Don't make our mistake
Complaint
Polly Globe
Country: United States
We attended their presentation and after some calculation decided to pay for the membership which was $4990. We wanted to update our kitchen and bathroom cabinets, as well as bedroom furniture. We put down about $1000, and the rest was financed through their lender Beta Finance.
A month later we started planning our purchases and realized we were about to pay more by buying through them than we would otherwise. What the don't tell you on their presentation is that while you save about 10% on furniture they add 8 % handling charge in addition to 7% tax, and that doesn't include shipping.
I am now trying to get our membership money back. Do not become a member! Buy from other stores.
A month later we started planning our purchases and realized we were about to pay more by buying through them than we would otherwise. What the don't tell you on their presentation is that while you save about 10% on furniture they add 8 % handling charge in addition to 7% tax, and that doesn't include shipping.
I am now trying to get our membership money back. Do not become a member! Buy from other stores.
Comments
Good work! I am so happy that you stood your ground, did the necessary research and got a full refund. You bring hope to many on this site. I am glad to hear that at least one franchise owner gave in. The owner of the Signal Hill / Long Beach location wouldn't budge even with the threat of a lawsuit. I hope lots of people will see your post and be inspired to go after DB. We all need to continue sticking together and warning as many people as we can to stay away. They are a scamming, fraudulent company and should be shut down. I still believe that justice will prevail.
http://www.ww.complaintsboard.com/?search=DIRECTBUY&everything=Everything
I don't think ComplaintsBoard.com was ever under DB influence. I believe it was ripoffreport.com and infomercialscams.com
I have posted to ComplaintsBoard.com under DirectBuy Victim. What I like about that site is they will email you when there is a response to your post and your email address is anonymous to other readers / posters. Although this site has been very popular, it has its drawbacks because it's difficult to navigate and look for past comments. I do appreciate the fact that there are at least a couple of sites left that are legitimately complaints sites that have not been bought out or intimidated by DB or threatened with a lawsuit. Whomever is running this site......thanks for giving us a forum to grieve and share information.
It seems after two or three years DB store owners would refund the braver, disgruntled and intelligent activists out on this complaint site.
I want our money refunded but there must be a lot of DB contract signers that give up the ghost. Their embarassment is understandable.
It is a major, time-consuming hassle and, perhaps buying a few more items from our [not proud to claim that] store, I'll gain the paper trial it's been advised to secure to prove cheaper prices are elsewhere.
We have a couple already but need more some more. Researching online is not pleasant. It's that and/or a sm claims suit after the certified letter.
After returning to our store (to p/u item purchased some months back) cruised through store/showrm again, on a Sat., chatted up the owner, felt out the atmosphere once more & made up my mind not to confront him verbally or personally for our refund. He seems personable but sneaky. (Money grubber) Found out insiders view of who he is and what he HAS. But that's not gonna help.. WHAT A MAJOR MISTAKE we made last Sept.!!!! d_mnnn, why did we join? Crappola, were we ever conned... won't give up yet, gonna post our success story eventually...
Our 'Club pass' hasn't helped us in any way and the kitchen remodel has been on hold now forever. They charge on top of join up fee for designer, measurer and then the contractors, ad nauseum.... Tampa, FL store going down. under away and away.
Other legitimate retail stores are easier, accessible, more convenient with frequently occurring sales, no ordering, plus, plus, plus... SO DON'T DO DIRECT BUY (& non-transferrable contract as well) that said, feel better, now to pursue our hard-earned bucks.. good night
I've sent info to 3 of our local consumer reporters ( turko files, John.Mattes@sandiego6.com, and Bob.Hansen@nbcuni.com)
so far they have been too cowardly ( or under the money for ads bosses influence )
to do anything.
keep up the pressure on all fronts
WOW Mike, no responses at all from your 3 emails to the tv consumer reps - REALLY??
This weekend I need to get a certified ltr done. = Work on more pricing comparisons to include in ltr; stick to the facts - unfair business practice, etc., wait out 10 or so business days for a response; if nothing .. then, again, send DB owner another ltr with follow-up reminder. (I imagine there will be no response from him for awhile) at first] record everything in writing for legal purposes.
No more dallying around. Our remodel has been on hold 10 mos+ by now. We spent so much on that outrageous DB joining fee instead of researching their business. Pressured, conned and caught.
If nothing is refunded, what is there to lose but to file a sm claims suit? Even if one costs $500+ (no clue how much it'll be) to recoup the five grand plus and receive a refund it'll be totally worth all efforts.. Legal action may be the best recourse. plugging along....
Yep, you're right. Unfortunately we got diddly-squat from the franchise owner. I first tried going through VISA because we put the whole membership $6000 on our card. We hassled it out with them over a four month period going through their various layers of management. Our case was denied (let the buyer beware & "you signed the contract" were their reasons) and so we started putting the pressure on the owner to get our money back. DB must put their owners through some pretty intense training because this woman would not budge. It was difficult even getting her to respond to our calls and visits. We decided that we didn't want to do the small claims court because it would be too much time and effort. With busy careers and family, it wasn't worth it to us. Therefore, we explored the class action lawsuit route. It does usually take years, however, we're willing to wait. Thankfully, even though the $6K was a good chunk of change, we weren't in desperate need of getting that money back, we can wait it out until we get our day in court as victims. Thank God for this site. At least we are not the only ones who got caught up in this scam. We felt so stupid for falling for this until we saw that we were definitely not alone. There are many others like us......professional people who got duped. We'll get it back in the end. I am sure of this! Keep warning people. Good luck and keep us informed.
What you will need to do is to find a reputable class action attorney in your area that's willing to take the case. They work pro bono (which means for free) until the case is finalized and DB has to pay up. Another idea would be to call a major university law school in your area and find out if any of their law students would be willing to take your case as a project. Anyway, as we all should have done.....check the attorney out carefully before proceeding. There are sharks in those waters, too and I wouldn't want you to be double-victimized. Also, check with your state Attorney General's office. All of this takes time and research to make happen. Good luck and let us know how you do. As always, keep warning people to stay away from DB!
with only 150 or so dbs north america wide it would not be hard to get one db victim in each area to start a drive against their local db.
Have filed Consumers Fraud Complaint with State Attorney General's ofc., (but without any promises of legal recourse). Oh, and yes, in our Agreement they [DB] recommended any mediation plans to be thru the Better Business Bureau. Know that's a waste of time. thx to this online site.
Have obtained other avenues of recourse, numbers and info pertinent to our county/state and will pursue their recommendations.
ok, so NOW i know.., I'm just learning and finding out how so very uninformed & ignorant..., NOT to have read the AGREEMENT before signing it! The Closer read us like a book.
They've covered their butts at our expense in order to pad their own pockets big time. Very ambitious they are.// Probably a second job for the closer who presented and worked on us to join up.
There is a mandated 'cooling off' period (FL)and oh yes, it's all there in the agreement we signed. I'm all over the map comparing remodel sites online; Bob Vila's advice on how to save on remodel projects, etc.
What's worth spending on and what there's no value wasting money on. Whirlpools, fancy butt kitchen upgrades, etc. (all DB's selling tactics to reach deeply into our pockets) How to have it all - yeah, rt - break the bank...
Prices: what to check up on before purchasing.
I will obtain several proof of purchasing price comparisons & show to DB they aren't offering us anything or items we intend to purchase cheaper. They don't make it easy to price compare either. Very time-consuming...
So, moving onward how do u, anyone, propose connecting with other disgruntled members in our area, for action? (like Picketing, anyone?)
How did you find out there are 150 DB stores nationwide? That's interesting.
I think, since franchised, they don't seem to stay long in one spot. Ours, I heard, has been there like 2 yrs. (not long.) Tampa is a large city. Somebody else tried or perhaps the same owner here but moved showrm location. Employee told us, out back in warehouse p/u area, that there was a previous location in Tampa. hummm, Presently this one on Elm Fair (ha, not) Blvd hasn't been there long. Owner is a single, personable, young guy from Miami; drives a $60,000 Porshe and new Landrover. Goes w/young lady employee there apparently. oh well, good for them..
In Oct. 2008 my husband and I joined DB in NS Cda. Since last Oct. both of us have lost our jobs and can't afford to pay Beta Finance. I was wondering if there is any way that we can even just get out of our contract since neither of us has a job??? We did buy one item from them in Jan. 2009. I must say though they do pressure you into joining their Company. When they tell you that you can't come back for several years it kind of makes you think "well maybe we better join"!!! Dahhhh...stupid us, can anybody gives us some insite. If we can't afford to pay what is a person suppose to do?
Exactly where is this page 41? I've clicked on it here in this post and am not seeing an outline to follow.
Thank you for all your work in this matter. Would appreciate any advice on how to start this process in our state and any connections you can make for us reagrding any other PA people that are in the same situation!
I joined DB on July 23rd 2010. Just like opthers I was pressured into signing and I was there till 10 PM on that Friday.
Saturday I thought it over again and decided it was not for me and I will be losing money. Sunday, they were closed. On Monday July 26th (today), at Noon I have sent a registered mail to the owner of the franchise requesting to cancel and refund the full amount of $ 5760 within 14 days.
What should I do next?
Thanks