Kirby G5 / 6 / 7

I received a phone call saying that I had won a raffle prize saying that I would have my carpet cleaned the following day. I thought nothing of it but puzzled which raffle I enterd.

The following day two people turned up and explained to me that they had to show me the amount of dust it was picking up by putting a filter on it. An hour pased included 2 break very little done but losds of dust.

They made their wsy to the bedroom and even vaccinated my bed. Now to the end.

Took them 2 hours more to sell me the damn thing. Started £3000 then got it down to £900 after speaking to the manager. After I signed the contract for £33 a month they went and took my Dyson with them without asking. I was in tears. After they went I realized thai I was ended up paying in total £1554. Anyway I thought that was it, I was hoping I would not see them again as the way it was sold I would not have any problems with it again.

Over 12 months now had passed had a phone call to say it was time for service the thing. Got told that I had used it a lot, no only approximately 4 times and they told me the motor had gone so ended up paying £190 to get it repaired but cane back in the same condition. It been served a few times after that and been told it wasn't safe as sparks was coming from it. I refused to get it repaired

Last night got it repaired yet again and the service man arrived an hour and a half late. It had a new belt every time It was serviced and since the last time which was 3 months ago the belt haf melted, which puzzled me I had not used it.

Offer again as I had only 18 months left to pay I could buy it outright for £1190 with yet another vac for upstairs. I said no. He phoned me again this morning with the same offer but this time I have 30 months left.

He said he would not charge if I took an insurance for £5 but I still ended up paying £25. And according to the phone call this morning that I had signed the insurance for £7.95 per month. Looking at the paperwork he did not put a price on the piece of paper I signed.

I only wish there is a wsy to finish this, better still if I could get my money bacK. No way to any. They don't listen only taking money from the public.

Keep awsy from them.

A complete waste of a vast amount of money. So heavy it hurt my back to move it around. Accessories, bags, carpet cleaners etc at grossly inflated prices.

Cost of a service agreement a joke. Pestered at least once a month to arrange a date for servicing. Considering I never use it(as I have explained to them many times)it would be a waste of money.

My husband went through a 5 hour high pressure sell while I popped in and out whilst painting walls. Seemed good at the time, but sadly not even worth £50.

Now have a great cordless cleaner at a brilliant price and it does a much better job.

We've had our Kirby G5 for 12 years now. Bought once, had it serviced once and replaced a the belt last month.

Pros:

It has been the best machine possible because it has such strong suction and a great range of attachments. You can use it to clean carpet, non-carpeted floors, ceilings, furniture etc.

We rent and have moved into a lot of really filthy houses so it has seen a lot of use and our landlords have always been amazed at how clean the house it is when we leave. The suction is strong enough to pick the carpet up slightly and shake it as you move backwards, meaning we get quite a bit of dirt out of the underlay as well as the carpet on top.

We have also taken it apart to clean each individual piece individually after I accidentally vacuumed up some food. Soaked and washed everything except the main motor and it was as good as new when we put it back together. Cleaning the cleaning implements is something people forget.

I would be happy to buy one second hand even if it was 5 or 10 years old. It would likely still work for another 10 and its possible to find and replace any parts if necessary. That says something about reliability.

Cons:

It is heavy. If you are elderly and/or injured and have to get it up stairs, maybe not for you.

You do need to use it properly. Because the suction is strong you need to work slowly when using the carpet head or you can damage the carpet (apparently. I have not ever done this). Work on squares sections and drag it back towards you slowly, vacuuming the section from 2 or 3 different directions as well.

Vacuum up anything and it is a goner. I have found copped up pieces of screws and nails in it before.

The attachments come with instructions. READ them, if you don't things can go horribly wrong. This is a professional machine.

If you clean like I do, you dust/shake out everything (and vacuum the furniture) and move it to one side of the room then vacuum the empty side and move everything over and do the other side before returning everything (once every 2 weeks). Its a good way to check for snakes and rat nests as well as find lost items and encourages you to re-arrange the house more often, all while giving you a good workout.

In between that its easy enough to do a quick vacuum of the walk ways.

So I guess it depends on how you clean, as to whether its worth it for you.

Also we bought it from a show room. Door-to-door salesmen are never a good idea for ANY product(Exception: girl-guide cookies).

Kirbys are very good if you're just using it to hoover but to use any attatchments or shampoo system then thats when the niightmare begins.

Turn the dial to green should be belt on but what do you do when belt on is red, a total nightmare, so my review is to just hoover with it. Kirby's are very complicated and they should re-design so the main head should not come off to just simply use the hose. I tried the shampoo system which was easy but the belt would not go on in the green position. So i will be putting my kirby up for sale and will wish the buyer GOOD LUCK.

I brought my kirby a number of years ago, it cost about £1500. I have it serviced every year which costs £75 and the engineer charges me £25 for a pack of bags.

I never use the extra attachments, they're too complicated!!

