Tristar Products review: Total scam! 104

Has anyone had animal hair appear on the carpet shortly before the dem...The rep was surprised to hear we had no pets!

All door to door sales people use high pressure sales tactics. I have owned a Compact vacuum for 40 years, maintain it by taking it in for a tuneup every 2 years, and it still works great. Invest in a good vacuum cleaner, pay the price, look after it, and you will find it will take care of you too. You get what you pay for. If you find the list price is too high, try negotiating. The quality is impossible to beat and will last you for years without losing its high performance.

Just got one of those "scratch and win" tickets in the mail and wanted to see if it was legitimate. After going through everything, I will not be proceeding forward with this.

As an aside, I think it's hilarious how those who have had good or bad experiences attack those on the other side of the spectrum for sharing their experience and tell them they're wrong... Because telling people that what they have personally experienced is wrong makes SO much sense.

I bought a tristar quite a few years ago and so far it has been an amazing vacuum. I have to vacuum a few times a day due to a very hairy dog. About a month after being serviced and told that it was in great working order it has decided to have a mind of its own. It will work for about 30 seconds then it turns itself off for a couple of minutes and then starts up all by itself again. This is most frustrating, has anyone else had this problem and if so what the heck is it. The wires look perfect, the suction is perfect, everything looks great. Im beside myself trying to figure out what the problem is.

I'm a sales manager for a great distributor in Florida I've read over alot of these comments, and futured I should speak pf my experance as a member of the Tri Star enterprise. First of all every single buisness or money making system on the planet is involved in some type of sales... Now for the people who feel that they over paid for something they could have bought offline for a fraction of the price ok no Tri Star distributor can sell online so the machines that are being sold online are always refurbished with no factory backed warremty alot of times tjese online machines dnt even have Tri Star parts in them so ur probely not even getting what ur looking for so the price u pay online is basicly u paying for just the Tri Star name. Tri Star honestly is the best indoor cleaning system on the market hands down from its cyclonicaction to its non dust spreading carbon true HEPA filtration if anyone on earth really think tjat a 50 doller vac from ur local shopping center is just as good means its good enough for them. But for the people who honestly own a tri Star we know since owning one our homes our the air in our homes air way cleaner then they have ever been before and for they people who think they over paid that honestly just means that the sales rep how sold it to you did a great powerful demo and you was just completly satisfied only after when they found peole have paid less do tjey feel shafted so lets say a car lot sells a car for one price and u bought it and u find out another carsales man lowerd his commission and gave the same car to someone else cheaper of course its human nature to want a good deal so what im tring to say is for those who pay top dollar for there tri star good job to the rep for showing the true value of this incredible cleaning system and for the customers who buy honestly if u bought then u was completely blown away buy the cleaning power and saw what convetual vacs leave behind. And also fpr the so called ex tri star reps who down the buisness or say they cant beleave what they use to do then it was them who was doing unethical and wrong practices so thank u for no longer being part of Tri Star a truely fair and honest rep will always leave a home leaving with a smile on his or her face and the customer or non customer will walk them out happy that there rep help them and there family live in a cleaner and healthier home and noncustomers also are always thankful and enjoy our company and love our product. So for all of u judgeing tri star as a whole because of a few bad apples remember in ever walk of life no matter the profession there are unethical and bad spirited individuals so next time u get a knock on the door choose for yourself u might find that you can leave a positive comment about your friendly honest local tri star rep

Cleanliness is next to Godliness,

Tri Star Sales Manager Justin C. Central Florida

very, very very, unhappy with the tri star dealer that came to my house, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth, and made it bad for any other salesperson to come to my house. i would slam the door in their face. i tried the vacuum out and it's no better than the one i have, it is a scam. i put a deposit down, tried it out and decided i didn't want it, they came back to get it but would not give me my money back. and was very rude when they came back. so take my advice if you see them coming please do not let them in your house.EH

I've sold cutco knives... I've sold prepaid legal... All these pyramid schemes are the same, and they are all scams. The product can be good (Cutco, Kirby, tristar) or they can be nearly useless (prepaid legal).

