Tristar Products review: Total scam! 104

Hey, I just read the comment from John Walker. Now there's a real piece o work. You will notice that particular bottom feeder didn't let us know what office he worked out of, mainly because he has at least a low 2 digit IQ that not only tells him that scamming will eventually land his big mouth in jail, but he'd get his [censor] fired for posting crap like that. I might of shook your hand, but it wouldn't ever cost me a cent and might have cost you a tooth or two. Loser. I'd kick your shins till you bled to death.

I just want to say I own a "little gray pig", a Tristar system I purchased..wow, in 1992 or 93. I refuse to give it up. Nothing beats it, nothing at all. Plus, even as old as it is, it's fixable when something breaks on it or wears out, though I've not had anything wear out in all those years. My experience with the demonstration was a good one. However, there is no excuse, ever, for any salesperson to be rude to a potential customer. That guy needs to get another job, maybe detailing cars; anything that doesn't require a lot of customer/human contact. You should have just smiled and told him the filth you live in was no where NEAR as bad as the ignorance flowing out of that public [censored]house he called a mouth. Then kicked him, literally, out of your house. By the way, you are blessed. The new Tristars don't come half way up the wheels of the old one. They suck, but badly. :)

yep waht a scam i can buy one on line for 700.00 why do i need to spend 2600.00 its a big scam and if you look at what you are going to be paying for the filter to i can get a bagless one that works just as good as the tri star and then to tell my air in my house was bad what joke i have fresh air sys on my house so she put in a small room to show us how good it works will the joke on them it did nothing

I just want to say that I am sorry for any of the unfortunate comments above. Like a couple of posts, I was very fortunate. Our salesman arrived on time. He showed us our free gift for just coming and listening to him, a $20 gift card to Wal-mart (he had receipt of purchase in his hand). He showed us the air purifiers then showed us the Tristar. I have a Dyson and was shocked on how it did not clean my carpet like I thought it was suppose to. We were given an awesome deal, bought the Vacuum, got a free air purifier, liquid purifer and a years worth of bags and a years worth of shampooing for our carpets. And all of our stuff was in a box, brand new and even checked to make sure that there was nothing wrong with our product before he left. He even left us all paperwork needed, proof of sale, and a business card. Told us repeatedly to call if we had any problems with anything. I was very satisfied with my experience.

as a tristar salesman i agree with all of i hate my job the company i work for is a con so if you live anywhere in central florida and someone comes to your door offering you free gifts for your opion slam the door in there face the only reason i do this is because i cant find another jobs and for you other tristar saleman acting like your a customer on this blog just to let you know iin the 5 months ive worked here ive made the elite 8 htree months in a row so i dont think i cant hack it i just have a soul and i dont like ripping people off and to everyone else im sorry for the trouble that tristar con artist cause you

there is no name on the doors.
the map i made did not save properly.
hope this is helpful to people
tristar vacuum scam

this is an add on to the above

9413 45Ave edmonton ab T6E 6B9

flush is the grand prize winner. they are obliged to give the prize or they get fined.
who ever did not get a prize can report them. In Edmonton they are located on 45Ave above a cabinet store.
across the road from crystal glass

...(x) location of tristar ...

============45ave===================
...(y) location of crystal glass distribution center
9413 45ave
take 51 ave to 93rd st make right
93rd st becomes 45 ave
tristar distribution is on the second floor go at 1 pm you will find the managers there.
both doors upstairs is tristar. the one to the left is the distributor. the Boss of Edmonton tristar

the building they are located in, is the one west of 94th street NW on 45th ave
how this helps people resolve problems in Edmonton AB

As a newlywed couple we bought our first TriStar vacuum in 1986. I agree that the hard sell was there, but it wasn't all that bad and we expected it. We bought our vacuum for about $700. It worked great and with minor repairs lasted for at least 20 years. When we divorced we both wanted the vacuum. Now it is five years later and we replaced the older model with two EX20s, one for each of us. We couldn't be happier. Got them both on the internet used for $200 and $175 respectively. Sorry you all had a hard time, but we didn't. We still prefer this rugged little bugger over anything else we've tried before. I expect these vacuums will outlive us both. So, as previously stated, get one off of eBay or Craigslist and then you'll be getting a great price for a great product. Cheers, R & S.

