Unbiased Truth about DirectBuy...
Complaint
DirectBuy Employee
Country: United States
I worked at Directbuy in California for 6 months, if you want the absolute truth here it is. DirectBuy is the worst company on earth to be employed by, associated with, or have a membership with!
Directbuy is a corporation that is franchised, which means that someone owns each center, so they are all run differently. The one I worked for was Directbuy of Burbank California owned by Greg and Gail Ruetz. They are absolute blood suckers! They promised each employee a 401k when the center opened in 2007, not one employee has seen a 401k, any type of retirement plan, or even a christmas bonus!!!! All they care about is YOUR MONEY. They know nothing, not one thing about the products they sell, but you can be assured one of them will greet you with a fake smile as soon as you walk in the door.
From the moment you walk in the door, you will be preyed upon. Its costs $6500 to join this garbage corp for 2 years. They say they dont mark anything up, but there is a 8% handling charge on everything, isnt that a markup? None of the employees are actually trained, I was thrown onto the floor and forced to learn about 800 manufacturers on my own. Then, two weeks later, 75% of our staff was laid off. Wow. All the owners want is more money and more members! To give you an example of the service you will get, our center has 1500 members and 3, yes 3 people that work in the service department!! Unbelievable.
When you walk in the door, everything is set up. From the way the greasy salesman shakes your hand to the "hows your day going so far" questions, its all script. Then you hear the stupid story about Directbuy and they act like your friend with small talk. Then, you watch 3 horrific movies about DB in a presentation that is much like a timeshare presentation. After the ordeal, where they lie to you about many many things, then you are sent off to a high pressure salesman who will tell you to join or never comeback. If you are not smart enough to smell scam at this point, you are simply weak.
Once they have your money, they couldnt care less about you or what you need. The fake smiles go away, and the truth comes out. You will wait from 4 weeks to 16 weeks for your merchandise, and if it comes in damaged, you will wait that long again. Shipping is expensive and in most cases will bring the cost of the merchandise well above what you could have gotten it in the store for.
You will not save money at Directbuy unless you are remodeling a kitchen with $100,000 budget, and even then its not worth the hassle, problems, and the wait!!
I despise this company. They are immoral, they treat their employees like garbage, and they lie about everything.
Bottom line, run away from Directbuy! Thank god I no longer work there. Now I can sleep at night.
Directbuy is a corporation that is franchised, which means that someone owns each center, so they are all run differently. The one I worked for was Directbuy of Burbank California owned by Greg and Gail Ruetz. They are absolute blood suckers! They promised each employee a 401k when the center opened in 2007, not one employee has seen a 401k, any type of retirement plan, or even a christmas bonus!!!! All they care about is YOUR MONEY. They know nothing, not one thing about the products they sell, but you can be assured one of them will greet you with a fake smile as soon as you walk in the door.
From the moment you walk in the door, you will be preyed upon. Its costs $6500 to join this garbage corp for 2 years. They say they dont mark anything up, but there is a 8% handling charge on everything, isnt that a markup? None of the employees are actually trained, I was thrown onto the floor and forced to learn about 800 manufacturers on my own. Then, two weeks later, 75% of our staff was laid off. Wow. All the owners want is more money and more members! To give you an example of the service you will get, our center has 1500 members and 3, yes 3 people that work in the service department!! Unbelievable.
When you walk in the door, everything is set up. From the way the greasy salesman shakes your hand to the "hows your day going so far" questions, its all script. Then you hear the stupid story about Directbuy and they act like your friend with small talk. Then, you watch 3 horrific movies about DB in a presentation that is much like a timeshare presentation. After the ordeal, where they lie to you about many many things, then you are sent off to a high pressure salesman who will tell you to join or never comeback. If you are not smart enough to smell scam at this point, you are simply weak.
Once they have your money, they couldnt care less about you or what you need. The fake smiles go away, and the truth comes out. You will wait from 4 weeks to 16 weeks for your merchandise, and if it comes in damaged, you will wait that long again. Shipping is expensive and in most cases will bring the cost of the merchandise well above what you could have gotten it in the store for.
You will not save money at Directbuy unless you are remodeling a kitchen with $100,000 budget, and even then its not worth the hassle, problems, and the wait!!
I despise this company. They are immoral, they treat their employees like garbage, and they lie about everything.
Bottom line, run away from Directbuy! Thank god I no longer work there. Now I can sleep at night.
Comments
http://www2.wsav.com/sav/news/local/article/d ... ncerned/115142/
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this is Bob, and i'm calling from DirectBuy. i'm sure your familiar with us. youv'e been selected as a potential winner of xx dolars. But, only if you meet our guide lines. are you single? ohhh you are. To bad, that disqualifies you from this promo. is there anyone living with you that is married?? Really, great....are they over 21?? Good! whats that? their retired??? Not looking good.I know that we are the ones calling you. - is there anyone there that brings home a paycheck?? -that much??? i'l stretch it.any kids?? can't have you bringing them here. what's your address? 555 big lot road. OK, there's more? so thats lot 5, 55 big lot road. well, sorry you still don't qualify.
1. You do have to wait for stuff to come in (2-8 weeks).
2. Most merchandise cost significantly less than retail or even websites(furniture, appliance, flooring)
3. The savings on some stuff isn't that much (electronics, granite)
4. Service varies by location. I've moved twice since I joined - I had 2 clubs that had really good service and one that wasn't that good.
5. I saved my membership ($4990) in about 2 1/2 years, spending about $14K. I'm not rich, but I'm not poor either.
Would I do it again? If you asked me in the first 6 months of membership, I would probably say no. After 3 years, it's been worth it and now its paid off so from here on out it's gravy. I'm not a DB lover or hater - this is just my personal experience.
vp bart fesperman 219-755-0428
vp debbie bowen 219-736-4558
director of sales barry bennington 219-641-6483
director of member experience sara butler 219-648-7365
vp bart fesperman 219-755-0428
vp debbie bowen 219-736-4558
director of sales barry bennington 219-641-6483
director of member experience sara butler 219-648-7365
vp bart fesperman 219-755-0428
vp debbie bowen 219-736-4558
director of sales barry bennington 219-641-6483
director of member experience sara butler 219-648-7365
Then a few days after the packets go out the bookers call the people we as telemarketers sent them out packets and try to convince them to come down and it even says in the booking script "show up 10 minutes early to try your key get your gifts and a cup of coffee before we show you around the club. If they decide to come the sales people do pressure them as was said.
We tried to tell the company the day we recieved the packet that we wanted to close our membership and get our money returned but they refused so we are looking for legal ways to stop it.
Most of the real savings are in things like furniture. So if you plan on spending AT LEAST $15,000, and don't mind buying from catalogs, then check them out.
If you will spend less than that, don't bother. Dues to the shipping cost of your one at a time purchases (vs. truckloads that stores buy), it realistically takes about $15,000 to break even on the membership fee. I stayed a member for years just trying to break even...I eventually cut my losses at about $700.
Service was great there. And they do have a huge selection that is very hard to match. I just don't buy enough high end furniture for it to work for me.
Also, with the web and companies more and more utilizing direct purchases on their own, Direct Buy's power of price is diminishing...