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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
    Charli in Illinois
    Is there anyway to get my money back from DB if I have not paid all of the fees yet?  I am so unhappy and hate to be lied to as much as they have lied to me.  They are all underhanded and the fees for ordering merchandise just keeps on going up.  Please help
  • 0
    chanterelle
    Hi Emily,

     I have an appointment to go to an "open house" at the Thousand Oaks store in 2 days. I appreciate your feedback on the store. Do you know if the employees have training in kitchen design, florring, etc? It doesn't sound like it.

       Thanks,

          Chanterelle
  • 0
    Jerome
    First, I want to be a part of the lawsuit. Please respond to this on how to join. My story like others begins with the initial presentation and how they stick you with the ultimatum to join before you walk out the door. We had a mission and that was to furnish a condo before the year ended which was in 3 months. It NEVER happen. We first ordered 3 bedroooms which was a challenge because the staff could not answer a single question on the spot without going to ask another associate. They were simply not trained and therefore not knowledgeable. We were told at the purchase that the beds would be 4-6 weeks. The shortest wait was 3 months and the longest never arrived. We canceled it got our $ back when they told us for the 4th time that it would not arrive for another month. To make mattters worse, we brought the condo design and specs in so they could guide us in getting the right size furniture for each room. They failed. All the furniture that did arrive was too large for the rooms. Now we are stuck with those. Then it was the mattresses. They forgot to tell us the bunk beds need low profile mattresses. After I demanded they switch, they took them back only if had the plastic wrapping to return them in. I will say they were a good deal... the only one. Then it was the couch and chairbed we ordered. After 4 weeks they called us to say the factory does not make it any more. So we ordered another style from the same mfg and yep, a week goes buy before they tell us that the 2nd choice is discontinued. We canceled that order and got our purchase $ refunded. Finally, we did get a Gathering table and 8 chairs which arrived on time but after I shopped around looking for the couch from a furn store I saw I saved nothing because of the handling and shipping fee.
  • 0
    Jerome in Pensacola
    If you do find a way to get the membership fees back please reply. I have asked a lawyer if we can get them back because of their lack of performance of the contract and repeated delivery failures.
  • 0
    Nadine in Rhode Island
    I and my significant other just attended an open house last night.  I should have been warned beforehand when DB first called me after I had applied for a visitors pass.  The woman was EXTREMELY pushy in trying to get us to attend an open house and I finally had to commit us to a date.  Then, the day before the open house, this same woman called again to confirm that we were still going.  She had happened to call while I was at work and when I told her I couldn't talk, she just kept going on and on, all the while I was getting extremely pissed and snippy with her.  At the open house, we were taken around the showroom first by the open house director, who was very friendly towards us.  Before the 45 minute open house, my boyfriend asked how much the membership was.  Of course, we did not get an answer, so we had to sit through the 45 minute sales pitch, which I found to be redundant and boring.  All he kept doing was stressing over and over again the savings between buying Direct vs. retail.  And I also found it very hard to follow the sales pitch.  When he came to the part regarding the price of the membership, my eyes almost popped out of my head - $5,250!!!  We were there really only because we are planning to redo our kitchen, and we have a modest budget to do it in.  After the sales pitch was over, that's where things really went downhill.  He had asked us what we liked and didn't like about the presentation.  I told him that I did not like having to make a decision right then and there, that we needed time to think about committing to $5,000!  He asked us what was wrong, I told him that at $148 a month (and it would probably be more, once the finance charge was tacked on, which I didn't know about at the time), that was a big amount to shell out every month!  He kept going on and on about the savings that we could have by joining, and my boyfriend replied that all we wanted to do was our kitchen and that we did not foresee any other big purchases down the road.  The guy started getting extremely pushy and in our face and then insulted us by asking us "do you have jobs?"  His expression and tone visibly changed throughout this whole thing, going from friendly and boisterous to sullen and outright rude.  At the end, before we walked out the door, he wouldn't even look us in the eye and I swear he was ready to pull a tantrum.

    I realized that this was just a bunch of crap, a high pressure sales pitch and a scam was when in the video they said that you had to sign up right then or there or never be invited back.  How can anyone be forced to make a decision to spend $4,000 to $5,000 on the spot without having time to think about it?  I walked out of there furious at being treated that way, as if we were making the biggest mistake in our lives and that we were nothing.

    They get you right in the beginning, with all of their commercials advertising the savings that can be had and testimonials from all of the happy customers.  I had gone on their website to find out how much the membership was, of course, I couldn't find anything because they want to lure you in, dazzle you with the great savings and then pressure you to sign up.  If I had known how much the membership was beforehand, we would never have gone to their open house.

    This morning, I decided to google Direct Buy complaints and have since read other peoples horror stories who had joined.  Thank goodness we had the sense to not fall for the sales pitch.