I wish there was a way to agree more whole-heartedly. Not only was I one who was duped by this company, I was "employed" with them. I say employed like that because usually a "job" entails making some kind of money. I think the whole ordeal was entirely a hoax and a big joke. I mean, ok, I did like the product, it was very nice and everything. But, and that is a huge but, the way they go about the business is something yet to be desired. I honestly feel that this company (along with those Kirby folks as well, but that is an entirely different story!) is the reason (or a big reason, anyway) why salespeople get such a bad rap. I am here to tell you that the way they conduct business is deceitful, conniving and low. Starting off with the way they advertise their ad for new hires in the newspaper. They make it sound like you will be getting paid somewhere between $13-15/hour (roughly). Then, when you go in for an interview, they tell you that you are not just strictly commission-based; you are guaranteed some form of an income. If you don't make so many sales a month, you are able to get a base lump sum. If you go over so many sales you don't qualify to get that. So, at the time, I am thinking that no matter how good or bad I do, I will get paid all the same. However, they neglect to tell you the fact that in order to get that guaranteed money each month, you had to have run at least 55 appointments each month! They way they were set up was Monday-Friday, you would have 3 appointments and Saturday, 2. That only leaves Sundays as your only official day "off" and if you wanted a day off all you needed to do was let them know 3 days in advance, but that turned out to be useless as well. So math aside, you were potentially able to get well over 55 appointments... Of course, we know this isn't going to be the case! Coming in new, you were lucky to get ANY appointments at all. All the "good hitters" were given all the good leads. Not to mention the state of our lovely economy right now. I was only there a month becuase I needed something called MONEY. I had bills to pay and things of that nature. I could not afford waiting to "get lucky" with a sale. It would have been one thing if they paid for your gas in order to go out to people's homes, but you had to pay for everything. Thankfully I didn't have to buy any product, then try to sell it! I finally got another job, and it is sad to say that my first 2 hours of employment elsewhere (and bear in mind that that was only making minimum wage at $7.30/hour) was already more than I made the whole month I was employed for TriStar. Do not only beware of TriStar, beware of all private subsidiaries. Tristar is the big company, but you are likely to hear from the people from the small owned branches. Where I worke was called Sonstone LLC, even though they were affiliated with TriStar. Take it from somebody who was on the inside, BEWARE!

My wife answered a "Texas Hold 'EM" card that we had recieved in the mail and "won" a prize. As soon as I heard they had a demonstration to go through before giving any prize, I knew it was a scam. Quatliy products at a quality price do not need an angle to get in your house.

Anyway, since she had already agreed ot listen to the presentation we let him in, even though he was two hours late. He was supposed to show up at 7:00pm, but got to our home at 9:00pm, but it's only a 1/2 hour presentation so - no big deal. Well the presentation ended up being over an hour - and the the hard sell begins.

THE DEMONSTRATION IS A GIMMICK.

The whole coffee filter thing? Try that wih your current vacuum and it'll probably pick up some sut from wherever he already cleaned with the Tristar.

The "50-90%" lost suction as soon as your vacuum bag or filter get's a little dust in it (he told us 5 seconds of vacumming... Just turn on your vacuum, stick your hand over the nozzle and see how much suction it has. Then vacuum the floor and test again. You won't feel much if any difference.

"It's also an air purifier" - Look at the size of the "air purifier filter". Why not get a furnace mount unit or a portable unit for a fraction of the price that does the whole home?

THE HARD SELL

Of course the salesman is a struggling student - they all are. He has a list of questions, which are designed to generate "yes " answers but aren't really about the vacuum.

Do you value a clean home? Is your home an investment worth maintaining? Does it cost money to clean your home? If you owned the Tristar, would you use it?

The price is $2998, but as soon as I say "no thanks" the price drops to $2398 instantly (but only if I buy today)
The unit comes with a 25 year guarantee (only if you by today).
They offer a no charge repair for 25 years if you damage the unit due to operator error (only if you buy today).
They will give me $600 for my old built in vacuum, which they donate to charity (only if I buy today)
They offer free use of their rug shampooer any time I want for the next 25 years (only if I buy today)
The unit comes with a free gift I can chose from his catalauge (only if I buy today)
They can actually drop teh price even further - down to $1800 (only if I buy today and I can't tell anyone because it's a deal reserved for friends and family - very confidential)
They offer no money down and $100 dollar / month payments (only if I buy today, and I can't tell anyone because this is a special offer only reserved for friends and family - again very confidential)

Anyway, it took a long time to get rid of him. They are trained to not take no for an answer! It was past 11:00pm before he finally left.

I never make a big purchase before doing some research and taking time to think it over. Any sale or deal that is "only valid today - must buy right now" is going to be a scam.

...If I had known your story sooner...
Yesterday came to my house a Tri-Star salesman for a demonstration and apparently a forced sale.
Then he handed me a phone to talk to his "boss" to explain the reasons for not wanting to buy the vacuum and I told him I already had one, he replied "I can not sale soap to pigs"!

Obviously I threw the salesman out of my home along with all his stuff and extremely angry and disgusted at Tri-Star Brand.
If in the future I had considered buying the vacuum, after yesterdays episode not in my wildest dreams!

