DirectBuy Complaint
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DirectBuy Scam
DirectBuy is total scam and they give you numbers based on how you look like apparently.
Some get prices like $6,000 some $350.
They even took the money of like 15 new wed couples recently and ran away!!!
Fortunately there is a lawsuite against Direct Buy right now. I hope they get them and get everything from them too...
Some get prices like $6,000 some $350.
They even took the money of like 15 new wed couples recently and ran away!!!
Fortunately there is a lawsuite against Direct Buy right now. I hope they get them and get everything from them too...
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0 I absolutely can't stand Direct Buy. They cold call me two or three times a week and never ever take me off their call list despite repeated requests. I hope they go out of business pretty soon. They certainly earned it. :-(
i too am embarrassed to say i am a sucker of direct buy long beach, ca. i went to their open house sales pitch and was convinced that i would save a ton of money by joining as i was in escrow at the time on a vacation home, which my family and i planned to use and rent it out to other vacationers. at their open house they led me to believe that the shopping was an easy process that i could do online as i work 7 days a week. was told that they had a partner warehouse in the next town that would deliver right to the room in the house where ever i wanted. also said that i could make purchases for friends and family and have them shipped any where in the u.s. first off in my defence, let me say that i always do my homework before making purchases, but was told at the open house that its a onetime offer and i had to join now. if i left to think about it, i would no longer be able to join......i know red flag. isnt making someone sign a contract under duress illegal. any way realized right away that you cant shop online, if you want it shipped to another address (vacation home), my reason for joining. JOKE!!! most of us know that when we do any online shopping, we fill out a section for delivery address and a section for billing address. they have no such thing at direct buy. so in my case i only ordered two items because i didnt have time to go into their warehouse and shop in their catalogs. They are all a bunch of damn liars. when i went to order something, i asked who had the fastest turn around time for shipping and delivery, and went with the company that was recommended, which was still 3 to 5 weeks. 8 weeks later still no sign of the bed. kept telling me its been shipped. i work in the transportation business and know that they were all lying. funny thing is, it seems during that time companies have all changed... or i was lied to all along. zippity zip their delivery warehouse in palm desert, is now excel in ontario. so instead of the warehouse being in the next town, its 100 miles away and only delivers out there on thursdays, my busiest day at work. had they not lied to me, i never would have made the purchase. i am so over the top angry with these people, as i see alot of other people are too, im surprised people havent gone postal on them. so i am now going into the 5th month since i ordered the bed, i still do not have it. they tell me that they are now gonna deliver it to their corona store for me to pick up. im a woman in my 50's with no access to a truck.......OR I WOULD HAVE PICKED IT UP 3 MONTHS AGO. SUCH IDIOTS!!! i told them i didnt want it before it even arrived after 8 weeks and they told me that there are no curtesey refunds. so the bottom line is when my pregnant daughter and her husband go out to the house, they have to sleep on a mattress on the floor. plus direct buy has cost me thousands in lost rents.
0 We went to DirectBuy tonite to learn about their program. We stated this upfront. We had no immediate plan to make significant purchases. After 90 minutes of infomercials and sales pitches.....when we said we would need to consider the $5000 membership fee for 3 years and that we would not decide this evening we were told this was our only chance. period. The sales person became defensive suggesting that we did not understand the advantages of their membership. Reminded me of time-share sales pressure......steer clear if you find high pressure sales offensive....
0 I use to work for Direct Buy and honestly it basically is a scam... Many stores go out of business after a couple of years because the word gets around. I know the store I worked at closed. Normal membership was 4500 or if it was for a family member it was 2500 , employees basically get a free membership while they work there... The sales associate will tell you story's such as I was a member first and I liked it so much I decided to come work here... blah blah.. The savings really are not all that great .. You can find similar prices when a store has a sale or on the internet... Say you want to purchase a couch that normally retails at 1200 you can order it from us for 900 plus shipping cost so savings is very little ... I HONESTLY FELT BAD AFTER EVER MEMBERSHIP I SOLD BECAUSE I KNEW THEY WERE GETTING SCREWED..
0 I use to work for Direct Buy and honestly it basically is a scam... Many stores go out of business after a couple of years because the word gets around. I know the store I worked at closed. Normal membership was 4500 or if it was for a family member it was 2500 , employees basically get a free membership while they work there... The sales associate will tell you story's such as I was a member first and I liked it so much I decided to come work here... blah blah.. The savings really are not all that great .. You can find similar prices when a store has a sale or on the internet... Say you want to purchase a couch that normally retails at 1200 you can order it from us for 900 plus shipping cost so savings is very little ... I HONESTLY FELT BAD AFTER EVER MEMBERSHIP I SOLD BECAUSE I KNEW THEY WERE GETTING SCREWED..
0 We got our key in the mail and showed up for the initial appointment at the store but fell short of qualifying for the ninety minute presentation. It didn't really matter because I'm a skeptic at heart and believe you only get what you pay for. I just retired and don't plan on spending thousands of dollars on home remodeling in the near future but their brochure did suggest the key would give us a chance to win 50,000. We didn't get to try the key and there wasn't any little gift just for showing up either. I count myself lucky just getting out of their store without getting robbed. They do masterly misrepresent theirselves but these days it's wise not to sign anything without some good advice.
0 In light of comments and testimonials soliciting others to "be like me, I'm a member and I'm saving money", this scam, which is nothing more than and a variation of the "Advance Fee Fraud" scheme, is parting yet more of the "something for nothing" crowd from their money.