The bottom line for me is experience.

I found a tristar cxl in the trash today. Works great. Had a plastic cap stuck in the hose, once removed it works awesome. That said, for anyone to pay more than a few hundred dollars for one of these is unbelievable...

You can get them all day for under $300. They say it will last forever, but you shouldn't buy one online because there is no warranty? For the price they want door to door I can buy six of them! Surely six tristars will last a lifetime, right?

I have had my TriStar vacuum for at least 20 years. Never enjoyed a vacuum b4 I purchased it. It is very versatile can blow the leaves off my carport or can clean my kitchen & bathroom drains. Not everyone will ever be satisfied with products no matter what it is. Sorry your experience was so bad, too bad you did not know my salesperson! She was very thorough!

When my in-laws died I inherited a Tristar. Only good thing I have to say about it is that it only cost me the wasted space in the truck for moving it. My main complaint is that it is un-maintainable. If the hose gets clogged, which it will, there is no rational way to remove the clog. The only people who are going to like this vacuum are vacuum repair stores. Get yourself an Orick, or three, instead.

I do not have one not do I wish to have one I have an apt with no carpet so my vacuum is for my couch wow big stuff lol... but I have read an ongoing theme through here ... most of those who loved just love their tri star have had them for over ten years those of you who hated theirs are are saying save your money buy many cheap ones instead have newer models... now what have we learned? This at one point may have been a good company but is it standing the test of time? Does not appear to be so, they seem to get cheaper with their product over the years but still want the huge price. I would like to add I see these things being sold on buy and sell sites all the time, right now there is one on my local buy and sell the mg2 apparently its not that great he's selling for two hundred bucks mind you he is also saying there is still warranty on it which I don't think so because he had the life time warranty and i am pretty sure if you sell it then becomes invalid, but beside the point. His over priced machine is going for two hundred bucks . How did I end up here? I have no clue. Was looking up TriStar as in TriStar pictures and one of the google links led me here saw a lady saying something about a grand and read... well just kept reading frankly was interesting. Point I am making is this may have been a good company at one time but the cheapness of the product and over priced cost of what it is now it making it so its not a huge want. I did not know the company even still was up and running I had heard of them twenty years ago. Thought they went out of business. They are going to have to get nice sales men, people are too stress to deal with crap now a days they better learn to be nice! And they need to upgrade their product or it still will only be a company you see on buy and sells

I agree. We were duped into buying a tri star and our salesmans while pitch centered around my house with pets and my newborn daughter. He basically stated we lived in filth also. I cleaned and vacuumed regularly. The promises of a free getaway in the pamphlet my husband received in the mail stated we only had to sit through a demonstration. He pulled the whole, "I'll throw in the air purifier for free and take $1000 off. Plus you'll receive maintenance and cleaning yearly!"... It's not a vacuum, it's a home cleaning system! Yeah. Right. Its a vacuum. We were duped into buying a vacuum that's going to cost is $3k in the end. We are stuck making payments on a pos we hate or else we take a hit on our credit. It's heavy, bulky, it falls over, the metal on the canister gets ridiculously hot. Still waiting on that yearly maintenance and my newborn at the time is now almost 2. Fed up.

I just wanted to say that I actually liked the older models that had METAL WANDS and not cheap, breakable plastic wands that also break at the button lock as well. Another thing I hated about the newer plastic wand models is the power nozzle itself; it raises up (and you can hear it lose contact with the carpet) on the forward push; it maintains contact with the carpet on the the backward pull. A vacuum this expensive should be engineered better than this. The BEST vacuums I ever owned (and STILL own) was my Air-Way Sanitizor, an older all metal Electrolux vacuum, and of course, EVERY Kirby I've ever owned...these have all been exceptional machines that have stood the test of time...and Kirby has an EXCELLENT LIFETIME REBUILD WARRANTY that is SECOND TO NONE! I liked my old TriStar, but all of the newer models with plastic wands are, in my opinion, terrible for what you get. Buy one of the OLDER TriStars if you want a power nozzle that actually cleans effectively. I've had every brand of vacuum over the years, and only TWO cleaned so well that the salesperson couldn't find ANY dirt in my house ANYWHERE: My Air-Way Sanitizor, and my latest-generation Kirbys. Period.

