Home | Tell a Friend | Donations | Resources | Blog

8/7/2008 - rocky writes:
I joined last night as we're building a new house and also own a rental property. We plan to spend a lot on furnishings over the next several years so this plan seemed to make sense. But after reading the complaints I want out. Can anyone give me details on the 3 day cancelation policy and what exactly I need to do? We paid with a check last night so i put a stop payment on the check. thanks

8/6/2008 - Al writes:
Is Direct Buy's so bullet proof they can not be sued ? We also got taken by there sale pitch . We were not allowed to look at catilogs before the sales pitch or after until we paid the $7,000.00 the internet catilog is difficult at best to use. We were given alot of empty promises. we also found better pricing else where. keep your money in your pocket and run !

8/6/2008 - Larry writes:
I made an appointment and then decided to do more research as I always do before I make large decisions. I found this website and have been completely disgusted by the operation. I have decided to forgo the appointment. What I do find amusing is the plants here in the complaints section. The posts that refer DB as a great opportunity, my comment to them is try to sound more like a customer because your sales talk is showing through on the post.

8/2/2008 - Tina writes:
I am SOOO thankful that I saw this website…it probably saved us thousands of dollars of hard earned money and endless frustration. My husband and I went to the directBuy in our city this past Monday night. We were victim of their high PRESSURE sales pitch...same as described in earlier posts. We definitely felt that something was not quite right...but they told us that we could join that night or never again. We are so embarrassed about this, because we are intelligent people and saw all the red flags....but still gave them our credit card to pay the $5000.00 membership fee. We are about to renovate our kitchen and thought we would recoup the cost just on the kitchen cabinets and countertops alone. We got home at 11 pm exhausted and first thing I did was google DirectBuy and saw this site and everyone’s stories. I am embarrassed to say that we didn't do any research before going there. We had NO idea what we were in for…we just thought we were going to tour their showroom... We NEVER expected the whole high pressure sales pitch etc... Luckily we were able to get out of the contract within the 3 day period. My husband drove out there with our letter in addition to sending the letter via certified mail. I checked and our money was refunded. They gave him a hard time, but he stuck to his guns. We are so embarrassed about this whole thing. We haven't breathed a word of this close-call fiasco to any of our family or friends. I guess we should get the word out...so others don't get scammed. UGH...I feel so contaminated. They are a bunch of sharks. THANK YOU for sharing your stories..it really made a difference for us!!!

7/27/2008 - Shirley writes:
On 07/27/2008 my husband and I had an appointment to attend an open house for Direct Buy. We were greeted by a customer service rep, given something to eat and drkink and then directed to a room where other couples were seated. We watched three DVDs and then the sales rep showed us examples of savings between DB and other retail stores. When this presentation was over we were given a tour of their warehouse and then their showroom. After which we were assigned a customer service rep who then proceeded to pressure sell us on the membership and the costs. We knew when we saw on the DVD that if fwe did not sign up for a memebership today we would not have the privilege of doing so in the future. The sales rep reiterated the same. Their claim is that if we left their store without signing up, we could very possibly go down the street to another retail store and demand that we be given the same price for something that DB sells it for. What would stop someone who is already a member from doing the same! Our question is this: Why hasn't the State's Attorney General looked into this practice of high pressure sales and just how everything really works in this so-called discount savings store.

7/25/2008 - Phoenix writes:
I just read over the very correct, wise, and fortunate people's blasts about Direct Buy. Unfortunately, I can only qualify for the very correct part, only after learning a major lesson. Last year was a year of lesson learning for me. I lost my home(total loss/structure demolition)to fire. What I refer to now as an emotional build, not one necessarily out of want and certainly not readiness, I was under major time constraints to get my home (and life) rebuilt. I was looking for any and all help/possibilities when DB came into my path. I am ashamed to say that I did not research them before attending the Open House and, because of the overwhelming amount of materials, products, etc., I needed, I figured it a good investment - how could I lose, right? Regardless of the very high membership fee, very assertive sell tactics, and the threat of not being able to take the tour again - I joined. While I believe that in a few ways, I did o.k. (NOTHING that would make up for the $5,000.00 membership fee), however, there is no way that their promise of variety of products, simple purchasing process, or great savings is absolute crap. Between the lack of knowledge of CSR's, the time (and Ph.D.)needed to do the research and figure out the ordering process, the S&H fees, delivery fees and, most of all, the 5-7 week MINIMUM turn-around time of any/all items, I became truly disgusted early on and ended up doing the majority of my purchasing in stores and online (same items, very timely delivery, and most of the time, free S&H). Needless to say, not only was I overwhelmed about my huge task-at-hand, I felt like a gullible fool as well. Beginning with DB including and through to working with contractors (one referred by DB). I have, however, come through (researching each and every aspect of building a home right down to choosing the right light bulbs!) and have a beautiful new home. My only hope, now, is to do whatever I can to make sure people know what DB is - A SCAM!

