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
Way to go and put the pressure on DB. So glad you understood their intimidation and control tactics before you set foot in the door. You must have also had some super-powers or a gas mask to filter their fowl gasses from altering your common sense. I wish you could make a career out of "questioning" every franchise location and stopping others from making the mistake of purchasing a membership. Just remember that the franchise you visited is at the low end of the spectrum. Some of us have shelled out and lost $6-10K. Keep spreading the news that DB is a scam and nobody wins.....
We can barely get help when we make the drive out to the center...heaven forbid we ask for someone to return a phone call! We live about 2 hours away from our local Direct Buy, but were promised it would be worth our drive. HAHAHAHAHA! We were also promised there was no shipping on goods, unless we decided to have them shipped to our home. HAHAHAHA! They failed to mention that the manufacturer, not Direct Buy, will charge you "frieght" on all weighted items if they choose...i. e- we ordered a $300 bed from Ashley Furniture...we paid almost $600 by the time they added freight...AAAANNND we had to drive 2 hours into the dregs of PIttsburgh to pick it at some crummy warehouse on a deserted, creepy street. I ordered a table at the end of April which is still not in and it is now mid June. Best part is, once the item comes in you only have 2 days to pick it up or they start charging you a storage fee.
Our worst experience, however, is our countertops. We were told at the orientation that countertops take 2 weeks to come in. They even made a big stink about making sure our cabinets were ready for those counters because they will be installed in 2 weeks and they won't wait for us. We placed our order for Silestone counters on 04/10/10. It is not 06/21/10 and I still have not heard ANYTHING about the counters. I keep calling the center and never get a returned phone call. You have to pay for all of your goods up front, so we have had $4000 tied up with Direct Buy for over 2 months. We also ordered a butcher block top for our island on the same day we ordered the silestone. That was finally installed on 06/15/10, However, when the guy from the manufacturer came to measure for installation (he did a great job, you can tell he wasn't a Direct Buy employee), he brought to our attention that Direct Buy charged us for a much larger top than we needed. I called to ask about it and they said once the purchase was complete they would see about trying to get us a refund on a credit card. We paid with a freaking check, but we can get a credit refund??? REally????? I called and left a message threatening legal action last week and they called me and said they would return my call by the next day. It has been another week and they never returned our call, so my husband called today and spoke with a manager. Basically, he gave us the same line of bull crap and said we would hear from someone by the end of the week.
To sum it up, Direct Buy employees are liars, frauds and cheats. You pay waaaay to much to join this this group (almost 6 grand) and you get stress and headaches in return. This is, by far, the worst experience that I as a consumer have had. They suck!! Don't buy into their schemes!! We are building a home and they have us so far behind, because they have our money so we can't even go somewhere else to purchase these goods. I need a good lawyer. I freaking hate that place.
And I mean anyone from a Youngster in School to Sr Citizens.
And if anyone does not understand English. then I trust that anyone will transfer English to i.e. Spanish. I can't name every Language, but I believe that I made my point perfectly cleared.
I am not a Lawyer. However, I will say that in High School, you will be given the Advise not to sign a contract w/o contacting your Parents Atty at Law.
This may, therefore, be more complex. I sign up for a Tour, but canceled.
I called and left a message. and low be hold have not been given a call back.
Also, I receive a call from DB 3x with no message, and then at the last minute which I hate calls after 6. someone had the nerd to call again and leave a message sense I refused to answer that persons phone call.
The advise I will tell you is that DB is only out of Mailed sent out. That is a risk and cost of doing business on their end.
Agreeing to take a tour is not the same as a contract to your cell phone as it is to my understanding. Therefore, I am not sure. can anyone here agree with me is to out foxed the DB Jerks by not showing up and canceling at the last minute. I have a hunched that they will not bother being hassled by DB.
So the point I am making is Do NOT sign any contact that you do not understand.
If their is a Lawyer in your Family, Friends even a Neighbor, I am sure that she or he will agree with me. again. it's more complex.
And to finish, I have a hunched being Special Educated. I out foxed DB.
Thanks for your attention.
We can barely get help when we make the drive out to the center...heaven forbid we ask for someone to return a phone call!
