| L & L Systems, Inc., of Lakewood |
| This one has a happy ending. L & L Systems is an authorized distributor of TriStar (formerly known as Compact) vacuums. The way they get the product out is you are entered into a "sweepstakes" that gives you a chance to win some prizes. (Buyer beware: If you sign up for a sweepstakes you may end up hearing from these folks!) For those who don't win the real prizes you will get a consolation prize. They use home delivery of the consolation prize as a reason to call you and ask if it's ok to also demo their product in your home. I received a call from a lady who had good news and bad news. The bad was that I didn't win the main prize. The good was that I had a consolation prize and they would hand deliver it. At that point she asked if it was ok to demo their vacuum cleaner. I said ok and she advised that her man would be over shortly and it wouldn't take long. Jeff showed up at my door almost an hour late carrying my "prize" (hotel accommodations in various locations with strings attached) and a large box in which sat their miraculous vacuum. The "short" presentation ended up lasting about 3 hours. He told me about different styles of vacuums and why they are inefficient. He told me how vacuums are rated (a water tube test in which they rate the vacuum based on how high it can suck water up a 1 inch tube) and how they rated well above any other. The TriStar uses "cyclonic" action that is not the same as other vacuums that claim to use it, or so he stated. And on and on it went, along with a witty array of jokes and puns, and all along the way I kept saying to myself "I'm not going to buy this vacuum!" The demonstrations were interesting for a few different reasons. You see, their vacuum has the vacuum bag in front of the motor so that debris can't damage the motor, and because of the design the cyclonic action causes it to rotate the debris in such a way that the opening through which air is sucked past the motor is never blocked unless the canister is VERY full. The bag is actually two bags - a permanent bag that is washable and a temporary bag that you can throw out but can also be rinsed and reused. The temporary bag fits inside of the other and, actually, they're both cylinder-shaped with one end completely open. The "lid" of the vacuum closes on top of the bags, creating a seal. He pointed out how most traditional vacuums can only filter particles down to a certain size and everything under that size gets spit back into the air, causing some of us to sneeze and leaving a layer of dust over everything (which is why it's recommended that you dust AFTER you vacuum, not before). He pointed out that HEPA filters on some vacuums are effective in reducing this problem but that they clog up quickly, reducing the suction power of the vacuum, as do the standard bags which rapidly become coated with a fine layer of dust, which inhibits the ability of the motor to push air through the vacuum bag. He demonstrated this with some sheets of the same material (purportedly) that vacuum bags are normally made of, placing it over the bag and vacuuming a small area, then showing me all the dust, grit and fibre it captured. The TriStar also has a rear-end HEPA after-filter that reduces the amount of dust that is recirculated into the air. He also demonstrated how dust passes through a vacuum and back into the air using more filter sheets. Finally, he wanted to show me how powerful their vacuum is. First, he ran my vacuum over a spot for a minute, then (without the temporary bag or after-filter, but he filled up the permanent bag with sand and put one of the sheets I mentioned over it, creating an inconsistent comparison) he ran the TriStar over the same spot for a minute. The TriStar picked up a bunch of crud. He did this several times to demonstrate how much crud sits in the carpeting and how normal vacuums can't pick it up. He then took two very large "bullets" (probably an inch in diameter) and had me suck them up with the vacuum. The first time it picked them both up and deposited them in the bag with the sand. The second time one got stuck in the tube. He said that had never happened before (in his 6 months of selling them) and acted surprised. He did some other demos to demonstrate the sucking power of the vacuum. At no time did he use the after-filter or the temporary bag but, to the vacuum's credit, it picked up a lot of dirt despite being full of sand. He also explained how the attachments it comes with are better than regular attachments (the edger has small holes in it near the tip so that it cannot become stuck like typical edgers, the power beater bar will turn off it it becomes tangled, the furniture attachment sans brush has grooves in it to keep it from getting stuck like the edger, etc.). After the 3 hours of the demonstration were all done I went online to try and find info about TriStar. Neither Interstate Engineering (the maker of the TriStar) nor L & L were listed as Better Business Bureau members (Interstate wasn't listed at all) and there was almost no info on the web about Interstate Engineering or the vacuum itself beyond the TriStar homepage. When I emailed Interstate they were amazed by this, as was Jeff. I was amazed since Jeff and the TriStar homepage both say they've been around for over 60 years. About the only thing I found was webpages selling old TriStars and bags. I did find one posting where a guy was asking whether he should buy a TriStar. The response was brief and said not to. We sat down and haggled the price. They wanted about $2000. To it's credit the vacuum has: "25 Year Warranty on the entire die-cast metal body of the TriStar Cleaning System, the 5 Year warranty on the TriStar and TurboBrush motors, and the 2 Year Warranty on all other parts and standard accessories of the TriStar Cleaning System." (Quoted from the TriStar webpage.) Jeff called his manager, Dave, who authorized giving me $200 for each vacuum I owned (I had a Dirt Devil and a Eureka Elite), for a total of $400 off the price and an additional $100 off as a "special promotion". With tax and financing that came to $2000. Funny how that works. During the demo he had trouble with the power button getting stuck (maybe from the sand) so I requested a different unit. He said he'd deliver it the next day. When I signed the finance papers I filled out a section that specified First Horizon as the financing company. Jeff wasn't familiar with this little area but signed off on it. (This became important later.) He also gave me a paper about cancelling (in Colorado you have three days to cancel a transaction like this) the order. He mislead me and I thought I only had until Monday to cancel (it was Friday) when I actually