Sewing and Vacuum Authority — Local services in Clarksville

My wife talked me into going into this store with her. She wanted a Kirby and I was against it because they are stupid expensive. I have had run-ins with a Kirby door to door salesperson before and they wanted to sell me a vacuum cleaner for $2000! Anyway, the wife makes more money than I do so it was her call in the end but I was NOT looking forward to this experience.

Let me start by saying how much I hate sales people. I really shouldn't have to; I mean, does anyone like them? I can't read a piece of literature without one breathing down my neck telling about all these unnecessary bells and whistles.

To my delight, the experience here was different. We were greeted warmly when we walked in the door and the sales person (Marissa) just let us know that she was there for us if we needed her. The entire time my wife was looking at a Kirby and some of its competition I was expecting Marissa to pop up on us like a ninja and start with the bells and whistles but she never did.

I think I accidentally signaled her over by looking up to see where she was at too many times. I don't like sales people sneaking up on me. In hindsight, I think she assumed we had questions because I kept looking her way. Right about that time Marissa timidly walked over to us and asked us if we had any questions. I immediately dismissed her because, again, I hate salespeople. I may have even been a bit rude. She wasn't phased though and she said, "Let me ask you a question. What are you going to use the vacuum cleaner for?"

With quite an attitude towards seemingly stupid questions I responded with "Vacuuming" as if there is anything else a vacuum cleaner could be used for. I fell right into her trap...

She then quite cheerfully followed up with "Well of course, but do you have any kids? Do you have pets? Do you live in the city or a more rural area? is this for commercial or business use?" and other such questions that I have never even considered. She provided sound examples of why all of this stuff mattered and educated us about anything we were curious about.

I never knew that there was such science behind vacuum cleaners but, people, I am here to tell you that there is; and Marissa is not a ninja, she is the Albert Einstein of Vacuum Cleaners.

She may be the Walter White of vacuum cleaners because before I knew what happened we were happily walking out of this store with one that fit our specific needs precisely (not a Kirby BTW), enough bags to keep us going for a year and a high quality air purifier that I was excited about plugging in all for a fraction of the price that the Kirby door to door sales person was asking for. I didn't even know I wanted an air purifier but it is awesome! I plan on going back there in the winter to get my wife a space heater for Christmas and I am getting more of those purifiers.

Bottom line, if your wife is about to spend a bunch of money on a Kirby, take her to see Marissa and let things work themselves out. I never expected such a great experience at a vacuum cleaner store. Who would? We must have come in at a good time too because we got it all so cheap I thought she might get in trouble for it.

Marissa, sorry if I was snarky with you but you handled it like a champ and have shown me the light :) Thanks for everything.

This right here is how you get repeat business! Other retailers need to...

I would rate half star or less if it were possible. I approached Mr Dunn (the manager)with an antique Hoover vacuum that dated back to the early 1950’s and asked him if he knew of anyone who would be interested in purchasing it as a collector item, and asked him what he thought it could be worth. He said it was really cool and he’d never seen one like it before. He said you never know, but possibly $100-300 just depending. It worked like new, and even had attachments, and was all original. He said i can put it on display as a conversation piece and we’ll see what happens. He took my name and number, and wrote them on a small white description tag and hung it by the string around the vacuum handle. I told him id check back now n then to see if any news or he could just call me. I checked back every few months or so by calling, and even stopped in person once, and at that time he had said we’ll keep trying. But a couple years had gone by and never heard of any bites so i just decided to go pick it up. I went to the store and after telling him who i was he seemed to get a bit jumpy and agitated, telling me he hadn't heard from me in over a year(wrong). So he proceeds to tell me he’s expanded the store and i noticed i hadn’t seen the vacuum on display anywhere. He then proceeds to tell me (as he’s walking into the back room hurriedly acting like he’s still looking) that “I bet it got thrown away”! I was like “WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT”??? He said i bet it got tossed during the expansion. He said he hadn’t heard from me in sooo long. He then asks for my name n number again, and says he will call Corporate to see if they have it (?????) lol. I asked him why HE NEVER ONCE TOLD ME when i called, or why he didn't JUST CALL ME and say come get it, i cant do you any good. Im only 10 mins from the store and could've easily just come and picked it up, and said thanks for trying. NOPE, NOTHING!!! NOT EVEN AN APOLOGY !!!!!! THAT IS A JOKE! He didn’t offer me ANYTHING for my loss that was HIS fault. I realize he was doing me a favor, and i had originally offered to give him 50% of what he sold it for. I think that was gonna be fair. Plus he had it as the conversation piece too. Nothing huge, but a piece of nostalgia to talk about with customers. Anyway i think he did me pretty wrong and i wanted people to know this before they patronize him. THATS the kind of man your dealing with running this store!! SAD business practice if you ask me. And from other post i saw im not the only one highly disappointed in...

Dropped our Oreck canister vac off 2/13. The cord had become wedged between the pulley and the top of the housing inside the vac and could not be pulled or retracted. I used those words when telling them the problem. I was told we would be called 2/15 or 2/16 with an estimate.

Wife called 2/20 because they failed to honor their commitment and we had not heard from them. They told her that it cannot be repaired because Oreck no longer made the part in question. She asked if that meant a vacuum that cost over $100 was disposable and they replied "yes."

She picked up the vacuum and brought it home - I was livid because there were NO BROKEN PARTS. The exact issue had been described to them when the unit was dropped off on 2/13, thus the excuse that parts were no longer being made was a ruse.

I took the vac to them because I could not figure out how to remove a wheel needed to take it apart. Because they were incompetent, I risked it and took the vacuum apart. I had the cord extending and retracting properly within 15 minutes - all I had to do was to put the cord back onto the pulley.

I question whether the parts replaced on other vacuums taken there were really needed too. Seems to me their tech doesn't know what he is doing, or he is paid on commission as he is attempting to replace parts that are not...