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11/10/2007 - Lynda writes:
I went for a job interview for the sales position at Direct Buy. First of all, They lied about the hourly requirments and the salary /benefits in their job listing. AS It turned out, the hourly requirement was both Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 8 pm, and 10am to 9pm every weekday. They never mentioned this in ad. They also advertised this to be a 75,000 a year position. When I went through the interview process that number mysteriously dropped to 50,000. This interview took place in Los Angeles for the Calabasas/Burbank centers. Sadly, I would personally rate Direct Buy as the lowest integrity sales organization I have ever interviewed with to date.

11/9/2007 - Andrijana writes:
Please read before going to a direct I just came back from a "presentation" with my husband at our local DirectBuy location. My husband was hesistant the whole drive, joking that I am somehow making him join a cult. They were so evasive with the information that they were willing to provide on the phone - that it did feel that way. Needless to say, I knew that a membership fee of some sort was part of the equation - but that was not enough preparation for what the night would hold. We sat around and listened to their sales pitch which is designed for morons - I can't believe it takes them 45 minutes to explain how paying a manufacturers cost price is less than retail. Anyway, this is all an attempt to delay and further sell you on the big bomb - the price of becoming a member...$4500 initial fee alone + annual renewal fees of $196 (although it apparently varies depending on the city). After the pitch, you sit down with your dedicated and overly nice (fake) sales representative who wants to sit with you and discuss your membership & payment options. Once my husband (who has been in sales for 15 years and owns his own company) found out that you have to sign up that night or don't bother returning - he lost it! I must say at first I was disappointed, already imagining all the wonderful shopping sprees I would go on, but he was right. He argued that it was a slimey sales approach and that anyone who truly believed in the quality of their product would welcome prospective buyers to "sleep on their decision" or do some research before comitting to anything - especially almost $5K. Our salesrep gave the text book response of how this would compromise manufactures and their relationship with them. We didn't buy it. We tried explaining to the woman that what they should have done when I was solicited on the phone was at least explained that a decision would need to be made after the presentation and to choose the presentation date wisely. This would have made us at least look into the company a bit and ask around some friends/family who have memberships what their experience has been. This is exactly what they are afraid of. Given that we are about to buy a new house and are still contemplating building one, I think we may have been able to benefit from this program. With that said, I have no regrets about leaving - no one should be forced to buy something with a gun to their heads. If you really are interested and are going to a presentation/sales pitch, I recommend going to a few stores finding items and prices of things that you think you would buy in the near term and ask to have those looked up in their precious secret catalogues while you are in the showroom and before you sign anything. Make sure they have the brand & model you want. I think that if you are intending on spending a lot of money on product/home improvement there is a chance that this could be a good thing for you/your family - but make sure you are informed before you go! The important thing is that you made the decision to join because it will serve you well and you are an intelligent buyer instead of falling prey to their pressure tactics. Good Luck!

11/9/2007 - John writes:
I almost fell for this. I never saw the infomercials (I don't watch that junk), but our local radio station morning show really hyped them up. I went to the web site and picked a 'reservation date'. Well, unbeknownst to me, my wife set up something else for that day, so I called to change it. Well that started the concern on my part, they were rude and ignorant, like I was putting them out or something, but they changed the date/time. Well the week before our appointment, I spoke with someone 3 times (mind you, there was 7 calls from them on caller-id), to confirm our appointment. By now, I'm really annoyed that they would keep calling, and the last call they said we 'both' needed to bring ID and a major credit card. Well, I'm not showing anyone a credit card for a supposed 'open house'. I saw this site and all the info about it being a scam, and what is this $5000 fee? For what! I'm not showing up, and I've taken up a new hobby whenever I have a few extra minutes. From the []website you can actually make an online appointment. Making up fake names/addresses and setting appointments I'm sure is giving them a headache, but they deserve it.

