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6/18/2008 - Andrew writes:
I was remodeling a 130 year old home and in 2005 I purchased a Direct Buy membership as I thought I would be able to save a substantial amount of money. After signing up, I found out that they carried very few of the brands that I wanted to use (i.e. Viking Kitchen Products and Anderson windows). After spending hours rummaging through their "Manufacturers Catalogs" I found that I could purchase the same items at retail stores for about 5% more than Direct Buy offered them. In addition, by purchasing from a retailer I could take the item home the same day and not wait weeks and months for them to arrive. The staff at the Springfield, Missouri store are extremly rude and unhelpful. More often than not, they would not return my phone calls. On one occasion, I asked for a quote on custom double entry doors for my home (Jeldwin doors), after recieving the estimate (2 weeks later) I found that I could purchase the exact same doors from Home Depot for about 2/3 of what Direct Buy quoated me. Direct But is a scam!! You will save more money by not joining and paying their overpriced membership fee.

6/18/2008 - Luz writes:
I wish that all of the people that feel they have been ripped off would report this to the Better Business Bureau. It was just luck that I found this web site. I had requested information and was told I had to attend a meeting before I even could find out what the costs were. I felt like it was one of the old [] scams. My phone now rings several times a day with messages to make an appointment. If there is this much pressure before even seeing the facility, I can't help but wonder what the quality of their product and service is.

6/17/2008 - David writes:
After seeing the commercial as many of you have seen, I sent a request for information online. Wow was that the wrong thing to do. The next night I saw a special on 20/20 about Direct Buy and their scams. To this day (now over 2 months) they don't stop calling my cell phone at all hours of the day. I am in the process of getting their number blocked by the telephone company and a lawyers letter has been sent to them saying I will charge them with harassment if they don't stop contacting me. This company shows a very piggish attitude towards its customers and future clientelle. Beware, don't sign up, don't request information... When thinking Direct Buy, direct your attention elsewhere!!

6/17/2008 - joe writes:
I read most of the negative posts and I must say that this organization is a wicked company. I listen to Michael Medved on radio and due to his repitation and personal claims about his "do the right thing ethic" I am shocked taht not only does he advertise this scam, he additionally endorses it with the inclusion of personal shopping and savings experiences. He claims that they are wonderful!!! Now we now that media is a slave to sponsors, but come on, their is a limit.

6/16/2008 - Tracy writes:
My Girlfriend and I bought a house and we had planned on doing some upgrades. Like many we seen the info on the TV and received a invitation to the open house in Woodbridge. We showed up and were ushered into the meeting room with a few other couples. so on so on you know the story. Well we were suckered into paying $5000. for a membership. After finding some merchandise we would like to purchase only to find out you have to come into the store to order it, then we find that the savings ordering from DB are only sucked up by all the shipping and oredering charges. We wanted to order a new kitchen and found out it would cost us $500 because we had to use the design center in the DB store only. We had already hired a firm to design our kitchen and give us all the measurements. I would suggest that everyone who has been ripped off by this company purchase a site on a billboard and have your contract with the cost of membership posted in big red letters. I am contacting a company to put a billboard up with the requirements to join so others can see what it cost. I suggest everyone else do the same. Also contact the BBB in your area and complain.

6/16/2008 - Neil writes:
I have been to a Direct Buy open house--My wife and I ran when we heard the price and policies--It is a scam-no doubt. And, by the way, before you call someone illiterate, it would help if you could spell "bonafide" correctly--it is not "bonefide"--that would make your ranting a bit more credible

6/16/2008 - InresponsetoDrew writes:
Before you went on to insult people on this board by defending this product, perhaps you should have posted on the "Defend" board. Who is illiterate now? Haven't you read what they are writing about? Many didn't have much information on the product to begin with, which is WHY they went to the open house. Once there, who in their right mind would agree to fork over five grand in order to be able to compare prices? Just because it worked out for you, or because you have the money to throw away, doesn't make others stupid. I smell a Direct Buy employee.

6/16/2008 - Kynia writes:
My husband and I were solicited via mail to use a free visitor's pass to view the Direct Buy Showroom in Houston In April. Of course they made it sound like a once in a lifetime deal. We also thought we were going to a "private showing" and were rustled like cattle into a conference room with 4 other couples. After the infomercial spill and listening to the salespitch (from a HORRIBLE actor), we met Harper, our salesperson. Harper told us that the fee was $3500 due right then. My husband and I asked to speak privately, and we did the math. We asked about cancellations and what the consequences would be if we signed up, but changed our minds. Harper said we could post-date a down payment of $600 in 2 checks of $300 each. If we changed our minds before the checks cleared, the contract would be cancelled, our checks would be voided and returned to us. I did not feel comfortable with it, but we did it anyway. The next day, I talked my husband into cancelling. I called Harper, and he said that it was no problem. He said that the contract was cancelled, and he'd void the checks himself, and get them to me. On May 28, the first check was cashed! We put a stop payment on the 2nd one. We have yet to receive the refund, and now Harper is refusing my calls. I have contacted my attorney, and we are looking to sue: Not only for $300. Because the check was cashed, and Harper did not honor his word, I had to reschedule a surgery that was supposed to be performed on May 29. Harper/ Direct Buy overdrew my account and I was unable to pay the deductible for my surgery. Because I had to reschedule the surgery, instead of a surgery that could have saved my pregnancy, I ended up with a ruptured Fallopian tube, internal bleeding, and having to get a partial hysterectomy. My husband and I cannot have any more children. Thanks a lot Direct Buy.

