It's 10 o'clock PM, and he still hasn't shampooed the carpets...

[awtl]

This is going to be a very long night! Have you ever had a salesman at your house at 10:30 at night trying to sell you a vacuum cleaner? He came at 7:00, just minutes after I got home. He wanted to shampoo a room of our house. Dad said he didn't want his carpet shampooed, thank you. He acted like dad was crazy...who wouldn't want their carpets shampooed? It took him about 45 minutes to convince dad to have a room shampooed. It is now 10:30. Has the room been shampooed? Oh, no. He has vacuumed the floor, the couch, the bed even, but still has not shampooed. His partner left. Did she go home? Of course not! She is out seeing if she can get someone to let her give a demonstration! At 10:30 at night? I'm cracking my mom up because I think it's so funny/ridiculous that there's someone here at 10:30 at night, trying to sell us a vacuum cleaner.

Edited October 19, 2010 by awtl

[jewellsmommy]

I am amazed. I don't know how many vacuum salesmen we've had come to the door, but I think this one takes the cake. Don't get me wrong, I think he's very nice, I'm not trying to talk bad about anyone, he just amazes me. About 3 seconds after I got home, he showed up at the door. He wanted to shampoo our carpets. My dad told him very clearly that he did not want a carpet shampooed. The salesman acted like he thought he was crazy...who would turn down having a room of their house shampooed? Well, my dad and him got to talking and it took about 45 minutes for him to convince my dad to shampoo the carpets...it is now almost 10:30....I had been in my room studying, but I just ventured out to see if he was anywhere near being done yet.

 

There were several filters on the floor. Apparently, he has vacuumed our carpet, our bed, and our couch. I asked my mom if he had done the shampooing yet. No, not yet.

 

I asked where his partner was, did she decide to go ahead and go home? No...she is out. She has 6 other people she has to visit to see if they want a free shampooing. I cracked her up because I was so amazed. Seriously, I am flabbergasted. Who would wake people up at 10:30 at night just to try to sell them a vacuum cleaner???? I would like to take a shower and go to bed...this is going to be a very long night.:tongue_smilie:

 

 

weird.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I would show them to the door.

[PollyOR]

This happened to us. FOUR hours! My DH thought it was comical. I was NOT amused. We have never let an Electrolux(?) salesman in again.

[awtl]

It sounds like he just finished finally shampooing the carpet! Yeah!...on the other hand, maybe it's just a delusion :)

[JoyfulMama]

Sounds like a Kirby man. And while I don't agree with the timing, I do LOVE my Kirby.

[awtl]

Yes, he's a Kirby man...but we already have one (sigh). :001_smile:

[Tree House Academy]

I had a guy try to sell us a kirby once. We have all hardwood flooring. Not exactly a genius at work there - he suggested we buy the thing to vacuum the rugs. Um, no thanks. I will shake them outside and wash them in the washer. Thanks!

 

At 10:30, I would be sending both him and his vacuum out the door!

[Lizzie in Ma]

Though that situation was totally out of control..

The guys who came to my house were awesome, had been told up front we were not going to buy anything, and did their thing.

It actually was pretty amazing for me, I wrote about it here.

[dirty ethel rackham]

And the Arnolds Feign Death ...

[Kalypso]

I had this happen with Kirby a few years back. I was home with 2 small children, and they would. not. leave. I was too polite to kick them out - my unfortunate flaw. Fortunately, it was in the middle of the afternoon and not at night. Because of them, I have never listened to a door-to-door salesman again. It was awful. I don't care how good a Kirby is, I will NEVER buy one. I really needed a new vacuum, too.

[Parrothead]

I had one show up at the door. I let him in because my friend said she would get a discount if I let this guy show me his vacuum. Well, dh was sleeping. He was working midnights. I told the guy I'd listen to anything he had to say but he could not turn the thing on.

 

He then commenced to tell me how filthy my 3 week old carpeting was. I was so insulted. Then when I was dealing with something with dd he plugged in the machine and turned it on.

 

Well, here comes dh. The vacuum guy left rather quickly after that. Then my friend decided not to buy the stupid thing. Oy!

[secular_mom]

Oh, I've had them in my house trying to sell me the d*mn thing while we were EATING DINNER. Grrrrrrrr.