7/23/2008 - John writes:
Direct buy is nothing but a big scam. Please let us know if there is a class action law suit, we would love to be a part of it

7/23/2008 - mike writes:
directbuy says they dont make any money off the pruchases that you make. However, when i asked a manufacturer what they charge for shipping, they informed me, $125 flat fee for the item i was looking for. I was being charged $575 to have the item shipped by directbuy. Who makes the $475? this company tells lies about how they dont make money off purchases and it's illegal. I have more info to follow as I taped one of their open houses, and I quote we dont make any money off the purchases you make as a member I have a news station reviewing the tape and they will air exactly what was said and prove that they do make money on shipping. As direcbuy charges a percentage of the item when being shipped. So it would cost more to ship a $10,000 dimaond ring than a $1000 plasma tv they will have to eventually prove this in court really soon.

7/22/2008 - Stephanie writes:
7/22/2008 My husband and I went to the Direct Buy open house on 7/19/08. Before we could go we had a phone rep set up appointment. They needed to know if he is married and then had to also confirm with me that the 19th was acceptable. When we arrived, there were 4 other couples and 1 person. We sat through the same infomercial shown on tv. In between the salesperson would stop the video to add his own comments. After the video the salesperson showed us adds with different products and the amazing savings to be had. The experience was similar to joining a cult. After that we were sent back to our personal sales rep to assist us further. We were told about the 10 year membership fee $5,000.00 for 3 years and then only $190.00 per year for the next 7 years. All we needed at this point was a refridgerator and dishwasher. We needed time to think it over. The rep informed us that if we did not take the membership today, we could never again apply. My high pressue sales pitch meter was beeping. There is no way I will shell out $5,000.00 without having time to think about it. We left without the membership and for 2 days I wondered if maybe I was wrong. Then I came across this website and I am so glad I did. Thank you to all the people who commented here. Do Not Be Fooled By Direct Buy.

7/21/2008 - Tom writes:
To Trudy in Ontario, what steps did you take to cancel your membership? I have not seen anything in the consumer protection act that addresses this. High pressure sales tactics are definitely present with this group.

7/21/2008 - Veronika writes:
Well, we have some money from our insurance company for the damaged caused to our house by some recent storms. So, we thought we could redo the roof and maybe get some new carpet, etc. We saw the commercial on TV for DirectBuy and we made the appointment (which they called nonstop about confirming) we showed up on Sunday @ 1:45 like they requested. When we got in all we saw was a couple videos, the SALESMAN showing us savings on specific items in the showroom, and that was it. Well of course at first we were pretty impressed by the savings but then came the membership fee which was $4950.00 up front then $120.00 a month after that for up to 10 years. We told the man that we would have to think about it and he said You folks have to decide before you leave the showroom or you can NOT be a member for 7 years! Talk about your HIGH PRESSURE SALES! My husband ownes a car lot and we both are VERY good at selling. We have never heard such BullS--- in our lives! My husband gave him the finger and told him that this company is a definite SCAM and to F-off! I am so glad that we are smarter than the other smucks in our group that bought that horsesh--. If anyone tells you that you can't sleep on it, IT'S A SCAM!!! take this advice from a couple of selling pros.

7/21/2008 - Lydia writes:
About 4 years ago, my husband and I received an invitation to view their Direct Buy showroom and possibly join. Once we got there we were interviewed by one of their representatives and then sat through a presentation. I usually do not make decisions that involves substantial amounts of money on the spot and asked if we could decide overnight. The answer was a resounding NO! We could not leave until we either joined or not and if we didn't, we wouldn't be allowed to join at a later time. With that said, the representative asked us to follow him. We didn't know where he was taking us. I guess we thought it was to speak to someone else but it turned out it wasn't. Our exit turned out to be the icing on the cake, when they escorted us toward the back of their showroom, down some narrow stairs which lead to their shipping loading dock located quite away from the "showroom" and away from the other couples who had still not decided or who were in the middle of their interview process. It was insulting and both my husband and I vowed never to join and to make a point in telling anyone what their tactics were. Extremely glad we never joined!

