I’ve seen the infomercials on Sunday morning television for Direct Buy. People claim to save thousands, or tens of thousands of dollars of home furnishings and building supplies. I smelt a scam so I decided to give them a call and check it out.
The lady on the phone really could answer none of my questions. In fact all she could do is get all my personal information and arrange for a special appointment to check it out. I gave her false information and cut the phone call a bit short. I could just imagine getting there and having a group of high pressure salesmen trying to strongarm me into buying an expensive membership.
Update 11/27/05
This seems to be a pretty hot topic, so I’ve decided to revisit Directbuy.
After I recieved several emails inquiring whether or not I found anything else out, I decided to do a little research. I found a site called www.ratethatcompany.com and found that many other people out there realized this was a scam. Unfortunately for some, it was too late.
One concerned woman wrote to me:
DirectBuy, Just don’t do it! My husband and I went to the presentation, and it seems like a good idea. Yes, you will save money, it seems, but the hassle, the hidden fees, the lack of customer service and lies make it not worth it. And don’t call corporate- seems there is no franchise standard. The owners of each club are the final say. We need to find out how to now get our money back.
If you have been burned by them, or know of any other resources that may help those who have been caught up in this outfit, please post comments here.
Update 1/4/07
Thank everyone who has left a testimonial in the comments. Please keep posting comments here!
This article posted 11 27 05
May 2nd, 2009 at 10:13 pm
My wife and I joined today. We actually got a great deal on financing the outrageously high membership fee and it ended up not costing as much, especially with the fact there is no prepayment penalty. We also got a reduction by the independent franchisee giving us the fourth and fifth year for free when we balked at the idea of being interested but not financially able today.
I’ve read all 300+ entries in this blog, and am leaning toward agreeing with some bloggers who have said (as the DB salesmen said today) that they aren’t for everyone. We did zero research on the sales process and were shocked at the whole “buy now or never come back” policy they had. My wife and I took turns rationalizing it to each other that when we’re done renovating our kitchen, we will have recouped the membership fee.
I’m weary, though, because the members on here are stating they haven’t recouped their money yet. The quality of the products and the wait times, as well as the additional fees are not a part of the personable yet pushy sales process. I’ll do a little more research, as well as reading more comments on this very helpful blog, before I think about putting a stop payment on the check we wrote them today.
Consider yourselves uneducated if you went to the presentation and were so put off by the pushiness that you left in a huff.
May 3rd, 2009 at 10:14 am
I just bought a house which could use (doesn’t “need”) all kinds of remodeling. I did a Google search for reviews of Direct Buy and was lucky enough to come across this blog.
After talking to one of my co-workers who says her parents have saved all kinds of money on Direct Buy, I was seriously considering it. But, with the internet at my disposal, I like to do my research.
What I’ve got out of these postings is that if you are going to be doing a lot of renovation, you can probably save money if you are willing to deal with the hassle of the company being non-responsive when they don’t need money from you, and the hassle of picking up everything yourself.
You may ask, why should I care about what this non-member is typing? The reason I wrote this post it to let those of you who support this company that the way a company treats its customers does matter, and to let the company know that I will NOT be doing business with them. And the reason for that is their high-pressure, hard-sell tactics. I don’t support companies that do business that way and I won’t be told how to shop. Especially not in a world where I can buy “direct” from someone who already owns a product (numerous online classifieds, Craig’s List, eBay, etc.) or utilize numerous shopping search engines to find the best deal at the time (Yahoo Shopping, Google Shopping, etc.).
So the bottom line for me is even if I were going to save money, I don’t like the way Direct Buy does business, and I won’t join. To those of you who shared your experiences, thank you for letting the internet help me do research once again on something I was poised to buy.
May 3rd, 2009 at 10:25 am
Ok,
Once you have been duped into becoming a member is there any way of getting out with your shirt intact?
May 5th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
My husband and I of course were watching late night TV and saw the Direct Buy commercial. It intrigued us. So we set an appointment/ visitors pass and went in. My husband and I are both in Medical devise sales and we were absolutley floored with their reps sales approach. Sign today or never. Then $5500 membership fee are you kidding me. What a waste of two hours on Saturday morning. Its like a boiler room in there! They herd you in with other people watch a DVD and then you get to peruse their pricelists, then its onto the slaughter with their sales spproach. Then if you don’t sign the manager comes over to the table and show you a questionaire you filled out on the way in with loaded and trick questions and blately says sign today or never again.. Wow.. talk about a hard sell. Anyway we were pissed off and you can tell other people were as well. More than half the crowd that was herded into the room to watch their DVD had left upset. Ryan and I being finacially astute figured we would have to buy a alot of furniture and electronics to realize a return on investment. This maybe good to someone in the process of building a home that bneeds everything. We doubt that though with their selling approach just hints how piss poor the customer service must be. Fortunately, through one of our friends they reffered us to a guy name Chris that started Great Furniture 4 Less.com. He started his company almost 10years ago and he sought out to reconfigure the Direct Buy business plan to his own. He charges a $1800.00 fee for 2 years, you have a 3 day right of recission, there’s an 8% admin fee on any order, plus freight and or delivery. After going over the numbers and the actual stocking dealer pricelists we found that Direct Buy had an average of 22% margin over actual cost plus their fees! So needless to say Ryan and I signed up on the GF4L membership program and saved huge. We bought a $28,000.00 Nicole Miller Furniture Bedroom set for $8232.00 delivered! We saved $19,768.00 on our first order! Chris is awesome. I can’t say enough good things about Chris and our experience with GF4L. If you feel Direct Buy is not for you and don’t like their approach call Chris and he will hook you up! His office #888-369-8406 and ask for him personally and ask him about the GF4L Membership program. FYI.. His website is http://www.greafurniture4less.com. They will not quote out furniture on the website unless your membership has been activated. Otherwise you can visit their design center in Joliet Illinois. Make sure you tell Chris Ryan and Rene sent you..