Here's how it works: the potential victim is baited to call for more information after seeing a tempting infomercial and how on the "inside" someone can get better deals or a telephone "tickler" call is made to a potential victim and an informative letter or brochure is sent afterwards inviting them to an open house so they can see for themselves how much others like them have saved and how much they themselves would save, along with some form of an invitation to join. The letter and subsequent follow-up telephone calls promise rich rewards of savings by buying direct from the manufacturer, at cost, with no Mark Up, No Middleman if only they were "members" of this so called highly esteemed and long time in business organisation. Typically, the pitch at the open house includes mention the so called fact that tens of thousands of other smart and savvy consumers have saved along with a slick selection of what they have saved on -- and you, too, can begin saving as soon as you join this elustrous group by signing a "membership agreement" costing thousands of dollars payable in advance of receiving any benefits - you are told that amount is paltry compared to the savings you will obtain over a 10 year period - and you must sign the contract on a now or never basis. You are even made to feel stupid if you don't sign - only a fool would not take advantage of the savings - spend a little to save a lot sort of thing.
If you're not saying "scam" by now, you should be. Should you agree to participate in this Advance Fee savings scam, something will go wrong. Savings evaporate ... or.. Wrong or defective merchandise will be ordered ... or ... Order delays ... or ... Order mishaps and screw-ups. You will not be allowed to cancel your "membership" and get out of the deal.
If you decide to order merchandise, money from you, in advance of receiving the merchandise -- an insignificant sum, really, in light of the windfall of savings about to land in your lap -- will be required to order merchandise without any written guarantees of actually saving money.. You pay, you wait for the merchandise . . . and all you'll get in return are more excuses about why the order is held up and assurances that everything can be straightened out if you'll just be patient and wait a little while longer or send a bit more to pay for this or that price increase. Once you start making threats, these scammers will threaten to sue you if you don't make good on your end of paying for the membership contract in full.
Beware that the Membership Agreement is in reality nothing more than a legally binding sales contract that may have been glossed over in light of all the savings you are excited about expecting. Carefully look at it - it contains NO GUARANTEES OF SAVINGS - instead there is a "NO ORAL PROMISES" clause: "No oral promises or statements not contained in this Membership Agreement shall bind or obligate the club." It's like a get out of jail free card - they can tell you anything pie in the sky in the open house tour or over the phone to get you to join, but once you sign the sales or Membership Agreement, you agree to the NO ORAL PROMISES clause! So what happens if it turns out not to be what you expected? Ouch. Too late. You're stuck. That NO ORAL PROMISES clause comes back and bites you. Want a refund? Beware that the Membership Agreement states: "Members understand this program is not sold on a trial basis and that no refund of membership fees will be made." So you only partially paid on your contract and think that you're just not going to pay the rest of the contracted amount? -- beware that the Membership Agreement states further: "Members do not have the right to terminate the Membership Agreement without paying the amount remaining for this Membership." And if you think you're going to get a refund because you never found anything cheaper and therefore didn't use the club, think again. There's a clause in the Membership Agreement about this too: "The Membership Agreement is not conditioned on the use of this Membership."
In a nutshell, the con works by blinding the victim with promises of an unimaginable fortune of what others like them have saved, what they could have saved if only they joined earlier, and what they can expect to save by joining now. All the while the con artists are keeping certain important information secret from their intended victim, so once the sucker is excited and sufficiently glittery-eyed over the prospect of what he or she would do with all the money he will save, he is then squeezed for however much membership fee in full at the time of "joining" or have the sales contract balance immediately financed by a separate finance company, actually a subsidiary of the parent scam company. The money the victim parts with willingly, thinking "What's $5,000 here when I'm going to end up saving over $50,000 when this is all done?" He fails to realize during the sting that he's never going to actually get the promised savings because all of savings are expressly disclaimed in the fine print of the contracts and merchandise ordering materials. The very sales contract, which the victim was at first eager to sign, now comes back to bite him with all those adverse terms and conditions.
The scam involves their very effectivly hiding the fact that not all savings are passed on directly to members. This is accomplished by the franchisEE agreeing in the franchise agreement (the terms of which are unknown to the victim member) that the franchisOR can keep all discounts and rebates and not pass them on to the member. It is only by reviewing the 260-plus page agreement with the franchisOR that the victim would every learn that the franchiseOR reserves "the right to keep rebates, discounts and other payments from manufacturers and suppliers." They also keep early-pay disccounts and all members' purchases are paid by the member at the time of ordering. All of this messing around is designed to part the victim from his money. This marketing scheme is now the subject of a number of class action lawsuits around the country.
Once the scam is explained, it seems so obvious a con that you'd wonder who would fall for it. Yet fall for it people do because they're mesmerized by the wealth that will soon be theirs in the form of all the savings by not paying any markup or middleman costs - and how smart they are by taking advantage of the join now or never opportunity. They also fail to realize there's a hook hanging just out of sight; at first all they see is that others are getting savings and they want to join this cadre, thus they're ill-prepared to mentally shift gears when the con artists turns the tables. Because the premise of "saving tons of money" is wholeheartedly swallowed early on, it's not at a later point questioned when things begin to go wrong with the transaction and the dupes who have been targeted find out the hard way that there is a no refund policy on all the money they have paid in advance of receiving these now questionable "savings."
Beware paying in advance for something for nothing - no written guarantees of promises made should send you running - especially in light of the tactics of "Be like me, I'm a member and I've saved money." -- You may not!
http://edumacation.com/DirectBuy
Here's how it works: the potential victim is baited to call for more information after seeing a tempting infomercial and how on the "inside" someone can get better deals or a telephone "tickler" call is made to a potential victim and an informative letter or brochure is sent afterwards inviting them to an open house so they can see for themselves how much others like them have saved and how much they themselves would save, along with some form of an invitation to join. The letter and subsequent follow-up telephone calls promise rich rewards of savings by buying direct from the manufacturer, at cost, with no Mark Up, No Middleman if only they were "members" of this so called highly esteemed and long time in business organisation. Typically, the pitch at the open house includes mention the so called fact that tens of thousands of other smart and savvy consumers have saved along with a slick selection of what they have saved on -- and you, too, can begin saving as soon as you join this elustrous group by signing a "membership agreement" costing thousands of dollars payable in advance of receiving any benefits - you are told that amount is paltry compared to the savings you will obtain over a 10 year period - and you must sign the contract on a now or never basis. You are even made to feel stupid if you don't sign - only a fool would not take advantage of the savings - spend a little to save a lot sort of thing.
