CeeJay, Inc

Response to complaint ID ***
To explain further, I do not ask why a customer is
cancelling when they contact our company to cancel for a couple reasonsOne
reason being, I call and ask the customer "why" they are cancelling
after I receive the written notice of cancellation, along with a couple other
questions about down payments and trade-insAt that time, I also answer any
questions that the customer might haveAnother reason why I do not ask is
because if there is an issue that we fix but it is not customer satisfactory,
it might be past the cancellation dateUnfortunately, we can not accept verbal
notices of cancellation, therefore it is highly suggested that if a customer
may indeed want to cancel, that the cancellation notice is sent out to our
company, just in case we can not resolve the issueWe much rather re-write a
contract after it has been cancelled and resolved, than to have a customer not
be able to cancel a purchase because we did not explain how to cancel the
purchase when they askedAs previously stated, if the customers need help with
their Kirby or are having mechanical issues, we will be more than happy to help
them outTo clarify, we suggest to the customer, to place their contract with
the warranty information, therefore, all of the paperwork is togetherThe
suggestion is not for the salesperson, it is for the customerThe customer has
the freedom to place their contract wherever they wish, but we do suggest
keeping it with their other Kirby paperwork, such as in the white envelope
When I spoke with *** on 2/9/15, I did indeed tell her that my supervisor
(*** ***) was out of the stateShe asked me for his number and I explained
to her that I could not give out "his number", that the only number
that I can give out for him to be contacted on is the office number that she
called because the only other number that he has is his personal cell phone
number, which I can not share with anyone whom he does not previously tell me
toI let her know that I could take a message and have him give her a call
back once he got backAdditionally, I asked the best number for him to contact
her onI had a phone number on file for her but I was unsure if that was the
best number for her to be reached atWe are a small local company, with only
four supervisors, myself included, other than *** ***Each supervisor,
handles their department, and their department onlyThe fact that my title is
an "office assistant" does not invalidate the fact that I am the
supervisor of the customer service departmentI take messages for my boss for
any complaints or issues that I can not resolve in a satisfactory manner for
our customersI do everything in my power to help the customers with any
issues that they are having, including, but not limited to, cancellationsIf I
am unable to perform the duties up to the customers satisfaction, I then
transfer them to *** *** if he is availableThere was an urgency for the
owner to receive the message, if Ms*** did choose for the message to be
passed on but as I asked for the best number for her to be reached at, she was
very upset, refused to talk to me any further, and hung up on meThe finance
company verified with *** *** on 12/30/at 9:27am on phone number
###-###-####It did take days in order for the finance company to contact
buyer #(***) to verify everything with himThey had tried to verify with
him everyday up until 12/30/when they were finally able to contact himAll
logs and records of calls are on file at UCFSAdditionally, even though it was
past the cancellation date when the finance company did verify, ***, at that
time, could have told them that he did not have a copy of the contract or that
he changed his mind and we would have had to return to the residence to either
pick up the Kirby (if the buyer changed his mind) or sign/date a new contract
with new dates (including a new cancellation date)On every Kirby total home
care system that we sell, we put a label on the side of the Kirby upright
handle that has our name, address, and phone number on it, just in case the
customer accidently misplaces any paperworkHad we received any notice of any
issues earlier, we would have helped in any way possibleIf there are
mechanical issues with the Kirby, we will and are happy to inspect the Kirby
for any mechanical defectsIf *** or *** would like to have someone come
out to their home to do a Kirby (step by step instructions of use) we will
be more than happy to do soFurthermore, I did not mean to come off as if I
didn't care or that the issue that they were having wasn't importantI
apologize if I made anyone feel that way
Sincerely,
*** ***
*** ***