I had a dealer from the local TriStar office try to sell me this ridiculously INEFFECTIVE and horrifically EXPENSIVE vacuum. He started by telling me I was living in filth and that he'd PROVE it to me (he never did) that my carpet was full of filth and that my current vacuum cleaner was a pile of junk. I politely told him that my carpet was not filthy but quite clean, and I told him that he was wasting his time, but he insisted on doing the demo. Long and hysterically FUNNY story short, he could NOT find ANYTHING but a tiny fleck of carpet fuzz...NO DIRT or sand, just a bit of clean carpet fuzz. Because my house is spotlessly clean, like I had tried to tell him at the beginning; I thoroughly vacuum my house at least a few times per week. With my KIRBY, which happens to be the best vacuum I've ever used and owned. I installed my extra thick and dense Sears's Best" carpet close to 20 years ago, and it's only ever been vacuumed by me with ONE vacuum, the same Kirby vacuum I purchased brand new the same day my carpet was installed. TriStar isn't the only brand who has tried, and failed MISERABLY, to find any dirt in my carpet, upholstery, and drapes; Filter Queen tried and failed; Electrolux failed, too. The worst failure of all was that stinkin' ### Rainbow; the water in the water basin was just as crystal clear AFTER the attempted removal of all of the dirt in my "filthy" carpet. But, I digress; when TriStar finally realized that my house and all of its contents were, in fact, clean, he began to insult me and my housekeeping skills ANYWAY...I told him to get the Hell out of my CLEAN house and not to EVER return. These guys are CROOKS; in fact, I was later informed by a local central vacuum cleaner manufacturer that when the actual OWNER of the local TriStar dealership had his new house built...? He had a certain central vacuum company install one in his new house! How's THAT for HYPOCRISY?! Crooks.

Scam, scam, scam! I was also told my home was filthy by this door-to-door salesman. I said no, I can't afford it, it's much too expensive, MANY times. And each time he would get on the phone to his 'manager' to see if he could sell it at a lower price. And each time I said no, it's too expensive, and I asked that he leave. He would NOT leave and I thought the only way to get this guy out of my house is to physically grab him and push him out the door, but that sounded like assault to me. We had finally gotten the price down to $600.00 (STILL TOO MUCH), so I was getting desperate after an hour and a half so I agreed and signed a contract to pay $25.00 monthly over a period of 3 years - stupid me! After some years of having payments deducted automatically from my bank account, I thought to myself, surely I must have paid this machine off months ago, so I went to my bank and put a 'stop payment' order on the automatic deduction. It was a few weeks later that I started to get phone calls from someone telling me I had missed a payment. My response was - send me a statement of my monthly payments and any balance owing and then I will make a payment. Nothing! Nothing in the mail. I got two more calls asking for payment - my answer was the same as the first time - send me a statement. The phone calls finally stopped and I've heard nothing from them since.
These folks are crooks who should be in jail. I am amazed that they are not there. In the end I probably paid more than $1000.00 for this vacuum, and all because I wasn't paying attention to the deductions being made from my bank account - after a while you just get used to it.

I was excited to see the commercial for this bra had full figured models that looked great in the bras. ( i am the same size as some of them). I rushed to order. After waiting 8 weeks, I called to be told " go on line to check your statice" . Poo!, I waited for a rep tyo pick up as they suggested. After 5 min. I got a dial tone. I finally recieved my tresures 10 weeks after ordering. They were too small and rolled up imediately( which they never do) Poo!. I got on the phone again and after 4 times a very nice man said he would send me our a larger size. "Just send back the ones you got". I did so and recieved my larger size in less than 2 weeks.(go figure). The new bras were the same poor fit, non supporting, roll up messes as the old ones. I am a 44 c cup now, and looked like a flat mess . I packed those babies up and sent them back expecting a refund. HUH! I recieved an e-mail confirming the return with no info. as to my refund. I called, got a machine which gave me another numb. I called and got a machine telling me to call on Mon. or Tues. as these were not busy times. Guess what, It was Tuesday! Got another number though. I called . only to be told they don't refund if a exchange has been made. I flipped out. The lady said maybe she could help me gause I was so nice. Good God! They have now promised me a refund within 2 days. I cannot wait to see if anything happens, what. Don't buy this item ladies, It is a clear scam. I urge you to e-mail me with your mess as misery loves company you know.( lavander@aol.com )