If you're not saying "scam" by now, you should be. Should you agree to participate in this Advance Fee savings scam, something will go wrong. Savings evaporate ... or.. Wrong or defective merchandise will be ordered ... or ... Order delays ... or ... Order mishaps and screw-ups. You will not be allowed to cancel your "membership" and get out of the deal.
If you decide to order merchandise, money from you, in advance of receiving the merchandise -- an insignificant sum, really, in light of the windfall of savings about to land in your lap -- will be required to order merchandise without any written guarantees of actually saving money.. You pay, you wait for the merchandise . . . and all you'll get in return are more excuses about why the order is held up and assurances that everything can be straightened out if you'll just be patient and wait a little while longer or send a bit more to pay for this or that price increase. Once you start making threats, these scammers will threaten to sue you if you don't make good on your end of paying for the membership contract in full.
Beware that the Membership Agreement is in reality nothing more than a legally binding sales contract that may have been glossed over in light of all the savings you are excited about expecting. Carefully look at it - it contains NO GUARANTEES OF SAVINGS - instead there is a "NO ORAL PROMISES" clause: "No oral promises or statements not contained in this Membership Agreement shall bind or obligate the club." It's like a get out of jail free card - they can tell you anything pie in the sky in the open house tour or over the phone to get you to join, but once you sign the sales or Membership Agreement, you agree to the NO ORAL PROMISES clause! So what happens if it turns out not to be what you expected? Ouch. Too late. You're stuck. That NO ORAL PROMISES clause comes back and bites you. Want a refund? Beware that the Membership Agreement states: "Members understand this program is not sold on a trial basis and that no refund of membership fees will be made." So you only partially paid on your contract and think that you're just not going to pay the rest of the contracted amount? -- beware that the Membership Agreement states further: "Members do not have the right to terminate the Membership Agreement without paying the amount remaining for this Membership." And if you think you're going to get a refund because you never found anything cheaper and therefore didn't use the club, think again. There's a clause in the Membership Agreement about this too: "The Membership Agreement is not conditioned on the use of this Membership."
In a nutshell, the con works by blinding the victim with promises of an unimaginable fortune of what others like them have saved, what they could have saved if only they joined earlier, and what they can expect to save by joining now. All the while the con artists are keeping certain important information secret from their intended victim, so once the sucker is excited and sufficiently glittery-eyed over the prospect of what he or she would do with all the money he will save, he is then squeezed for however much membership fee in full at the time of "joining" or have the sales contract balance immediately financed by a separate finance company, actually a subsidiary of the parent scam company. The money the victim parts with willingly, thinking "What's $5,000 here when I'm going to end up saving over $50,000 when this is all done?" He fails to realize during the sting that he's never going to actually get the promised savings because all of savings are expressly disclaimed in the fine print of the contracts and merchandise ordering materials. The very sales contract, which the victim was at first eager to sign, now comes back to bite him with all those adverse terms and conditions.
The scam involves their very effectivly hiding the fact that not all savings are passed on directly to members. This is accomplished by the franchisEE agreeing in the franchise agreement (the terms of which are unknown to the victim member) that the franchisOR can keep all discounts and rebates and not pass them on to the member. It is only by reviewing the 260-plus page agreement with the franchisOR that the victim would every learn that the franchiseOR reserves "the right to keep rebates, discounts and other payments from manufacturers and suppliers." They also keep early-pay disccounts and all members' purchases are paid by the member at the time of ordering. All of this messing around is designed to part the victim from his money. This marketing scheme is now the subject of a number of class action lawsuits around the country.
Once the scam is explained, it seems so obvious a con that you'd wonder who would fall for it. Yet fall for it people do because they're mesmerized by the wealth that will soon be theirs in the form of all the savings by not paying any markup or middleman costs - and how smart they are by taking advantage of the join now or never opportunity. They also fail to realize there's a hook hanging just out of sight; at first all they see is that others are getting savings and they want to join this cadre, thus they're ill-prepared to mentally shift gears when the con artists turns the tables. Because the premise of "saving tons of money" is wholeheartedly swallowed early on, it's not at a later point questioned when things begin to go wrong with the transaction and the dupes who have been targeted find out the hard way that there is a no refund policy on all the money they have paid in advance of receiving these now questionable "savings."
Beware paying in advance for something for nothing - no written guarantees of promises made should send you running - especially in light of the tactics of "Be like me, I'm a member and I've saved money." -- You may not!
http://edumacation.com/DirectBuy
0 It's for sure a scam. We joined and haven't saved a single nickel and we're building a new home. I complained to the BBB who their a member of and also the Tennessee Attorney Generals office. They submitted my claim to the store manager and he outright lied and they believed him. Go figure. Must be some money in somebody's pocket.
0 It's for sure a scam. We joined and haven't saved a single nickel and we're building a new home. I complained to the BBB who their a member of and also the Tennessee Attorney Generals office. They submitted my claim to the store manager and he outright lied and they believed him. Go figure. Must be some money in somebody's pocket.
