Do you have a Kirby? How much did you pay?

hollypoast · Jul 1, 2015

We just had an in-home demo and decided to purchase one. The price started at $2,632.22 (vacuum and all attachments) plus $649.99 for the hardwood floor cleaner & carpet shampooer. The vacuum is awesome (we currently have two Electrolux vacuums & one Dyson-- in comparison the Kirby cleans better) but the whole deal felt like I was buying a used car. The salesman had to call and check with his manager throughout the presentation to make sure he could get us the best deal.

We ended up paying $1,000 for for the vacuum & shampooer total. ("saving" $2,282.21) Did we still over pay? Just curious. Do you have one and did you get a better deal? Please be kind. :rolleyes2

DaretoDis · Jul 1, 2015

My experience with a Kirby carpet shampooer was it was better to just rent one from the grocery store as needed.

My $47 WalMart Bissell vacuum does a great job on bare floors and carpet. All I remember about a Kirby was it was a heavy thing, but maybe they have lightened them up since then.

Mrs. Ciz · Jul 2, 2015

My mom, sister and I all have Kirbys. They bought from the sales person. I bought mine (Kirby G5) used on ebay for a fraction of the cost. I've had it for 15 years with no problems. The carpet shampooer came with it, but I don't like it. I already had a Hoover Steam Vac and the Hoover shampoos better than the Kirby IMO.

Kirbys are GREAT vacuums!

supersnoop · Jul 2, 2015

Seems like you can pick up last years model on eBay for around $600. They are really great machines, but they do price them high.

tvguy · Jul 2, 2015

They are the best vacuum you can buy. My mom had hers 53 years. I sold it when she passed away only because we replaced all our carpet with laminate and didn't need a vacuum. But I am not convinced they are worth the price they sell for new.

Alesia · Jul 2, 2015

My mom had one when I was growing up. They're well built, but expensive to maintain, complicated to use, and incredibly heavy. I'll take my $150 Shark over a Kirby any day of the week.

tvguy · Jul 2, 2015

Alesia said:
My mom had one when I was growing up. They're well built, but expensive to maintain, complicated to use, and incredibly heavy. I'll take my $150 Shark over a Kirby any day of the week.

My mom always took hers back to Kirby, I don't think she every paid for labor, just a few dollars to replace the belt for the part, and a replacement cloth bag.

Alesia · Jul 2, 2015

tvguy said:
My mom always took hers back to Kirby, I don't think she every paid for labor, just a few dollars to replace the belt for the part, and a replacement cloth bag.

Not everyone has the option of taking it somewhere locally. You can ship it to them, but it isn't cheap. The parts are not that cheap, either.

Mrs. Ciz · Jul 2, 2015

I have replaced the belt on my Kirby myself. It's not hard. I love the fact that it converts from an upright vacuum to a canister vacuum with the hose attachment in about 3 seconds. I use it on my floors of course, but with the hose attachment, I use it on baseboards, draperies, light fixtures, furniture, the car, the refrigerator coils...the list goes on. I like it so much, I'm thinking about buying a second one on ebay so I have one on each floor of my house.

tvguy · Jul 3, 2015

Alesia said:
Not everyone has the option of taking it somewhere locally. You can ship it to them, but it isn't cheap. The parts are not that cheap, either.

I wouldn't recommend buying any appliance (or car for that matter ) that doesn't have a local authorized service center. I think other than the one bag and a few belts, it never needed a single repair in 53 years. That is the Kirby advantage, they never break so they don't need parts.

edk35 · Jul 3, 2015

We got sucked into that Kirby deal a few years ago and we paid 1200. We used it a while...meaning a few months. Then it went into the closet and we got a Dyson. I just pulled it out to try and sell it. That was one of those PURCHASES we regretted.

MSLRAC · Jul 3, 2015

edk35 said:
We got sucked into that Kirby deal a few years ago and we paid 1200. We used it a while...meaning a few months. Then it went into the closet and we got a Dyson. I just pulled it out to try and sell it. That was one of those PURCHASES we regretted.

Same here but we paid $1000 for ours. I despised it after less than a month. It was heavy, bulky, had a horrible turning radius, and don't even get me started on the shampooer. I refused to use it after we moved into a two story house so DH did all the vacuuming and he quickly hated it too. He ended up taking it to work when theirs died and we bought a Dyson that I love.

Tiffylv · Jul 3, 2015

tvguy · Jul 3, 2015

Tiffylv said:
It does clean well but is extremely heavy and cumbersome. Now that I live in a two story home I hate bringing it up the stairs.

When I had carpet, it just seemed to me the heavier the vacuum, the better job it did. Otherwise those beater bars just push the vacuum up and you don't get down in the pile of the carpet.

I get the two story thing. I have a one story house between two two story houses. I have had a parade of new neighbors over the years as folks finally decided to sell because they were tired of stairs.

bigbabyblues · Jul 4, 2015

We paid about $1500 for ours about 10 years ago. We haven't had any problems with it at all. When the belt needs replaced, my husband buys one and changes it, it isn't hard to do. We did have to get a new hose for it, after our dog chewed it up.

Alesia · Jul 4, 2015

tvguy said:
When I had carpet, it just seemed to me the heavier the vacuum, the better job it did. Otherwise those beater bars just push the vacuum up and you don't get down in the pile of the carpet.

There probably was a time when that was the case, but technology has come a long way. My 12 lb. Shark Navagator cleans circles around my mom's 20 lb. Kirby.

The newer Kirbys are a bit lighter because they've started using aluminum coated plastic parts. Unfortunately, that means they break more easily, too.

VirginiaR · Jul 4, 2015

About $900

tvguy · Jul 4, 2015

Alesia said:
There probably was a time when that was the case, but technology has come a long way. My 12 lb. Shark Navagator cleans circles around my mom's 20 lb. Kirby.

The newer Kirbys are a bit lighter because they've started using aluminum coated plastic parts. Unfortunately, that means they break more easily, too.

Ooo, the Shark Navigator. We bought our son one 6 years ago when he moved into his college apartment. It died 6 months ago, 6 months after the warranty expired(motor burned out) We gave him our 20 year old Riccar. Now THAT is a vacuum we can't seem to kill.

smokeyblue · Jul 5, 2015

My parents have had their Kirby for 40 years and have only had to have a few minor, inexpensive repairs. I don't think it's unreasonable to pay $1000 for a quality vacuum and shampooer and from what others have said, it doesn't seem you have overpaid. My Shark was just under $200 with a bunch of Kohl's incentives, that is what I can afford. It works really, really well and is easy to take apart to clean. However, the whole thing is made of plastic and just feels cheap. I definitely don't expect it to last more than a few years. You get what you pay for.

Do you have a Kirby? How much did you pay?

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