Tristar Products review: Tristar vacuum? What a joke! 23

We bought a TriStar a few years ago and I felt we were strong armed into buying. We also were lied to on a few things. They got into our home by pretending to show a air purifier which costs about $10-$20 at any big box store. Which stopped working about 2 months later. I don't remember all details and since my husband and I disagreed on buying this machine we didn't get the "bad or rude" insults some got. I did feel somewhat insulted during their presentation and they actually cleaned it and packed it up before I finally gave in to my husband's inability to say no. I actually gave in to save my husband's embarrassment. I did keep saying "No we can't afford this now and other such comments". They did mention my husband breathing problems and how this would help. (It has not helped at all. My carpet is no cleaner than the $60 vacuum I bought from Wal Mart does.) I insisted they return my fairly new vacuum from Wal Mart and they did. I did think if we both had been refusing and calling them out about the fake air purifier's scam they would have gotten more rude. However given my husband's age and mentioning him being a retired policeman they were less inclined to push too hard or try a bigger scam on us. The very reason I gave as not affording the payment is why we still can't afford a car payment now. Live and learn. We'll never allow a salesman in our house again. The ones posting negative about other posters are paid by Tri Star I can promise you. The internet is full of fake good reviews and it's a real job ( for people of no conscience) posting them.

I bought a TriStar. I spilled some popcorn. The TriStar vacuum won't pick it up. There isn't enough suction to pull it into the vacuum so it just jams in the hose.

I have found these pages of complaints because I am searching for information about the lifetime warranty on the motors I was promised by the home salesman who sold us our vacuum. We had the typical demo that we eventually fell for because the guy lowered the price so much and gave us the vacuum he used in his demo. Since I fell for it, my husband put his foot down that we would not finance and instead had to use money we had been saving to go to Hawaii with. It's been about 10 years and needless to say, I haven't been to Hawaii yet. The vacuum isn't bad. It wasn't great for us either. I couldn't expect my kids to ever help with the vacuuming because it was so clunky and bulky and their smaller fingers could not push down the buttons needed to change the attachments. It doesn't fit very well anywhere. Our salesman told us that if we didn't want to keep buying bags we could just use the cloth bag without a paper bag in it- then put it in the washer to clean it once in a while. Last year when I had it serviced for the first time at a local place, the repairman said that doing that will ruin the motor. Well, now it seems the motor isn't functioning properly even though we started using bags. So, I am trying to find out about the lifetime motor warranty he promised, which doesn't seem to be true. Long ago, the phone number we were given with the vacuum was no longer in service. No address. Now I have to decide if I want to pay to have it checked and fixed or if it's time for something new. Oh and by the way, all of the cool looking tricks they do in the demo...how many people actually do all that after they buy it? I just use it to vacuum the floor and once in a while clean the couches.

Again the only people whoever take the time most of the time to right a review are complainers! I'm here to tell ya the experience we had was great the product is great and me my mother and two friends own one. Of you don't like it don't buy, if you buy it and are unhappy cancel, or don't buy it in the first place! There's laws like the three days right to rescend put in place to protect people, so you tell me how can you be conned when you have 3 days to change your mind for andy or no reason at all! Theres is a business on Ashley st that has been there over 15 years...members of the bbb, a rating, members of the chamber of commerce..look it up people enviromental home protection! If they were doing something illegal how could they last that long and have a reputation like that? Please apply common sense before you read some of these reviews and make your own mind up!

I used to work for a distributor in Columbus, GA. He was an OK guy, but a salesman to the bone. He started out by pitching the product to us, and then offering us jobs selling them. He originally advertised a job working in a 'health product' store, moving around 'health equipment'.

Overall, it really is an impressive product. Unfortunately, I only ever sold one. Now, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the best salesperson; but there's also the whole '$4000 for a vacuum cleaner' bit. No one can afford that.

On my last pitch, a lady broke out her Dyson, and we basically had a showdown. She won, and I quit shortly thereafter. The Dyson may or may not last as long, but I know they still tend to last upwards of 5 years. Go with a Dyson and save your money, or buy a Tri-Star on eBay for like $300 if you're that impressed with it.

It's really not worth the money. And if you ever find yourself getting pitched the product during a job interview/training, just go sell cars if you think you're a good salesperson. At least that's something people need, and go into it knowing they're going to get fleeced.

Same outfit in Valdosta, Ga sold my parents (in their 70's) the Tristar vacuum and "gift" air purifier. They were living on a very small income in Tallahassee and were disabled with significant health problems. Somehow the salesmen convinced them this vacuum and air purifier would reverse some of their health issues so, with money they really didn't have, my parents bought the package deal. Subsequently, they barely used the vacuum due to their physical limitations and health issues. Both my parents have since passed away and if I could find the salesmen who sold this vacuum to them, I would ring their necks for preying on the elderly! I have inherited this "miracle" vacuum and quiet frankly, my Wind Tunnel can run circles around it! This is truly a company who only cares only about the money and with their sales tactics and substandard product, Tristar should be reported to the authorities. Anyone want to buy a used Tristar?