0 Direct Buy can I save money?
In a word yes. You can save a great deal of money using the Direct Buy system. So your next question is who do I make the check for $4995.00 to? Well that is up to you. We were given unlimited access to browse the showroom and saw the brand name deep discounts. I saw things that I didn’t expect to be there such as cell phones and kitchen utensils. It isn’t just a home improvement store.
So what you need to do is weigh the pros and the cons to using the direct buy system. What are the pros? The main being that you can save a great deal of money and that is a very big pro. If you are considering remodeling or refurnishing your home a membership may be for you. Their prices are well below even sale prices from stores. The savings can be more than 50% in many cases. My wife and I attended the “Open House” and watched a video. You are sworn to secrecy of the prices and items available. In the video they use manufacturer representatives to drill this into you. They make a big show of asking if you are a dealer so you don’t use their merchandise in their stores. Where I work is my business.
What are the cons? Well there are a few. Many of you will remember the old days of the Sears Catalog. You see it you order it and pick it up at the store. That is how Direct Buy works. So if you need it right away you can’t use Direct Buy. You can order your merchandise online or from the store. It will be shipped from the manufacturer to the store. That is included in the price. From there you have to pay to have it delivered to you or you have to drive to the store and pick it up. In rare cases you can go directly to retailer and get your merchandise.
If you like to get furniture and use your store credit card you can forget it. Direct buy doesn’t have any financing options on the merchandise. Cash and major credit are all they take and if you are trying to recoup the $4995.00 you need to spend a great deal of money. They also want you to sign up RIGHT NOW! They threaten you with things like, “You can’t get this offer again for 7 years after you walk out the door.”
I would be interested to see if they turned me away if I went back today and said, “I slept on it and have decided I want to buy membership.” If they turn me away they defiantly are a scam in my opinion. Our salesman looked at us like we were crazy with questions like, “So you don’t like to save money?” his tone suggested that we were crazy. I will let you know one thing about me if you treat me even for an instant like I am an idiot I will not give you one cent of my money. I don’t know if this is the norm there but they may want to rethink their pitch options.
If you see it in a regular store you more than likely can get it at Direct Buy. Items can take anywhere from one week to months to get depending on your order. If you order a complete kitchen remodel complete with cabinets, floors and appliances it won’t be here in one week. Even if you went to a retail store it is unlikely that they can get that kind of order together in one week. They sometimes will have a manufacturer hold your shipment to get more on the truck to save them money.
One thing I did notice was a lack of manufacturers that price fix such as Apple and Tempur-Pedic to name a few. They did have a memory foam mattress but it wasn’t of the same quality. I am not a fan of Apple Computers so that wasn’t such a big deal. The next con is that you can’t touch and feel it. You get to see a picture of it and that is it. They discourage you going to a retail store to see the same merchandise. Their reasoning was that it cost the retailer money to see to you and since you aren’t going to buy it from them so you should be considerate.
I have seen estimations that you would need to spend anywhere from $20,000.00 to $50,000.00 to recoup your $4995.00. The big fee is only once after that it is a couple hundred a year to maintain your membership. So if you use the program religiously over time you eventually will recover your money. I just didn’t get a warm and fuzzy feeling when I was there. I felt like I was being pushed into something. I know that the people trying to get me to plop down the money were commissioned sales workers. I was actually considering doing it until he became condescending. At that moment he made up my mind for me.
In summary I would have to say that the program as presented is sound. If you can wait for your merchandise and have the capital to pay as you go the program may be for you. If you are living from paycheck to paycheck and your cards are maxed out and you are completely an impulse shopper then don’t bother walking in the door. Save your hour and a half to go shopping.
In a word yes. You can save a great deal of money using the Direct Buy system. So your next question is who do I make the check for $4995.00 to? Well that is up to you. We were given unlimited access to browse the showroom and saw the brand name deep discounts. I saw things that I didn’t expect to be there such as cell phones and kitchen utensils. It isn’t just a home improvement store.
So what you need to do is weigh the pros and the cons to using the direct buy system. What are the pros? The main being that you can save a great deal of money and that is a very big pro. If you are considering remodeling or refurnishing your home a membership may be for you. Their prices are well below even sale prices from stores. The savings can be more than 50% in many cases. My wife and I attended the “Open House” and watched a video. You are sworn to secrecy of the prices and items available. In the video they use manufacturer representatives to drill this into you. They make a big show of asking if you are a dealer so you don’t use their merchandise in their stores. Where I work is my business.
What are the cons? Well there are a few. Many of you will remember the old days of the Sears Catalog. You see it you order it and pick it up at the store. That is how Direct Buy works. So if you need it right away you can’t use Direct Buy. You can order your merchandise online or from the store. It will be shipped from the manufacturer to the store. That is included in the price. From there you have to pay to have it delivered to you or you have to drive to the store and pick it up. In rare cases you can go directly to retailer and get your merchandise.
If you like to get furniture and use your store credit card you can forget it. Direct buy doesn’t have any financing options on the merchandise. Cash and major credit are all they take and if you are trying to recoup the $4995.00 you need to spend a great deal of money. They also want you to sign up RIGHT NOW! They threaten you with things like, “You can’t get this offer again for 7 years after you walk out the door.”
I would be interested to see if they turned me away if I went back today and said, “I slept on it and have decided I want to buy membership.” If they turn me away they defiantly are a scam in my opinion. Our salesman looked at us like we were crazy with questions like, “So you don’t like to save money?” his tone suggested that we were crazy. I will let you know one thing about me if you treat me even for an instant like I am an idiot I will not give you one cent of my money. I don’t know if this is the norm there but they may want to rethink their pitch options.