May 5th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Brad,
Good to see a blog on here that exposes Direct Buy as a horrible investment. My wife and I too got taken and have been treated horribly by customer service ( a huge misnomer). I am interested in doing more than just pissing and moaning about Direct Buy’s myth of saving lots of money for its members. I would like to start some consumer actions against them. And I don’t simply mean writing complaints on blogs or ripoffreports.com and to the Better Business Bureau, but doing some things on a large scale to teach these a**holes a lesson.
When I was in college I read a book by Saul D. Alinsky, an organizer in the 60′-70’s, who was very successful and feared by corporations and public/private agencies for his organization of mass actions against them. I am almost finished with re-reading his book “Rules for Radicals.” No I don’t consider myself a radical, but I am all in favor of activism against company and corporate attitudes of “we don’t have to listen to you or respect you now that we have your money.” I already have plans to use one or more of his tactics. (yes some are still viable today)
I am even more interested in finding ways to organize actions on a local level. I live in California and we have 8 or 10 Direct Buy franchises. Can you suggest anything in that regard?
Thanks for the format that you provide for people to get information and communicate with one another about this “bad apple” company.
May 6th, 2009 at 11:05 am
My wife and I attended an Open house one Friday evening. I too was skeptical after hearing of all the savings and information they were pushing. I couldn’t help but think “What was the catch” as there had to be one, right? Yes there was, the price of membership and the one time offer to join (which kinda sucked). BUT to make a long story just a little shorter, we joined anyway.
We have somewhat medium taste, not high end, but far from low. We have a 4bdr 4000sqft house 3 levels that we had built some 5 years ago and since we already had everythng we wanted basicallyas far as furnitre etc. It’s just time to replace a few things, upgrade others, buy some some new. With 5 children (ranging 20yrs old to 10 mos old.) We know we’ll be buying “things” for a while to come anyway to keep up with family life changes.
I’ve recently made my first purchase: a new Diswasher and fridg and I saved over $700 after comparing prices of the same brand and model at 4 different well known stores. I’ve also compared prices on other items I know that I’ll be purchasing in the near future and I’m starting to feel better about my decision to join.
I figure over the time of our membership, we’re sure to save well over the cost of the membership…only $4300 to go hahaha
Next up, wife want a new mattress (save $500), while I want a Pool table and a game table for the rec room (save $850), new BBQ grill and patio furniture (save another $500), a riding lawn mower ($$$ saved). The babies room will need a new bed and dresser ($$$ saved). While our older son and daughter wants flat sceen TV’s for Xmas ($$$saved). NO this isn’t all being bought at once, but by this time next year. How much more would I have saved? $3000+
Too each his own. Make the best choice for you.
It may not workout for some, as well as it does for others.
Good Luck.
May 6th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Thanks for info was interested but not any more.
May 6th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
My mother and I had a tentative appointment for an open house appointment. She is moving in and we are buying new appliances. Because I am married, and my husband could not attend, I was denied an invitation.
This is discriminatory.
Shame on you, Direct Buy.
Wake up, it’s 2009 not 1950.
May 7th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
The owner was so rude to my sales guy that he (sales guy) told me he was ready to quit and walk out the door right then!!! see below.
How is this co. doing? What happens if DB goes out of buz.? With the economy and so many discounts these days, it’s hard to imagine paying such a high membership fee! Any reviews done on DB categorized by location?
The sales guy finally agreed to let me come in w/o my husband only AFTER I cancelled my appt. -telling sales guy that if my husband has to come, forget it. I’M the decision maker. He finally said ok since i’m decision maker and said to allow 1 1/2 hr.
When I got there, solo, he asked where hubby was and said I’d have to reschedule when he can come. (Why did he have me come in, then???)Sales guy was really nice (though not very well informed. Didn’t have many answers.seemed like it was his first day.) He showed me around a little (which was VERY helpful-made me highly consider making hubby come back in w/ me for appt.) However, the owner came up and was RUDE, DISRESPECTFUL to sales guy ! The owner made a BIG mistake. His rudeness put a pit in my stomach and I WILL NEVER GO BACK!!!!
Thanks to this site. I had no idea the membership fee is so high!!! Other fees, having to pick up your stuff at warehouse (when out of state co.s can deliver and not have to pay sales tax…)There are so many deals out there these days-w/ customer service….and owners who treat their employees w/ respect when in front of a potential new member….
May 9th, 2009 at 1:13 am
My wife and I went to a DB sales pitch and at first the savings looked good. The sales rep handed me an add saying, “Here is their sales price now compare DB’s price.” I noticed that the add was a regular price and not a sale price. The rep blately misrepresented the truth.
The guy from DB wrote in explaining that they must make you sign up right then due to a contractual relationship and exposing the manufacturer prices. However, they now have a 30 day free trial membership. How is that possible if the contract requires that once you see the pricing you must immediately sign up or be banned for 7 years. It looks to me to be a sales tactic to pressure a purchase without the consumer being able to take a good look at the pricing.
What saved me and my wife is I called my brother from the sales pitch anand he found this website and read part of it too me. Thanks for all of your comments. Even if you want to buy high end items I would not recommend DB since you are somewhat limited in selection and delivery is a pain and if you ever have to return something you are quite limited.