Needles to say this case will be reported to local television, local newspapers and Consumers Association of Canada.

I sold Tristars for 4 years and loved it. I made great money and was recognized on a regular basis for doing a good job (something many companies would be wise to do). I was promoted into management and eventually opened my own distributorship. I can definitly understand how some people would be pissed off though. How we recruited was mildly deceptive but how we got into customers homes to demonstrate was not. We offered people a gift for their time. If they didn't want to participate (and many didn't) they simply said "No Thanks". IF you tell people they're gonna sell vacuums when recruiting though they don't even show up for the interview. Many excellant reps who made a career out of sales would have never even discovered the opportunity that direct sales can offer. And simply hoping that people would understand the benifits of owning a Tristar without doing a complete inhouse presentation is wishful thinking, thats why they aren't sold in stores. Everything that I have is because of the experience I gained from the Tristar business. I still own a Tristar and love it even though I have moved on to running a new business selling medical products. For every negative comment on this site I guarantee there are 50 to 100 happy customers. The problem is happy people don't rant and rave about how happy they are, only angry people do.

I have researched quite a bit about Tri-Star Systems and all the complaints seem to revolve around their sales practices. No wonder people have a preconceived notion about salesmen. My brother-in-law actually just started working for them. And that was why I even came across this post. I have to say that the gifts are a trick to get into your home. As for the hard sell, that is the way door to door products are sold. Which has to get you thinking, if the products are so great (well, at least as good as they claim) then why do they stick with the door to door thing? A lot of people would be willing to pay top dollar for something that is supposed to be THAT much better.

I don't agree with hard sells, it just creates tension. And as for the insults, I believe that these salesmen need to grow up. And to address the living in filth thing, if you lived in an environment devoid of any germs and bacteria, your immune system would have been so weakened, that when you get exposed to it outside your home, you would become more ill than a person living in a "filthy" home.

I'll just put it this way, when I was asking questions to my brother-in-law about what is was he was selling, he already had the automatic responses that the company had devised down pat. Even when I used facts and logic, he would go back to what they had trained him with. So the conclusion is this, don't let vacuum salesman, or any door to door salesman into your home. Save yourself the headache, the "gift" really isn't worth it. If you want a Rainbow, or Tri-Star, or whatever type of vacuum, buy it online at a 75-90% discount.

I agree 100%. I sold one of these machines to some poor lady, not knowing of course that the sent me back with one that had no box. Which means she can not return it and here warranty is void! Oh did I mention they still owe me $250.00 for the sale and have moved their office and changed he numbers. Curt Wages is his name I think, he lies so much I would not bet on it though. One thing is for sure, if he comes across my path we, will have some word at least!

The $250.00 is not the bad part though, I wish I would have kept one of these machines so i could at least have gotten paid for the terrible thing I did to this lady. I would go tell her, but there is nothing I can say, he fooled me as well as her.

A lot of these complaints seem to be about either lax/poor salesmen or people not reading or listening before agreeing to things. That six-reference thing we ask for? It's printed plainly beneath where you put the names that only married couples with at least one of them employed or professional singles qualify, etc.

As for the prices we list for our competitors, I *did* Google them before I did any sales pitches because I don't (personally, not speaking for all TriStar salespeople) lie to potential customers. I believe in creating a positive experience so we don't get blacklisted. We're obviously not listing prices for our competitors' low-end products, but the deluxe home models because IT'S MARKETING.

The thing is, our salespeople are not going to be the next Billy Mays. Our office hires anyone who walks in, has a driver's license, and passes a forgiving background check. We get three days' worth of training and are *required* to call in after the first no to let our manager objectively pressure the prospect into buying, even when I, as a person who's talked with the customer, knows they shouldn't be buying it unless they're financially comfortable. As such, I warn the people before I even start my demo that my boss can be pushy and to please understand that I meant it when I said, "no obligation to buy anything."

Having done a few presentations, I stopped asking a lot of the questions printed in the book. How is ANYone going to answer, "Do you sweep?" That's just offensive.

Oh, and the reason we don't call it a vacuum? Look up vacuum in the dictionary. The TriStar isn't a vacuum cleaner, but neither is any other vacuum cleaner. They're airflow cleaners, if anything. It's a semantic argument, I know, but still.

The reason we don't leave the box? You're less comfortable having it picked up if you change your mind when you can't pack it up all nice and neat.

If you're offended by the dust we pick out of your stuff, when the salesperson isn't doing their job AT ALL. No one wants to buy from a jerk, and I'd rather have people not buy, but let me show their friends. That way, only people who want it and want it at the price for which I'm offering it will buy it, and everyone's happy. Well, not my boss, but I can live with that.