If you are selling a good product, you shouldn't have to lie and deceive to get in my house. Two guys dressed in scrubs claiming to be from a new allergy store in Valdosta got in to my house with some lie about spreading the word for allergy sufferers. They claimed to be demonstrating an air purifier and offered my husband a free gift just to let him come in and call his boss with our phone so he could get paid for doing his job. Soon after getting in, he claimed he had to run a quick errand and would leave the other guy here to so us something really cool in another box. You guessed it, a vacuum cleaner. By the time we knew this, his ride was gone. what was supposed to take 15 minutes, took two and a half hours. Finally my husband had to leave so I told them it wasn't going to happen cause I don't make payments on vacuum cleaners and i would help them pack. At this point, the guy got really pushy and lied and said my husband had already made a deal. I had to tell him to get . This type of pushy salesman tactic is ridiculous and should be illegal. If your vacuum is that good, word of mouth alone will sell it. If you have to go door to door and trick people into letting you in, somethings up.

These people tried to scam my grandparents. They wanted all kinds of personal information from them: bank account numbers, bank routing numbers, birth dates, full names, social security numbers. The whole lot. Why would they need to know this? They take advantage of the elderly, and tried to scam them EACH for $4800. thankfully we don't have carpet anymore, but they literally just tried to scam us with an air humidifier. One left to do some "errands" while the other stayed to continue to show the product to them. My grandparents told them that they were NOT interested in buying anything from Tristar again, and the man got agitated. I called the police and gave them their license plate number and everything, and when the officer arrived, the other man was still there. He told the man to pack his stuff up and get out of our house, that we didn't want them back ever. Beware of strangers going house to house!

My husband and I had a visit from Tristar, and our visit was similar to the others. They were very polite but very pushy. We told them from the beginning we were not going to buy anything. But they told us that they don't get paid to sell the product but just to show it. So we agreed to let them show it. About 3 hours later (when they knocked on my door we were headed out of town to a doctor's appt.) they showed us the package plans and we still told them we were not going to buy it. They kept pushing but we didn't give in to their tactics. I can see how people get sucked in and feel scammed later. I feel like they tried to destroy my vacuum cleaner so I would feel the need to buy theirs. They poured a whole box of baking soda on my rug and then used my vacuum to clean it up, purposely knowing that would clog my filter. My vacuum started blowing dirt out and they said "We don't know why it is doing that?" Yeah right, they knew what they were doing. So I cleaned my filter real quick and cleaned up the mess they left on my floor and sent them on their way. Needless to say they are no more than a traveling telemarketer and need not knock on my door again! When someone tells you they are not interested you should have the courtesy to turn around and leave instead of playing on people's good will.

Yeah apparently the product wasn't for you. I purchased a tristar from the valdosta store and have been nothing but happy with it. I have even checked on them in the better business bureau and they have an a rating, which coming from a fellow business owner is a hard thing to do. I also applaud them on them wearing scrubs and setting themselves apart from all the other companies out there that don't do business the way these proffesionals do. And lastly they do have a store on ashley street, I've been by there many times to get filters and bags.

There is always a chain of command in these corporations you can go to if your boss is harassing you. good luck to you OP!

sidenote: all of you telling bite me 1000 hes a troll and potty mouth should think about contributing something to this topic because none have done that yourselves... hypocrites.

Must be the same guys from Valdosta that came to us today. I can't believe I let them in, because I NEVER do that, but our family does deal with allergies and so I just got sucked right in. It was two young guys in a tan van. I just kept seeing more and more red flags, although I told them they were very slick. My mom has a tri-star that she bought on Ebay, so I know it's a good vacuum, but these guys kept referring to a store that didn't seem to exist. I kept questioning and the answers kept getting more and more vague. When I told them I them I just couldn't spend that kind of money right now, they wouldn't leave me any printed info either. They kept haggling, and would not take no for an answer. The price kept getting lower and lower and by this time I was losing my patience because they had already been there too long! After I quit talking, hoping they would get the hint and leave, the one guy that gave me the fake survey and testimonial letter as a way to get me to "name" a deal I could live with, offered to sell me the demonstrator for a ridiculously low price. I told him that it was too good to be true and that I was not going to give my financial info to run a credit check to anyone that just walked in my door. The guy that had been 5 minutes before so friendly that it creeped me out, started yelling at me, "What do you think I am, some kind of skanky crook!?, etc." I looked him dead in the eye and said, "Clean up your stuff and get out of my house!" As soon as they left, I called the police and went to talk to the neighbors. My two boys were at home with me and they have been scared all night. I just found out that they went to a friend's house in the next town. I could not find anything about the supposed allergy store in Valdosta. They came in dressed in scrubs and looked like they were from a home health supply store. I really think that's part of the way they sucker people into letting them come in. I learned a valuable lesson today!