This email is in regards to complaint ID *** *** called our office 2/9/at 9:am to cancel the purchase of his KirbyI explained to him that at the bottom of his contract, there is a "no later than midnight of" date, and if he wants to cancel all he has to do is sign, date, and
mail it in to us with it postmarked by the "no later than midnight of" dateI usually don't, and in this case I didn't ask when they purchased the Kirby or why they wanted to cancel, since it is my job to merely inform the customers of how to cancel if they request such information*** then asked if he could mail in the letter that he received from the finance company, instead of mailing in the cancellation portion of the contractI told him that we need the cancellation portion of the contractHe said that he didn't have oneI then explained that we suggest putting the copy of the contract with the warranty paperwork that the sales representitive left with him in a white envelope, and asked if he could check there for me really quickThat is when he said that he wasn't at home so he couldn't check at that timeI asked him to give me a call back when he will be at home so I could tell him what the envelope and contract looked like*** *** called our office 2/9/at 10:am to say that they "never received any paperwork" and that she wants a copy of her contractI tried to inform her about the suggestions that we make of where to put the copy of the contract, but she insisted that they had "no paperwork" and that she would like a copy of the contractI asked her a couple question such as her name and an approximate date of purchase so I could pull the contract for herAfter I located the contract, she asked about the "no later than midnight of" date and I explained that it was 12/24/I also explained that if she wanted another copy of the contract that I would be more than happy to send her one in the mail*** then stated that she wants to cancel the purchase and asked how she would go about cancellingI explained that it was too far past the cancellation date for us to cancel the purchase since it was a month and a half past the cancellation date but we would be more than willing to mail her another copy of the contract for her records*** got very upset with the fact that she couldn't cancel and asked to speak to my supervisorI explained to her that my supervisor (*** ***) was out of the state and he would be back in the office on Thursday so he was unavailable at this time but I could take a message for her and give it to him as soon as he got back (*** *** is in fact out of the state on a company trip)She was outraged that he was gone and that she couldn't cancel*** said that she has left multiple messages, with multiple people and hasn't received a call backThis is the first time that either of them has contacted our office regarding this matter and Kirby World Headquarters doesn't have any emails or messages from either of these customersShe also said that they were able to cancel because they "never got a copy of their contract." Which would in fact be true, however, on 12/30/the finance company (United Consumer Financial Services) verified with *** that he had a copy of the contract, that the Kirby was indeed left in his home, that he understood the terms on the contract, as well as verified some information with him such as his name, address, SSN, and phone numberThe finance company will not accept or pay out a contract that has not be verified with all of the previous informationI simply stated to *** that either her or *** had confirmed with the finance company that they had a copy of the contract and that it (the contract) would not have been accepted otherwiseI asked her if she wanted me to take a message for my supervisor and she stated that she was going to report to Kirby World Headquarters and to the Revdex.com about the service and asked if we had a complaint departmentI let her know that our office does not have a complaint department but if she wanted to call Kirby World Headquarters to make a complaint, she couldBefore I could say anything else, she went on about the customer service and how she will be making complaints, and hung up on meThe fact of the matter is, we follow the law to a "T" and we are not going to cancel a purchase that is a month and a half past the cancellation dateWe have already sent another copy of their contract to them on 2/9/If they are having problems with their Kirby, we are more than happy to help themIf you have any questions please contact us at ###-###-####Thank You.Sincerely,*** *** ***