May 10th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
we got pulled into DB years ago, when it was going under another name, United Consumers Club, i got a flyer in the mail with a key and some scratch off crap that said i won free merchandise and the key was for a car, if it opened the door i would win, yada yada yada., so we went to check it out anyways. long story short, we fell for it, didint have the 2500 to pay up front so we financed. well that company went under and is now DB, my United Consumers Membership would not transfer unless i paid the additional fee’s that direct buy requires. we thought that since this had happened that we would be done making payments, BIG MISTAKE. i was sent to collections for the payments, still to this day i have it on my Credit report. we did try to use the membership while we had it, and i saved a total of $47 on a riding lawn mower that i wanted, BUT i had to drive 60 miles to Denver to pick it up. Well Home Depot had the same Lawn mower for way lower than what i got it for with United consumers. AND yes, it came with no warranty what so ever. i called the manufacture and they asked where i bought it, well when i told then United Consumers, the lady i spoke too didnt have any idea who that was and to return it to them, that they can exchange or order repairs, well United Consumers OR DirectBuy do not do such things. if you feel like giving $5000 away, there are alot of charities that could benifit from it alot!!!!!!!!!!
May 13th, 2009 at 9:25 am
Well, a year ago I called DB for an invitation. I was asking too many up-front questions and immediately had it out the sales rep. I said wtf…then hung up (they never had a chance to get my info). Last week my fiance decided to try DB (not knowing I called a year ago). I said okay, I will check it out with you. First of all, I am a hard ball female that doesn’t like b.s… When I realized that this sales presentation is going a little too long. It was time to go..for me at least! My fiance insisted this is a good deal…just have some patience. Well after all the b.s. and the $5990 down payment that was required, I was through!! My dear loving fiance still insists it is a great deal, and wants sit with our assigned salesman to sign the deal. I think I was about 2 seconds from driving off and leaving my fiance in Corona at DB..long walk north on the 15 freeway!! The salesman sensed that I am a pretty tough one to convince and gets defensive.. What he did that for…I don’t know! But I handled it! I think I may have embarrassed my fiance too! Sorry Boo! Anyway, we were or should i say my fiance was offered a free 30 day trial and pay $100.00..some b.s. again. I say my fiance was offered because I wasn’t signing squat and DB knew it!! So in the long run, my fiance signs whatever this 30 day/$100.00 b.s. contract he was given. We keep getting calls from the DB salesman because he thought he offended poor little ole’ me!! HA!!
**My opinion..carefully examine your buying, lifestyle, and your whole situation before you consider this b.s. If you are an average working citizen, like me..keep going south on the 15 freeway (or north) and grab a bite to eat and some wine in Temecula…you’ll be much happier!!
Oh, by the way don’t jump at DB’s threat to be banned for 10 years or whatever b.s. it is! It is not the end of the world!!
For me, DB was a waste of my average working citizen time!!
May 13th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
We were subject to a “tour” and the tour the came the unit manager’s half truths & yes outright lies.
After listening to what were obvious lies about the benefits, the “manager” went on about his academic credentials. A Ph.D In Psychology in addition his law degree.He then went on with how he would never ask anyone to be a member and he in fact refuses membership to anyone he thinks would not financially benefit by joining. He went on with his experience as a prison guard on death row in Texas, he did not divulge if this was prior to his obtaining his doctorate and “passing” the bar. Jeff also advised us he was a Police officer.
If you want to hear more: Go to Direct Buy, Orlando Florida N. and listen to whom I belief is a true consummate con artist” Jeff Crowder is his name, a conning you is his game.
May 14th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
My husband and I joined Direct Buy Kelowna a year and a half ago as we were planning on a total kitchen reno and thought we’d save some money. What a headache! You have to order your stuff from a catalogue, so you have to know exactly what you need (i.e. with plumbing, it doesn’t all come in a neat box like Home Depot, you have to buy all the separate parts, and therefore have to know how to read the spec sheets. The employees are basically no help so you’re on your own). Then, of course, you have to drive to their office to pick up your stuff, which gets costly if you live out of town and order from more than 1 vendor. If you get something that isn’t going to work for you, you can return it, but you have to pay to ship it back to the distributor and then there’s often a 15% or 25% re-stocking fee. Unless you’re the type of person that buys high end stuff, you’d save more buying from Home Depot or Rona on a lot of products. Right now I am trying to get the owner to let me know why the refund cheque she sent me for some faucets I returned is short. This is the second time I’ve been shorted, and the owner won’t return my calls or emails. Unfortunately I don’t live in Kelowna, so would pretty much spend the shorted amount just to drive there. And even if I did drive down, there’s no guarantee she’d be in the office. I’m extremely frustrated and have no idea how to get my money back. Seems all these people care about is getting your membership money, after that they don’t care about you at all. This is the worst customer service I’ve ever experienced, and if I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t join. So if you’re contemplating it, really think long and hard.
May 15th, 2009 at 7:34 am
There seems to be lawsuits from coast to coast against Directbuy:
Phil Ganezer et al. v. DirectBuy, Inc et al
Case No. CV-08-8666 GAF
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
On behalf of “all consumers in the State of California who purchased discount buying organization memberships from Defendants,” Plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit in Superior Court against DBI, an Indiana corporation, The Sequoia Group, a California limited liability company and citizen of California, and Does 1-100, alleging violation of several of California’s unfair competition laws. Plaintiffs contend, among other things, that the defendants falsely represent that their DirectBuy club provides its members the opportunity to buy goods and services directly from manufacturers and suppliers at cost, and that the club otherwise defrauds its members through improper fees and overcharges.
Ponzi et al v. DirectBuy Inc et al
Case Number: 3:2008cv01274
Court: Connecticut District Court
Randall et al v. DirectBuy, Inc. et al
Case Number: 4:2009cv00243
Missouri Eastern District Court
Wilson et al v. DirectBuy Inc et al
Case Number 3:2009cv00590
Connecticut District Court
DirectBuy Inc v. Giacchi et al
Case Number: 2:2009cv00110
Indiana Northern District Court
May 16th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
I may be the only one on this site apparently pleased with my membership at directbuy. The gentlemen named Ben was very courteous and well informed on every question I had. The amount of products they have are unbelieveable. The staff was and still is very helpful to me and my wife. I remodeled my kitchen and saved more money than I realized. For people that say RUN!! or that it is a scam, I guess it’s not for everyone.
