Centuria Kirby Vaccum review: Customer Service Rep 18

An honest company doesn't have to keep changing its name every 3 or 4 months after the bad rep gets out. Here's the deal, they find people that are desperate, they promise them a ton of money to sell the Kirby at an inflated price promise them a free trip and a shot at management if they can make a couple of sales the first weekend. So they sell to their parents and maybe a grandma that wants to help them out. Then they have exhausted their pool of easier sells and don't meet the quota and get washed out. Meanwhile the parents are stuck with a $2500.00 vacuum they didn't really want or need.

This argument is still valid, although the company has addresses in Orem, West Jordan, West Valley, and now Sandy Ut under the new name American Cleaners. Steve might make lots of sales, but he does it by being dishonest; he puts false job postings online, he lies about the price of the product, the discount he claims he is giving his customers, and what the product can do. His team also misleads what they are doing in order to get in the door in the first place. If customers have a problem, he is nowhere to be found. So although Sinsationallyyours claims he knows Kirby salesmen with ethics and integrity, Mr. Mantz is clearly not one of them. I just thought I would post this for others who might be considering jobs at the "new" American Cleaners.

Furthermore, let us not confuse intelligence with education as has been done above. There are very intelligent people still working their way through school. Being 18 does not mean that one is ignorant even though lacking a college degree, any more than being a salesman means that you are hardworking and honest. BTW, I graduated as valedictorian of a class of 27, 000 at a top research university. I also know how to use spell check. :) It doesn't take a great deal of education to recognize dishonesty.

I worked for Savannah Distributing for about three weeks. I got paid $300 after selling four vacuums for Steve Mantz. In my time working with the man he actually physically grabbed me out of anger. Man I wish I could go back and lay that man out for it. Since I have left I have heard that all his top employees Erick, etc, have left. Steve Mantz is not a happy man, when I worked with him (mid-2011) he was haggard by an ex-wife, and acted as though if he didn't get sales quickly his life and business would come crashing down. Oh and if that ***hole Kirby jockey responds to this repeating something along the lines of "You are an uneducated nitwit" You can go f*** yourself. I would also like to say that I don't think Steve's operation is a scam per se, but pretty damn close to it. Those looking for jobs should just try harder, and look elsewhere. Taking into account the time I worked daily (getting there at 8:00am and getting off work from (9:00 - 10:00pm [and getting home about 12am because of the bus yikes]) as opposed to the amount I was paid ($300) I was getting paid $4.2/hr and that's calculating from 8am to 9pm and excluding the Saturdays I worked.

I've been working for them for 2 weeks now and already gotten paid more than the guaranteed monthly salary. All it takes is for you to actually stick out the trraining time and listen to what those who have gone before you have to say. Steve Mantz and Erick Desmond know what they are doing and nobody here who has not given them a chance has a right to call it a scam.

Is there anyone that actually went through working for them and actually got paid? That's really all I want to know.

sinsationally yours... Wow, you are very defensive, take a deep breath and think before you write. "Kirby. it's self is amoung the Fortune 500 companies" (looks like you slept through your English class and try using the built in spell check next time) If Kirby is a Fortune 500 company, please go to fortune.com and post a link in this thread to that ranking. I'm not convinced that you "did the research you said you did." You are very critical of everyone else's education level, but I'm not convinced you finished high school yourself. If Kirby is the best vacuum on the market, why doesn't it improve its marketing reputation and just sell in a retail store for a reasonable fixed price? My guess is that Kirby knows how angry the "Distributors" would be because they would no longer be able to "rape and pillage" new Kirby customers.
Are there any Kirby distributors out there with the integrity to sell a Kirby vacuum for a reasonable 33% profit margin?

JustGotHired, just from your message I can tell you have little intelligence, let's see, a high school drop out, or just such poor grades you couldn't get into higher education, what, no scholarship, your credit is so bad you can't get a student loan? I could go on, your post tells a lot about you, but why waste my time. As far as me being the only possitive posts, Honey, this is a complaint board, and I disagree with the poor me, it's so unfair pitty party you all involve yourselves in. No, I don't work for this company, but I know them well, and no, I am not the receptionist not am I paid for defending something I believe in. I don't care if it's Kirby, McDonalds, or cleaning up horse crap, anyone with even limited intelligence can take the opportunity to learn something and run with it. A job is a job, and in this economy a job just isn't a job it's the difference between eatting or being homeless. Mr. Mantz is taking the worst of worst, people no one else will hire, and giving them an opportunity to learn something and maybe find a career to build a life with. Like I said, the two most successful salesmen I know started out with Kirby. They put in the hard work, put up lot's of crap, but rather than be quiters they excelled. They both have lovely homes, new cars every two years, very happy families. Now where will you be in 10 years?

