NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Two women in middle Tennessee said they ended up thousands of dollars in debt after a very slick salesman pitched them what they thought was a free vacuum.

Women Say Salesman Duped Them Into Bad Deal

They said they got stuck with finance charges and bills totaling more than $2,000, each for failing to finish a program for which they said they never signed up. The women said a promise that they could get a free $2,000 air-purifying vacuum cleaning system was a deceiving sales pitch designed to trick even savvy consumers.

"You get the whole machine for free,” said the salesman to the Channel 4 I-Team’s undercover reporter.

How could anyone believe the deal? Is it too good to be true? A professional said she was duped.

"I've been a businesswoman for 26 years. I feel like a fool," said Sheila Greer.

So how did it happen?

To find out, the Channel 4 I-team installed hidden cameras at the home of one of our employees with hidden cameras.

The customers call the sales pitch deception, but the company calls it just good business.

"Do you feel you have a fair practice here?" I-Team reporter Jeremy Finley asked Teresa Berry of LT. Enterprises.

“Absolutely,” she said.

Channel 4 I-team made an appointment with the same salesman who signed up Greer and also spoke to Betty Johnson.

He didn't realize he was showing the vacuum to a member of the I-team. He pitches how to earn a free vacuum often during the meeting.

"Because you're interested in coming in earning it for free,” said the man. "Every ten vouchers, you get a free machine. … You can get a machine, absolutely for free. … You get the whole machine for free,” the man said.

The salesman mentioned free four times. The word is even on the literature. The pitch for how to get the vacuum sounds pretty good too: Just show it, without any sales pressure, to 30 people. That's what was so enticing to the women, Greer said.

"I didn’t want to sell for them. I did not want to be their salesman. I was only there because you said all I had to do was show 30 demonstrations," said Sheila.

The I-Team heard the same explanation twice.

"Every ten vouchers, you get a free machine,” the salesman told the I-Team member.

"A free machine, and you don't have to sell it?” the I-Team member said.

“You just have to show it,” he said.

How you really get the vacuum is a bit more complicated, because residents have to buy the vacuum first. Customers can finance it, sometimes at a rate of 18 percent. They can get reimbursed, but only if they show the vacuum 30 times, and the customer does have to sell one after the 30 demonstrations.

So even though he first said, "You don't have to sell it,” the I-Team knew how it really worked, so the undercover member repeatedly asked.

"So you do have to sell one?” she said.

“You do have to sell at least one, in reality,” the salesman said.

The women said that was never explained to them, and they never knew to ask.

"I think it's ridiculous,” said Johnson.

The company said everyone who signs up for the free vacuum program goes through training and that everything is explained.

"Honestly, it was definitely covered for a course of six months," said Berry.

"Why use the term free? Is that deceptive?” asked Finley.

“It's a reimbursement program. So, in essence, you're going to get back what you paid for it," said Teresa Berry.

But only if the customers finish the sales agreement.

The company said what the I-Team saw was only the sales pitch to recruit customers, that everything is fully explained again later on. But the women said if that ever happens, it's only after customers already signed up.

"I felt like I was used like everyone else. I felt like I was used," said Greer, who went into debt.

Johnson is now being sued by the financier for refusing to pay for the vacuum. She's fighting the suit in court.

LT Berry Associates said it has never had complaints like these, and that it is in good standing with the Better Business Bureau and that its product is known all over the world. The salesman said Channel 4 rushed him and that he didn't get to do a complete presentation.