11/9/2007 - Nina writes:
We cancelled within the 3 days and tried to have the money taken off our charge but nobody will return our calls. It has been almost one month and they are totally ignoring us. All they want is the money up front then they don't care about you anymore

11/8/2007 - chris writes:
We are remodeling 3 homes and were convinced that this would be a great situation to save money. After spending 2 days in their offices trying to pick out cabinets, light fixtures, etc.. I canceled our membership- thankfully within the 3 days! We found it to be very time consuming to browse their catalogs. They stated that if they offer the brands they can get the product - that's not the case. After doing the math and comparing, we would have saved $50 on the entire electrical order. They make their money on the 10% "handling" fees that are bogus. They tell you that your order will be shipped to their warehouse and they will inspect, insure no damage and prepare the delivery so that you can pick it up - that's a crock. The manufacturer's deliver to your door on most items, but they still charge the 10% fees. Well, most businesses would love to make 10% above cost on a quantity situation. Their business is in the 10% fee's that they tell you about, but they tell you it's only on a few items when it is actually charged on most items. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY! You will never make back the $4-5k they charge you and you will spend an enormous amount of your time searching in a library setting to order.

11/7/2007 - Amanda writes:
Went to the presentation in San Diego, San Marcos area. Price $5000. Came here to Michigan. Got the invite in the mail. As I was renovating my house, the manager said I could save buku bucks with the program. Signed us on 8 Oct 06. After a week of getting lost trying to find the place (and finding out the homedepot/lowes had better markdowns) left msgs with the company to cancel withing 7 days of signing up. After the counter person over the phone asked do you want to cancel? I said sure! Went there 11 days later (Clinton township, on Grossbach rd) and was told that there was no canceling the membership once you sign on. That is why I am amazed that another Amanda wrote she was able to cancel in 3 days. I have not used the membership in the year. Nice I guess if you have champagne tastes and the budget to go with it.

11/7/2007 - Anne writes:
I took the bait. I sent Direct Buy my info so I could get a free "day pass". I received a phone call a few days later from a man from Direct Buy. The gentleman was nice but then he asked what my husbands name was. When I questioned why he needed the info, he explained that my husband must accompany me to pick up the pass. When I explained that my husband works an hour from their showroom and I was only 5 minutes away, he grew aggitated and said he must have mu husbands name. I said no and he hung up on me. I guess I won;t be invited back. THANK GOODNESS FOT THAT !!!

11/7/2007 - daniel writes:
I was a member a few years ago. I have seen all the ads on tv and I thought somethings might have changed. When I got suckered-in it was for a one year membership costing close to $2000. I just had bought a house and needed new furniture and other items. I gave up my membership because of low savings. (handling and very high shipping fees kill the deals) The showroom I did business with is not a member of the BBB anymore because of poor service and failure to respond to a complaint.

11/6/2007 - Lila writes:
We bought the membership about a year ago and paid $4,700.00 -that really hurts!!!! I had watched the infomercials on Tv and sounded interesting since we were about to build a new house. We went to the open house and were given "the only opportunity" we had to purchase it that day or we could not be offered it again, stupid enough to believe that, we bought into it. The showroom is a waste of time looking through hundreds and hundreds of catalogs and trying to figure out the prices by yourself. When you go to the presentation, everybody is nice, talkative and can't wait to help you, but after you buy it, you show up and are practicaly on your own trying to find anything is a real nightmare. The website won't give you any prices, you have to e-mail them to get them and after weeks of waiting, nothing happens. Nobody has replied so far. I have been to the showroom several times, just to live more frustrated every time thinking of the money we threw away, the money that we so hard worked for. I try not to think about it and never go back, pretend it never happened, because it bothers me so much, but then I really wish there was something I could do to get my money back -is there????????

11/6/2007 - Patricia writes:
I purchased a marvel wine beverage refrigerator, the price was fair, after the shipping, tax it came up to a hundred dollar savings. However after picking up the refrigerator, I got a bill in the mail stating i owed $72.00 more for shipping per the supplier. I am livid, why isn't the shipping done right, i can't believe that marvel has no idea what shipping cost are, I sent the bill back to them asking for the proof of the increase. they get you when you order an item on the bottom it states your bill may be more depending on shipping costs from the supplier. If that is true we should get the proof. On line everywhere else shipping is free. i could of bought the marvel for a hundred dollars less. So where is the savings, I feel like a big fool.