May 17th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
I’ve just gotten home from Direct Buy and I am very upset. After the Open House, the salesman told us that since we had attended the affair, it is automatic that we have agreed to become a member and as a member we need to put money down if I don’t he would write me up. In other words there was no way to turn our back. Upon hearing it, I got nervous. He showed me how much I was gonna pay for the membership. I said that I am not ready to sign any paper and I don’t want to put any money without studying overnight because what he wanted me to do is to give money on the spot. I explained to him my purpose for coming and our coversation turned out to be lenghty and sour that created frustrations and regrets in me. “OK, then you write me up!”, I said.
I am not telling DB is a scam but I am just sharing with you the my very bad experience. I wish I have not gone there for it ruined my day and wasted my husband’s time.
May 17th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
I recently became a member and found out that the prices of the items are identical to the ones on Amazon.com. I had the opp. to cancel within 3 days. They refused to cancel it. I had to call my credit card company to cancel it.
Do not sign up with these people.
May 19th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
I purchased a membership in 2007 for a whole house remodel. I think that DB is really an anachronistic business model that will fail now that the housing bubble is burst. Their web site is really basic and hard to search. You cannot order online. The books in the showroom are kept pretty up to date but you really have to know how a dealer price book works and know your merchandise or you will end up not understanding what you are ordering and have the wrong or incomplete item. The reason I cannot ever recommend Direct Buy is due to the complete fiasco we experienced with our kitchen cabinets. Our first designer was fired after we met with him and out file was mysteriously gone, both the paper and cad file on the computer. The next “designer” ( it is a big selling point by Direct Buy in their sales presentation that they have professional designers) gave us a quote, we signed and made a deposit. Then about a week later she called and said she “made a mistake” and the cost was an additional $1,200… We all make mistakes right? So we went in and signed an additional amendment. Then we waited, waited, waited. The cabinets are in!! Yeahh… but when they came, ALL the upper cabinets were missing, back panels were entirely wrong, crown was missing, and other things were wrong. Called, emailed…….the bottom line on the upper cabinets? Never Ordered! Ca Ching she needs another $2,500 to order those but she would fix the other items. The bottom line is that we ordered cabinets in January and our last cabinets were delivered in June, over cost, not right… It was messed up. I had to hire a cabinet maker to rework some of the wrong items it fit my kitchen.
We ordered about $50,000 of merchandise through Direct Buy and I feel that even with that volume we basically broke even after the membership fee. We found better deals elsewhere on kitchen appliances, carpeting and hard wood floors so the major money savers did not materialize. Many times they also referred us to local business that we could have gotten the same deal from directly. High end bath fixtures from Grohe and Hans Grohe were good values as were high end lighting through Direct Buy. But overall I feel their value proposition is marginal at best, and a failure if you suffer anywhere near the grief that I did trying to get my kitchen completed. Good Luck!
May 20th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
DON’T DO IT. I have had the membership for three years now and I have NEVER found a deal worth buying. The Shipping charges are almost double to triple the industry standard. It is the biggest rip off in the world (5,000) membership Fee. Charges should be brought against them for robbery and how they present you saving over the life of membership. Worst mistake I ever made. I had a whole house to furnish. I went to buy a bedroom set and they wanted to charge me $500 for shipping and then wanted to tax me on the item and the shipping. Shop around. It will almost always be cheaper and for the couple of extra dollars (and I mean COUPLE) you save you won’t have to wait the 6 weeks it takes to get the item. STAY AWAY!!!!!
May 21st, 2009 at 9:49 pm
Don’t Let them get you, THEY GOT ME!!!!! you have no REAL information to work with when they force you to make a decision. All you have is their good word of how great it is. I have not purchased one item yet because there is nothing worth purchasing. I found golf balls that are $2 cheaper than in a store. however, you have to pay shipping, handling fee etc. making it more expensive. This is however a great example. I wanted to purchase a golf GPS which I am sure has a very high percentage margin. You can puchase this exact item for $399 anywhere. Since this is a manufacturer that DB carries, I called because it does not show up on the website. The lady found it the next day, and told me that it was $290 and asked if I would like to purchase it. I said yes and she sent me a couple of forms to sign that basically state that DB is is no way responsible for the item. The other was a for of the cost that showed me the cost of $290, a handling fee of $23.20, a freight charge of $43.50, and Tax of $27.46 for a total of $384.16. This would save me a whopping $15 of paying full MSRP. No retailer charges full MSRP. We all know that the MSRP of a new car can be $35,000 but you can buy it for $30,000. I called the franchise owner and told him of the situation he pretended to agree that shipping on an item that weighs less than 1/2 pound should not be $43, but it is. Also, he struggled to explain why there is a $23 handling fee on an item that will be shipped directly to my house. My Granny says if it’s too good to be true then it’s not. I should have listened to Granny again! The owner says he will not give my money back for any reason even though I have no intention of using his services. Does anyone know how to get my money Back???????
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:56 am
I haven’t read all the postings here, but I can tell you that I work for a manufacturer who is a Direct Buy supplier, and our agreement with Direct Buy concerns only normal vendor terms - nothing about seven years, etc.
May 23rd, 2009 at 7:47 pm
My wife and I were on our way to a direct buy presentation in Houston, which is a 3 hour drive, and my wife called to confirm with them our 12:30 appointment…my wife then asked if we could bring a stroller for ouor 6 month old daughter. The lady replied no you should have gotten a sitter like everyone else and said we would have to rescedule. Least to say we gave her a few choice words and told her to never contact us again. This must have been a blessing in disguise after reading this blog. Thank you Jesus!!