If you see it in a regular store you more than likely can get it at Direct Buy. Items can take anywhere from one week to months to get depending on your order. If you order a complete kitchen remodel complete with cabinets, floors and appliances it won’t be here in one week. Even if you went to a retail store it is unlikely that they can get that kind of order together in one week. They sometimes will have a manufacturer hold your shipment to get more on the truck to save them money.
One thing I did notice was a lack of manufacturers that price fix such as Apple and Tempur-Pedic to name a few. They did have a memory foam mattress but it wasn’t of the same quality. I am not a fan of Apple Computers so that wasn’t such a big deal. The next con is that you can’t touch and feel it. You get to see a picture of it and that is it. They discourage you going to a retail store to see the same merchandise. Their reasoning was that it cost the retailer money to see to you and since you aren’t going to buy it from them so you should be considerate.
I have seen estimations that you would need to spend anywhere from $20,000.00 to $50,000.00 to recoup your $4995.00. The big fee is only once after that it is a couple hundred a year to maintain your membership. So if you use the program religiously over time you eventually will recover your money. I just didn’t get a warm and fuzzy feeling when I was there. I felt like I was being pushed into something. I know that the people trying to get me to plop down the money were commissioned sales workers. I was actually considering doing it until he became condescending. At that moment he made up my mind for me.
In summary I would have to say that the program as presented is sound. If you can wait for your merchandise and have the capital to pay as you go the program may be for you. If you are living from paycheck to paycheck and your cards are maxed out and you are completely an impulse shopper then don’t bother walking in the door. Save your hour and a half to go shopping.
0 Direct Buy can I save money?
In a word yes. You can save a great deal of money using the Direct Buy system. So your next question is who do I make the check for $4995.00 to? Well that is up to you. We were given unlimited access to browse the showroom and saw the brand name deep discounts. I saw things that I didn’t expect to be there such as cell phones and kitchen utensils. It isn’t just a home improvement store.
So what you need to do is weigh the pros and the cons to using the direct buy system. What are the pros? The main being that you can save a great deal of money and that is a very big pro. If you are considering remodeling or refurnishing your home a membership may be for you. Their prices are well below even sale prices from stores. The savings can be more than 50% in many cases. My wife and I attended the “Open House” and watched a video. You are sworn to secrecy of the prices and items available. In the video they use manufacturer representatives to drill this into you. They make a big show of asking if you are a dealer so you don’t use their merchandise in their stores. Where I work is my business.
What are the cons? Well there are a few. Many of you will remember the old days of the Sears Catalog. You see it you order it and pick it up at the store. That is how Direct Buy works. So if you need it right away you can’t use Direct Buy. You can order your merchandise online or from the store. It will be shipped from the manufacturer to the store. That is included in the price. From there you have to pay to have it delivered to you or you have to drive to the store and pick it up. In rare cases you can go directly to retailer and get your merchandise.
If you like to get furniture and use your store credit card you can forget it. Direct buy doesn’t have any financing options on the merchandise. Cash and major credit are all they take and if you are trying to recoup the $4995.00 you need to spend a great deal of money. They also want you to sign up RIGHT NOW! They threaten you with things like, “You can’t get this offer again for 7 years after you walk out the door.”
I would be interested to see if they turned me away if I went back today and said, “I slept on it and have decided I want to buy membership.” If they turn me away they defiantly are a scam in my opinion. Our salesman looked at us like we were crazy with questions like, “So you don’t like to save money?” his tone suggested that we were crazy. I will let you know one thing about me if you treat me even for an instant like I am an idiot I will not give you one cent of my money. I don’t know if this is the norm there but they may want to rethink their pitch options.
If you see it in a regular store you more than likely can get it at Direct Buy. Items can take anywhere from one week to months to get depending on your order. If you order a complete kitchen remodel complete with cabinets, floors and appliances it won’t be here in one week. Even if you went to a retail store it is unlikely that they can get that kind of order together in one week. They sometimes will have a manufacturer hold your shipment to get more on the truck to save them money.
One thing I did notice was a lack of manufacturers that price fix such as Apple and Tempur-Pedic to name a few. They did have a memory foam mattress but it wasn’t of the same quality. I am not a fan of Apple Computers so that wasn’t such a big deal. The next con is that you can’t touch and feel it. You get to see a picture of it and that is it. They discourage you going to a retail store to see the same merchandise. Their reasoning was that it cost the retailer money to see to you and since you aren’t going to buy it from them so you should be considerate.
I have seen estimations that you would need to spend anywhere from $20,000.00 to $50,000.00 to recoup your $4995.00. The big fee is only once after that it is a couple hundred a year to maintain your membership. So if you use the program religiously over time you eventually will recover your money. I just didn’t get a warm and fuzzy feeling when I was there. I felt like I was being pushed into something. I know that the people trying to get me to plop down the money were commissioned sales workers. I was actually considering doing it until he became condescending. At that moment he made up my mind for me.
In summary I would have to say that the program as presented is sound. If you can wait for your merchandise and have the capital to pay as you go the program may be for you. If you are living from paycheck to paycheck and your cards are maxed out and you are completely an impulse shopper then don’t bother walking in the door. Save your hour and a half to go shopping.
In a word yes. You can save a great deal of money using the Direct Buy system. So your next question is who do I make the check for $4995.00 to? Well that is up to you. We were given unlimited access to browse the showroom and saw the brand name deep discounts. I saw things that I didn’t expect to be there such as cell phones and kitchen utensils. It isn’t just a home improvement store.
So what you need to do is weigh the pros and the cons to using the direct buy system. What are the pros? The main being that you can save a great deal of money and that is a very big pro. If you are considering remodeling or refurnishing your home a membership may be for you. Their prices are well below even sale prices from stores. The savings can be more than 50% in many cases. My wife and I attended the “Open House” and watched a video. You are sworn to secrecy of the prices and items available. In the video they use manufacturer representatives to drill this into you. They make a big show of asking if you are a dealer so you don’t use their merchandise in their stores. Where I work is my business.