We live about 2 hours away from our local Direct Buy, but were promised it would be worth our drive. HAHAHAHAHA! We were also promised there was no shipping on goods, unless we decided to have them shipped to our home. HAHAHAHA! They failed to mention that the manufacturer, not Direct Buy, will charge you "frieght" on all weighted items if they choose...i. e- we ordered a $300 bed from Ashley Furniture...we paid almost $600 by the time they added freight...AAAANNND we had to drive 2 hours into the dregs of PIttsburgh to pick it at some crummy warehouse on a deserted, creepy street. I ordered a table at the end of April which is still not in and it is now mid June. Best part is, once the item comes in you only have 2 days to pick it up or they start charging you a storage fee.
Our worst experience, however, is our countertops. We were told at the orientation that countertops take 2 weeks to come in. They even made a big stink about making sure our cabinets were ready for those counters because they will be installed in 2 weeks and they won't wait for us. We placed our order for Silestone counters on 04/10/10. It is not 06/17/10 and I still have not heard ANYTHING about the counters. I keep calling the center and never get a returned phone call. You have to pay for all of your goods up front, so we shelled out almost 4,000 and can't even get a returned phone call?????!!!!! We also ordered a butcher block top for our island on the same day we ordered the silestone. That was finally installed on 06/15/10, However, when the guy from the manufacturer came to measure for installation (he did a great job, you can tell he wasn't a Direct Buy employee), he brought to our attention that Direct Buy charged us for a much larger top than we needed. I called to ask about it and they said once the purchase was complete they would see about trying to get us a refund on a credit card. We paid with a freaking check, but we can get a credit refund??? REally????? I called and left a message this morning threatening legal action and my husband called and talked to a manager. They are supposed to get back to us by the end of this week...won't hold my breath. In the meantime, they have $4,000 cash of ours tied up that we cannot use to go purchase counters from a reputable, trustworthy seller. Not to mention, they still owe us the money from the overpayment of the butcher block. We are building a house and Direct Buy has us way behind schedule.
To sum it up, Direct Buy employees are liars, frauds and cheats. You pay waaaay to much to join this this group (almost 6 grand) and you get stress and headaches in return. This is, by far, the worst experience that I as a consumer have had. They suck!! Don't buy into their schemes!!
Good luck to all those victims fighting for membership refunds.
I don't know what I did wrong, but everyone seems to be coming after me. I followed the Alberta trading act to the letter and got advice from this site, specifically the poster from Burbank. So I don't have anything new to offer that anyone else hasn't said, but since there is all of this hostility about my story: I phoned the owner of the DirectBuy to schedule a meeting, left a voicemail, and got no reply. I went there, cornered the owner, explained that I wanted a refund. The owner replied that I had been a member for years with no complaints. The conversation stayed civil and professional, but kept turning away from a refund. I showed proof of 15 items that had cheaper prices at other stores in Alberta, and pulled up 2 of them on my phone. Then I showed the Alberta Trading Act and that I was following procedure by giving DirectBuy a chance to interact with me directly. They knew I was serious. Luckily there were a lot of customers in the store, so when I stated raising my voice about picketing tomorrow, the conversation changed and I was whisked away into an office. I was stubborn about received a refund then and there via check, as I didn't risk the "we'll mail it to you" situation. Worked for me, good luck everyone!
just google any of the crapola that is advertised on late nite tv, and you will see its all a rip off.
Yes, I was wondering why the investigative reporters from local news stations and also the "big guys" like 20-20, Nightline, 60 Minutes, Dateline, etc. weren't going after DB......The only thing I could think of was the almighty $$$, you see all of the networks and local stations get paid big bucks to air those lousy DB commercials and infomercials. They are hesitant to bite the hand that feeds them. Also, the Better Business Bureau "allows" DB to pay them money to purchase BBB memberships, which also gives the public a false sense of security. The only thing that would make a difference is a big time class action lawsuit or someone going to speak before Congress......Thanks for sharing your experiences and thoughts with us. I know people will read your post and stay away.
I was told from the beginning about the 8% handling fees, shipping and taxes. This location has been nothing less than 100% truthful and extremely helpful when placing orders.
Anytime a company offers franchise opportunities to individuals, the individual owners will set the tone for how they conduct business. As we are all well aware, there are honest, helpful people and then there are straight out crooks.
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DB Closed today open tomorrow......my husband is willing to drive to Coppell and drop off a letter to the Owner Chris Beile himself if need be.
Question #1 - Should we call to discuss with him that we are wanting to rescind our membership or just send a certified letter first?