7/21/2008 - Franco writes:
We were members for over 3 years. It is a scam & fraud. Only feeble minded people think they actually can save money to recoupe the membership costs. It is 100% true that they only want your membership fees and they do ZERO to help you find products at a lower cost. It is their policy/procedure to actually dissuade it's member's from buying their so-called discounted items by NOT helping them with pricing and quoting extremely high shipping & handling fees. We just remodeled our kitchen and with the exact products or equivalent, we saved by NOT using DirectBuy. We saved $13,000.00 by doing our own shopping around going through a contractor and getting their discounts, plus their fees and it was less hassle. Direct buy is a scam, plain and simple. If you join, you are easily conned into believing this can save you $$ (like I was) or really ignorant, if still joining after reading these reviews. I feel like an idiot parting with all that money and saved nothing, but lost money. But knowing they are being investigated at the highest level gives me great contentment. There will be justice, look at all the numberous complaints on the web. The company pays their employees to perform computer searches and add to write positive reviews to every negative it finds (I learned this from a former employee). If you don't believe me, read the reviews on each website, you will see a definite trend. AVOID THIS SCAM and SAVE your MONEY.

7/20/2008 - Whitney writes:
I saw an infomercial of Direct Buy, so I decided that I wanted a free information packet. That was the worst thing that I did. They call your house about a million times wanting to talk about the packet. Then when you finally answer the phone they call you about a million times asking if you recieved the packet. Oh and it doesn't stop there. They call you another million times making sure that you opened and read EVERYTHING. After all that, I decided that this wasn't worth my time

7/19/2008 - Mike writes:
Wife was solicited by phone. She could tell it was a scam almost right away. They wanted booth her AND husband to view their shop. She said what if I said I were single. The solicitor said you are not our type of person, and hung up. She assumed they were simply an outfit selling timeshares. (Those types of sellers insist on having both halves oof a couple.) It wasn't until we decided to look this outfit up that we found out they are scams. I am surprised that states w. aggressive AG's and consumer arrairs depts. like California haven't shut them down.

7/19/2008 - Annie writes:
Honestly, the pitch is nothing short of a 2-hour timeshare presentation from HELL. We're truly sorry for those of who fall for the high pressure -and found later that it wasn't worth really worth it We suppose it will truly work with those who like that sort of thing. Paying your potential savings, up front. We didn't especially like having their gun to the head schpeel and gimmicks. We can't believe that, not only do they not disclose the term of your membership - which they hastely move you thru to make a decision, but when you take a moment to do the math - we realized the membership would cost us over $14k+ over the 10-year term - This is not including interest on your credit cards or if you chose to finance the whole membership fee! FORGET IT - UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES! If you spent nothing else at their showroom, it would cost you roughly over $120+ a month or 1500/year in potential savings or 10-YEARS. For What? The POTENTIAL being the word. Honestly the return on investment on this membership is basically what you would have paid a retailer over time - not right away = which is better for the economy! PERIOD. Once we realized the gimmick and the comments of of obvious disdain, because we were teetering. ONce the sales guy said well obviously you are not the type of people who could afford this - I said this is not the problem, not only could we afford this - don't think that you can expect us to spend this kind of money within 2-hours really adds insult to injury, but then painful truth sets' in - you're only paying for all your savings upfront. We especially didn't like the term, once you walk out that door, you may never come back to direct buy! who was the genius who decided that? Do their manufacturers really care? Who buys? And why do the memberships vary depending on the region or territory? I've heard membership costs from $5k - $25k. per 10 years.So depending on the territory its adjusted. Better go and move somewhere where the cost of housing is less. BTW - In looking at one of their catelogs, a pair of recliners we purchased from another retailer 2 weeks prior was on-sale at their direct buy price - it was the deciding factor - would have only saved us $100 on the set - NOT A BIG SAVINGS! Cause I would have still paid for freight and handling... Don't waste your money - keep people working don't pay for an exclusive membership unless you really think you'll spend over $30k within 10 years to recoup the costs.