What are the cons? Well there are a few. Many of you will remember the old days of the Sears Catalog. You see it you order it and pick it up at the store. That is how Direct Buy works. So if you need it right away you can’t use Direct Buy. You can order your merchandise online or from the store. It will be shipped from the manufacturer to the store. That is included in the price. From there you have to pay to have it delivered to you or you have to drive to the store and pick it up. In rare cases you can go directly to retailer and get your merchandise.
If you like to get furniture and use your store credit card you can forget it. Direct buy doesn’t have any financing options on the merchandise. Cash and major credit are all they take and if you are trying to recoup the $4995.00 you need to spend a great deal of money. They also want you to sign up RIGHT NOW! They threaten you with things like, “You can’t get this offer again for 7 years after you walk out the door.”
I would be interested to see if they turned me away if I went back today and said, “I slept on it and have decided I want to buy membership.” If they turn me away they defiantly are a scam in my opinion. Our salesman looked at us like we were crazy with questions like, “So you don’t like to save money?” his tone suggested that we were crazy. I will let you know one thing about me if you treat me even for an instant like I am an idiot I will not give you one cent of my money. I don’t know if this is the norm there but they may want to rethink their pitch options.
If you see it in a regular store you more than likely can get it at Direct Buy. Items can take anywhere from one week to months to get depending on your order. If you order a complete kitchen remodel complete with cabinets, floors and appliances it won’t be here in one week. Even if you went to a retail store it is unlikely that they can get that kind of order together in one week. They sometimes will have a manufacturer hold your shipment to get more on the truck to save them money.
One thing I did notice was a lack of manufacturers that price fix such as Apple and Tempur-Pedic to name a few. They did have a memory foam mattress but it wasn’t of the same quality. I am not a fan of Apple Computers so that wasn’t such a big deal. The next con is that you can’t touch and feel it. You get to see a picture of it and that is it. They discourage you going to a retail store to see the same merchandise. Their reasoning was that it cost the retailer money to see to you and since you aren’t going to buy it from them so you should be considerate.
I have seen estimations that you would need to spend anywhere from $20,000.00 to $50,000.00 to recoup your $4995.00. The big fee is only once after that it is a couple hundred a year to maintain your membership. So if you use the program religiously over time you eventually will recover your money. I just didn’t get a warm and fuzzy feeling when I was there. I felt like I was being pushed into something. I know that the people trying to get me to plop down the money were commissioned sales workers. I was actually considering doing it until he became condescending. At that moment he made up my mind for me.
In summary I would have to say that the program as presented is sound. If you can wait for your merchandise and have the capital to pay as you go the program may be for you. If you are living from paycheck to paycheck and your cards are maxed out and you are completely an impulse shopper then don’t bother walking in the door. Save your hour and a half to go shopping.
0 I'm sick and tired of getting DirectBuy's emails from various "people" purporting to represent DirectBuy who have my email address. I am not interested in becoming a member and DO NOT WANT TO BECOME A MEMBER. What does it take to make them understand: "STOP SENDING ME YOUR EMAILS TO BECOME A MEMBER." FURTHERMORE, your emails MUST, by Federal Law include un Unsbuscribe button or link, which your emails do not.
0 My wife and I joined Directbuy. We were debating whether the membership fee was worth it. In our experience, the lower end stuff is better bought retail, and the better quality stuff is definitely cheaper at Directbuy. We found that we don't spend more than we would normally, we get better quality stuff for about the same price. For example, instead of getting a veneered bedroom set for 2-3K we got a solid Cherry set for the same. If you want plywood/particle board stuff, wal-mart is open 24-7 but if you want furniture that will last your whole life, and possibly beyond, whether your a member or not, you will be willing to spend the money to get it. Directbuy gave us and gives us the option to purchase that furniture. We don't save on stuff like the upright freezer we bought from a major retailer, Directbuy wasn't comparable. We have bought and saved a ton on our dining room set, master bedroom set, mattress, camera as well as many smaller ticket items like silverware sets for wedding presents and a stroller for a baby shower. We are happy and really enjoy our local showroom. As with anything else, maybe since these are franchises, it matters which one you go to and who is working there. The newest team member at our local showroom has been there 3 years, so the employees there must like their jobs...
0 Potential employees and "members" alike RUN the other way from directbuy. From an employee stand point. When I applied to the job ad and during the interview I was told that we were not going to be cold calling and that the hours were 40 hrs per week. When I started it was clear that I was cold calling and the hours turned out to be exactly 27 hrs per week. You are expected to work multiple phone list and call each number on each list 4 times in a 5 hr period and have 3 people from each list accept a mail out from you every hour. ITS IMPOSSIBLE! Also you have to stick 1000% to a horrid script and you cant answer any questions the rare percentage of people that actually take the time to listen to that crap would ask. The truth is the majority of people screen their calls and dont answer, hang up on you right away, or politly decline and get this if you do get some one that says hey am interested but am busy can you call me back, as a call center associate you are not allowed to accept a call back and you have to pressure the person into stayin on the phone with out pressuring them to stay on the phone. Its easy right!!!
Also these mail out that you need to get are hard for the persons on the other end to qualify for. The small majority would accept a mail out from you dont qualify becuase of income or spousal issues. Literally ONLY 1% of the people on the list you are given to call every night will be willing to and will qualify for a mail out.
Also that P.O.S computer system did not work correctly if you have 150 people to call on one list it would get stuck in this trap of calling the same people over and over again making it harder for you to go over the entire list four times.