Oh, and I'm not speaking for all offices; just ours. We're encouraged to have a cell phone charged and ready so we're not fumbling for numbers or costing the customer money. We're also told not to lie to the customers because, as it noted a ways above, we're not employees, but independent contractors. What we say is what we're beholden to, not TriStar LLC. To paraphrase our training director, if we say it does something, it better do it, because that's our ###.

All that said, I do own one, and I love it. I've personally taken the TriStar up against some great vacuum cleaners in playful competition with prospects and know that the TriStar is a great product. Deep down, though, I do sometimes say, "Well, I could have settled for a cheaper one."

Wow...this has been quite the amusing evening! Do people even read comments, or just feel the need to express themselves?

Since this event (that of witnessing a vacuum demo) is one in which everyone should experience (cummon...who doesn't want to say they've done it?) I shall share my experience with you. But first I'd like to say that I have actually read EVERY comment, so, if there is repetition, I apologize.

I am in the process of building a new home and as such, am looking for new products to fill the home with. I received one of those lovely Bingo cards and...surprise surprise, I won a prize! I must inform you that I am surely no fool...I knew there was no prize. My teaching is done for the semester, and I thought it would be interesting to take some time and see this presentation (not for the product necessarily, but for the presentation. I have been in sales before, and like to see the techniques people use).

I called the number on the Bingo card at around 5 pm this evening. They asked a few questions, including what I did as a profession.

A sales rep was here by 7:30 pm...the same day.

"Suspicion #1: If this machine is so great, how the heck are they able to see me within 3 hours of calling them? It took almost a week to get someone in to do an estimate for my window coverings!"

Kathy was very lovely, but a tad underdressed for a sales pitch.

"Suspicion #2: Who does a product demonstration in lululemon pants?!?!"

She read her script, with the continual annoying YES questions, and showed me how the machine worked. Okay...I was truly impressed. The machine worked very well. Reading about the flour comment though, I am not so I'm impressed anymore.

We spoke for a bit, and she informed me that she was a student (ha...go figure), and told me that she was also aiming to be a teacher.

"Suspicion #3: First of all, she said she was in school to be a teacher, not that she was in an Education program. Second of all...they already asked what I did as a profession and they expect me to believe this girl just so happens to be in the same field? HA."

After the demo, she used MY phone to call her Boss, with whom she addressed as a Mr.

"Suspicion #4: This one is two-fold...first, she used my phone so they could screen my calls when they saw me calling to complain (if I had purchased the machine). Second, she asked for Mr. when calling her boss. Who the heck refers to their boss as Mr. unless you're a teacher speaking around children?!?! If anything, I've only heard someone call their boss Dr."

When speaking with the Boss, I discovered that he too was in school (HA!). Oh yes...he was in pharmacy and doing his practicum.

"Suspicion #5: As a teacher, my job is to prepare my students for the future. As such, I happen to know a thing or two about different careers and the education needed. He was lying and had no clue I could call his bluff."

So, I played with him. There was this "great" neutralization system to be sold with the vacuum, and I asked about the solution. On the bottle of the solution it claims that the product actually denatures the protein of different bacteria, etc. So, of course, being the science teacher that I am, I asked what it was in the product that did this.

"Suspicion #6: He didn't know! But he could find out in 24 hrs. Too bad my great 25 yr warranty wouldn't be received if I waited until then. But hey, no pressure. Also, if he was in his final semester of pharmacy, I'm sure he would be more than too interested in finding out what it is in this product that works so magically."

I have never in my life shopped for a vacuum before, but I didn't need to, as they just so happened to have the prices of some comparable brands. I was floored. Who in their right mind would buy a vacuum for over $3000?!?! I am glad I love research, because right after she left I checked those products. NONE listed prices ANYWHERE near what this TriSTAR company was claiming. This is plain and simple lying (yes, you guys do lie! Perhaps not about your wonderful purification system...).

I told the Boss that I was buying my house with my sister, and needed to consult her on the purchase of our home purifying system. Right away he told me that she would reject my proposal of the purchase because she wasn't there to see what this machine could do.

"Suspicion #7: If he believed in his product so much and was comfortable with the price-point, he should have had no problem with me consulting her." *This was at the $1700 price...not the original $3000 quoted.

I called my sister twice, but she did not pick up. So, I thought, why not call my mom? Mom's are usually good with advice, so why not? As soon as I told her the price, she just about choked. Lucky for me she was entertaining some guests, and they all suggested this price was WAY beyond a reasonable one (recall that I had no clue how much a vacuum system should go for before this time).

So, I told Kathy that I must reject the purchase at this point in time, but may have someone come do another demo at my future home (hey, the offer was only good for the household, not the person!).

