Don't make our mistake

ComplaintsFurnitureDirect Buy

Complaint

-1
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.

Comments

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  • 0
    Steve
    I am a former DirectBuy Employee. My advice to anyone is don't become a member. If you don't make a certain ammount of money they ask you to leave before you ever take the tour, and their gifts are a sham.  Becoming a member was the worst thing that ever happened to me and my wife. I believed so hard in the concept that I wanted to work there. Several of their clubs are only open for a few years, and then they close because with out a constant cash flow coming in they can't afford to stay open. So if one is not open in your area it's because they had a couple bad months and all of their employees lost their job. The only positive thing with that is you can still use the club online, which is not easy to do. THE ONLY thing I would recomend DirectBuy for is if you are building a new house.
  • 0
    Susan in Jacksonville
    | 2 replies
    We paid $3000 for our DB membership in 2003 and pay $99 per year. The presentation we attended was terrible, the DB reps used items my husband and I were not interested in ever purchasing as examples of savings. ....but I'm and Interior Designer familiar with ordering from a catalog and freight charges. After all of the other prospective members had walked out, I asked to see what the price would be on items I already knew the value of. Rolex, Plasma tv, Granite, etc. The bottom line: you will get your membership fee back and eventually save money if you have a big project on tap. On average your savings will be 25% after all is said and done.
    • 0
      Mikey replies to Susan in Jacksonville
      | 1 reply
      "On average your savings will be 25% after all is said and done."

      Susan, good  post, but I think most customers lose  the saving in aggravation .
      • 0
        Regret replies to Mikey
        I will never forget being ripped off FIVE & 1/2 THOUSAND $$  to get into a local directbuy club - worst financial mistake ever made... they are a big SHAM... their products and prices are not a saving and there are no returns of products or refund of the ludicrous membership fee... Steer clear and don't make our mistake -
          Mikey, they must be closing down 'Clubs' right and left...  I'm postive the store in our town will be gone very soon..  good riddance...
  • 0
    chris h
    | 1 reply
    We were sceptical to spend so much money on a membership but decided to take the plunge since we were planning a full main floor gut in our house. We were told we would recoup our cost on our kitchen cost alone. After doing some shopping after we signed we found that we could get a lot of things cheaper retail. We had a kitchen craft kitchen designed before signing with DB and once we had our membership we payed the EXTRA $350 to sit down with the kitchen designers at DB just have our kitchen from the same company with the same doors and the same stain come in  $300.00 cheaper then our original quote.... not so impressive and a FAR cry from our membership fee not to mention kitchen craft did not charge me anything to design my kitchen which actually puts DB $50.00 more. I also priced out new appliances (electrolux/Samsung )to put in my new kitchen and was also able to find those for the same price at DB and did not have to wait 4-6 weeks to get them. So it is a lesson learned if it sounds to good to be true it probably is. I will say so far we have saved approx. $1500.00 between blinds, windows and door knobs. I will also say that the staff has always been very kind and helpful but still not nice enough to make me want to pay more. I will be spending the next 2 years trying to recoup my membership cost. I have my fingers crossed i will save something on my granite.. Been waiting a week for my quote. ultimately if your a bargain shopper you wont save any money here.
    • 0
      what they're after replies to chris h
      All that these franchise owners are after is getting their hands on a big giant membership fee.. once it's procured the product orders and stuff they offer is a pain in the butt for them to produce professionally which is what you'd expect from their 'exclusive club membership' ... they don't care about the merchandise because all they're after is selling a membership ..
       They make a mint from those ridiculous sign up fees.. I'm embarrassed we fell for it.. and that's who they profit from, the vulnerable.
       Yup, we fell for their hype.. then found out the kitchen design was extra - what the hay - so complained and the owner quickly appeased us by saying they wouldn't charge for the design... why in the world would they when they offer you the membership for a certain price??? they also charged for a measurement fee - we learned our lesson - don't get caught up in their program - it's only a money-maker to them... And why waste your time hasseling with recouping money when you NOW know it's a rip-off... write it off and warn everyone you know not to deal with them... They STINK
  • 0
    Happy
    | 2 replies
    We are so happy with our DB membership.  The folks are so kind and helpful.  They seem to really care about you.  It is so comforting to know when you buy something for your home that you can save so much money. Saving money on wonderful quality products  ---- WOW!
    • 0
      mikey replies to Happy
      | 1 reply
      happy or deluded ?
      • 0
        Deluded replies to mikey
        DirectBuy people infiltrating the Complaint site...  They need to be shut down nationwide and Canada too...