I was scammed just yesterday evening (April 29, 2011). My husband, myself and our daughter were sitting on the deck having a beer celebrating my husband's b-day and our anniversary when this car pulls into our driveway and a young man gets out and comes to us and ask us if we had allergies, my husband and I of course said no, our daughter's family is bothered with allergies so she starts talking to them about an allergy center that has just opened in Valdosta, Ga.
Then there was another young man getting out of the car with this machine that is supposed to clean the air and he wanted to demonstrate it in the house and it wouldn't take but a few minutes. I of course told them I wasn't interested but my daughter convinced me to go inside with her.
Then they go to their car and come in with this big box. Our daughter then left to go home and I told them again I was not interested in this thing, I still didn't know what was in the big box. Well, it was a vacuum cleaner and all they wanted to do was show me how it worked OK I was willing to let them demonstrate while I continued to enjoy my beer, I kept telling them I was not interested in buying. One of the young men decided he needed to run an errand that of course left me in the house with one of them while my husband with no interest in this demonstration stayed on the deck by himself drinking his beer. I just kept telling him I did not need to have him demonstrate how dirty my carpet was I knew how dirty my carpet was because I had not run the vacuum in 2 days, I was wasting my breath. They had arrived and interrupted our little celebration at approx 4:30 pm and did not leave until approx 10:00 pm. I became really impressed with the vacuum and decided to find out how much it cost. $3195.00 but they would give me money off for (approx $600-$700) my old vacuum and somewhere in there they also would give me approx $600. for 3 cans of food to donate to the food bank in Georgia. Needless to say I fell for the scam and agreed to purchase the vacuum on a payment plan. By the time we had finished I was in debt with interest @ 9.9 approx total for said vacuum is $3700. After they had finally left my husband said I don't believe you got conned like that, I pride myself in being intelligent so I did not like that and disagreed; I did start thinking about what had happened and decided, yes I had been scammed and kept thinking of how much this vacuum was going to cost me I could have done some more home improvement with that kind of money; wala I decided to call the main office at approx 10:45 pm and told them I had changed my mind and they are supposed to pick up the vacuum today and return my check for the down payment. I am waiting with bated breath for this to happen because if I do not hear from them soon I will be on the phone with the sheriff's office. I may do that anyway because if I can protect someone else from this scam it will be my duty to report this scam; I have decided I am going to report it anyway.
Thank you hope this helps someone else not to be scammed by this company..

Oh yeah...we were supposed to get a free grill...we never got that either.

We were the victims of this kind of stuff too. The vacations they offered are not free...you have to choose three and they let you know what you get...and they want a credit card. The vacuum gets hot...really hot. It is clumsy and hard to store. It is always getting clogged up behind the brush part. Every now and then the rotating brush won't even work. We have had this albatross for about 4 months and just can't believe what a piece of crap we are paying so much money for. We just want to get rid of the darn thing and out of the payments. Does anyone know how to do that?

does anyone know how to get out from under this frigigin 1800. vacuum?

does anyone know how to get out from under this frigid 1800. vacuum?

I disagree with all these complaints. There is nothing wrong with the tri-star home cleaning system. Most people are just to blind to see that the TRI-STAR HOME CLEANING SYSTEM and the PURE-STAR TRUE HEPA filters will keep a superiorly more Healthy Home than any vacuum ever can. This saves money over the life of ownership( which is 25 years or more) by protecting home, furnishings, and health. You pay for high quality materials, AMERICAN MANUFACTURING LABOR WAGES, distribution costs and of course the professional sales person . YES THE SALES PERSON DESERVES TO MAKE $$, TOO. If the salesman or saleswoman are rude or not properly trained, then that reflects on that person and the distributor they work for. NOT THE PRODUCT. If you feel like you are being scammed and you opened up your wallet to buy, then look in the mirror- YOU'LL SEE THE PROBLEM STARING BACK! YOU are probably such a SHEEP that you read one of these blogs and changed your mind because of another idiot. You can't force anyone to buy anything.
Furthermore, people don't want to work hard. It takes money to make money. So if new representatives quit in training, its because they are the type of people that should only be flipping burgers, digging holes, or possible bagging groceries. Any sales takes a hard working, dedicated and most especially a respectful person . Rude sales people fail at their professions.
As for people who say the machine doesn't have suction, thats BS. They probable don't wash out their filter bag, as required for proper operating use. After all it is a filter and if not maintained eventually is will start to clog- just like ordinary vacuums. The difference is ordinary vacuums lose power in minutes, NOT MONTHS LIKE A IMPROPERLY MAINTAINED TRI-STAR. After all they built a GREAT machine, NOT A MIRACLE machine.
HONESTLY people are scammed by marketers in TV ads, print Ads, infomercials. TRI-STAR has one of the few AMERICAN PRODUCTS available. These distributors can't afford TV ads, and lets face it a machine like this and their other products are HOME CARE products! If you care about your home and family then the best place to see the TRI-STAR is in your home~ NOT ON A RETAIL SHELF IN A BOX. It is worth seeing it in action in the home.
Everyone has opinion, but most unfavorable comment about tri-star are simply cry baby former employees that could'nt hack it or owners that don't know how to care for the machine. Buy CHINESE if you want inferior product and support their country, if thats what you want!
I hope anyone reading this and has not seen a TRI-STAR home cleaning system, have an open mind, you don't have to buy it. IF the sales person is rude kick them out and report that to the company.
I love my TRI-STAR, it keeps me and my family HEALTHIER and my home HEALTHY.