May 26th, 2009 at 11:13 am
Two weekends ago, we went to a Direct Buy “open house” and boy, Where do I begin about Direct Buy? Okay, here goes…
First of all, I will identify that the store that I went to is in the Orlando, Fl area. The staff that called to confirm an appointment despite my asking several times did not tell us about the membership rates. So we go in and the owner who was making a sales pitch was very sweet and sugary through the “sales pitch” bringing our little girls cookies and water and stuff.
Whoa! That certainly did fool us. When my husband and I did a little double-take and turned down the membership, hearing that the cost was close to $5000, he was RUDE and INSULTING. Needless to say, I will warn everyone that I know to stay away from this business after that NASTY treatment.
Aside from that I have some questions about their so called “sales policies”.
First, DB makes it out to seem that it is a “special” place to shop with “secret, inexpensive” rates that will become available to the member once they sign on. “Members should not ask for these supposed DB deals at retail stores” . What’s the big deal ? When I buy a twelve pack of Coca-Cola at my local grocery stores, I understand that it is priced more than if I bought it at Costco , a warehouse store where I am a member. I don’t go in and argue with the grocery store manager as to why the cost per unit of a Coke can is priced more than it is at Costco’s , for instance. Nor do I start an argument with the Coca- Cola Company as to why they are selling their products at different rates at different outlets.
Second, DB does not let prospective members check out the type of items that they could shop for which they go could save. Before we became members of Costco, long ago, my husband and I were able to “comparison shop” for several items over a period of a few months, thus convincing us that our savings would be worth the cost of membership fees and definitely go beyond that cost. DB does no such thing. One is supposed to go in, sit through their drivel for 2 plus hours and at the end of it, cheerfully handover $5000 with absolutely no understanding of the brands/ goods/ that one will buy and the subsequent savings that will accrue. Are they for real????
As a “prospective” member, I have no access to their “database” of goods and brands to preview, check and compare before I sign up.
Again, to make it seem oh so exclusive, they tell you that once you walk out of the store, you cannot come back, or only come back after seven years, making it seem as though, you are letting go of this “golden opportunity”, at your own risk.
Places that offer a true value rarely make such ridiculous terms and conditions. This itself makes DB membership a suspicious and risk-filled buy.
This also becomes evident when they state that they have been in business since 1971 and have so far 480,000 members. Seriously? If this concept was so hot and popular, I would have expected to see the membership rolls to be in the millions after being in business for close to 40 years.
While I was sitting through the presentation, I had an opportunity to quickly thumb through a catalog where I saw several brands of high end furniture offered for less. So for instance, a $8000 outdoor patio set was offered for a “bargain” price of $5000. Well, I for one, am not in the market to purchase outdoor patio sets at these prices,(or too many bedroom/ living room sets either) so if you are a “regular customer” like me, this membership is not for you.
To second all the previous writers, don’t give your money to DB. I, for one am going to keep my $5000 away from this Business.
May 28th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
I repair furniture. I have been called to to the Direct Buy Warehouse often over the last 4 years to fix furniture on the dock that has arrived for customers but has problems.
It is my belief that manufacturers ship their low quality / seconds to the Direct Buy customers. I make my repairs and the customer never knows. I think they (Direct Buy) gets a kick back from the manufacturers to take the junk that can’t be sent to regular stores.
I brought this subject up with the Dock manager and was told “thats something we don’t talk about.”
I’m good at what I do and I fix the stuff and make lots money from them, but I want folks to go in with their eyes open.
May 29th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
We were curious about DB and are longtime, happy members of Costco, so we thought we might try it. We were about to do a whole house remodel, of which I was the “Project Manager”, so I called to make the appointment. Without taking my HUSBAND with me, they wouldn’t even consider talking to me. I explained that I make all the remodel decisions, and we were about to embark on a very large job- but they didn’t care. Without the male escort, they wouldn’t even consider it.
This is the first clue to a high pressure scam- the next is that they have no actual”showroom” of stuff-but told me my selections would come out of catalogs. I can do that over the web, without membership fees. Spend your time doing your own research- and go to Costco.
In this day and age, anyone who will not respect a woman’s buying power is an idiot. I don’t do business with idiots.
June 1st, 2009 at 3:33 pm
In my opinion, any ‘Great’ offer that will not reveal the cost up front is trying to hide something. Obviously this fits with Direct Buy. Infomercials like this do not usually get my attention.
It also reminds me of the timeshare offers where you get a night free in a hotel, and all you have to do is attend a ’sales presentation.’ You meet at an office, and they put you in their car and drive you to the presentation - miles from the office (and your car.) After the presentation the high pressure starts, and if you can’t afford it you are obviously in ‘financial trouble.’ If you don’t take the offer, you don’t get the special ‘additional gift’ you were promised.
I’m not ‘investing’ $5000 or more on the spot with anybody.
Thanks for the info on this blog - it saved me a lot of heartache and trouble, not to mention a lot of cash!
June 2nd, 2009 at 4:46 am
I have never actually been in or bought anything with Direct Buy however after hearing my sister in law talk about how they are members and how they saved thousands by getting everything at cost and she knows how much furniture actually costs and so on… I took a good look through their catalog. After all, I like a good deal as much as the next person.
I tend to be a bit of skeptic. From my experience I believe if something sounds too good to be true it usually is. From the start red flags were going off. The fact that no manufacturer is going to allow a dealer to sell current products to the public at cost (they would soon find themselves without any dealers) nor can a huge outfit like Direct Buy survive off membership fees alone.