I am not having it serviced again, when it packs up, I will go and buy a new hoover, Not a kirby!!

They are heavy, arkward and quite frankly a waste of money.

I was pressured into buying it from the salesman. I wish I had told him to f*** off!!!

i have owned a g6 ever since it was released i have it servised every year and is still as good today as when it was purchased in 2000, yeas they are costly but add up how many hoovers you will buy in your life time, money well spent as i will never need to buy one again and it cleans better than any throw away plastic £200 hoover, very impressed with kirby just not there sales reps they are a pain in the rear end.

The sales pitch is fantastic and the machine is great, but after sales and annual sevicing is very very poor. The service centres are absolutely useless from those on the phone and the reps calling give empty promises. I sent my machine in working order for the yearly service and it was returned in a non working condition! Safer not to service or maybe buying a cheap machine from the oocal store and then when it does not work you just dispose of it and buy a new one. I could probably do this for my life time and still not have spent what the Kirby cost!

RJB Distribution Ltd & Kirby cleaners - my warning

Okay, so I thought I'd post this review of the 'services' of RJB Distribution to try and stop other people losing hours of their time just like I have...

I was at home one day when a man from RJB knocked at my door. He told me he was representing a company that was new to the area and, in return for my phone number, he would enter me into a free prize draw to win a car. There was no selling involved or anything, they were just doing it to promote their new company. What the hell, I thought, I don't usually deal with people at the door but this sounded like a good offer.

About a week later, I received a phone call from a very nice lady from RJB Distribution - she told me that I hadn't won the main prize in the draw but that I had won a free carpet clean! I was very happy as I don't usually win anything. But then I remembered - I don't actually have any carpets, only wooden floors. Don't worry, she said, we will clean your upholstery for you instead - we don't want you to miss out on your prize. Again, I asked if there was any catch or any selling involved and the lady assured me that there wasn't - they were just awarding these prizes to promote their company.

The big day came for the carpet clean and I was surprised to see two men at my door, carrying a large box. They entered and I showed them to the front room where my sofa was. I then went to leave the room to get on with some work but they said I had to stay. Then they asked where my husband was and, somewhat confused, I told them he was working. They upacked a large vacuum cleaner from the box - I now know it was a Kirby cleaner. Then came the most tedious few hours of my life so far...they launched into a very high pressure sales pitch to try and get me to buy the Kirby for...wait for it....£2,500!!! I was speechless! They tried all the tricks...phoning their boss for a discount...offering me lower and lower prices....telling me the deal was only valid today...telling me how dirty my home was and asking how I could live with so much dust....trying to scare me that all the dust would set fire to my TV...offering me a demonstrator model, etc. etc. They even tried to get me to show them my bedroom so they could hoover the mattress! Anyway, I finally got rid of them after more than 3 hours and they still hadn't cleaned my upholstery!

Thinking back, it was obvious that the whole thing was a con. There was no prize draw, it was just a way in to my house to try and con me into buying an overpriced hoover. If I had been forty years older I might have given in and I would have lost £2,500 as well as three hours of my life!

Take it from me - DON'T DEAL WITH KIRBY AND DON'T DEAL WITH RJB DISTRIBUTION - JUST SHUT THE DOOR!

October 2010 UK, Cheshire. Had a chap knock on the door with a 'free entry' card to a competition to win a Nissan car or a daily prize of a free carpet clean - the chap told me it would be him who cleans the carpet if I win. Lo and behold a few days later a lady rings up to say I've won the daily prize. I double check there was no price to pay or terms + conditions. So this same chap who'd dropped off the card the other day turns up for what I was promised would be 40 mins to clean the carpet. He was actually a salesman selling vacuum cleaners called Kirby Sentria. 'They do everything' he said blah blah blah. He enjoyed showing us the filth picked up from our supposedly clean carpets. The gasps he gave could have earned him a place at RADA. An hour later I'm getting fed up (we cannot afford a new vacuum cleaner no matter how good it is - and it did seem good) so we begin mentioning the various errands needed to be made that day. After he'd now demonstrated the filth in the mattresses and how to clean the carpet with the water attachment another hour had passed.

"It's only 2500!" What!? I think. "I'll just call my manager to see if I can get a better price" he says promptly using our home phone - I later check it was a land-line number, it was fortunately. The 'manager' offered it for £1600 - we said we wouldn't be buying it for £500. The salesman in our house told us tales of woe...that he was only one sale away form gaining a holiday to Turkey, that he earns points for x,y and z. He eventually left without a sale, but I fully expect to be harassed on the phone for then foreseeable future. It wasn't worth the 'free' carpet clean. This method of sales was very intimidating, thankfully there were 2 of us at home otherwise it would have been even worse. BEWARE!

I have had a kirby for about 15 years its the best hoover I have ever had I get it serviced every year and it still picks up as good as the day I bought it. Good Value for money as it more than pays for itself.