This poster has every right to complain. The sales reps ARE part of the company, and regardless of the outcome, if the experience was more than just unsatisfactory due to a good-faith misunderstanding or an honest mistake then it needs to be aired as part of the company's dirty laundry. What's worse is that this seems to be common practice for this company. Many of the nasty sales tactics listed on this board I experienced for myself, and I thank goodness that posters like these wrote about these experiences so that I would know that I was not the only one this was done to, what recourse I might have, and which companies to avoid in the future. I don't care if Tristar is a good vacuum. I don't care if there are a handful of sales reps who are honest. There are enough of those that are dishonest and use the SAME illegal and aggressive techniques that I feel a warning for customers is downright obligatory. If dozens of complaints came in about Flash food employees, across the years and states, stealing customer's credit card numbers, you don't say "well, not all of them are doing it so why post." One random employee does it, it's a mistake. A series of unconnected salespeople do it...it's a problem the company should address or else handle the consequences of having their reputation questioned. This, to me, is far worse than an unreliable product or spotty product service. A BBB report peppered with hundreds of comments about intimidation tactices. Salesmen breaking the law (yes, these actions ARE illegal). Threatening customers. Using strongarm tactics against the elderly and young women. In your mind, these don't reflect badly on a company? Really?

Perhaps it is you who should think before you speak.

I had a similar experience I just posted about...a two man team that was very aggressive. You're lucky that you were both there. I was alone and am not shame to admit that I felt scared in my own home, the way they were acting. I ended up purchasing but then called the office and cancelled my order right away. Luckily they did have a home office and I was able to cancel the order...something a lot of other customers never had the fortune of doing. It was my first and only time dealing with door to door salesmen (other than the Swanns man, whom I know through my place of employment and who is very nice and not at all pushy). Never again though. Never again.

Everything I read from the complaints rang true for our experience. Although the product is very good and we are currently enjoying the vacuum and air cleaner, their sales tactics/practices are old school and HORRIBLE. I gave the benefit of the doubt during the entire "sales process"with them, but now am appalled that everything negative I experienced is general practice for them, not just an individual bad rep or finance company. I sold cars for 7 years and never experienced such seedy practices.

The way we got hooked into the sales pitch is similar to others - the request for us to give a product opinion was totally bogus. They promised 30 mins of our time turned which out to be 3+ hours. It ended closer to 10:00pm, so we were exhausted, hungry and it was on a school night with very young kids. We, too, got financing when we probably shouldn't have. They claimed they HAD to take our current vacuum as part of a discount of the deal. I now believe it was so we were out of a vacuum if we decided to have a change of heart. Specific details, like taking away the $500 air cleaner that was already promised, were not mentioned while "negotiating" price. But, I caught it before signing and made some of my own demands at that point. Overall we got a decent deal in comparison to what others seem to have paid, but the experience has left a very bad taste in my mouth too.

Yes, it appears that you just had a bad experience with a salesman. This doesn't have a lot to do with the company or the product for that matter, as sometimes the company will not know the actual personality types of their salesmen/saleswomen. Lots of people can act and/or lie on resumes!

As for the vacuum, I love my Tri Star! The vacuum works amazingly and I can't even believe the crap that we were leaving behind or that was stored in the carpet. The salesman that WE had was friendly. He didn't insult us or anything weird like that. I would definitely recommend this vacuum to anyone!

I just don't understand if you think the product is good, why would you write neg. things about this company, you weren't even there.

I don't work for this company I work for a different direct sales company, I think that you need to think before you speak.