        Buyers Beware - Don't make our Mistake..
  • 0
    Mike
    I placed an ad to sell a piece of furniture on craigslist that included my phone number, less than an hour later, I got the 1st of 3 peculiar phone calls. All 3 calls were from different (and not local) area codes. All 3 were similar sounding women with foreign accents, obviously in a room with other similar sounding Tele-marketers. I listened to the 1st lady for about 3 minutes as she told me about gifts for me of free airfare, cruise, and hotel accomodations. She wouldn't tell me much about Direct Buy, but was pushy about my 'prizes' and getting my personal info. Intuition told me it was a scam or hoax.  I told her no thanks and hung up. Within an hour, I got the other 2 calls.  Thanks to reading so many complaints etc between calls, I wisely told the last telemarketer to remove my number from their list.
  • 0
    CJ
    | 2 replies
    I first posted on this site almost one year ago.  The first couple of messages are dated in 2007, then jumps to 2012. The post i placed is no longer to be found.  A few days ago you had to enter a code presented to you in order to post.  Now that is gone.  When I first posted 98% of all post was negative, now many are positive. Either this site has been hyjacked or someone is accepting money from these ripoff artist.
    • 0
      Main thing replies to CJ
      | 1 reply
      Yes, there are many many pages to this website and predominately these complaints are very similar from people who feel very misled by this company..  (there are few refunds from initial joining after realizing you don't want it)..
       They do not live up to their claims of wholesale... don't be fooled... Their membership fees make them very wealthy and that's the theme of their scam...
       Buyers Beware - Don't make our mistake...
      • 0
        Mikey replies to Main thing
        I hope we read about them ripping off the wrong person(s)   and get their [***] handed to them in the parking lot.
  • 0
    Therese
    First of all, THANK YOU for taking the time to help us! I have looked though the posts for info on how to be included in the class action lawsuit but haven't been able to find out exactly what to do. We live on Long Island in NY if that is important for you to know. I'm so disappointed with the 'club' and want our money back as well. Between the 'handling' charge (O!M!G!) the taxes, the fee... ugggggghhhhh!!! THANK YOU again for all your help. It feels so nice to know I'm not alone in my frustration and that I'm not completely powerless... Bless you all!!
  • 0
    Lisa C
    | 5 replies
    I am a little confused by a nearly 100% negative review status. I have been a member since 2005. I signed up at the Cool Springs, TN location. At the time I signed up, the membership fee was quite a bit less, and the annual rate was only $160. However, I don't regret signing up. And, I renew my membership every year.
    At the time I had just bought my first house and needed a bunch of appliances and furniture. I am a internet research wh0re, so I knew exactly what I was looking to spend. I got the stuff through Direct Buy and did, in fact, save a bunch of money.
    As a matter of fact, JUST THIS SECOND, I purchased a Maytag portable dishwasher from them and got it for $9 less than the Sears Outlet scratch and dent price. And they will deliver it to my door for free (they don't do that for all items). A few months back I got an awesome leather convertible coffee table/ottoman for almost half the price a lesser quality one was at Target.
    I'm not saying they ALWAYS have the best price. I guess it depends on what you are looking for. However, if you are someone who buys quality stuff (not just the cheapest version of the item), then you might find them to have good prices.
    There are cheaper portable dishwashers than the one I just bought out there. But I didn't want a piece of crap. I got one that has nearly perfect 5 star reviews on every website I could find. I could have gotten an "extremely noisy" one that "stopped working after 9 months" from some random store for $200 cheaper, but the cheapest internet price for a new one that I actually wanted was about $160 more than the Direct Buy price.

    PS. I am posting this comment at a few sites because I couldn't believe all the bad press. I will admit that one person above made a good point (although they did it in a childish way). Direct Buy really only carries slightly nicer items. So, you might get a $50k kitchen for $13k, but if you couldn't have spend $13k to begin with, then Direct Buy isn't for you. You get what you pay for.
    • 0
      DB insider replies to Lisa C
      | 3 replies
      The previous message is most assuredly posted by a DB ghost writer or franchise owner.. or by the owner hiring a writer to do the deed..
       This is a complaint site...!!!!   All the posts that are positive in DB's favor are planted..

       BUYERS BEWARE  - DON'T MAKE OUR MISTAKE
    • 0
      ADAM replies to Lisa C
      I'm thinking you might work there because 95% are negative comments almost all websites have negative. If you're not an employee I feel sorry for you because they will scam you some way. Get out!!!! I'm just telling off of my experience with them and most people's experience.
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