DirectBuy
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Category: Business & Finances
Contact Information
United States
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DirectBuy Reviews
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October 22, 2008
Scam and cheating
My husband and I attended a presentation in Feb 08. We were in a good financial situation at the time and were getting ready to purchase our first home. So we took the opportunity to join because we knew we were going to have a lot of work to do on the property we were buying. Well the seller stalled and the bank that had agreed to a short sale rescinded their acceptance because the seller was stalling. We lost the house to auction. Within a month the house we were renting was sold our from under us as well because the landlord defaulted on the mortgage. Now we were truly homeless. We had to move to another area some distance from work and our children's' school which left us with a hefty commute. On top of everything else the company my husband worked for cut his hours in half. We immediately contacted our center and informed them of the financial hardship we were currently having. After much negotiation they agreed to freeze our membership. Sounds fair right? Well according to the finance company that collects the monthly installments on the membership just because they froze our membership doesn't mean we stop paying for the membership. Now they are calling my house 3 to 6 times a day demanding money from us, money we simply don't have. When I asked the representative if they wanted me to pay them instead of feeding my children and keep them warm they told me "You signed a contract to pay and you shouldn't have if you couldn't afford it". Funny when we joined we could afford it, if I could see into the future then I could still afford it because I would know what the winning loto number are too.
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October 15, 2008
Fraud and cheating
Planning on remodeling my Florida kitchen, I paid the high price of joining DirectBuy in 2006 based on promises that I would save at least $5, 000 on kitchen cabinets. I spent 8-10 hours each week for several months in their showroom going through catalogs and working with their kitchen design “expert”.
There was a 3 week wait for a price update every time the design was modified to try to reduce the price. I wasted 7 months trying to get something within my budget. Also you had to find a contractor to pick up and install the cabinets. You had to be able to pick to appliances at their showroom.
Eventually I realized that there were not savings in the kitchen cabinets compared to other local companies. And there were not savings in their appliance prices compared to internet vendors. Most local and internet vendors deliver and/or install for free.
In the end, I went to a local kitchen design company and got excellent cabinets at $4, 000 less than the DB prices. Being a DB member was a very expensive, frustrating and stressful experience.
Don't be fooled by their lies and smiling salespeople.
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October 7, 2008
Unauthorized charges
Wrote to the corp office of DirectBuy explaining my situation of finacial crisis and also that there are plenty of places around to find cheaper products without having to pay $6400 for a membership. They said' too bad'' you had 3 days to cancel in which 2 days they were not open and no direct number to call to the head office. They took my $450 out of my credit card even though I asked the bank to put a freeze on the transaction.
I have not sent any more $$ in, and DirectBuy threatens that by not paying it will 'harm' my credit. What does that mean? Garnish my wages? I just don't have the $6400 to spend on this ridiculous membership!! When my family is in danger og losing their home, utilities shut off, no food or gas money to get to work. Please someone HELP me get out from under DirctBuy!!!
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September 4, 2008
Waste of time even on phone
I received a call from a Direct Buy telemarketer who told me I had been selected to get into a contest in which I could win $50, 000. It had to do with getting a key that would open a box or something at their showroom.
I thought about it for a minute, I had heard about the membership costs, and knew I wasn't going to sign up. But, I am doing some upgrades in my home over the next few months, and the guy on the phone was vague when I told him what I had heard about the membership fees. He gave me examples of people he knew who had bought a $700.00 couch for less than $400.00, and I should have stopped right there. I've seen $700.00 couches, and that was not what I was looking for.
I eventually said that he could send me info, and that I would like to participate in their contest, although at the time, I didn't exactly know what my obligation would be.
Ok, here's the clincher, after talking to me for almost 15 minutes, the guy asks me my income range, 20, 000-40, 000, 40, 000-60, 000, etc. When I told him my income was between 20-40, he said I didn't qualify for their contest and hung up. Just that fast.