I will be the first to admit I know nothing about furniture however nothing really stood out as a great deal unless the quality is extremely high. Hard to tell from a catalog page. However a Kitchen Aid mixer is a Kitchen Aid mixer. Yes it was cheaper but with a little patience you can get it as cheap elsewhere. Electronics on the other hand is something I know a thing or two about. I have been selling it for nearly 20 years and have had my own company for most of that time. The first thing that stood out was the the “suggested” retail. The prices were much higher then MSRP. Something you will never see in any reputable store. The selling price was indeed a little below MSRP but only by a few dollars. If actual retail was say 800.00 it would be 759.00 or so. Now add the shipping and fees… Believe me you would do better if you walked into a big box or a mom and pop store and did a little haggling or watched the weekly sales for the item you want. Of course the markup on electronics is not nearly as much as furniture however speakers are a different story. It is were electronic shops make their profit. After all 5-10 points on a TV is not going to keep any store in business. The speaker pricing was similar. Hmmm…
I suspect most of the people are not comparing apples to apples or, not that it matters, older discounted items from the manufacturer that if you did some digging would likely find elsewhere at a similar price. Even though we have a Costco membership and it does save us money on bulk food…their pricing on everything else is pretty normal. If you see a GPS for a killer deal it is last years and there is no shortage of places to order it online for the same price or lower. Likewise for most other hard items they sell. I cannot believe some people think Costco is actually wholesale. The one thing they certainly have going is customer service. From what I have read on here it is certainly not the case with Direct Buy.
That is my two cents worth:)
June 3rd, 2009 at 1:45 am
I am glad to find this website. DB person called me and made an appointment with me and my husband for this Thursday night. I was skeptical when he said you and your spouse have to be present for the appointment. This sounds just like one of those timeshare sales appointment. After reading many of the comments, I decided that I would rather to spend some time to check out the prices of the refrigerator I want to buy than going to a membership sales meeting. Thanks to you all.
June 3rd, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Thanks to everyone for sharing their stories. My wife & I are very disappointed with the money we threw away on a DirectBuy membership. We tried to get our money back from the credit card company but were denied. I was especially glad to hear about the class action lawsuits pending as I was only aware of the two cases in Connecticut. I hope we win and those suckers go down in flames. Agreed that during these recessionary times, they may go bankrupt before we get our hard earned $$$ back…..and then they’ll go open another scummy franchise with a different name!
June 3rd, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Oh, I just signed up for the free visitor’s pass online and was curious to know abt DB and stumbled into this spot.M so glad i found this.I already decided to do nothing abt it and start decorating my house by buying stuff from the retail stores..Thank you so much you all!.Just tell me a way how not to attend the presentation.:)
June 4th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Just got home from a DB “open house” appointment and started searching the Internet for DB info. Should have done it before the meeting but now I know why they push you hard to set up a meeting quickly so you don’t take the time first. Let’s face it, most people are like me and my husband - we see the ads and decide we want to learn more so we take them up on the offer to make a visit. While I certainly expected high pressure sales, I was shocked by the ‘buy today or never’ sales pitch. This was not really emphasized by our sales rep but was clear in the video. Our sales rep was just focused on the $1000 off today part of the pitch so maybe some markets have a different policy - this is still not really clear to me. I was not prepared to sign today - had not even brought my check book (one item I am surprised that the over zealous phone handler had not reminded me about before we came since he covered everything else!)There were just too many unanswered questions - like can I use a credit card to purchase things? how long does it take to receive an item? what business model really sustains them so that I know they will be around for 10 years? And then after reading this site, even more questions that I had not really considered yet - what is the return policy? who provides the warranty? what items have handling fees and how much is it? How long do I have to get an item picked up once it comes in to the warehouse? We are remodeling a house and have a lot of purchases to make so a DB membership makes sense and the savings comparisons we were able to make while we were there were substantial but you just knew that there had to be a catch. Frankly, shopping from mfg catalogs is not a turn off to me, nor is having to figure it all out for myself. The warehouse is only 5 miles from my house, so picking up items with our pick up truck would not be an issue. None of these ‘complaints’ about the DB business model are a concern or surprise to me, but fundamentally, I just think that if their product was as good as they made me believe, they would not need to use such terrible sales techniques to sign people up.
June 4th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Carol brings up a list of great questions. It bothered me a great deal to find that different people pay different prices for the DB service. The guy sitting around the corner from you in their showroom might not have paid the same thing for “Membership” as you do. I found some folks out there (various blogs)who paid $4900 plus tax in April ‘09…… we were offered $5495 plus tax which was a $1000 discount but only if we did it now….lol…..and they claim that most folks pay $6495 regularly which is what they would charge if you came back another day. (This clearly indicated a willingness not to follow their own policy of requiring a purchase decision the first time you are in- or so the video says. Then I went back a bit in time on some blog entries I found that some folks only paid $3600 as shortly ago as last year. “Gotta close the deal RIGHT NOW”….. all sorts of different prices for different folks….. “leave me a $190 post dated check for a deposit and I will hold the price for you” as we were told in the store. Lets face it folks…… at least the franchise we went to was a ridiculous mess. BUYER BEWARE!!! The one we went to was in Gaithersburg Maryland. As I looked into the service problems people had even after they bought in to the service, well…… we are going to pass. So should you.
June 6th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
I Went to a DB “open house” today and left disappointed and upset. I’m an upfront kind of person so listening to a salesperson for 45 minutes before he finally drops the cost of DB’s service was very annoying.After the main sales pitch we were directed to back to our sales rep for pricing options. I couldn’t believe DB charges $6450 up front for a 2yr contract. For this amount of money,I have to wait 4-6 weeks for delivery of an item and if an item is delivered to their warehouse, I then have to pay the delivery charges from the warehouse to my home or pick it up myself. DB’s return/refund policy was never discussed. For example; do I bring my return item back to DB’s warehouse or do I return it directly to the manufacturer? Like others, I wish I had took the time to do some internet research before going because it was a complete waist of time but now I know DB is truly a scam. I’m so happy I didn’t purchase especially after reading other comments. DB’s service does not justify their cost.