FYI, I considered working for them last year- the ad they had out said that pay started at a VERY nice hourly rate. I felt a little uncomfortable about it, because at the interview they were very vague about exactly WHAT the job entailed. I decided to google working for Kirby, and found websites where people talked about being driven hours away from their home area, told they couldn't keep their cell phones with them, and they were expected to bust their butts gathering 'appointments' from the residents. Most of them never even got paid a cent after doing this for weeks. I think the folks that actually HAVE the vacuums are in a different situation, but now every time a solicitor rings my bell wanting me to make an appointment for something I wonder if I should ask them if they need to make a phone call or if they'd like a bottle of water. Before when they were demonstrating the blasted machine for us, I asked if I could think about it and let them know next week and they told me they were from out of town and wouldn't be there next week. BUT there was a kirby dealer in our town, so why would people from out of town come to our area to sale them if it was a legitimate transaction?

[CoastalGal]

I would show them to the door.

 

:iagree:

 

Let me guess: he's a Kirby dealer? :lol: (I hope your father doesn't fall for it...)

 

 

ETA: I didn't read all the replies before I responded. We bought a Kirby...sold it on a yard sale about 2 years later. We DESPISED that machine...

[Baseball mom]

Well, here comes dh. The vacuum guy left rather quickly after that.

 

:w00t: I can totally relate. Several times when dh use to be on nights he ran people off. Funny sometimes, others not so funny.

 

 

I would be upset at the 10:30 :angry:

[Plink]

I HATE HATE HATE Kirby dealers - they are probably the most annoying salesmen ever.

 

I once allowed one in (same story, friend needed me to listen to the guy so she could get a discount) and he would not leave despite my repeated requests. I finally asked if I could try the stupid thing myself - pushed it right to the front door, then heaved it down the steps onto our stone walkway. :lol: The guy was furious, but he left quickly.

 

Don't mess with a momma' whose baby just went down for a nap. That precious free time is NOT to be toyed with.

[RanchGirl]

How incredibly rude of a salesperson to barge in and take up several hours of your time! I just can't imagine allowing someone to do that?!?

[RanchGirl]

I once allowed one in (same story, friend needed me to listen to the guy so she could get a discount) and he would not leave despite my repeated requests. I finally asked if I could try the stupid thing myself - pushed it right to the front door, then heaved it down the steps onto our stone walkway. :lol: The guy was furious, but he left quickly.

 

This is awesome. I think I might have a crush on you after reading this!

[Forget-Me-Not]

Ugh. I refuse to let them into my home. My experience with them is that they are rude and nasty. My mother had one come one day as a favor for a girl we knew who was learning how to sell them. The girl selling them with her was so incredibly rude when my mom refused to buy. She actually rolled her eyes and said something sarcastic like, "Well, if you want to live in a dirty house. . . " I finally had to start actively packing her up to get her out of there.

 

I listened to a pitch one day as a favor to a 'friend' (sensing a pattern? Yup. No more favors to be had here). They were told up front that we have a central vacuum system and they insisted that this was just for the 'friend' to get practice doing sales pitches. They proceeded to mock my CV system, telling me that the exhaust from the garage canister was contaminating the air in the neighborhood--because they couldn't argue that it was in my house. They claimed their system of dumping a canister of water containing the exhaust on the lawn was so much better (um, hello, the water will evaporate and those same particles will once again be airborne).

[HalonaD]

I don't remember what company it was (this was about 12 years ago), but we had a salesman over. We were responding to an ad promising 2 free meals at Golden Corral. We knew we weren't going to buy the vacuum cleaner; we did not know that it would take hours to get him out of our house!

 

Our salesman was a 20 year old who was dropped off by his mom, around 4 in the afternoon. When he walked in, he noticed the game Civilization on our computer desk. He asked if we had ever played Colonization; when we answered "no" he proceeded to enthuse about how you could kill Indians in the game. Guess he didn't notice the American Indian decorations on our wall (I'm Mohawk). :001_huh:

 

After suppertime had come and gone, we were finally able to get through to him that we weren't interested. Around 8pm, he asked to use our phone, and called his mom. He then talked loudly (we were sitting about 10 ft from him) to her: "No, they aren't interested... I know, and their carpets are filthy... I can't get them to understand what a great deal this is... Let me ask them... (turns to us and gives us a 5 minute spiel, to which we stonily reply "No thank you!")... (heavy sigh) No, they don't get it... Yes, please come pick me up."

 

A few days later, we enjoyed our meal at Golden Corral. :)

[Jean in Newcastle]

Actually this thread makes me feel so much better. I was feeling so shamed from the things the Kirby salesman said about my carpet last year. (You can tell from my other thread that I do need to get it shampooed now.)