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September 2, 2008
Don't do it
Save your money! How they're allowed to stay in business is also a crime. In order to save any money do not under any circumstances join! They take away all your rights in the contract so the only way to find out if you can save is to be duped. They know they're a rip off which is why in their contract they say you can't sue them. I pray there is a class action suit! After joining, there is no money left for an attorney. Count me in if someone does have enough money left to file criminal and consumer fraud charges!
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August 31, 2008
Scam
They only people happy with Directbuy are those who are to arrogant to admit they were screwed. I am a member (3 years now) and I KNOW from experience that on at least 3 out of 4 products if you shop around you can get the same deals, often online stores offer free shipping and let you use your credit card, thus sweetening the pot.
The fact is they lie, the savings are not what they make them to be because the MSRP is never what retail stores charge anyway. And the service is very poor. I didn't do my due diligence so shame on me. I read about some class action suits in the US and you can bet that Ill be on that bandwagon if ever I find out about one in Canada.
These are some items I DID NOT buy at directbuy recently as I found them CHEAPER online. A queen size mattress set, a 52" LG LCD TV, a samsonite luggage set for my daughter. I did some comparative shopping this morning and found may other things that I could get for a very comparable price if I needed them.
Directbuy is just another type of retail for those of us foolish enough to join. But something should be done about their sales pitch as it is a lie.
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August 31, 2008
Dishonest marketing strategy
I signed up with direct buy two years ago when I had just purchased my home. I joined on the pretext I would have been getting all these low prices for such great products. To date I am yet to purchase a single item of their over priced items which is more expensive than if purchased outside. Every item I tried to purchase is so expensive and has some extended delivery dates. I have stuck with paying Direct Buy the large signing fee of over six thousand dollars. This is like stealing from unsuspecting consumers. Very unethical should be investigated.
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July 16, 2008
Scam
I was online sometime ago and search of some new furniture for a new home that my wife and I just purchased. I happened onto the Directbuy website and filled out the information. I was contacted a day or so later by a sales representative, who made arrangements to attend their open house. We did attend, and I can tell you that you can feel something is not right. The spokesperson gave several examples of what appeared to be best case scenarios with highly discounted consumer electronics, furniture, and other items. There were comparisons directed related to major club wholesale chains. Although many of thier examples are highly attractive, thats all they are. They are presented in a way to draw you in. Admittedly we joined the membership, we fell for the initial scam, wrote a check for 2500.00, with the rest of the total of 6000.00 to be financed. After we were given our contract and other brochures and the like to take home. After we signed up we were allowed to walk around and view thier catalogs, Directbuy is tiered by a star system. 1 star being value, 4-5 stars being high quality products. I went directly to thier electronics in particular big screens, since I had shopped these extensively I knew where the pricing was at. I went directly to a 1 star catalog in which I found many models that I had shopped and oddly enough these models were NOT any cheaper at Directbuy. In fact you would find a better deal and better models at Major retail electronics chains via thier outlet stores, or sale priced items. Another thing that I found odd was that this 1 star manufacture was actually one of the better manufactures of big screen in terms of quality and picture, again I have researched big screens for the last 6 months. When I questioned the pricing, I was told that electronics is not where I would see my biggest savings, that furniture and other items would net the biggest savings. I also went through thier value catalogs for furniture and found that several retailers/wholesale outlets offered the same if not better pricing on things that I was looking for.
When we got home that evening, we quickly changed our minds. I read the contract and we were given three days to back out. My wife called and put a stop payment on the check the very next morning at 8 AM. I sent an email to thier customer service, and also took back the contract. When the wife dropped off the contract she was told it would take 10 days to get our refund. I immediately called Directbuy and questioned why they would state refund when we wrote a check, and we barely left that check 12 hours before? They claimed that they thought we had used a credit card, then quickly said well we ran your check through our machine last night, we got our money. I then told them nothing cleared my bank and I put a stop payment on the check this AM. She then said hold on a sec, let me check to see if they took the deposits to the bank. She came back and said we will refund you if the check clears, then hung up. 3 days later Directbuy attempted to cash our check, because of the stop payment there were not able to get our money. We consider ourselves fortunate to get out of what have been the worst financial mistake we have made in the last 10 years. Directbuy is a scam, its not geared for the everyday consumer.