11/4/2007 - Marie writes:
My husband and I went to check them out in Norristown, PA. I didn't want to sign up, but my husband thought it was a good idea if we wanted ot redo our kitchen and other renovations. The minute the rep saw that I didn't want to do it, she began having an attitude and being a real b**ch towards me only. She showed my husband (no longer interested in discussing anything with me) the supposed cost of a very expensive stove/oven that he wanted and calculated the price for us to be about $3,000 cheaper. So we decided to try it. We went back a few months later and tried to order a kitchen, after getting pricing at Lowe's. Direct Buy's quote, even though it came in only about $2,000 lower, once they added their handling fee and shipping fee, it was just a few dollars less. When I questioned about the shipping fee being over $700 over the other quote, they said that was their fee, then with their handling fee, it came only a few dollars shorter on the quotes in an apple-to-apple comparison. They then wanted me to look at a higher priced cabinet company that would give me a bigger discount. What would that matter if I'd be paying more anyway? These people are a total rip off. I will gladly be part of an action class suit. Isn't false advertising against the law? Their commercial says those people saved thousands of dollars in their kitchen, etc., etc. What a scam!!! Direct Buy needs to be put out of business!!!

11/3/2007 - Nick writes:
I can't agree more with the rest of the folks on the list. I went to the Houston location. I had to sit through one hour of a "director" who sounded like she hadn't even finished high school. She tried to prove how cheap their high membership is. She said you either sign up now or you will never be allowed here again. I stood up and left and she seemed very angry. They were all nice in the beginning but when they realize you don't comply with their ultimatum they are very rude. I don't know who hires these people...

11/3/2007 - ANA writes:
11/02/2007 I PLACED AN ORDER IN 10/01/2007 AT DIRECT BUY IN JACKSONVILLE AND HERE IT IS A MONTH LATER AND CORPORATE OFFICE CALL ME AND SAY THAT THE ITEM THAT I ORDER HAD CHAGE THE PRICE AND IT WILL BE AN INCREASE OF $$$. WHEN I CALL THE OFFICE THEY SAY THAT IN THE CONTRACT YOU SIGN A PLACE IN WICH IF THE PRICE OF THE MERCHANDISE CHANGE YOU HAVE TO PAY THE DIFFERENCE. WELL TO PAY ALL THIS MONEY TO BECOME A MEMBER AND WHEN YOU'RE GOING TO PLACE AN ORDER IS SO COMPLICATED I THINK IS BETTER BUY THINGS AT NORMAL PRICES SINCE U CAN BUY IT AND TAKE IT HOME, NOT WAITING 1 MONTH TO PLACE AN ORDER AND THEN TELL YOU THAT THE PRICES HAS CHANGED BECAUSE WE PROCES ORDER A MONTH LATER. THAT IS BAD BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE.

11/2/2007 - Amanda writes:
I read a few of the complaints here and couldn't agree more. The salespeople on the phone and in the showroom are very pushy and what really bothered me the most was that after the presentation you had to either sign an almost 5000 $ membership fee for three years, or leave and you don't get invited back for another seven years. Even though we were stupid enough to sign because we thought we would save money, I went back two days afterwards and canceled my membership. I am just bothered by too many things, their tactics, their marketing, the price and most of all the pressure they put on. Any decent business would give you time to think about it. Like my Mom said, if a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't. One of the best things I did lately was canceling the membership just in time (watch for the 3 days after signing!)!

11/2/2007 - Scott writes:
Emser Tile, DalTile, Arizona Tile get your catalogs out of Direct Buy fast for your own good and keep your reputations and integrity! Knowing that your associating with this shady company I wouldn't buy anything from them and now I wouldn't buy anything from you guys either. People will stop buying your products just on your association alone. You have lost my respect. So hopefully some general manager of these big companies will read these complaints. I will from now on go to a local retailer I deserve to be treated better than how they treated me! Every complaint I have read is ALL TRUE! BEWARE!

11/1/2007 - Cathy writes:
I guess we were lucky, our Marketing Director left the remote in the room. We were the only people in the presentation and when it seemed aimed at a 5 year old, we began to fast forward. I don't think he was pleased. Shortly thereafter, he came into the room looking quite displeased, took the remote and escorted us out the door in a heartbeat. Guess we should have checked the website first and saved ourselves 20 minutes. We think he did us a big favor by kicking us out early.