Anybody notice how its the same poster " sinsationallyyours" that is defending the company repeatedly. How much do they pay you to come on here and try to defend against all the negativity against this company? If it really gave you the chance and unbelievable opportunity " sinsationallyyours" claims it does than wouldn't there be significantly more positive posts? I mean at least create a couple different accounts so it's not as obvious that you are probably their receptionist being paid to do this. I wouldn't suggest wasting your time with this "secure job placement", there is a reason 90% of what you find about these companies are bad..

Gabby22, how old are you, about 18 to 22? Did you finish high school? Have any extended education? How about criminal record? Why aren't you applying for executive posistions? My piont exactly, no experience! In this economy you are lucky to find a job anywhere, and you finally do, rather than take advantage of the situation, to learn you act like cry babies, unfortunately their is no adult daycare for able body, lazy people, however, Walmart, does still sell pacifiers, rather cheaply. A positionin sales needs to start somewhere, it is still a very successful, and secure job placement, but it takes TALENT, obviously these complainers have none of. Gabby22, yes the comments about a short skirt with no panties is tasteless, crude and obviously offensive, but I bet you laughed. If you people could learn to look past the the offensive language, especially since you heard worse in the halls of grade school, listen, learn, and run with it, then you may just develope a talent that will prove to be very valuable to your future. Mr. Mantz, a proud man, a man who has proved YOU CAN be successuful selling Kirby's is giving you this oppertunity, what will you do with it?

I just BARELY quit from there TODAY! I did the two days of training and i had decided that it was all a scam. The managers are weird and say stuff they shouldnt say. In our group interview one of the girls had asked "what should the girls where?" and he laughed and joked saying "short skirts and no panties" Being a lady myself i felt really uncomfortable! The way they want you to approach houses and people is NOT acceptable and the way the treat us is not as well. The whole thing is a scam, they scamed us to get us into their stupid interview. I applied to an ad on craigslist applying for data entry, when i get in i can CLEARLY tell this was not for data entry. Stupid vacuums everywhere. Its not what i applied for and even stave mantz had said "do you think if we would have put kirby vaccuum that people would actually respond to that" So he KNEW he was lying about the job

Kirby. it's self is amoung the Fortune 500 companies, but if you had.actually done the research you said you did you would know that. I personally know two very successful business men, whom started their career as Kirby Vacuum salesmen, but rather than belly ache about what they weren't getting they stuck out the tough learning curb time actually worked and learned work ethics and personal integrity and today both are successful business owners. This new generation is lazy and quick to [censor] without earning the right. Get a clue this company can teach you something if you are willing to learn, but you show up looking for a handout, well the West Valley office is not a soup kitchen, go home to your Mommy and let her coddle you, come back when you have grown up and really want to learn a career

After reading copious amounts of negative reviews describing almost the exact situation I am in I have decided to not take this offer and just not show up to training today, if anybody else from the training at today Friday the 25th and tomorrow Saturday the 26th at 2822 S Redwood Road, West Valley, Ut see's this and continues onto the actual job itself would you please write a review letting me know your own personal experience. 90% of what I have read and research about this local distributor and the Kirby company as a whole has stated basically that it's a [censor] scam. This is the reason I am declining to go today however if anybody with personal experiences with this specific distributor has anything positive to day I would like to hear it.

So I just got hired on at Savannah Distributing... at the same place on redwood by the same guy described above (long gray hair, goatee, older guy), as far as I can tell all he cares about is making money, which is all I care about as well. I am going into the first real day of training and I am supped to start on Monday after training today friday and tomorrow saturday. I got hired as a Customer service rep and we are supposed to be in teams as stated above, I am going to go through with the training to try and judge the company for myself and see if it is a legitimate company or [censor]. I will come back here after I have decided to give my opinion and state what exactly I did and if I made the money promised.

Wow! so much bitterness, by so many unemployed. I started in outside sales 30 years ago, I loved it! I think that this company gies jobs to many who are unemployable in other fields, they give them them a chance to better themselves, where no one else would. If you put in the work, you will profit from it, and if you are working as a team why not share the profit three ways with your partners?

I had an interview with this place earlier today, and I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one disgusted with their hiring tactics. From what it sounds like, we're all talking about the same guy. Long, grey hair in a pony tail, creepy face. He actually said to us, "I don't give a [censor] about your past, because that doesn't make me money." He dropped the f- bomb about three times, and made a joke about the receptionist's chest. I probably wouldn't have been so turned off if the guy wasn't so damn creepy.

I did the exact same thing as all the other people, I looked on craigslist to see this job offer. I had an interview today with this company but decided not to go because something just didn't feel right about how they set it up. I called the number [protected] and before I could even ask any questions about the company the man told me just to come in for an interview gave me the address which is 2822 S Redwood Road, West Valley, Ut and gave me a time then said wear something nice and I'll see you then and hung up. So first impression was "maybe this guy is just a busy guy" and that's probably what he wanted me to think but who just does that and doesn't ask questions? I appreciate the other posts so I didn't go in and waste my time! I hate people that try and deceive you!