Around four months ago, I had someone knock on the door and offer me a free doormat. Five minutes later some guy comes barging into my house and asks us just to hear him out. He gave us the sob story about how he was trying to sell these vacuums to support his family and only needed to sell one more to make his quota. I normally would not fall for this but I felt sorry for the guy and I needed a vacuum. He made it sound so great and promised to come back with a free duct cleaning and A/C filter. I couldn't afford the vacuum so he made it easy and made a payment plan that wasn't supposed to start until March 2008. The finance company has been harassing me since December about a late payment - go figure. The salesman never returned with the free bonuses he promised and the vacuum is a piece of crap. The hose clogs if you try to suck too much up and it is a real pain to lug the machine around. I wish that I could get my old Oreck back from him and give this piece of crap back! What a rip off!

I got snookered into paying $2500 for a TriStar vac a few years ago. I had been using my 1989 Eureka canister. I had already been snookered into paying more than that for a name brand upright, but I can't use an upright. I don't see how anybody can. It'll give you wrist arthritis. Not to mention it won't go under furniture, or maybe it has an attachable hose that'll go under furniture, but that's a hassle. Anyway I just couldn't live with the upright, so when the TriStar guy came by, I was ripe. I was impressed with the amount of dirt it allegedly picked up from my carpet. And the swirling "technology" that did something special -- I don't remember what now, but "keeping the dirt from coming back out the vac" is what comes into my mind. He took my Eureka and the upright in trade and I still had to pay $2500. With the amt of money I paid for the upright and the TriStar, I could make a big down payment on a new car.

I did manage to get my Eureka back. The TriStar doesn't do a better job than a THIRTY-SEVEN-YEAR-OLD Eureka canister. It does a terrible job (even with a new bag) of picking up even little pieces of debris off the top of the carpet. I'm talking little, like less than a millimeter in diameter. Something I've probably brought in from outside. And when it's running, it smells like wet dirty dog. I HATE THE THING!

The salesman was charming and I'm a fool for charm. He called a couple of times after ripping me off (before I realized I'd been ripped off) to see if I needed bags and was satisfied w/the machine. Then one day he dropped over(!). He found out I was taking a prescription drug that sells for big monies on the street and proposed that I sell some to him and he would split the profits with me. HUH? I told him no and haven't heard from him since. I should have turned him in but didn't know the address of the TriStar store or warehouse or wherever he worked out of.

Not only does the machine not pick stuff up, the clasp that holds the top down over the bag chamber won't stay latched. If I pull the vac by the hose, it'll open. And the retractable cord doesn't retract any more. It's only 3 yrs old at the most.

I suppose I should talk about the positive aspects of the vac: It's fairly quiet. It has a very long cord. It's relatively easy to change heads. NOT WORTH $2500 for those things. All vacuums should have a long cord and be fairly quiet. DO NOT BUY A VACUUM CLEANER FROM A DOOR TO DOOR SALESMAN! Go on line and look for the vac with the best reviews by a professional consumer review organization. It won't cost you as much and I'm sure you'll like it better & it'll last longer. That's what I'm going to do now.

Your Agree/Neutral/Disagree is very confusing. "Your attitude towards complaint" -- Agree, Neutral, Disagree? Of course I agree with my complaint. Otherwise I wouldn't be making the complaint. Or did you mean something else? Because if you did, it's not at all clear and I'm an editor.

I was also gullible enough to buy the vacuum about 4 years ago. I hate it too. It is cumbersome to pull around, the bags are expensive, and there was no place to get the maintainence on the machine.