had 3 BUSINESS days, giving me until Wednesday to cancel. Jeff did drop off a new vacuum for me the following day, Saturday. I think I used it once. I mentioned the TriStar to a friend of mine, Linette, who said her husband, Glen, had once sold TriStars. I asked her to ask him what he thought of them. Wednesday she told me that he said not to buy it. Since I had been misled I thought it was too late to cancel. One note and a warning to consumers: When Jeff took possession of my vacuums he asked me to cut the plugs off them as a symbolic display of my liberation from conventional vacuums. When I tried to decline he said if I didn't he'd be given a hard time back at the office. This was actually a very sneaky ploy to deter me from wanting to cancel the order since I'd have to get both cords repaired before I could use the vacuums again. To avoid liability he refused to cut the plugs off when I asked him to and insisted I do it. On Thursday I received a call from Jeff saying that he had bad and good news. The bad news was that First Horizon had turned me down. The good news was they found another company to finance me. He wanted to know when he could come over to have me sign the new contract. I told him Friday or Saturday. He called back to say that Dave was in a rush to get the new contract signed and if I let him come over right then he'd give me another voucher for hotel accommodations and a pack of 12 vacuum bags. I said ok. He asked how the vacuum was doing (I was using it when he called) and I told him it was fine. He said he'd be there in about 30 minutes and it would only take a few minutes to do the new paperwork. He was late, again, and I was having trouble with the vacuum. The beater brush hose kept detaching where you hold it. To his credit he immediately went to his car and got me another hose and tested it to make sure it didn't detach (he, too, was able to make the original detach). While he did that I spoke to one of my roommates, Elizabeth, who is a paralegal and asked her if I could refuse to sign the new contract. She indicated I could because it was specific to First Horizon. When Jeff came back I told him I didn't want to sign it and asked him to take the vacuum back. I had it packed up and ready to go. He said he didn't know what to do and wanted to know why. I explained and he called his boss. He got off the phone and told me he didn't want to be an ass but Dave had told him to leave the vacuum and walk out. He said I should call Dave and talk to him. I hit redial and started talking to Dave, explaining that I didn't want the vacuum and why. While that was happening Jeff walked out. Dave was not very understanding and said he would not take the vacuum back and he would force First Horizon to finance me. I put Elizabeth on the phone and she tried to explain to him why it wouldn't work but he wouldn't listen. Eventually he hung up on her because she said we'd report them to the BBB and tell everyone we knew. He took that as a threat and she explained it was our right as consumers. (She, in fact, has told several friends and at least one had been considering buying the TriStar but won't now!) While talking to Elizabeth Dave said she was on my side because we were lovers, or something to that effect. Elizabeth is married to my other roommate, Bill, and we aren't. As you probably guessed Dave was a bit on the rude side. The next day, on Elizabeth's advice, I called First Horizon and advised them of what Dave had said. The guy I talked to seemed indignant that Dave said he'd force them to approve the financing. The gentleman I spoke to was very cordial and said they wouldn't. I also advised him of my financial situation which was not encouraging. I left the vacuum in the box and didn't use it again. A couple weeks went by without hearing from L & L Systems. I finally called and Jeff answered. I asked when he was going to pick up the vacuum. He put me on hold and the next thing I knew Dave was on the line. Dave said they weren't and that he'd get another company to finance the vacuum. I said I wouldn't sign any other contracts and that this one was specific to First Horizon. He said that because of the title he could have ANY company finance me. He told me he'd take me to court if I didn't sign to which I responded that was fine. The conversation ended. This all occurred in October '00. In Early December I got a call from a finance company who had good news - they said they'd approved me for financing for the vacuum. I proceeded to advise the lady of the situation. She said they wouldn't finance me and recommended I call the finance brokerage L & L Systems goes through to find financing and speak to Stella about this problem. I called them and Stella answered. I explained the entire problem and she said she wouldn't arrange any more financing for this and that she'd call Dave and tell him to knock it off and get the vacuum back from me. Miraculously Jeff called me two days later to say he had good news - Dave had been fired and Jeff had gotten the new manager to approve his getting my vacuum back! I wonder if Stella had anything to do with this? He came, examined the vacuum, and that was the end of that! He even gave me back my vacuums (sans the plugs, of course). I gave them to an elderly neighbor who repairs vacuums in his copious free time and asked him to fix them and give them to families who needed them. To be fair I really do believe that the TriStar is a good vacuum. A really good one, in fact. However, I think that the demos are misleading (leaving off the inner bag and the HEPA filter gives a false indication of the power of the vacuum under normal usage during the demos) and the salespeople are manipulative (what salespeople aren't?). In addition, at $2000 I think the TriStar is drastically overpriced. I think, perhaps, I might be willing to purchase one if it was in the range of about $400. Please note that replacement bags and HEPA filters are not cheap! In the end Dave got his just desserts and I got satisfaction. |
| After writing this I sent an email to Interstate Engineering on 12/13/00 with a copy of the story. They can be reached at TriStar@TRISTARCLEAN.COM. Here is the response they gave me on 12/14/00: Dear Mr. McGrew, Thank you for your recent communication to TriStar. I apologize for the frustration you experienced with the cancellation of your contract. We are the manufacturers of the TriStar cleaning system and our products are sold to independent distributors who set their own prices and selling tactics. I will forward your comments to the Manufacturers Representative over your area. Please feel free to call our Customer Service Department at 1-800-854-6185 for further assistance. Thank you, Mary Ann |