And if too many people decline you they say its something you are doing wrong!!!?? The club I worked at the most senior call center rep had a whopping 4 months senority over the most junior rep. I was told by her that between Feb 10 and June 10. 35 reps came in and out of that call center. And you got chewed out every day becuase people are sensible enough to run the other way.
The work environment was icy as the north pole, a room full of people wondering am I next?
Direct Buy needs to understand that its glory days are over and it it tapped out its member market.
The pay was good 10.00 per hour and they said that if you pulled in 10 members per week they would pay you 45.00 per hour. They filled your head with notions of being able to make 6 figures per year. The only way you got respect is if you are having a good week or day and brought in the minimum or above minimum amount of leads. When the numbers dropped so did the respect. Job security HA HA HA. People were in and out of that call center as if it were a Manhattan Brothel. It was funny to watch someone come in all excited and peronalizing their cubicle and literally about a week later be out the door in some cases days later.
For me the hours were great 2-9pm m-f. Even though I personally didnt want to work weekends common sense says more people are home on the week ends so why not have the call center open on the week ends?
As a potential member if Direct Buy calls you saying you are a semi finalist for some promotion etc etc RUN its lies. They buy list of peoples phone numbers and call them. If they try to lure you in with a 3 day 2 night vacay package run!! Its only worth 170.00 bucks (yes the decimal is in the right place) and airfare is not included. Also as a very savy shopper I coulndt wait to see the "DEALS" direct buy had. Save your gas, time, and energy becuase there are none!!!! At the time I need a mattress and a lcd/plasma tv and the local stores out priced direct buy hands down. And on top of that there are no prices in those cumbersome hard to read poorly organized catelogs. You have to search through different manufacturers catelogs for an item (for example a tv, instead of having all lcd tvs in one catelog there are several different catelogs by manufacturer) if you see a tv you like you have to write down the model number, go over to the members desk and they type it into a pc and tell you the price and when they do tell you the price you will keel over becuase its no cheaper than going to best buy or shopping online. And I tested it over and over again, I found a better deal elsewhere. If your looking to save money THIS IS NOT THE PLACE FOR YOU.
If your trying to find a good deal on an item it would take hours to do so in the direct buy show room. It would take days to do in there what I could do on the internet in a matter of minutes. Finally the most obsurd part about Direct Buy is they some how think their service is worth $$$5,000.00!!!!!!!????? If you are building a home or doing a major re-modle MAYBE it would be worth it BUT am pretty sure even in that case you would be better off shopping in "Retail Hell"
Think about it if Direct Buy truely saved you 50% OFF of retail ie that 500.00 front load washer from best buy home depot brandsmart would cost 250.00 through direct buy. Why would they have to cold call people and run gimmicky promotions???? Word of mouth is the best advertisement. their current members would tell their friends, who would tell their friends and so on and so on.
Direct Buy is a silly club that was designed and engeneered toward person who have thousands of dollars to waste and ad that membership to a long list of stuff the WASTED money on. If you care about yourself and money run from direct buy.
One finally tip: If D irect Buy calls you unwarented tell them to take you off of their call list, do not call me again or I will report you to the FCC. Thats the only way to get the to stop calling.
Also these mail out that you need to get are hard for the persons on the other end to qualify for. The small majority would accept a mail out from you dont qualify becuase of income or spousal issues. Literally ONLY 1% of the people on the list you are given to call every night will be willing to and will qualify for a mail out.
Also that P.O.S computer system did not work correctly if you have 150 people to call on one list it would get stuck in this trap of calling the same people over and over again making it harder for you to go over the entire list four times.
And if too many people decline you they say its something you are doing wrong!!!?? The club I worked at the most senior call center rep had a whopping 4 months senority over the most junior rep. I was told by her that between Feb 10 and June 10. 35 reps came in and out of that call center. And you got chewed out every day becuase people are sensible enough to run the other way.
The work environment was icy as the north pole, a room full of people wondering am I next?
Direct Buy needs to understand that its glory days are over and it it tapped out its member market.
The pay was good 10.00 per hour and they said that if you pulled in 10 members per week they would pay you 45.00 per hour. They filled your head with notions of being able to make 6 figures per year. The only way you got respect is if you are having a good week or day and brought in the minimum or above minimum amount of leads. When the numbers dropped so did the respect. Job security HA HA HA. People were in and out of that call center as if it were a Manhattan Brothel. It was funny to watch someone come in all excited and peronalizing their cubicle and literally about a week later be out the door in some cases days later.
For me the hours were great 2-9pm m-f. Even though I personally didnt want to work weekends common sense says more people are home on the week ends so why not have the call center open on the week ends?
As a potential member if Direct Buy calls you saying you are a semi finalist for some promotion etc etc RUN its lies. They buy list of peoples phone numbers and call them. If they try to lure you in with a 3 day 2 night vacay package run!! Its only worth 170.00 bucks (yes the decimal is in the right place) and airfare is not included. Also as a very savy shopper I coulndt wait to see the "DEALS" direct buy had. Save your gas, time, and energy becuase there are none!!!! At the time I need a mattress and a lcd/plasma tv and the local stores out priced direct buy hands down. And on top of that there are no prices in those cumbersome hard to read poorly organized catelogs. You have to search through different manufacturers catelogs for an item (for example a tv, instead of having all lcd tvs in one catelog there are several different catelogs by manufacturer) if you see a tv you like you have to write down the model number, go over to the members desk and they type it into a pc and tell you the price and when they do tell you the price you will keel over becuase its no cheaper than going to best buy or shopping online. And I tested it over and over again, I found a better deal elsewhere. If your looking to save money THIS IS NOT THE PLACE FOR YOU.