A little too late to retract your story and attempt any concern for the customer.  In writing, [redacted] indicated her job is merely to inform the customer instead of customer satisfaction or concern, don't back down now!  Again, if your salesperson is incompetent to provide paperwork, then the customer can't very well file it, even with your expert filing guidance. I know I'm writing in English, not sure why they are taking zero accountability in the failure to provide the contract.  They just keep making excuses all the while not even indicating that the salesperson has been reprimanded or been held accountable in any manner. Nor any apology or anything of the sort for this unpleasant situation or the incompetence on the salesperson's part which put them in this situation. Which would have been forgivable had the situation been handled with the proper respect, instead of accusing the customer and immediate taking the defensive.  I further find it interesting that you indicated the company only had one copy of my contract to mail me on 9 Feb, again pretty much insinuating that I must've had a copy based on that alone, but then received a yellow carbon. If that was the only copy in your files, and your files are foolproof that you provide filing tips, then why send that instead of making a photo copy?  Shady and suspect.  And again, let's refer to the conversation with the finance company but still unable to produce written transcript evidence of your only rebuttal that the  conversation of December 30, 2014 proves that you are so sure they specifically asked if [redacted] was in possession of the contract or received a copy it from your "business".  The truth is that have zero evidence to prove such, only offer an assurance as if at this point your word is trustworthy.  It is not the finance company's responsibility to ensure the customer is provided the contract, it's the salesperson's. Additionally, since I didn't have the unit with the company contacts from the box,  nor the salesperson's, I couldn't very well contact anyone until I picked up the unit until 12/24/14, apparently the deadline date. Of course I wasn't even aware of that until the phone conversation of 2/9/15 and further not verified until I received the copy around 2/12/15. But then again what professionalism can you expect from an "establishment" which hand writes envelopes. Is this place out of his Mom's basement, it's 2015!  And we are supposed to take them seriously and accept their word as professionals? Apparently this matter must be taken for legal and more significant action to gain [redacted]'s attention since he allows a receptionist who is only worried about completing "merely" only her minimal responsibilities. Really, Sir, this is who represents your "business"?  I would put more careful thought  and training towards that position.  But who knows? [redacted]'s signature on everything indicates she's a mere office asst., but she claims to be in customer service, and a supervisor at that! I believe a feeble attempt to gain credibility although to no avail. If she is, she should be embarrassed and needs to go back to school.  She was safer as an office asst. rather than  misrepresenting herself.  Even if she has the title, she neither possesses the skills, nor the standards.  Furthermore,  throughout this situation, so much more has been discovered & become clear that needs to be addressed to the public, it has now become my duty to warn people.  No further correspondence from this so-called "customer service supervisor" is acceptable, nor appropriate. It is clear the company is neither taking this matter seriously. Trust me, at this point, I will take every means necessary to protect other consumers from the Kirby scam, specifically this distributor. Just because I made one poor judgment in trusting and purchasing from you, do not make the mistake of underestimating me and think I am naive. All you have proven here is that you allow your employees to handle a situation that you didn't have the courage to face. What it comes down to is that consumers should be wary of any company that offers such a short cooling off period because that's a warning sign indicating the  company has no interest in liability due to their unfair business tactics and strategies of a unpredictable product. I believe at this point that there was clear intent to take advantage of the consumer and purposely fail to provide the contract, while supplying a unit they knew didn't work & hide behind legal jargon for protection against their blatant fraudulence. Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]
Regards,
[redacted]

I agreed to the in-home presentation to see the latest and greatest Kirby (I own a Kirby already and it is 10yrs old) The first young man to arrive was a professional and competent sales person. When his "supervisor" arrived, that is when it went south. He was unprofessional in his speech and sales pitch. For example, when he called his "boss" to see if the price could be lowered, he stated his boss "is probably [redacted] so he will give a good deal" He made this statement more than once and as a [redacted], it was offensive that he was referring to his boss as a [redacted]. He then stepped outside to make a phone call and he failed to realize that we had opened a window. We then had the pleasure of listening to him talk negatively about my wife and I. When we heard him refer to my wife as a [redacted], the game was over. We told them that the appointment was over and to pack up their stuff and leave. This was not an acceptable answer to them and they kept pushing. What should have been a 1 hour demo and 1 hr carpet cleaning took nearly 3 hours and we told them to leave before the carpet was even cleaned. I certainly understand the sales pitch and technique as I already went through this when I bought my Kirby 10 yrs ago. I am very happy with the Kirby as a product but the sales representative's lack of professionalism was unacceptable.

My husband received a call on Saturday afternoon. [redacted] asked him if he wanted 3 pieces of furniture cleaned at no charge. He said no, but eventually caved in and said yes. An appointment was set up for 6:30 on Monday. She told him that someone would contact us at 9:30 on Monday morning to confirm the appointment. We would be able to cancel at that time if we wished. She also gave him her supervisor's name [redacted] and phone number. I was not at home when [redacted] took this call. When he told me about the call I contacted [redacted] at 6:15 p.m. on Saturday. Her voice mail said the company was CJ, Inc. I left a voice mail stating that I wanted to cancel and please call back to confirm that she received the message. I never received a call back. Monday morning I called again at 8:35 and left another message for [redacted] that I was cancelling the appointment for that evening. Again, I asked her to call back to confirm that my message was received. Again, no call back. And, there was no call by 9:30 a.m. on Monday confirming the appointment as promised. At approximately 5:30 p.m. Monday evening I received a call from a young man confirming our appointment at 6:30. I told him I had called twice to cancel the appointment. He thanked me and said he was glad he had called because the day before he drove an hour to an appointment only to find out that it was also cancelled and he had not been told. Very poor business practice.

