Vacuum Salespeople Lawsuit: This Job Sucks
22.06.11
Ruth Dixon and Andre Smith answered ads promising they’d earn $500 a week working for a Kirby vacuum cleaner distributor. But, they said, they never saw a cent, even after memorizing an elaborate sales pitch, driving hundreds of miles on their own dime, cleaning acres of carpet, and singing hymns of praise to Kirby at strobe-light-filled morning pep rallies.
That’s how New Haveners Dixon and Smith described their time working for SZ Enterprises, an Orange-based distributor of Kirby vacuum cleaners.
They’re two of eight plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit filed Monday against SZ, owner Scott Zabka, and the Kirby company.
The lawsuit alleges that SZ hired employees under false pretenses and then failed to pay them the wages they were owed. Those unlawful practices are a result of company policies set out by Kirby, a nationwide vacuum cleaner company, the lawsuit charges.
Scott Zabka, the owner of SZ Enterprises, declined to comment on the lawsuit. He said he had not yet had a chance to read the complaint.
Source: New Haven Independent
Conn. AG settles with vacuum cleaner company
06.06.11
HARTFORD, Conn. (Legal Newsline) - Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen and the Department of Consumer Protection announced a settlement on Monday with a vacuum cleaner company over allegedly high-pressure sales tactics.
The assurances of voluntary compliance with The Kirby Company and its Connecticut distributors settle allegations that the company and its representatives engaged in pushy, high pressure sales tactics. Under terms of the settlement, the company agreed to educate its distributors on more pertinent sales practice methods.
Kirby will educate its distributors routinely on the importance of complying with Connecticut laws involving telemarketing, home solicitation and the federal Do Not Call List. Distributors will also be instructed to not engage in "high pressure" sales tactics, to review with each customer the consumer's three-day right to cancel, to fully and conspicuously disclose material financing terms and to adhere to similar fair marketing
Source: Legal News Line