Right after the sales rep left, I found this site. Thank goodness! I am glad I am not $1700 in the hole for a freakin' vacuum. Btw...she told me that she didn't believe half her boss' BS either! :P

I just recently bought the TriStar. I did a phone survey (which I never do, but for some reason I did this time) I did not know what it was for but I answered like 5 simple questions on allergies and stuff. Then the same number called back a few days after saying because I did the survey I get a gift. So a person was to bring me the gift and I had to watch a demo. We are not at all in the market for a new vac, and went into the demo very negative, but by the end we were so impressed with it we both wanted (my hubby and I) so we got the $3600 vac for $1050 after 2 hours of negotiation on our terms for a payment plan with nothing down and no interest for 1 year. So we will pay it before the interest hits AND we negotiated so good they gave us the "Mini Star" part that they wanted $250 for it and we got it for $60 Haha. I feel like we took THEM to the cleaners. ;) I LOVE my TriStar I recommend it to anyone, BUT not for $3600, just be stubbern and they will come down and down and down until they really cant go any lower. It is a fantastic machien and cleans awesome and the attachment are so usefull and the reusabel bag is great, my floors have never been cleaner and I use the hard floor vac part on so many things, like my bulk head beams on the roof, my windoe frames and ledges the speakers, my ceiling fan... LOVE IT!

I kindof enjoy seeing through sales pitches, so when we got the bingo card I let them come demo the tristar. Some things looked pretty good, like the fact that sand piled up in a way that the filter never got plugged. I even had the salesman vacuum up some lint which is light enough I expected it to cake the filter, but it didn't. Impressive. The "mini" for doing furniture and stairs looked pretty cool too. But, here's the problem. The demonstrations don't actually prove it is superior.

You have to know though, I cut my teeth repairing anything that broke. Vacuums, egg beaters, garden tractors... It eventually led me to mechanical engineering. That said...The salesman showed me how when he vacuumed something with our vacuum and then went over it with the tristar (with coffee filter) he could still pick up dirt. Then he went over it again (more dirt) and again (more dirt). This is supposed to show that your vacuum still leaves a bunch of dirt in the carpet. So does the tristar, and they even prove it by going over it and picking up more dirt each time they change the coffee filter. The reality is that no vacuum will take out all the dirt, not even the tristar. In fact, I'd wager if you could put a coffee filter between the beater bar and the cannister of your current vacuum you'd still pick up dirt even after the tristar has been over it 25 times.

Another demo he did was to put a coffee filter on the end of the hose and put a 4" furniture end on to demonstrate how quickly a filter bag gets plugged. This is supposed to show that you lose suction very quickly once the filter bag gets caked with dirt. However, the filter bag is much larger than the 1.25" filter he just demonstrated. Don't beleive me? Change the bag (or clean the filter) on your existing vacuum, then while the vacuum is running put your hand over the hose before and after vacuuming for 10 minutes. You might feel a difference, but I bet you still have pretty good suction. I haven't changed the bag on our built in kenmore in over 2 yrs. You'd think if bags get caked and clogged so easily that it wouldn't have much suction right? I made him put a coffee filter over the hose on ours (wanted to see if the more powerful built in would get affected as much) and it ripped a hole through the filter before we even filled the filter with dust. Oops!

Here's a few other half truths you might not want to believe...
a) It's built to last much longer than your existing vacuum. It might outlast an upright, but I don't know of anybody that has had to replace a built in because it quit working. Both my parents and my in-laws have had their built ins for over 25 years. Nothing they can show you in an hour (or 3-4hrs) can prove that it will last any longer than a $50 walmart special. Don't believe it just because its not made of plastic or because the salesman told you so.
b) Your current vacuum is broken because its not doing what you bought it for (to pick up dirt). If you trust this statement, even the brand new tristar is broken since it doesn't pick up all the dirt.
c) The cost to manufacture the tristar is $1798 (or some other number the salesman makes up). This is pure BS. Sorry, I design consumer products for a living. I've never done a vacuum, but I'd guess the cost to make a vacuum is probably alot closer to $100.
d) Suction(negative pressure to be technical) doesn't pick up dirt, flow rate does. This is actually kindof true, particularly when it comes to deeply embedded dirt. However, pressure (or negative pressure) and flow rate are related. A good vacuum would have a high flow rate at a fairly low pressure. A flowmeter would be the best comparison here. I mentioned our vacuum breaking the coffee filter. The filter does allow airflow through it, so for a given amount of resistance, our built in pulled enough volume of air that the pressure in the hose exceeded the strength of the coffee filter.
e) The tristar is good value. Really? compared to my $400 kenmore? My spare $300 Eureka (with HEPA filter)? Or how about compared to this 3hp industrial dust collection system: http://www.grizzly.com/products/3-HP-Cyclone-Dust-Collector/G0441. I don't think so. You may not want to install an industrial dust collector in your house, but it certainly would have airflow!