June 7th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
I wanted to add my own “old-timer” story. It was actually very easy for me to say no to DB in 1998. I was 21 and could have moved off the Air Force base but really didn’t want to. Regardless they got my name from a friend who was recently married and buying a house full of furniture. Note only furniture for an apartment she lived in. Not the major renovations other people had mentioned.
Well I get there and sit impatiently through the sales pitch. When they drop the price on my me, my jaw drops. There was no way. Now comes the sales tactics and desperation. they would finance me and I would get a discount if I referred X amount of people. Still the price was too high for me. Then the guy actually said…”Well your friend X signed up for it…you don’t think she’s stupid do you?” I said why yes, I do. She’s very easily swayed. I got the deer in the head light look I always get when I’m blunt. I even told the guy I had no need to even buy furniture for at least another year, he saw this as a plus! All this guy saw in me was disposable income since I wasn’t paying rent, utilities, etc.
In the end I WOULD NOT say they are a scam. I would describe them as money-grubbing slicksters. I hope no military person EVER signs up with these guys. I say that because I got orders right after that. I spent 4.5 years overseas. I would have been paying for something I couldn’t even use or cancel. If you’re military please consider that in your decision. If one of my young guys signed up for it I’d freak the heck out and try to get it canx’d…ASAP!
I too recommend this to home renovators, house flippers going high end and new builds. Even though I’m currently building a home, I’m going through the contractor and Home Depot for any “extras” not in our contract.
June 7th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
I just finished reading most of these posts. And knew that feeling i had was right. My husband and I went to a DB open house on the weekend. The same as everyone else we sat through a 45 minute salesperson/video sales pitch she showed us the huge savings on things like mattresses and dining room sets and was completely nice and easy to talk to…before we went into that room. Once the initial sales pitch was over and we recovered from the $5300 bomb they dropped on us for the membership “dues” for 3 years then only 199 for each addition year after that up to year 10….still not sure what happens after year 10…
She sat us down and went over how much we’d save after 10 years…if we replaced every single thing in our house and spent money like it was going out of style. My husband of course looked at the monthly payment she offered us and sat back and said yeah that looks good to me if it looks good to you…
I said no i don’t think so we can’t afford that….well this woman’s smile dissapeared she pretty much called me stupid for not wanting to save money with DB the pressure was amazing
i almost caved…but i didn’t. She tried to show us that in three years with what we needed to buy we’d save about $5000 i said uhhmm no we’d be out about $300…grabbed my husband and left knowing this was a lose lose decision. Glad i decided to lose the membership and “savings” and not our hard earned money.
June 15th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
I received a phone call from some DB telemarketer offering me an “exclusive free visit to their exclusive showroom”. I started asking questions such as 1. Are there any fees? Answer: Absolutely no fees, this is a special invitation for highly respected customers. 2. Why am I a highly respected customer, I have never done business with you before? Answer: You have been selected among a very few to a special presentation. I already there was a membership fee so I asked the 1st question a different way. Question 3: Are there any fees for becoming a member of Direct Buy? spoken with a stern voice. Answer: This is an absolutely free presentation with no fees for attending. Talk about beating around the bush. I just came out and told her that I was aware of there high membership fees and was not interested. She then advises that this is a one time offer and if I don’t act on it now, I will never have the opportunity to join DB. Just before I hung up I said “will you promise that in writing”. Click
June 16th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
So to get this straight, I cant buy anything unless I become a member? What kind of membership fees are we talking about here?
June 17th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Carol #363 & Greg #364 do bring up great points. My wife & I paid approximately $6000 and that was at the end of 2007. I heard about one center in Northern California where a physician was stuck with a $10,000 membership. Boy, was he upset. I do believe the membership fees vary depending on how greedy the franchise owner is. I am sure they are willing to do whatever it takes to get you to sign up.
Delivery times really vary. I heard of people waiting a few months for their merchandise and many cases of receiving damaged items. The manufacturer will not deal with you if something is wrong & DirectBuy will give you the run-around. They charge as much as 11% for shipping & handling even when you have to pick the stuff up at their facility. They will remind you that they are NOT a warehouse, so you better be able to pick your merchandise up quickly.
Their return policy basically sucks and they’re not very good at resolving problems. I read that one customer ordered tile and when her husband went to lay it, he found that the tile was either chipped or wasn’t square. They returned it and were charged another shipping/handling fee plus a restocking fee. Can you believe that? It ended up they spent a large amount on just the shipping charges alone!
We had a nightmare with their kitchen designer. Thank goodness we didn’t order from them as the woman didn’t know what she was doing. When I asked questions, she would just shrug her shoulders and say, “I don’t know.” and wouldn’t get an answer from a “real expert” we were flabergasted and ordered our cabinetry from a local craftsperson. It was better quality at a much lower price.
It’s difficult to work with DB’s website. Most of the merchandise you have to go into the center to order. Many times they don’t have the particular model number you’re interested in, perhaps because they’re selling last year’s models. All-in-all DirectBuy is a horribly frustrating and EXPENSIVE experience. As I say, RUN don’t walk away from them!
June 17th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
We were warned by friends that they were cheated out of about $5,000 for a DirectBuy membership fee. They forked over all that money because DirectBuy told them that they would be able to buy things for their new home at the manufacturers’ price — at a 50% to 60% discount. Little did they know, after DirectBuy tacked on hefty shipping and handling fees, they were able to find most of the items for sale through DirectBuy at the same prices, if not lower prices, at retail stores like Lowes and Best Buy!!