Question #2 - Should we contact the Finance Company directly since we are in the state of Texas, but they are in Louisiana?
PS: Also, we initialed and signed a NEW MEMBER CONFIRMATION OF UNDERSTANDING Form that states.........
Item #5 - I/We understand privileges of membership begin immediately and I/we may purchase as much as I/we want, so long as purchases are within the stated rules of membership. I/We understand membership in DB is not granted on a trial basis, not based on usage, is non-cancelable and that there is no refund of dues. According to State Law the 3-day Right to Rescind does not apply to memberships.
Please advise. Thanks!
I was saddened to hear DB got you and I don't know the specific laws that apply to the State of New York. Hopefully Trudy will see your post & reply. I am pretty sure that DB's nationwide advertising campaign features the trial membership, however, since you already purchased a silver membership, I am not sure the refund applies to you. Try to contact your State Attorney General and also the class action attorneys listed. Class action attorneys will never ask for you to pay them for the work they do as they get paid (we all get refunded) when there is a settlement from the Defendant (which, in this case is DB). I know this website is very difficult to navigate and there are now over 1000 comments. Trudy and I both feel that people who are serious about getting their money back will do their homework. You might also want to look into your local consumer rights advocacy groups but don't call the Better Business Bureau......they've been bought off by DB. Anyway, good luck in getting a refund and keep us posted. We have all been where you are and taking action will help heal the wounds.
So sorry to hear about your horrible experiences with DB.....although I am not surprised. You are definitely not alone. These people don't know what they are doing beyond scamming people into purchasing memberships. They sell broken / defective merchandise that's been cleaverly repaired and old model appliances that the manufacturer won't even warranty. It's sad that so many of us were taken to the cleaners. I hope you'll consider joining one of the class action cases. I know the attorneys will be interested in hearing your story. Someday, I hope we all get our day in court and suck the money back out of DB......with interest and damages! Keep warning everyone you know and let us know if you join a class action lawsuit. We need to band together and take these people D-O-W-N!
Look for the "free case law" tab.
You can run searches to get an idea of the case law in your state. For example, in Texas, you could search "DTPA and ___" (I ran "DTPA and 'bait and switch'").
I plan to do more research later, but I think if you find favorable case law, it probably wouldn't hurt to include your findings in your letters to DirectBuy!
Good Luck
TIME IS NOT UP!!!!!!!!!!!
YOU DO HAVE A 3 DAY COOLING-OFF PERIOD THAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE GUARANTEED
BY DB'S OWN CORPORATE POLICY
AS OF MARCH 27, 2009,
CBC MARKETPLACE, "THE PRICE CUT PROMISE" VIDEO
hidden investigation of db,
DB owner in Ontario, Canada, Christine De Marsh, db was in the process of making up new contracts
Since the video was done in Canada & the corporation is in the States,
the must be used throughout North America
It is very apparent that since most people don't know about this,
they have the perfect opportunity to scam everyone
*****guaranteeing a 3 day cooling-off
guaranteed by their own corporate policy
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1) FIRST ALWAYS: Registered mail shows proof of time & date
you can also deliver a copy of the letter after, because delivery, in person does not show proof & time of db receiving it
THEY have even refused to acknowledge letters delivered in person & told the person to go back home & rewrite the letter
because they didn't want the truth written in the letter?????
wHAT THE HELL IS THAT?????????THAT IS SCUM!!!-SO the time limit runs out...
NEVER E-MAIL & INC. IN YOUR LETTER THAT YOU WILL NOT ACCEPT RESPONSE E-MAIL, PHONE OR ANY OTHER NON-SECURE TYPE OF COMMUNICATION
-BY MAIL ONLY, WITHIN 10 BUSINESS DAYS OF THE RECEIPT OF YOUR LETTER
2) NO NEED to contact finanace co.
3) "...although db claims that the 3 days is not applicable by law,
the fact is that you were "put under undue pressure to sign a contract that you cannot afford,
IT IS AGAINST THE :
Texas unfair and deceptive acts and practices act
if you could afford it, you would not need the high pressure loan that was forced upon you...with no time to compare prices...& check into the terms (not written in the contract)
***if you have not received your "password/and or access to prices within the 3 days, then they have not honoured their agreement, also,
because no access means, no chance to compare prices
let me know as soon as possible what you have done,
I will try to help!!