7/19/2008 - Robert writes:
Yes you are right, it is a scam. This scam, which is nothing more than and a variation of the Advance Fee Fraud scheme, is parting yet more of the something for nothing crowd from their money. Here’s how it works: the potential victim is enticed to enquire about more information after watching a compelling infomercial, hearing a radio add, or seeing any number of slick internet spam adds promising insider savings. An informative packet is sent afterwards inviting them to an open house so they can see for themselves how much others like them have saved and how much they themselves would save, along with some form of an invitation to join, called a Visitors-Pass. The letter and subsequent follow-up telephone calls promise rich rewards of savings by buying direct from the manufacturer, at cost, with no Mark Up, No Middleman, just like other savy insiders do if only they were members of this so called highly esteemed and long time in business organisation. The cost of this is not included at this time and will only be revealed latter after the vicitm has been mesmorized with their slick presentation. Typically, the pitch at the open house includes mention the so called fact that tens of thousands of other smart and savvy insider consumers have saved along with a slick selection of what they have saved, and you, too, can begin saving as soon as you join this elustrous group by signing a membership agreement costing thousands of dollars payable in advance of receiving any benefits - you are told that amount is paltry compared to the savings you will obtain over a 10 year period - and you must sign the contract on a now or never basis. You are even made to feel stupid if you don’t sign - only a fool would not take advantage of the savings and be part of this special and privaleged Insiders club -- spend a little to save a lot sort of thing. If you’re not saying scam by now, you should be. Should you agree to participate in this Advance Fee savings scam, something will go wrong. Savings evaporate or wrong or defective merchandise will be ordered or order delays or order mishaps and screw-ups. You will not be allowed to cancel your membership and get out of the deal. If you decide to order merchandise, money from you, in advance of receiving the merchandise an insignificant sum, really, in light of the windfall of savings about to land in your lap will be required to order merchandise without any written guarantees of actually saving money. You pay, you wait for the merchandise and all you’ll get in return are more excuses about why the order is held up and assurances that everything can be straightened out if you’ll just be patient and wait a little while longer or send a bit more to pay for this or that price increase. Once you start making threats, these scammers will threaten to sue you if you don’t make good on your end of paying for the membership contract in full. Beware that the Membership Agreement is in reality nothing more than a legally binding sales contract that may have been glossed over in light of all the savings you are excited about expecting. Carefully look at it - it contains NO GUARANTEES OF SAVINGS - instead there is a NO ORAL PROMISES clause: No oral promises or statements not contained in this Membership Agreement shall bind or obligate the club. It’s like a get out of jail free card - they can tell you anything pie in the sky in the open house tour or over the phone to get you to join, but once you sign the sales or Membership Agreement, you agree to the NO ORAL PROMISES clause! So what happens if it turns out not to be what you expected? Ouch. Too late. You’re stuck. That NO ORAL PROMISES clause comes back and bites you. Want a refund? Beware that the Membership Agreement states: Members understand this program is not sold on a trial basis and that no refund of membership fees will be made. So you only partially paid on your contract and think that you’re just not going to pay the rest of the contracted amount? Beware that the Membership Agreement states further: Members do not have the right to terminate the Membership Agreement without paying the amount remaining for this Membership. And if you think you’re going to get a refund because you never found anything cheaper and therefore didn’t use the club, think again. There’s a clause in the Membership Agreement about this too: The Membership Agreement is not conditioned on the use of this Membership. In a nutshell, the con works by blinding the victim with promises of an unimaginable fortune of what others like them have saved, what they could have saved if only they joined earlier, and what they can expect to save by joining now. Once the sucker is excited and sufficiently glittery-eyed over the prospect of what he or she would do with all the money he will save, he is then squeezed for however much membership fee in full at the time of joining or have the sales contract balance immediately financed by a separate finance company, actually a subsidiary of the parent scam company. The money the victim parts with willingly, thinking What’s $5,000 here when I’m going to end up saving over $50,000 when this is all done? He fails to realize during the sting that he’s never going to actually get the promised savings because all of savings are expressly disclaimed in the fine print of the contracts and merchandise ordering materials. The very sales contract, which the victim was at first eager to sign, now comes back to bite him with all those adverse terms and conditions. All of this messing around is designed to part him/her from their money. Once the scam is explained, it seems so obvious a con that you’d wonder who would fall for it. Yet fall for it people do because they’re mesmerized by the wealth that will soon be theirs in the form of all the savings by not paying any markup or middleman costs - and how smart they are by taking advantage of the join now or never opportunity. They also fail to realize there’s a hook hanging just out of sight; at first all they see is that others are getting savings and they want to join this cadre, thus they’re ill-prepared to mentally shift gears when the con artists turns the tables. Because the premise of saving tons of money is wholeheartedly swallowed early on, it’s not at a later point questioned when things begin to go wrong with the transaction and the dupes who have been targeted find out the hard way that there is a no refund policy on all the money they have paid in advance of receiving these now questionable savings. Beware paying in advance for something for nothing - no written guarantees of promises made should send you running - especially in light of the tactics of Be like me, I’m a member and I’ve saved money.