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July 9, 2008
Don't buy it
We went to the "free trial" only to be suckered into the "timeshare style" sale. It all sounded OK and as they show ads for common products like golf clubs, flat screens, furniture, etc. We're thinking, this sounds pretty good. Then we do the tour... still looking good. They even have a website so we can shop from the convenience of our own homes! Then comes the "close" and it's NOW OR NEVER. If you don't want to buy, no pressure but you walk out that door and it will be closed to you for the rest of your like! We're thinking "gosh, we're going to landscape, we're going to buy new furniture, eventually we'll build a new home, and this could save us a fortune. If we walk out now, we will regret it." So like a couple of gullible idiots, we sign on the dotted line and $5000 later we are out the door talking about all the stuff we can buy.
Well what they don't tell you is that there are HUGE shipping and handling fees on MOST items, it's VERY HARD or even impossible sometimes to return items (so you buy a sofa, it's uncomfortable, you paid "cost but also $100 to get it shipped and now you are stuck with it). There is NO WAY out of the contract once you sign. No money back guarantee even though they totally mislead you about what you are buying into and all the $$$ you can save. Granted you can save some but you have to spend $5000 to save it so it's like buying something on sale that you don't need or want and then trying to convince yourself that you came out ahead!
Anyway so 8 months and 8 payments later we FINALLY got around to the orientation. It sounded pretty OK again but then we went in to do our first round of investigating deals. The price lists don't match the catalog items, the appliances seem to be equal to the sale prices I have seen. It was *** trying to find prices on furniture. You look at the picture, then you have to scour the price lists which are all out or order to find the price, but then you realize the price list is current but the catalog is 1-2 years old and the products aren't even the same. The staff offers to "call the company tomorrow" to get the pricing. It seems to me they purposely make it VERY difficult to find and buy products so that you WON'T end up using the membership and they just take your "membership fee" and run.
Oh and did I mention their website? Yeah, it is so slow, impossible to navigate efficiently and when I tried to look up equivalent items on normal retail sites, the items offered at DB could not be found. The same brands were found and their list prices weren't much higher than DBs "wholesale" (supposedly) prices. They "require" members to NOT tell local retailers "I can get this at DB for $____" in order to protect their relationships with all these companies. What a crock! They know if I go to Home Depot and tell them I can get a fridge at DB for $300 less, Home Depot will probably work some kind of deal for me.
I tried to keep an open mind, but every time I have tried to use DB I feel scammed and pissed off and ripped off. We are stuck with it now so we will try to find value and use it. My advice---STAY AWAY---STAY FAR FAR AWAY! You can get great deals and "try before you buy" if you just put a little effort into internet research and check out sales with local retailers.
If you are already a member, the best way to use this would be to find what you like locally and then try to get it through DB but only if DB is cheaper. Also, I would not hesitate to tell a local retailer that I can get a product at cost and see what they can do. It might save me $100 or more in shipping.
I'm with the other guy---if there was a class action suit, I too would jump on board (there is one in California but I am in NM). I am not the kind of person who would ever sue but I this case, I would do it just to draw attention to the kind of scam DB is running. It's borderline corrupt and unethical but I obviously they have been squeaking by somehow.
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July 7, 2008
Scam
They claim to be best price and I have not yet received a lower price and bought my things elsewhere for many reasons: you need weeks to get to order something, the service is really poor and you end up buying elsewhere instead of waiting for 6 to 10 weeks. By the time you get prices that are competitive (if they can) and to receive the item you need at least 8 to 10 weeks.
The entry cost is 5000$ and you will never get it back because it is specifically specified. Once you are a member you really feel you have been had good.
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