10/31/2007 - Sophia writes:
A while back had to research flooring, woodworking, furniture and appliance purveyors to fit out a new home. Don't know how DB got wind of my needs or my mailing address, but an advertisement plus invitation appeared in my mailbox. I'd never heard of Direct Buy and thought it might be a one-stop shopping way to obtain most of the things the house needed. So I called and obtained an appointment. When I arrived at the show room I began to ask questions about the things I needed, product availability, brands, warranty policies, shipping/handling, peripherral charges, but was told everything would be discussed after I had viewed a film and then was shown to a TV room and offered coffee and donuts--no thank you. I realized I was at a huckstering session. I got up and said my time was short and all I wanted was the information I had previously asked for and if they could not provide me with it, I would leave. That's when I was told I would never be allowed to return or ever given the 'opportunity' to join again; it was a same day pitch and sale deal, and I had to sign a document stating I wouldn't divulge anything I had learned at my appointment. That's when I became angry but held my composure and told them I don't participate in any transactions that are forced on me or deal with individuals who haze potential clientele into hasty decisions--don't do quick and slick. They were quiet but I could tell by their expressions they were not happy with me. I walked out and, needless to say, was not stopped. When I got home, I reexamined the DB mailer and became angry with myself for not spotting the scam immediately--the phrasing was so obvious: "learn what retailers don't want you to know". Hah! If I were a retailer with any integrity, I would not want to be associated with this scam outfit.

10/31/2007 - Beth writes:
I encountered an internet ad for DirectBuy while internet shopping for home improvement items. It sounded like something worth exploring. I was graciously called several times in the process of setting up the appointment for an open house. Neither in the ad nor in the conversations was I informed that I would have to make a decision before leaving the building and that if I decided "no" I would never again be invited back. While attending the open house, the sales rep referred to those who decided no as "deadbeats" and "riffraff". When I decided that the program would not work for me, the up to then cordial and friendly sales person changed demeanor and nastily asked for my name tag and showed me the door. No "thank you for giving us your consideration" or anything like that. Later that night, the same person who had wooed me while setting up the appointment called to ask why I hadn't shown up. When I said that I had attended as scheduled, she curtly said "nobody told me!" and hung up. Again, no "thank you for coming in." I almost signed on, but I'm glad my better judgment told me no. The sales behavior does not bespeak a reputable company.

10/30/2007 - Pam writes:
Twenty some years ago, we were invited to attend a Direct Buy warehouse sales presentation. At the time, I found their claims to be unbelievable and their tactics questionable. The whole thing seemed fishy since they were careful to make sure we did not come into contact with any members that were in the building, or allow us to actually look at anything they had to offer, other than a few select items used in the sales presentation. We did not sign up. Frankly, I did not believe they would stay in business long. However, recently, I kept seeing the Direct Buy ads on TV. I figured since they are still in business all these years later, I thought perhaps my first impression was wrong, or else their practices had changed after twenty years. Since we are planning an addition to our home, I thought they might be worth at least checking out. So, I called them and set an appointment. Everything was set until they asked me if I was married. When I said yes, they said I had to be accompanied by my husband. I explained that would not be possible since we had an invalid at home and one of us always needed to be home. We had already discussed this, anticipated a large membership fee, and the decision was mine to make. They refused to allow me to come on my own. Since this was a tip off to me that this was not going to be just a visit to see what they had to offer, but rather a high pressure sales pitch, I was not at all sorry to cancel the appointment.

10/30/2007 - Paul writes:
Don't purchase! Money spent outright can not be recovered by so called savings. Hidden charges i.e. 10%-50% markup with shipping, handling, shipping (usually shipping costs end up being more than what was originally told) shipping insurance, additional shipping to home, import fee etc. I read Bob's comment on 8/29/07 and the labor thing blew me away! He is right! DB says they do labor i.e. granite kitchen countertops, but they can't because they don't have a contractor's license to do labor for ANYTHING in CA. CHECK www.cslb.ca.gov and research for yourself. They can't even sub-contract because you have to have a license to do that too! If you have them do any labor and something goes wrong YOU HAVE NO RECOURSE because you contracted with someone without a license and you'll be S.O.L. it is a homeowners responsiblity to check for proper licensing and insurances. I have found it better to go local and use a local licensed contractor and get a killer deal versus the DB ripoff!

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