I was just on Craigslist and responded to this add:

Date: 2010-05-17, 2:36PM MDT
Reply to: job-rpzkh-[protected]@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No experience necessary $300wk+ bonus! Call now! [protected]

•Compensation: 2000
•Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
•Phone calls about this job are ok.
•Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

PostingID: [protected]

- I called the number as instructed and asked operator what the company was, what the hours were, and what product the company sells to make a profit and she instructed me that I would need to come into the office on an interview to find out. I agreed and asked her what the address was. She told me it was 2822 S. Redwood Road, West Valley, UT and that the company name was Savannah Distributing. I immediately logged online to do some research on the company and found this among other posts. I have decided not to go in on the interview and appreciate the two others who posted their information and experiences with this company. Think twice. Beware.

I am also sickened and very distraught as the person above me has stated. I have been looking for a job on craigslist for a long time now and when I applied to this "customer service job" I thought things would change for the better. The entire training was extremely long and repetitive. The applicant pool mainly consisted of people right out of high school. The person who trained us was very sketchy, stating he had made over $150, 000. He told us he would introduce us to a bunch of other people who would talk about how they have also come to accumulate a whole bunch of money as well. Funny thing is that when one of the "customer service rep" that currently worked their came in to grab her stuff for the work day she didn't stop to talk to any of us, nor any of the others who work at this Kirby distribution. For our training we were all suppose to get "demos" and set our own appointments for the weekend so that we had practice when Monday came. Just this past Saturday morning, a couple of the other new hired employees were able to actually sell their kirby's. One kid said he sold it to his mother but that our manager gave his mother a really great deal with no commission. Also he stated he couldnt tell all of us how much money it exactly was. I realized then that this is the way we were suppose to make more than the base pay of "$1695." That for those customers who were savvy enough to talk down the initial price of $2, 495 of the Kirby "Home Cleaning Service" they would in fact save their money as opposed to paying the "customer service rep" who sold it to them and all the others working behind him/her their additional commission. Basically, if you are buying the Kirby, which I believe to be a good product, you are buying it for a price MORE THAN WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE TOO. You are actually buying it at that outrageous price to help put a couple of HUNDREDS more in a bunch of other people's pockets. This is where I stepped in and realized if I actually go through with this I would be ripping people of by having them believe this product is worth that much and that their hard earn money is going to give me a bonus, as well as my boss and god knows who else. Another thing is that they kept titling our positions as "customer service reps, " who go in and have to sell this product and the wording they used in training was that we are demonstrating the kirby, showing it if you will. Obviously we are selling it and they just wanted to dress it up, I believe to make us who are training believe that it was more cracked up then it was. Moreover, the method they went about training was very offensive, not only at times racist but sexists as well. Here are some of the comments:
-"You gottah have balls to go in their and sell the KIRBY"
-"These KIRBY's are great to sell to women, because women are the ones that clean the most... times have not changed"
-After telling a story to all the trainees about how we should tell the customers about how we should tell them about this contest we are in, as a tactic if not ploy to get them to want to purchase a KIRBY because it in turn would be helping us get closer to winning this all expense paid trip, the trainer turns to a young African American male and says "you could be like im a poor black man." Insinuating that he as an African American male can use such common stereotypes as humor." (I dont see the humor in racial disparities)
-After telling a story about how he sold KIRBY's in California, he started telling us about how Mexcian's were like by speaking with an accent as to mimick a Mexican person.

In any event, the entire ploy about making a bunch of money or a period of time is the scam. More importantly as many of these new hired employees are straight out of highschool I was deeply offended by the way the main trainer talked down higher education and those who obtain a degree. My trainer who I will not mention his name, but is quite the talker, stated in our very first training meeting that "why bother getting a degree and becoming a lawer or a doctor when you can make just as much as they do if NOT more than by selling the KIRBY?"

-RIGHT AS IF YOU DO NOT BECOME MORE EDUCATED ABOUT LIFE AND HOW TO BETTER SOCIETY IN HIGHER EDUCATION. Furthermore, even if one does amount a whole bunch of money from selling KIRBY's, YOU DID IT IN A FASHION THAT is disgraceful to those who actually WORK FOR A LIVING. IT IS IN FACT A SLAP IN THE FACE to the betterment of society. IF YOU SELL KIRBY's you CHEAT, SWINDLE and MANIPULATE the general in thinking that they are paying top dollar because that is what the KIRBY IS WORTH when in REALITY, YOU ARE PAYING MORE to PUT MORE MONEY in the pockets of SCAMMERS. Albeit, many of the employees, don't believe they are and are most likely UNCONSCIOUS of the real effects and methods of which they are selling KIRBY's.

The reality is this... plain and simple... my experience here at the West Jordan, Utah "Savannah Distribution" of KIRBY "home cleaning system" was HORRIBLE. I discourage anyone and everyone, young-old- to STAY FAR FAR FAR AWAY from any type of employment with this company. Be conscious of their very illusive ways of describing how you will accumulate sudden wealth.

-Undisclosed recipient who should've known better!