If you were scammed by DirectBuy, like my friends, you should contact the law firm Craig T. Matthews & Associates at cmatthews@ctmlaw.com or 937.434.9393. That law firm has sued DirectBuy before in both Ohio and Indiana (where DirectBuy’s are located), and it’s conducting an investigation about DirectBuy’s misleading promises. If you want your membership fee refunded, you should contact Craig Matthews to pursue a class action case against DirectBuy. No matter what state you’re from, his firm should be able to help you. Be warned!!
June 17th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Betty Lou -
Thanks for the info on the law firm. In addition to the cases you mentioned know there are two more cases filed in Connecticut and one in California. I hope DirectBuy gets what is coming to them…….
June 23rd, 2009 at 11:16 pm
There is so much garbage on this blog it isnt even funny. The fact that i can just type what I want is proof this is garbage. I work for a DB that has over 40,000 orders placed and 1000’s of members. Literally ZERO outstanding complaints and not one issue unresolved. NOt one. A+ BBB rating. Highly respected business in the area. Franchises are independently owned. Too bad some franchise owners are idiots. Mine are not. Do your research and go prepared. If you can save, join. If you cant, walk out. Pretty simple aint it?
Most of you have incorrect information on your posts. Too bad people who have legitimate needs are going to base their choice on your mis-information.
June 24th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Wow, Cousin……sounds like you’re either a DB franchise owner or marketing company employee who is paid to put a positive spin on poorly run companies. The reason why DirectBuy franchises have great BBB ratings is because they paid for their membership. Therefore, the BBB protects their reputation. If you do your research in regards to the pending Federal Class Action lawsuits, you’ll find there are more than a few unscrupulous franchise owners. The DB business model only works for the corporation and franchise owners. You should do your homework, because it’s obvious you’ve been brainwashed by spending too much time watching the video presentations and breathing the air inside the DB facility.
June 27th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
I wish I had known to look on the internet and research DB before my wife and I went to a presentation and foolishly signed up. We have not been able to save a DIME on any purchase though we remodeled our home and two rentals. The Indianapolis store has horrible customer service when it comes to following through on complaints. I just e-mailed a concern to them and the first answer I got was, “membership must be paid in full”.
Mine was paid in full thank you so now I’m really mad. I will comment later on this page when the current problem is resolved, but in the meantime, DO NOT JOIN!!!!!!!!
June 28th, 2009 at 8:49 pm
DirectBuy is a rip-off! From the personal information they demand at the time you call to set up an appointment to the insane info sheet they force you to fill out once you get there (”Check off all of the items you plan to buy in the next five years.”) to the stupid, canned sales pitch that sounds like a 5th grade math teacher showing you what an idiot you are, it is a waste of time. You MUST stay there for at least an hour and a half to see/hear the entire pitch, which includes two videos, far too many “examples” of other stores’ sales ads vs. their “manufacturer’s cost,” a tour of their showroom (but you can’t check their catalogs), and last, but not least, the hard-sell to get you to buy the outrageous membership at $5,800.!! We asked if we could think about it for 24 hours and decide what we were going to buy and compare costs to make sure it was worth our while to invest in, but the sales woman said “NO, if you don’t buy the membership NOW, you’ll never have another chance for this opportunity.” Once she kept pushing us to buy the membership, I knew it was a scam. When we told her we weren’t interested if we couldn’t think about it for a day, she immediately dismissed us and was no longer our “best friend” looking out for our financial well-being. She was DONE with us and sent us on our way!
Think about it: DirectBuy is a company that touts itself as the deal of a lifetime and claims to offer such great deals on furniture, home improvement materials, appliances, jewelry, etc. If they TRULY were a great company, they would stand by their claims and allow a potential customer to THOROUGHLY check out the pros and cons of being a member before they were FORCED to pay a huge amount of money to join. If something is too good to be true and you have “one chance” to join or be banned forever, RUN, don’t walk from these scam artists!!!!!!!
June 28th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
Forgot to mention the store location: Jacksonville, Florida. BUYER BEWARE!!!!
June 30th, 2009 at 9:54 am
There’s another Federal class action lawsuit being filed in California. If anyone is interested contact, John Davis, Attorney at Law @ (619) 400-4870. He’s looking for lead plaintiffs to file a new lawsuit as it sounds like DirectBuy wants to hold up all of the other cases by filing stupid motions. DirectBuy thinks we’ll get tired and go home. Little do they know that we’ll be diligent in our fight to do what’s right & get our hard earned money back.
June 30th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
direct buy bought out ( bribed?) infomercials.com to only post favorable stuff, but they cant keep it off the net, just go back a few months and see what they are up to
http://web.archive.org/web/*/www.infomercialscams.com/
July 1st, 2009 at 4:00 pm
While walking into DB I fell down
and banged my head. They gave me some coffee but I accidently spilled it on the sales rep and ruined his suit. I tried to wipe the coffee off his suit but I slipped and fell down again banging my head on the floor. They helped me to a chair.
My prosthetic leg came loose and seemed to evoke a bit of tension among the good folks of DB.
After rupturing my colostomy bag
the sales reps seemed a little put off with my series of mishaps.
Even I was suprised when I banged
my head for a third time while
searching for my prosthetic leg.
They were poised to throw me out
when by chance my wallet fell from
my vacated pant-leg spilling scores
of 100 dollar bills onto the floor.
After a seriously embarassing
‘digestive event’ [which on some
level seemed to humanize everyone]
I signed on with DB.
I hope my experience helps some
of you in your decision making
process.
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:24 am
That web page is infected, don’t go there.
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