I was led to believe that this company was a local small business ( Cee Jay inc)based in Kenosha..."across from the moose lodge, no less.
But no - it's a company selling Kirby...not a new business or local product.
So deceptive in their approach I did not have them demonstrate their product in my home.

Review: 1) The representative/demonstrator did not provide copies of the documentation, nor leave any contact information for the company.

2) The unit did not perform as promised and when I inquired about the contract, I received no customer service assistance or allowed for feedback. [redacted], stonewalled the call, saying there was no one to contact and that her only supervisor was [redacted] who was out of state. I requested a copy of the contract & when I asked for information from it, was told that I would not be able to return my unit because the date had passed. I would not have known this since I never received a copy of the contract. She said the finance company would not have had an account had I not done a contract & I explained that I had but never received it. Furthermore, she indicated that the finance company would have called and asked if we had a contract. This was an inaccurate statement - they never asked if we had a contract, merely verified information.Desired Settlement: I need to have the independent distributor willing to take back the unit and work with canceling the finance contract.

Business

Response:

This email is in regards to complaint ID [redacted] called our office 2/9/15 at 9:52 am to cancel the purchase of his Kirby. I explained to him that at the bottom of his contract, there is a "no later than midnight of" date, and if he wants to cancel all he has to do is sign, date, and mail it in to us with it postmarked by the "no later than midnight of" date. I usually don't, and in this case I didn't ask when they purchased the Kirby or why they wanted to cancel, since it is my job to merely inform the customers of how to cancel if they request such information. [redacted] then asked if he could mail in the letter that he received from the finance company, instead of mailing in the cancellation portion of the contract. I told him that we need the cancellation portion of the contract. He said that he didn't have one. I then explained that we suggest putting the copy of the contract with the warranty paperwork that the sales representitive left with him in a white envelope, and asked if he could check there for me really quick. That is when he said that he wasn't at home so he couldn't check at that time. I asked him to give me a call back when he will be at home so I could tell him what the envelope and contract looked like. [redacted] called our office 2/9/15 at 10:07 am to say that they "never received any paperwork" and that she wants a copy of her contract. I tried to inform her about the suggestions that we make of where to put the copy of the contract, but she insisted that they had "no paperwork" and that she would like a copy of the contract. I asked her a couple question such as her name and an approximate date of purchase so I could pull the contract for her. After I located the contract, she asked about the "no later than midnight of" date and I explained that it was 12/24/14. I also explained that if she wanted another copy of the contract that I would be more than happy to send her one in the mail. [redacted] then stated that she wants to cancel the purchase and asked how she would go about cancelling. I explained that it was too far past the cancellation date for us to cancel the purchase since it was a month and a half past the cancellation date but we would be more than willing to mail her another copy of the contract for her records. [redacted] got very upset with the fact that she couldn't cancel and asked to speak to my supervisor. I explained to her that my supervisor ([redacted]) was out of the state and he would be back in the office on Thursday so he was unavailable at this time but I could take a message for her and give it to him as soon as he got back ([redacted] is in fact out of the state on a company trip). She was outraged that he was gone and that she couldn't cancel. [redacted] said that she has left multiple messages, with multiple people and hasn't received a call back. This is the first time that either of them has contacted our office regarding this matter and Kirby World Headquarters doesn't have any emails or messages from either of these customers. She also said that they were able to cancel because they "never got a copy of their contract." Which would in fact be true, however, on 12/30/14 the finance company (United Consumer Financial Services) verified with [redacted] that he had a copy of the contract, that the Kirby was indeed left in his home, that he understood the terms on the contract, as well as verified some information with him such as his name, address, SSN, and phone number. The finance company will not accept or pay out a contract that has not be verified with all of the previous information. I simply stated to [redacted] that either her or [redacted] had confirmed with the finance company that they had a copy of the contract and that it (the contract) would not have been accepted otherwise. I asked her if she wanted me to take a message for my supervisor and she stated that she was going to report to Kirby World Headquarters and to the Revdex.com about the service and asked if we had a complaint department. I let her know that our office does not have a complaint department but if she wanted to call Kirby World Headquarters to make a complaint, she could. Before I could say anything else, she went on about the customer service and how she will be making complaints, and hung up on me. The fact of the matter is, we follow the law to a "T" and we are not going to cancel a purchase that is a month and a half past the cancellation date. We have already sent another copy of their contract to them on 2/9/15. If they are having problems with their Kirby, we are more than happy to help them. If you have any questions please contact us at ###-###-####. Thank You.Sincerely,[redacted]

