventies which gave us Captain and Tenille, cocaine, the Maverick, Granada and the Mustang II, so what do you expect. Vacuums have come a long way. We bought a Eureka HEPA vacuum at Costco about ten years ago. A little periodic maintenance and it is still going strong. It helps to buy the filters online and in quantity. It sickens me to see the way people spend good money on a vacuum cleaner and then neglect it and it ends up in the landfill after five years.
In retrospect, I realize my parents bought all kinds of questionable stuff back then. I remember the day my dad brought this home

My mom was like WTF FUCKER!

Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:58 am

I would do Tenille she was fuckin hot.

Fri Mar 20, 2009 11:38 am

When I was little we had a kirby guy come by, showed us the demo. My parents bought it, never had any issues out of it. We had it for like 15 or so years.

Fri Mar 20, 2009 11:43 am

Major Woody wrote: HAH! My mom had TWO of them Rainbows too! What a fuckin retarded product that was. Drag around a big old bucket of water on casters with a huge motor on top. I wonder why the hoses always fell apart? Oh yeah maybe it's the fifty pounds of dirty water, steel and plastic you're lugging through the house.

:lol: I tried selling those things as a sideline for awhile. Some people swear by them. I showed them to a couple of people who still had the old 70s and 80s models and wanted to see what the newer ones could do. Most of the people who love them are total neat freaks who don't mind changing the water every time they use them and cleaning the seperator once in awhile. They seem to do a great job for people who do the maintenance.

Problem is you're supposed to push them on everyone else too. I wasn't gonna do the high pressure sell. "Here it is. This is what it does. If you want to buy it fine. If you don't that's fine too."

Needless to say, I didn't sell many with that attitude. Some people who were good at it were pulling in a few grand a week though.

Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:00 pm

Quote: johnnypan
PostPosted: Today 12:31 pm Post subject:
their non-existent background checks. I'm really surprised nobody hasn't sued Kirby yet and taken them to the cleaners.

I saw that on Dateline the other week.

They had a hidden camera in the van and they were drinking 40's and smoking weed before the sales calls. The driver of the van had a suspended license even.

Dateline tried to interview the owner of the franchise and he basically told them to GET OFF HIS LAWN!

Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:39 pm

I bought a Gen 7 Kirby for my wife a couple of years ago. Complete with all the bells and whistles. $75 at a bankruptcy auction.

Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:44 pm

Nothing sucks like an Electrolux!

Fri Mar 20, 2009 1:11 pm

johnnypan wrote: I would do Tenille she was fuckin hot.

Get you some Muskrat Love.