francinamac's Full Review: Kirby G6 Bagged Upright Vacuum
A few weeks ago I received a phone call and the woman on the phone told me that I had been selected to receive a free carpet shampoo and free wood floor buff from a company called Kirby. What's wrong with free I thought? Have your men come over tomorrow night I told her. Big mistake, let me tell you why.
First and foremost, this opinion is not intended to bash any Kirby product. Quite contrary to that feeling I was actually extremely impressed with everything the Kirby Gsix carpet shampoo system had to offer.
This is my outline of this opinion (which is very long) so that all of you may not have to read information irrelevant to what you are looking for.
-1- The Gsix shampoo system -
-2- Description of the entire unit -
-3- My experience with my Kirby representative -
-4- Pricing and why I didn't purchase -
-5- Conclusion -
-1- The Kirby Gsix carpet shampoo system is only a fraction of the equipment I was shown by the Kirby representative but I will review that first. This carpet cleaner is no ordinary investment, it works with a patented dry foam which thoroughly cleans your rug, all the way down to the padding.
The dry foam dries in approximately one hour as opposed to waiting twenty four to forty eight hours to walk on your carpet.
Kirby's system also comes with a patented hepa filtration system which prevents any dust, foam, or other unpleasant substances from ever coming back out of the cleaner and into the air you breathe.
The system itself and the Kirby dry foam is also safe on stain resistant protected carpet and will not destroy the protective coating.
-2- While my Kirby representative was here he introduced to me the whole unit which pulls all of it's strength from a two and a half horsepower motor (most cleaners only have a half of a horsepower). The power the equipment demonstrated was impressive however the attachments were astounding.
From this base unit you could create a machine which cleans drapes, buffs wood floors, shampoos carpets, vacuums (deep vacuum power) and shampoos any type of furniture. It also pulls dirt and dust mites out of mattresses, blankets and pillows, sucks dirt out of the cracks in wood floors (with suction power up to 15 inches), and so much more.
All this by adding a few attachments that are standard equipment for the machine and extremely easy to add and remove. It even has an attachment to remove hot light bulbs and one to groom your pet!
-3- Now comes the part where I explain to you the extreme pressure tactics Kirby salesmen use to "force" you to buy their product and why I was not impressed with their salesmen. My Kirby salesman came to the house and set up his things to begin his demonstration however he didn't actually buff my floor (what he supposedly came to do in the first place) until two hours later.
I was promised a carpet shampoo for inviting them into my house which I never received although the salesman had plenty of time. They claimed this visit would take up only an hour of my time yet he stayed for four hours leaving me no time to cook, help my stepdaughter with her homework, or put her to bed on time.
The reason the visit was so long was because I refused to buy the system without consulting my husband first and he didn't get home until 10pm so the salesman insisted on staying at my house until he got there (he got to my house at 5pm!). I told him to leave at 9pm after four hours of me saying no and him trying to force me to change my mind.
Before he would leave however he made me speak with his boss on the phone who told me that my sales rep. would be fired if he couldn't persuade me to purchase this system. The only way both of them would agree that it was o-k for him to leave was if they left the system at my house overnight and came in the morning to "close the deal"
Needless to say when the salesman returned the next day he did not just take his machine and leave when my husband assured him that in fact he agreed with me and neither of us wanted the system. We went through the whole routine again and were almost late for work due to this man's callous disregard to the meaning of the word "no".
-4- The reason my husband and I did not purchase this piece of equipment was definitly not because we didn't want it. We would have loved to own it but at a whopping $1,500 before financing we couldn't justify the purchase. Kirby has an excellent financing plan however that could break down the payments to as low as $8.00 a week.
If you have a cleaning business this would be an excellent investment that would pay for itself in only a short while and with a lifetime warranty on every piece of the equipment you can't lose. The warranty on this machine is not only for original owners as most warranties are but it is for the life of the machine so if you can afford one extra small bill, the Kirby Gsix is where you will get the most for your money.
-5- In conclusion although it holds a hefty price tag, the Kirby Gsix also holds it's value so it is a worthwhile investment. I recommend that if you are seriously thinking about a Kirby purchase you visit one of their distribution centers instead of having a home visit. I think you will feel much more in control when you know you can leave at any time.
In closing a special tip for you: Don't pay full price for this machine, as with any other major purchase it is priced high so it can be negotiated.
I had my price down to $1,100 from $1,500 and I also would have received (had I purchased the machine) a professional car cleaning system to thoroughly vacuum the interior of my car.
As an additional bonus they offered a sanding attachment that I was going to put to use refinishing my hard wood floors also free. Don't be scared to negotiate it always helps to get a discount. I hope this opinion helped you to see the awesome power of the Kirby Gsix system.
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