The point is, the tristar looks nice, filters well, and might last awhile. But for $1800 you've got to be kidding!

Lewisville North Carolina. The salesman, Michael, was great. We had a very informative demo and decided to buy the machine. I LOVE it. It gets up more than any vacuum I have ever owned and I feel my house is much cleaner. We paid about 1800 for it, and I do think it was worth every penny. Let them demo and see how nasty your house is. YUCK.

well, ive sold kirbys this way, and if everyone reads all these comments, you should look up a kirby. thats the sole and only machine that does everything, vacuum, carpet shampooer, hard surface polisher, and more. ive sold, but morally cannot lie to someone and do all that ### to people. i just knocked doors cause thats the only way its advertised, stated my purpose, and people either loved or hated me, because they have either had one or had a bad sales experience. kirby has been around since 1906, and the first machine mass made was 1914. there is no competitor, be it rainbow, tristar, dyson, oreck, hoover, etc. i have traded them all, compared them, and still stick with a kirby. average price with a kirby and shampooer attachment, 2k is cool, most dealers get a percentage

I bought a Ti-Star vacuum cleaner and have now owned it for 7 years. The thing is a piece of crap. It is so poorly designed and constructed that its like a flimsy piece of cheap knockoff crap from China. The plastic base plate of the power head has broken once and the neck for the power head has broken 3 times! Trying to drag this turd around the house is another pleasure since whoever the ###ed monkey ###er who designed it obviously never once tried to use it. The stupid thing has two bumper wings on it that get caught on anything and everything as you pull it along. To say that this was a waste of $2500 dollars would be an understatement. The sales pitch was over the top and high pressure as I remember.
In a nutshell, I feel qualified as a long time owner and former mark that I am qualified now to give this product a rating of -10. If anyone showed up on my doorstep now to try and sell me one of these poorly designed pieces of crap I would chase them off my property with a base ball bat!

Same B.S I've Went Through, Well I Got A Bingo Card In The Mail. Played It & It Turns Out I Won.. So Ive Invited The "Tri Star Team" Into My House Cleaned My Rugg LOL I Was Pretty Suprized With The Vac. Well Turns Outt I Didnt Get My Winning Prize? Trying To Sell Me A $3800 Vac Thats Crazy Talk! Gimme The $5, 000 Winning & Ill Buy It LOLS Turns Out The Sale Man Lives A Block Away From Me Lol Gave Me Printed Out 3 Days & Two Nites Accommodation Ticket What A Waste Of Time! Get A Real Job!

The paris hilton commercial was actually Carls Jr

looks like i got scammed too. A friend of mine became a salesman for this company and asked me if he could practice his demo at my house. So, since he was my friend I said yes. He had no idea what he was getting himself into and neither did I. I WISH I HAD GOOGLED "TRISTAR SCAM" FIRST! i am so ashamed. They tell you if you listen to the presentation and refer 4 people you get the free air purifier machine. SCAM- AFTER you give them your friends names and numbers they tell you the people ARE NOT qualified for one BS reason or another and do not give you your promised gift. (but now they have the leads and can use them later) Theres scam one. SCAM TWO if you buy today you get 1, 000 off.. making the stupid vaccume a meer $2, 600 and you get a FREE 5 day vacation package to the Bahamas. Yes, i know this smelled scam but i figured id help out my friend - buy the stupid vaccume and get the cruise as the payoff. WRONG! I NEVER GOT THE CRUISE! he did not have the "paperwork with him" and his boss said he would get it too me "soon"... when i called the "office number" to complain no one answered - EVER! my salesmen friend said "i dont understand my boss just keeps saying its been taken care of"! SCAM THREE if you buy the tristar you can come to our office and borrow our rug cleaner machine when ever you want... SCAM how the heck are you supposed to do that if they never answer the phone AND THE OFFICE ADDRESS IS NOT ON YOUR PAPERWORK ANYWHERE. and to top it all off they charged my credit card FIVE TIMES! YES I SAID FIVE TIMES! AND i cant get a hold of them. and i didnt realize all this untill my 3 days were up.. so now "i cant return it" lovely. just lovely. now i have to spend more money getting a lawyer to go after these terrible horrible people. This couldnt not possibly be any worse unless the vaccume cleaner killed me. Warn your friends.

I think this whole blog is silly. Tristar is no different than any other companies you work for. Other than the fact that you're paid exactly what you're worth. Any former Tristar reps that did terrible most likely were not likeable (negative) - thats ok, not everyone can be a winner. Any consumer complaints are tied to the fact that they had an unlikeable rep in their home. Im sure you'll agree this doesn't come down to the product, or the company, it comes down to the people right?