6/15/2008 - Drew writes:
The people 'reporting' Direct Buy on this Blog are mostly illiterate idiots! You DO YOUR HOMEWORK and MAKE SURE you know what you are 'getting into' before you commit to go listen to their 'pitch' for your membership! I can understand and relate to why they give you only ONE opportunity. WHY can't YOU?! We joined on that first visit and have SAVED nearly $100,000 over the 'retail' cost of refurbishing a couple of rental houses and a total remodel of our home! We have dealt with dozens of local retailers and service providers who sell their stuff to Direct Buy members for LARGE discounts off the 'face' value. They are still making a profit and treat us just like the customers who are foolish to pay the 'full boat' price! We could NOT have afforded to do what needed doing WITHOUT the benefit of the COST SAVINGS provided by our membership in Direct Buy. We will be giving a membership to our daughter who just got married, when they get around to wanting to remodel their condo. It is REALLY sad that our society has gotten SO suspicious! YOUR LOSS, Turkeys! This is the BEST deal to have ever come down the Pike! KEEP ON paying retail, bozos! THIS is NOT a "scam". .it is a BONE FIDE "opportunity" which you have been too STUPID -or overly cautious to realize or understand!

6/14/2008 - Ben writes:
My wife and I are building a house so money is pretty tight. Trying to save some money I visited the web site to receive the FREE visitors pass to Bridgeville PA location. Two days later I received 5-6 phone calls from the store trying to get me to set up an appointment. I have a 24-7 on call job and told the telemarket person that I didn't really know when we could come in to visit as we live 2 hours from the location. Funny she had a beautiful story about a cousin in my town in the same industry (never heard of him.) Finally, after 5 more minutes of pressure we set a date. They tell you to arrive 15 minutes early with no children (probably because even a 5 year old could identify a slime-bag in a lie.) My wife and showed an hour early and there were open house signs all over. We were greeted by Sam our sales man. He told us that they were not ready yet understandable. He returned to us 30 min early for an advanced look at the showroom. The story is good he asked about counter tops with our beer budget and showed us how to buy granite or quartz for the same price. Next thing we are whisked into the multi-media room assuming a private visit, ending up with 8 other couples stuck watching an informercial. It was like watching that moron from RonCo trying to sell food processors, the couples were getting into the display like a room full of pre-k kids practicing their colors. We found that it would cost us $4,490.00 for the first 3 years then $159.00 per year for the remaining 7 yrs of a 10 yr contract. PAYMENT options: pay in full today!!! 90 days same as cash!!! or $890 down and 36 months of $129.03!!! The catch, you must decide today or you can never return to OZ to speak the Wizard and reap the benefits of 1 million member buying power. The sales pitch was very convincing using "real" buyers savings. Now it is time to visit again with Sam. We brought along our "orange store" Home depot designed kitchen, and asked if the kitchen guy could show us what kind of savings we could expect and were told that we must first be members to see this. Then asked about a fridge stating that we budgeted $1200 for the purchase could we see what it would cost, and were told that most people with 2 kids would like 25 cu.ft not the small fridge we were looking at, it only took one comment about the sub-grade products we were looking at before my wife became upset. We asked to speak alone and our initial fears became reality. We asked him what the price per sq. ft of some flooring we were loking at on the way in was and we wound up with another skillful evasion and the pitch that we had to decide and pay to join before we could learn anything else. Once again asked for time to speak privately to decide how to leave. We tried to find Sam on the way to the door to explain that it was not for us. His final pitch was that we were the only couple whom did not purchase the scam. What a waste of time! I felt relief upon leaving as my wife and I almost caved in to the high pressure impulse buy. I wish that I had found this website before I spent almost an entire Saturday.