    BEWARE, Direct Buy is one HUGE scam!
  • 0
    arlene neil
    let me know who to contact to get out of my contact with direct buy...is there a way to cancel
  • 0
    AA REHMAN
    DirectBuy is a total SCAM and they enroll people by lying.  I fell for it last year and after I confronted them with their published prices being more than what you can get from retailer and allow me to cancel my membership.  The sales manager and store manager promised that if I provide a proof, they will cancel my membership.  Once I provide two examples, they disappeared and even after 6 months of calling them, haven't received a single call back from these fraud.  Call me for details (214.213.7518).  They have caused huge stress to me and I am willing to join any class action lawsuit against them.
  • 0
    Harford County Maryland
    Thank you soo much for your input. We are about to furnish our new home and I was considering using DB as a source for our purchases. NO THANK YOU!
  • 0
    jennifer
    I would appreciate any information how I can get out of the contract and about the law suit to get back the membership fees already paid.
  • 0
    Jolene
    We just went to an open house the other day and my husband was sold.  I was very hesitant (much to the dismay of the sales associate) because you have to make a decision that moment.  There just isn't enough time to find out if we could possibly save as much as the enrollment (very expensive, but not sure if I'm at the liberty to say the amount, but let's just say it would take a lot of shopping to ever reach a savings). To make this a worthwhile experience, you would have to know the exact pricing of, say, remodeling a kitchen/cabinets, etc. then compare it to the DB pricing. The savings would also depend upon what type of buyer you are... do you buy top-of-the-line or would you use remnants?  If you remodeled an entire house, you might even out or even reach a savings, but I cannot imagine a thrifty shopper saving enough on a single room remodel to make this worth your while.  I’ll keep y’all in the know as we further our shopping experience.
  • 0
    Hank
    I would like to thank all of you for relaying your experiences. I was going to take the tour at DB. Now I won't even bother. Major projects are a hassle enought without having to deal with incompetent crooks. Thanks again.
  • 0
    Jeff
    After the poorly scripted phone call and hokey "write your own free visitor pass" from the info they gave me, I did my own Internet research and found out I don't want to waste my time with high pressure sales seminars. If their membership was a reasonable few hundred dollars, so be it, but THOUSANDS. Hogwash!
    I will vote with my feet and go to Home Depot. Great service and a REAL GUARANTEE!
  • 0
    Kanisha
    Don't trust the Gurnee Direct buy!!! Not only do they rip off the customers but they also rip off their employees! I have not been paid in 3 weeks and this is not the first time. Yeah, I have a job, but if I don't get paid what good is it? I have had several payroll checks bounce and when I told my supervisor, they said they will take care of it. I asked for reimbursement on overdraft charges and they told me it's not their fault, DUH!!! Everyone is talking about leaving because they don't pay us on time.
  • 0
    Terry
    My husband and I joined the DB in Las Vegas, Very high pressure sales they make it sound to good to be true and it is...Right after my husband lost his job and we have been trying to cancel. Beta Finance never issued any money to DB and now we have been turned over to collections. So they are trying to get me to pay back money that was never released to DB. To me that sounds like fraud. If anyone has any suggestions on how to get this stoped please let me know. No one at DB or Beta will return my phone calls any more. The only one that will talk to me is Jill Jones from the collection agency.
  • 0
    Kaye S.
    We joined in Merrillville, IN almost 2 yrs ago and have yet to purchase one thing. New windows for our house were cheaper elsewhere;  We added a new bathroom and were able to buy all the Kohler fixtures just as cheaply at Lowe's.  we bought a new HD TV, again cheaper elsewhere. I emailed them data on pricing a new GE frig for me , but never heard back from them.   We paid them just short of $4,000 up front and have yet to purchase one item since we can get it cheaper and no hassle elsewhere!   Somebody needs to put these people out of business - One of the first things they tell you is that they are a member of the Better Business Bureau - I'm now wondering - how can that be!!!
  • 0
    Nancy--It's me again!!
    I left the Jan 5th message...and I'm back....Direct Buy emailed me for a list of family and friends who I think might be interested and their phone numbers...even though we already told them NO to their membership. I told them to take me off their contact list and never call be again. That was weeks ago and I get home tonight and they are on my caller I.D!!
    They should have these sales associates working for the car industry and maybe they wouldn't be having financial problems or better yet maybe the auto makers will adopt their program to sell memberships for thousands of dollars so you can purchase a car from them at a bargain......What do you think?
  • 0
    Jane Doe in South Carolina
    Direct buy had my teenage daughter and her boyfriend sign a contract stating if they didn't sign, they would never be able to sign.  They do not own a house.   Now that they have realized they were swendled, they haven't paid the membership fees and Direct Buy has turned them over to some sleezy collection agency that threats you, your family members, judgements against your personal property and even threatens to have them arrested.  I called this collection agency and they refuse to give out their company name.  How sleezy is that.  Do not sign contracts with Direct Buy.  You will be sorry. And there has been a lawsuit filed in Texas district court against the collection agency.  The collection agency did not file an answer to the complaint and never hired an attorney to defend themselves, thus being placed in default, the US District Court filed Judgement for the Plaintiff.  The people that filed the lawsuit paid $350 filing fee to file the lawsuit.  So they are out another $350.00.  You would be an idiot to sign with Direct Buy.
  • 0
    Dan
    Went to the presentation at the showroom today and can confirm the HIGH PRESSURE sales tactics in use there. It is ridiculous in these economic times to believe that you must sign on the dotted line for a $4990 membership before you leave or never have the chance to join again.  Thank heavens we went with our guts and left without signing up.  If after our diligent research, we decide the fee is worth it will Direct Buy really tell us that they don't want us as members forever?  Is any company so comfortable in these times that they can turn away real committed customers willing to spend the $4990 up front?  I don't think so.  I'll wait and see what the next round brings from them.  In the mean time I'm telling my story to everyone I know.  The only one to benefit from the 'Buy now or never' scheme is Direct Buy itself.   Trust your guts.
  • 0
    Mick
    Can anyone tell me if the Thousand Oaks Direct Buy is open, and if so, what hours? I can't find operating hours info on the Web, and the phone number has a recording telling you what days they will be closed for Christmas and New Years!

    It's a long drive for me, so I don't want to waste a trip, thanks.
  • 0
    MIKEY
    JANE

    " I called this collection agency and they refuse to give out their company name"

    GOOGLE THE PHONE NUMBER YOU HAVE FOR THEM,  IT MITE SHOW ALL THEIR INFO.
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