Judging a corporation of thousands because of one or two idiots is just plain ignorant.

Have an average day :) !

The mg2 vacuum cleaner is ~Bar none~ the best cleaning system on the market. Have you seen one of these babys in action? the stuff it picks up is incredible! and the filters it pushes it through, medical grade 0.3 micron filter and a charcol filter. Imagine a biohazard suit with the facemask, catching all those particals through the filter as you breath air in. And does everyone know about dustmites living in youre bed? average bed holds 2million dust mites that eat you dead skin. "well yeah someones gotta get rid of the dead skin" yeah ok, what about the poop they leave behind as they move around your pillows and sheets, , :s gross.
Yeah, I think they can call it a purifier if they want too. Dont people know what causes indoor allergies? dust, dandur, spores, stuff we breath in.
i have an indoor dog. and a baby that crawls on the floor. i vacuum the carpets and bleach the floors in the morning. Keep the dog in his bed by the front door and i have the peace of mind knowing that my baby can crawl the floors without inadvertantly eating dog hair or getting somesort of funky spore in his mouth.

salespeople make the world go round tristar is an awesome company i have been with the company for 2 years and will soon be promoted to a gold distributor in az i hate that their are sales people that use stupid tactis to sell the product i am very thankful for the people that let me show them the tristar if they buy or not i always leave the house on a good note if people like you and your product when they are ready to buy they will in most cases contact you all of my sales people conduct business at the highest standards if not they will not be in my company i regret that some of you have had bad exp with some of the dealers people like that wont be around long tristar is an upstanding company

Oh my gosh!
The guy who wanted to sell me the vacuum was so rude that I never considered buying it. I ripped up the free vacation voucher they gave me at the end of the sales pitch. My wife asked me to put their stuff outside of the door when they stepped out to get some paperwork. I probably should have but I did not want to screw them out of their commissions, Scott got progressively ruder when he got back in. I felt like a hot woman who turned down sex to a guy who bought a bunch of drinks. Oh well, I'm sticking to Target where I can return a piece of crap when it breaks. I feel bad for all of you. One thing I wonder, what happens to all of those vacuums they accept as collateral when you buy a new TriStar dust blower. They probably wind up in a dump-site and are an ecological hardship, I was unable to get an answer on where they go.

Garbage is a huge problem, especially in CA where I am. If you want to screw this company, maybe we should send complaints about their businesses lack of environmental practices (encouraging consumers to pollute) to the EPA, Governor, groups and Obama. I wish you all luck.

SnarlingSmiladon

this [censored] is way too funny
so a guy comes to your door and has a vacuum, A VACUUM and tells you it costs 3000 bucks! and if you give him your old piece of crap to save $400, ?
i know the speal was good but even at 1500 dollars its just a vacuum u can actually get this vacuum easy for 500- 800 if you look
i could care less about vacuums, it looks like it works but what do i know? im not a vacuum sales man lol, they dont sell it in stores because there would be way less profit
if you dont care about your money and you wanna help a sales man out sure, but are people really that gullible?

i went for a training session today and i was stoked to make money, the guy got me pumped, they use tried tested and true sales tactics and seem very professional on some levels, he was talking about big profit, a lil shady with the way he spoke about the product at the interview, claiming it was a air purifier
But when he pulled out a vacuum that looked like its worth a 100 bucks and told me to sell it for 3000 my buzz was blown!
3000 dollars is a lot of money 2000 is allot of money, hell for a vacuum i thought $200 was getting a good one
i feel bad for all the sales reps that waist there time with TRISTAR not understanding if they dont sell they dont get paid, even if they do sell they might not get paid lol, research, the company has always been run like this because the money is obscene for the people on top, it is a pyramid scheme, people say its not the products fault its the sales men...i beg to differ, its the entire company in a whole, its called TRI_star TRI as in TRIANGLE...pyramid any way people need to make money and making lots of money is great ... i just cant believe people are willing to drop thousands of dollars on a vacuum. and for me i wouldn't touch that product with a 10 foot pole it sucks!
p.s. i wright this letter after thinking about this stupid vacuum all day! i can only imagine the grief Tristar has brought so many people with waisted time and money, probably going in to this millions in the last few years lol its crazy how something as simple a vacuum can fu$%with peoples heads so much i just going to go to bed and never touch a vacuum again.

I paid $1600 cash for a Tristar 16 months ago. Now there is no suction power. The wands and connections are VERY difficult to separate. It is parked in the back of a closet and I use my less expensive, but very effective, Dirt Devil cannister. It is light weight and has good power. Tristar is a toothless, blind, dinosauer. Big, akward, difficult to maneuver, and extinct.