7/19/2008 - Sharon writes:
My husband and I joined Direct Buy 7 years ago, under the major PRESSURE the sales people give. They treat you wonderful before you join and then when you go and try to use the store you are ignored. They have a magazine that comes out every three months and in one of them there was a picture of a tub we wanted. It said to come in the showroom for the price. When we went in to ask they gave us a huge book and told us we needed to find it. Only the supplier could read this book. It took us two hours to figure out the price. They want your $5,000 to join but then you are hung out to dry. It is very much like a cult. Evertime I try and use them I leave angry and used. And yes we did take the class on how to use the books but it still did not help. DON'T DO IT!

7/18/2008 - Laurie writes:
I am a scholar of religion, so I was immediately amused and slightly horrified to see that the DB open house operated using many of the same devices that pseudo-religious cults do. The journey to find the place was mysterious and obscure, the entire process of the invitation was mysterious and full of symbols and secrets--keys to locks, promised of miracles, like trips to exotic places and entire house renovations, you are met at the door by one set of people, a sort of personal friend and they you are shown into the inner sanctum where you see The Great Leader on video. You are not encouraged, despite the giddy friendliness of the speaker, to ask questions out of the set order of the Service. You are told you can have a Direct Relationship, and advise to stay away--and not even speak to--the local clergy of capitalism, i.e. the retailor. You here testimonials, how others were saved by Direct Buy, you are told you are now a member of a secret, elite club. But there are Laws and Oaths--you cannot comparison shop, you cannot bargin (one of the oldest activities of the market, by the way) and you cannot question exactly where the HUGE dues are going. You have no guarantee that the actual storefront will be there in a year, much less 10, in this economy. The pressure NOT TO LEAVE is like a cult too, in which the apostate is shunned by the community. It began to seem actually creepy when you realize that there is no food, and no windows. When I mentioned that Illinois has a 3 work day return policy, our guide admitted it, but even then, the comparison would be hard. The catalogs are out of date, and the shipping mysterious. They tell you not to worry about installation because they have guys to do this. But they do not tell you who, or at what cost. In this way too, you are being asked to simply have faith in the group. Built into the premise is that you have to buy more and more to justify the savings, and this could take years, so that you are constantly needing things to be a good member. Goodness is defined by faith, following the Laws and Oaths about secrecy, and consuming (which is sort of a odd turn on the actual thing that religion urges, which is charity!) It was also so staged and set up, each word scripted, nearly liturgical in nature. And the display of the sacred books which are the secret texts of the inner sanctum of the Wholesaler! Part of what overhead at real local stores means is that family businesses and even [], for example, actually pay a living wage to workers, offer dignity and health care benefits and a sense of community support. These are not things to avoid. We left really shaken--a mixture of anger, regret and relief at finally getting out of the building. But the more I thought about it, and the more of these narratives I read, the odder it all seemed. What is really strange is that our guys wanted close to $6K for our dues but reading the list, I see other places asking around 2-3K. This is really odd since supposedly one can go anywhere. What is up with that? Buying collectively is a good idea. And the salespeople seemed nice. Perhaps they were true believers themselves. But unless you can get a good academic paper out of the experience, it is a waste of time, and seems to me to be very close to an exploitative practice. It would be better to mobilize your actual community, faith community, union, PTA group, etc, and go to the wholesaler directly as a group. Or just, as many on the list noted, go to the local owner of the local store and offer loyalty and cash. And be happy for their help when they deliver.

7/18/2008 - Lee writes:
There are now three prominent radio talk-show hosts promoting Direct Buy. I hope all of you will do as I have done and send them e-mails expressing displeasure with their endorsement of this scam and advising them to view the complaints posted on this site.

Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38