On December 17, I replied to a postcard received from Olympic Air Solutions to inquire of a prize I won. Prizes included a kitchen serving set, tickets to a Green Bay Packers game, a digital camera, Apple iPod Touch and a top prize of $10, 000. I was informed that I won, but my card must be verified by an agent of the company. As part of the verification process, I was asked to view a FilterQueen Indoor Air Quality System. The representative on the phone stated the demonstration was brief. Fair enough. I weighed out the chance to win $10, 000 with maybe a half hour of my time. An appointment was set up for an afternoon visit.

Shortly before the scheduled visit, I received a phone call from a sales manager informing me the sales person was running late and if I would be o.k. postponing my appointment by one hour. One hour turned into two and a half hours. After waiting patiently for two and a half hours past the scheduled visit, the sales person appears. After verification of prize card, I was presented with an 18 piece BBQ set and asked to participate in a product demonstration.

The demonstration included the Defender and the Majestic. Both products were of good quality and the salesperson did a fine job with the demonstration. After a one hour and forty five minute presentation, I was ask to answer a few questions regarding the demonstration and the products. I made it very clear I was not interested in making a purchase. It did not matter how much the products cost, I was not in the market to purchase an air purifier or a vacuum cleaner. However, the salesperson was here to do his job, so I patiently listened as the price of the combo was presented.

The Defender was listed at $998. The Majestic was $2, 998. After quickly stating “NO”, the salesperson called his manager. There was a back and forth conversation between the sales manager and the salesperson. The sales manager would dictate to the salesperson a series of demeaning questions such as “so you admit your current vacuum does not do the job the Majestic does. You prefer to live in dirt?”

After indicating if I had to choose between the Defender and the Majestic, I indicated I would choose the Majestic but stressed again I was not interested in either product. The price dropped from $2, 998 to $2, 600 to $2, 200 to to $1, 500. During the entire negotiation process, I could hear the demeaning conversation taking place between the sales manager and the salesperson in order to hook me as a customer. After refusing to pay $1, 500, I heard the sales manager order the salesperson to offer a price of $1, 200 and perform fellatio on me (actual words spoken were more vulgar and offensive). Of course the salesperson, acting as a true professional, did not relay the entire message to me and was unaware that I was hearing both sides of this abrasive conversation. After rejecting the offer to pay $1, 200, a final offer of $999 was made. I quickly rejected the price of $999 and the presentation finally ended.

I am posting the report to alert other people in the community.

I used to work for Tristar. I am not the salesman type, so they fired me before I hit the minimum necessary demonstrations I needed to perform per month and they didn't pay me anything. The vacuums work well, but not $1500 better than the $300 vacuum I have.

My in-laws from my first marriage owned a vacuum store in NM. They were Kirby and Tri-star distributors to several states, as well as having 4-5 sales reps for the surrounding areas. I sold the Compacts (earlier version of the Tri-star), and the Tri-star out of the vacuum center. We sold every brand of vacuum from there. I can tell you those models were the BEST vacuum in the world. Back then they ran around $890. With a "trade in". I had my Compact and Tri-star until a couple months back when we were having new garage doors installed and my husband set them outside on the drive way! Well someone decided to help themselves to my prized processions. I'm so pissed, I could scream! These truly are the best vacuum, and these experiences you have had with your salesmen are inexcusable. There is no way our business would have tolerated that kind of behavior. One thing we did have was a finance company in place to offer low monthly payments, and the vacuums sold themselves. Back then they were made by Interstate Engineering and they stood behind their product. It was then sold to the company who owns them now. They are located in Dallas, but good luck trying to talk to them. They are rude. I will be purchasing one off the internet!

the product i received was from china and after speaking to a rep at ur phone he told me that none of your products comes from china and the i received is counterfeit i need a email sent to my email adress brownfred701@yahoo.com that way i can get my money back from pay pall

I bought 1 year ago, the basket and there's rust on the bottom of the basket, I need the replacement of the bottom piece or the whole basket. Any way I can or you guys can replace this and give me a new basket?

Hello, I received the air fryer as a gift 2 months ago. The system will not heat . I have tried many different ways to correct the problem and have failed. What can be done to fix this issue.