I just stumbled upon this blog and I find it kinda humoring. I worked for Tri-Star as a salesman along time ago in Lakewood, Co. Yes, it is a good vacuum, but no, its not worth the money. The funny part is if you do end up selling a tri-star then your taught to take there old vacuum cut the cord on it and take it back to your companies office. But what I found out was they use those vacuums and sell them in a vacuum store they own which is right on the other side of there office building LOL. Its all one big bull ###. And to be honest, if you buy a tri-star and your not rich then kick yourself in the face because you could of bought a vacuum at wal mart for way less which does the exact same thing.

It is way over priced! I got a bingo card, they came over (late) stayed 3 hours. He did the demonstrations and made me feel horrible. I said 3000 dollars is too much, I am trying to save for my childrens' education. He said what is more important, their health or education? At that point I was mad, I am a stay at home mom and I clean my house everyday. How could he try to get me to spend money on a over priced vacuum (I found it on ebay for $600) by saying my kids health is at risk? That is low.

He also said of he had kids, even if the vacuum was $20000 there would be nothing in the world that would stop him from buying it. Ya right, once he actually has kids and finds out every extra dollar you have goes to them whether it be clothes, education, dentists, food, diapers, formula, toys, furniture, sports, vehicles, lessons and so on, a 3000 dollar vaccuum will be the LAST thing your thinking about buying.

It seems to work very well, but don't buy one from these people, buy one online for a quater of the price.

As a former sales person, I have to agree with a lot of the complaints. A lot of the sales people are scammers. that being said. I have a Tristar, I have had it for 15 years, my mother and brother have them also. We have never had any issues. I think it pays for itself many times. Mine still picks up things a normal vac cannot

but with the influx of tornado/Cyclonic action Vacs on the market. Save your money and by one of those. Just do the research first. Then you don't have to worry about worthless sales people.

Jason Sewell. Leicester. United Kingdom.
hi there i used to sell tristar in England in the late 90's i was amazed by how good they worked and had natural belief in my product. Over the course of a year, I sold about a hundred of them. I must have done about 500 demonstrations and not once did I ever doubt the value of the machine. We used to do a comparison test on their existing cleaner, and never did another cleaner, even come close. Even on some very basic proof tests. this is why i have come online today to try and buy one. The U.K. distributors gave up as u.k. was a tough market, having already been run by kirby cleaners. and so there are only a few thousand machines 240volt U.K. spec. to start with. Whats worse is that our salesman have obviously done a great job of marketing the benefits to the customers; to the point where there are very few up for re-sale. They remind me of a Zippo lighter they will last forever, you just have to fill it with the consumables (flint, fluid) and hey presto fire.
the tristar is robust enough to use for many years as good as the day you bought it if you follow one simple golden rule. Clean out the machine thoroughly before you put it in the cupboard. if you never let dirt build up and become over bearing it can never affect the performance, simple math really!
Have a nice day.

i can tell you that i've had the same tristar since 1982. it's far and above the best vacuum on the market.

My husband and I bought the Tri Star about 9 years ago. We had a very nice rep who did a very good job of showing us the Tri Star. He also never once called it an air purifier like the person on the phone called it. I don't reamember what the promo was that we would get for just looking at it, I think it was a trip which we would not have been able to take. This guy put the Tri Star to the test in my home and there are a few reasons we bought it. First, I had bought a steam cleaner and cleaned all of my carpets in the house about 2 days before the demo. I thought my carpet was CLEAN. When I saw what was coming off the floor... Well lets just say I took the steam cleaner back for a refund. The second reason is we have dogs. I have never seen anything that works as well to get dog hair out of about everything. It even worked better then the ones at the car wash to get the hair out of the cars.
We both admit that we were stupid at the time to buy this. We had very little money with low paying jobs. They took our old Hoover (we did not know about that one). We did not get a box and this is a demo model so it can not even be called new. We moved after only being able to use the warrenty for one check so we have lost that and hope the thing does not break, but even if it does, we will get it fixed. But when it is all said and done, we love our Tri Star, but as I went to look for bags and see that you can buy this online for a quarter of the cost then if it is shown to you, I would have told the rep no and bought it online.

We bought a tri star in 1991 and it is still working. WE have replaced just about every part on it except the beater brush. I use it in my resort on 10 different cottage every day and absolutley love it. I have had to use other vacuum cleaners while waiting for replacement parts to fix the tri star and I am always amazed at what they don't pick up and where they don't fit.
I love my tri star

I would just like to say shop LOCAL from a VACUUM SHOP that does there warranty work that has been there a while and you will get a fair deal and great fast repairs from a trained repair tech.

My $50.00 Bissell is already about 5 years old and is still as good as new. Anyone who pays that much for a Tristar is crazy. They are really not that great.

Have fun with you $50.00 vac in a year when it breaks down ~ ha!