If your trying to find a good deal on an item it would take hours to do so in the direct buy show room. It would take days to do in there what I could do on the internet in a matter of minutes. Finally the most obsurd part about Direct Buy is they some how think their service is worth $$$5,000.00!!!!!!!????? If you are building a home or doing a major re-modle MAYBE it would be worth it BUT am pretty sure even in that case you would be better off shopping in "Retail Hell"
Think about it if Direct Buy truely saved you 50% OFF of retail ie that 500.00 front load washer from best buy home depot brandsmart would cost 250.00 through direct buy. Why would they have to cold call people and run gimmicky promotions???? Word of mouth is the best advertisement. their current members would tell their friends, who would tell their friends and so on and so on.
Direct Buy is a silly club that was designed and engeneered toward person who have thousands of dollars to waste and ad that membership to a long list of stuff the WASTED money on. If you care about yourself and money run from direct buy.
One finally tip: If D irect Buy calls you unwarented tell them to take you off of their call list, do not call me again or I will report you to the FCC. Thats the only way to get the to stop calling.
0 Direct buy has been sending me unsolicted e-mails and I have not been to their site or signed up for this junk. I went to their website to see if there was any contact information to make this stop and there is no contact info, nothing. I went to their privacy policy and there is an e-mail address for you to contact if you have a complaint. Guess what - the e-mail address doesn't work - what where the odds. A company based on pyramid marketing is a little unscrupulous to start off with. If your primary concern is to make money and not to sell quality product, then you are in business for the wrong reasons. There is nothing wrong with making money, there is nothing wrong with making lots of money. There is something wrong when you want to make money, at the cost of selling anything to anyone - regardless of the quality, performance, deliverability and selling something to someone who does not need it, can't afford it, is not what they need - is unethical. Someone once said there is a sucker born everyday. I know I don't want to be that sucker and therefore I choose to treat people as I want to be treated, honestly ethically.
We were scammed also.Prices look cheap until you want to order something and find out that shipping can range from $500 to $5000.Should be put out of business!!!
Db is a wonderful experience. If your not broke! If your broke, well Big Lots will always have cheaper stuff, simply because it is cheap. Directbuy is a great way to save on furniture. I saved personally on a Lane Bedroom set, Klausner dining room and a sealy mattress. This is all I've purchased thus far in 4 months of membership, however I've saved about 3400, After delivery, on what would have cost me about 8,500. This is not my whole membership, however I have 2 2/3 years left. If you can afford to buy things, or cant afford to seperate from 5k for a little while, then you should run away, and prolly run to a financial specialist to help teach you the fundamentals of not being broke.
moron. I think you just make things up based on how YOU look. How can you justify saying that? did they offer you 6000 then 350? I dont have to be a member of DirectBuy to read the ignorance about what it truely does. If it were so "scam" oriented, then how has the business been around for as long as it has? Read reviews on HomeDepot or Lowes or several other big names... Still complaints just the same, but your not running your mouth about those companies. All this not for DB, but for your ignorance.
We joined Direct Buy because we were building a house. In our "sales pitch" they were fairly upfront about which types of merchandise saved the most money, ie furniture, and which ones don't, ie electronics. They also were up front about the fact that only people who are building or doing major remodeling or major refurnishing are going to save enough to make it worthwhile. We researched every purchase before making it and so only purchased things there that were significantly cheaper than elsewhere. As an example, we saved about $1500 on our jacuzzi tub alone but our builder was able to get our professional range cheaper elsewhere. We did save more than our membership fee but that is only because we were doing a very large project. Also, you're not going to find the more inexpensive merchandise there, it is going to be mostly high end stuff.
0 HEY RETARDS,IF ITS FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE MONEY THEN WHY THE HELL DO THEY NEED A DISCOUNT STORE TO GO AND PURCHASE THIER EXPENSIVE STUFF,FOR ALL THOSE PEOPLE WHO SAY "ITS ONLY FOR PEOPLE WHO MAKE ALOT OF MONEY"SHUT THE F*** UP LISTEN TO WHATS UR SAYING ITS THE RICH DONT NEED TO BARGAIN SHOP SO WHY IS IT FOR PEOPLE WITH MONEY ISNT THE WHOLE POINT TO SAVE MONEY FOR PEOPLE WHO DONT HAVE ALOT OF MONEY
DB IS A SCAM!!! STAY AWAY!!!Through out my 3 year membership, at a cost of approximately 5K, I did not make any purchases. I could not find a deal that was worth while. I might of found a savings of $30 to $60 but when you calculate the time it takes to brouse through the catalogs, pick your item, go through the order process, pay the delivery fee, wait weeks for your order to come in, and go back to the store to pick it up.....well it's just not worth it to me. I FEEL LIKE A TOTAL FOOL! WHAT A WASTE OF MY HARD EARNED MONEY! Let's continue to get the word out
0 Unless you are doing a HUGE reno in your house, well it's just no worth it! We are coming up on our 10 year mark, and well, we have not now buy back in if we wish to stay on!!! Of coarse it's at a reduced rate of $2614.50, it is originally $5999.00 at present, and the new annual fee after the initial 3 years went from $170 to $299!! This is insane, outrageous!! We saw it as a "lifetime" investment, but that is NOT the case!! You can really only save if you do major reno's, not buying the everyday or household items. We are VERY sorry we ever joined now!!!
0 Unless you are doing a HUGE reno in your house, well it's just no worth it! We are coming up on our 10 year mark, and well, we have not now buy back in if we wish to stay on!!! Of coarse it's at a reduced rate of $2614.50, it is originally $5999.00 at present, and the new annual fee after the initial 3 years went from $170 to $299!! This is insane, outrageous!! We saw it as a "lifetime" investment, but that is NOT the case!! You can really only save if you do major reno's, not buying the everyday or household items. We are VERY sorry we ever joined now!!!
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