Business

Response:

Review: When we bought our Kirby vacuum we were on the edge of weather to purchase it or not. So the salesman made us a deal that we would get a year supply of bags for our vacuum. He even called his boss and asked if that deal would work and he agreed. The salesman said he would come the next day and drop off the bags. We waited a week for him to show up, and he never did. We then called the company where our bags were and they told us that they had shipped us the bags. So we then waited about a month and they still never showed up. We then called the company back and they were rude with us and told us they sent it and there was nothing they could do anymore. We are frustrated because we paid top dollar for a vacuum, and we can't even use it! I would like to mention that the salesman did put the year bag supply deal on the receipt and we copied the receipt and sent it over to the Kirby facility that we purchased it from.Desired Settlement: We would like to receive the year supply of bags that we were promised. We're very unsatisfied with the customer service and inability to use our vacuum.

Consumer

Response:

On Tue, Jan 14, 2014 at 3:01 PM, [redacted] wrote:

Hi,

I'm very happy with the outcome of your services! I did receive the vaccum bags (per contract)from the Kirby dealer in Kenosha. They called to make sure I did get them and they were very pleasant !

ID# [redacted] Thank you very much !! [redacted] any questions ###-###-####

Review: My daughter was "strong armed" into purchasing a vacuum cleaner so that her boyfriend would meet quota for the week. [redacted] of the franchise was part of the sales team begging her to sign a contract. She signed the contract to finance it with their finance company over the next 2 years! My daughter has a learning disability, lives at home with her parents, has no job and goes to school. How did they approve this loan? When I found out about it, I immediately collected the "demo vac" she purchased at full price, which had not been used by us and tried to return it to the company. They refused. They even called the police on us when we asked them to reconsider.

Their sales tactics, financing and lack of return policy is criminal. They pray on desperate kids who need money and can't get a job and then sell these vaccums to people who can't afford them and don't need them. Or don't understand what kind of contract they are signing.Desired Settlement: We will happily return the unused "demo" vacuum to them for a full refund or the tearing up of the finance contract. They also should be investigated for their sales tactics and practices.

Business

Response:

Ms. [redacted] asked us to buy the Kirby. She had a job at the time of purchase and never told us that she had any regrets. By law, we are required to give customers 3 business days in order tocancel any purchase of the Kirby total home care system. Ms. [redacted] purchased the Kirby on 8/15/15 and had until the midnight of 8/19/15 to cancel the purchase. We did not hear anything from her until 3 weeks after the purchase when her first payment was almost due. She got a brand new/never used Kirby on 8/15/15. When her parents came into our office, not only were they yelling and slamming their fists on the counter, but they were making threats to “shut ourbusiness down” because we refused to cancel their daughter’s contract. They are not on the contract and have no legal binding to it; therefore, we cannot even discuss the information on it, even if their daughter gave them her copy of the contract. We asked them to leave several times but they did not. We told them three times that if they did not leave that we would call the police. They finally went out to their car after we were already on the phone with dispatch. We did nothing wrong and followed the law completely.

Business

Response:

Mr. and Mrs. [redacted] refused to leave our business after being asked multiple times. They were yelling and slamming their fists on our counter tops and making threats against our business, this is why we called the police. I understand that they were frustrated and upset but that behavior is not accepted at our business. We will not cancel the purchase. Ms. [redacted] filled out a credit application and signed a contract that had all of the financing information on it. UCFS (our finance company) not only verified employment with her employer but also verified the purchase with her. We did not force her to sign anything, give us her information, or verify with the finance company. She did indeed ask us to purchase the Kirby and never once gave us a reason to deny her request to purchase the product. Ms. [redacted] also had 3 business days to cancel the contract with either our office or with our finance company and she did not. Unless her mother can prove that she has power of attorney over her daughter, we will not cancel or discuss any information on the contract and/or credit application.

Consumer

Response: