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
Team 5 Investigates DirectBuy
POSTED: 10:53 pm EDT May 16, 2007
UPDATED: 7:41 am EDT May 17, 2007
BOSTON -- The commercials for DirectBuy promise big savings on products for your home. "Everything you need at prices you didn't imagine possible," claims one. "Stop paying retail." And that's what sisters Mary Stanton and Joan Stone told NewsCenter 5's Susan Wornick they expected when they signed up for a free visitor's pass to the DirectBuy showroom in Shrewsbury. "The way they made it sound was that you're going to save a lot of money," Stanton said. "Thousands of dollars."
That's also what Sharon Livsey thought after seeing DirectBuy's ads. She was redoing her basement. "I was trying to save money because I have to drop the ceiling," Livsey explained. "I wanted to do Pergo floors, carpets and stuff."
But along with the claims of big savings, DirectBuy does not reveal the big investment customers have to make to get those savings. The membership price is around $5,000. And if that's not enough of a shocker, customers have to make a decision to join on the spot before they leave the showroom.
"[The salespeople] come back in and you have to decide -- yes or no," Stone said.
Team 5 Investigates took an undercover camera to the showroom in Warwick, R.I. There, a manager told a Team 5 Investigates producer, "Our basic concept is that we don't make any money off of the things that you buy. We're not a traditional retail store."
DirectBuy showrooms have no inventory on the shelves. There's also no opportunity to compare prices independently before joining. In fact, if you leave the presentation without joining, the manager told Team 5 Investigates, "We won't invite you back for at least seven years."
But with promises of quickly saving more than the $5,000 membership fee, many customers sign up with high expectations only to be disappointed later.
Team 5 Investigates has heard from DirectBuy members who claim they've had "terrible difficulty" finding products and found better deals at a retail store. One person wrote in an e-mail, "We're intelligent adults who made a bad decision."
Some members also complained about extra costs like hundreds of dollars for shipping. Stone and Stanton told Team 5 Investigates they were frustrated about renting a truck to pick up furniture that was dropped off more than an hour away. "It just isn't what they portrayed it to be," Stanton said.
DirectBuy has franchises around the country. Its corporate headquarters are located in Indiana. They declined an on-camera interview, but in a phone conversation, a company spokeswoman cited competitive reasons for not revealing prices to non-members. She added that it is company policy to give consumers three days to cancel a membership and get a refund.
But that's not what Team 5 Investigates heard from members who have been unable to get their money back. "I'm hoping that everyone sees what happened and they're not foolish enough to make a mistake like me," Livsey said.
After calls from Team 5 Investigates, DirectBuy notified Livsey, Stone and Stanton that they'll get full refunds of their membership fees.
In a statement, DirectBuy's vice president of sales and marketing, Bart Fesperman, wrote, "We are very alarmed by these concerns," and, "we are committed to making sure each member is satisfied." Wornick encouraged members who've had problems with DirectBuy in the past to call the company again.
these db persons are crooks, and need to be treated as such. seems legal methods do not work on them.
time for someone feed them their lunch
**Diana, that's a great news story you shared. Thank goodness they had a news team investigate db. Then at the end of the story the newswoman suggested calling the company again with any complaints. I wonder what exactly that means? The owner of our store or the corporate ofc in IN?
Those ladies were blessed to get refunds. Good for them. But it took the tv news channel investigation to help them. That's what did it.
There are a few success stories of members getting refunded. Whatever it takes, price comparisons, letters, back-up from the Consumer Fraud Act, lawyers, etc. it's worth it to try and get a refund. I'm very unhappy with our db membership. Just like the news article wrote, false promises, why pay retail with you can get it from us wholesale and you'll save thousands of dollars. That's just not true for most of us. They really have a racket going. I still want a refund. And I'll keep trying.
FYI, I wrote to Dateline NBC and asked them to take a look at all of the complaints and inparticular to look at this site. I told them that what DB is doing was especially cruel given our current economic situation. They are using the lure of saving money to take people for roughly $6,000. I did get an acknowledgment back thanking me for the story idea.
Hopefully they will act on it. If they don't, at least I gave it a shot. Of course, I'm just one person writing to them. If say 50 people or more write to them, it just might get their attention. So, if anyone has a moment, please send them an email and complain about DB. Let's get this scam exposed on national TV.
You have to search for Dateline NBC and you come up with MSNBC and under the contact us section you can email them and pick the show that you are emailing. A little confusing, but well worth my time to try to stop this scam.
Diana
yes, I'll write to Dateline NBC as you suggested. Anything and everything is worth a try. We 'joined' about a year ago and look at how many more people have fallen into their clutches. I'm still so mad at myself for not cancelling within those 3 days we had after signing up.
About picketing, I don't see how db could prevent people or myself from carrying a sign off their property but on the Sat mornings of their presentations. I'm sure the owner won't like it. Plus I can waylay people going in to hear the presentations and warn them away.
I'm also going to call IN and see what they have to say about members' disappointment and can they make it right? Why not? That's what the newswoman suggested.
I saw on a db site how much revenue db has in Tampa, how many employees, etc., They rake in tons of money. They are so sleezy.
Do not be mad at yourself. These people are experts at getting your money. My husband and I both agreed that if we had the money that day we would have also signed up.
As far as picketing, I would check the rules with the city you are in so you don't get in unknowningly get into trouble but I would think that as long as you aren't actually on their property that you have the right to picket. Last time I checked, this was still a free country.
I also honestly believe that if enough of us complain to Dateline NBC that they will pay attention to it. They thrive on this kind of stuff. I mean lots of people are out of work, loosing their homes and can't make ends meet and DB has the nerve to try to shake people down for $6K in these hard times with the false promise of lots of savings. Very very cruel.
They don't have a leg to stand on (legally) if a joiner sends a cancellation ltr within those following 3 days.
In our case even with 3 days to cancel we still were reeling from the sales pitch about saving so much money and having their help to get our place updated.
I knew I only had that short amount of time to cancel but that's just not time enough for some of us to act. Sure wish I had proceeded with canceling as it would all be said and done now.
WRITTEN by Egnar on July 31, 2010
***anyone trying to get their money back within the 3 day cooling-off,
should print a copy to show proof that db is supposed to honour this...
DON'T GIVE UP!!!!!!!!FIGHT THE SCUM!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think the media is still putting db ad revenue over exposing them.
but very good idea to keep bombarding them ( and local media) with complaints
I've done it here many times, and so far not even a reply to my email
thank U again, Diana for your enthusiasm to help us, the ripped-off ones. And Thank your Lucky Stars they didn't get you signed up!
Seems the best route to go to get out of the contract is; getting the price comparisons, write a letter, send registered, tell them why it's not working to be a member and demand a refund. Don't want to be members of DB.
Pressured to join, on the spot, no time to think it over, etc.
Those news reports worked great for the ladies who were refunded and the news stories are quite revealing. It's hard to get a db story on the local news here. It'd be great if Dateline would do a big national story on them. I'm sure the potential crowd coming for presentations after being lured in will not materialize. Keep on keeping on... I want my money BACK!
Don't forget that your written registered complaint
MUST INCLUDE:
THE Consumer Protection Act
and/or The Unfair Trade Practices Act
that applies to your State or Province
===========================================================================
I could be wrong, but people seem to be forgeting about the laws
I have read many complaints, where people wonder why their bus. practices
are not against the law,
DB BUS. PRACTICES ARE AGAINST THE LAW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Their dirty trick is that they TELL YOU WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR
ALL LIES, LIES LIES,
THEN they do not let you see the contract----the word CON is accurate
they are "not bound by verbal statements"
ASK them to put their lies in writing,
& you will be kicked out so fast, your head will spin!!!!!!!!
that is the only way to get out alive!!!!!!!!
===========================================================================
HOW do I reach Dateline, I tried to find the e-mail contact,
but I end up with something else
I get MSNBC.COM----------Contact us----Reader's Inquiries-----
then I GET something else!!!!!!!!! HELP!!!!!
On the subject line there is a drop down menu. Select Dateline.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10285339
The contact info for Dateline is challenging to find.
Thanks for taking the time to send an email.
If we get stuck, we go backwards,,,no-one is willing to print the contract
All of us here bring something to the table that can be useful in dealing with DB. There are 98 pages of people asking for help here. I am the mother of a severely disabled daughter. I have some experience with putting pressure on those who are giving me the run around and trying to short change services that my daughter has a right to receive.
The squeaky wheel ALWAYS gets the grease.
I am with you, you are absolutely right, everyone has something to say here that we can learn from,
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO VENT HERE, ANY TIME!
CBC Marketplace-The price cut promise VIDEO
made many different references that I still tell victims to add in their Registered letters, & db still plays Stupid...
*db refuses to acknowledge the 'NEW' contracts inc. a 3 day cooling-off,
IT IS THEIR OWN CORP. POLICY
*Tons of complaints to the Attorney General in OHIO
FORCED DB TO INC. THE 3 DAY COOLING-OFF... SO COMPLAINTS DID HELP!!!
"98 PAGES LATER..." & we still can't stop db,
so we just have to keep on trying everything that we can...
"SMOKESCREEN?? IS a very strange comment,
I have been here since p. 1, & I have continued to share every idea that I HAVE read here
If victims are not getting refunds, by reading this file,
printing a copy of the contract here, will not get them a refund either
The law suits all over the States is putting a dent in db,
but that isn't stopping them either,
I still have to beg people not to give up, every day!!!& I will not stop!!!