6/14/2008 - Susan writes:
All the folks on here are obviously computer literate, so you should have done your homework before taking a visit to Direct Buy. You would have learned it was going to cost you a lot of money to join and you had to join that day. You'd have also learned that most (if not all) of the showrooms are members of the Better Business Bureau so you could have checked out your local showrooms record with your local BBB. We did, knew what we were getting in to, and joined Direct Buy. We've been building a large house. We are extremely discriminate shoppers, don't depend on sales person's but rather check out all the local stores and on-line sites especially the sites that have product ratings, before buying anything, and have found very few items that are even remotely comparable in price to Direct Buy. It's obvious from the postings that most of you haven't ordered stuff, since in reality we've paid very few handling fees and/or shipping fees. We're averaging over 37% less delivered - handling, shipping, and taxes - then we could get absolutely anywhere else at the next lowest price locally or on line on the items we bought. For items we've had to pick up at the Direct Buy Warehouse rather then have delivered to our actual house, we've factored in our time at our hourly wage and cost of gas plus per mile depreciation on our vehicles to pick up and deliver ourselves. All these added "fees" by us doesn't begin to offset the cost either locally or via internet to have same items delivered. We made our joining fee back on just our front entry door, less then half of what we were planning to pay from local distributer for a door that we abosluletly loved and had picked out long before even the notion of joining Direct Buy came along. If you're the typical consumer who goes to a store and expects a salesperson to lead you every step of the way, then yes, Direct Buy is absolutely 100% not for you. If you have an idea of what you want, can do a web search plus check out your local stores for the items you want, you'll find like we have that about 99% of the time absolutely no one can come close to Direct Buy in price. We have learned that in many cases it's difficult to comparison shop since many companies change the name of their products for each of their major distributers (especially true for mattresses and furniture and window coverings but also for some other stuff), but a detailed analysis of the specs reveals that product XYZ at Company A is really the same product as UVW from same manufacturer offered at company B and product RST from same manufacturer offered at company C. We can't say enough about the knowlege and helpfullness of the workers in our local showroom. Our neighbors are also building a new house very similar to ours but smaller, and using the same builder as we are. They have used the builder's companies, and the differences in our costs are remarkable. We got all non-standard type granite countertops for less then $19,000, they got a mix of granite and marble and cultured marble for $31,000. We had more lights and nearly twice as many ceiling fans as them, but we paid less then $10,000 and they paid over $19,000 for lighting. They paid over $24,000 for appliances, we paid less then $15,000. Our windows were less then $25,000 for casements, they paid over $47,000 for double hung. Flooring for us was less then $10,000 material for all hardwood and tile, there's was over $19,000 for tile, hardwood and carpet.

6/13/2008 - Joe writes:
I will be the first person to say DirectBuy is not for everyone. If you are only looking to purchase one sofa over the next ten years, its not for you. My wife and I went to an "open house" in Spokane, WA. Being a skeptic, it seemed lame. However after the "sale schpeel" we were given some time to do three price comparisons against DirectBuy's "confidential manufactures library. With the appliance we compared, DirectBuy saved us about 20% after shipping charges (about $200 on one dryer). Funiture we saved about 45% on a dining room set ($ 2700). Finaly they showed me a 50% saving on a Demarini softball bat($150). After seeing those comparisons my wife and I decided the concept seemed pretty good, even if the people trying to present were doing a lousy job. However we still wanted to sleep on it. At that point it was made very clear that I had to decide that night to become a member or not. Being a Real Estate Agent, nobody was going to pressure me with a "take away". I was pretty ticked off that any company would even put my wife and I in that uncomfortable situation. As I was just starting to unload on the sales guy who already had annoyed me, he pointed something out that stopped me dead in my tracks. On the "visitor pass" that I had printed off the computer when scheduling my appointment for the "open house". It said very clearly: "Please understand that becoming a member of DirectBuy requires your choice at the open house you attend. If you are not prepared to make that decision, we suggest you postpone you visit" As ticked off as I was, at that point I had to take some personal responsibility. They let me know ahead of time I would have to make a decision, I was just too lazy to read it. I did not like it! but at that point we joined. Our first purchase was a lumber package, DirectBuy's price on the same lumber package saved us $12,000.

6/12/2008 - Dave writes:
Buyer be ware! We went to the Direct Buy presentation and joined reluctlently because of the sales pressure that we would not be given that opportunity at a later date. You aren't supposed to look at any of the catalogs at the showroom until after you join, but you don't know what you can get until you join! Further each showroom has a different set of policies and fees. We went back to the showroom on a couple of occasions but mostly went online to research items that we wanted to buy. At the showroom we found was a mass of catalogs with thousands of items. Each catalog even within one manufacturer was disorganized and not standardized. Some prices were available online many were not. Not all available merchandise is listed because each outlet has a relationship with local vendors too. It's always changing. In that case you don't know at all what you can get until you call the vendor directly. Basically you don't know what you can buy until you join and do the research. It can take quite a while to find out which showroom has what. My guess is that you have to know exactly what you want but be willing to make substitutions to make this system work for you. It would be best for those who have a large amount of furniture and appliances to buy. If you use consumer rating/buying advise you might not be able to get that exact item. The staff was very friendly but didn't rally have much expertise sans for the resident experts which aren't always around. The showroom hours were limited and odd hours, not normal business hours...more lost time. To the showroom's credit, we were given a refund after many requests to speak directly with the owner. After about a 1 1/2 weeks of twice a day phone calls, the membership director called and said they would honor our cancellation, roughly a month after joining.

6/12/2008 - Rosemary writes:
On Saturday June 7th, 08, I went for my appointment at Direct Buy, I already had a bad vibe by the fact that they do not answer their phones, and when and the voice mail message did not sound professional. I was told up front that if I do not have $6,000.00 to sign up on this particular day I will not ba allowed back in for 7 years. I insisted on going in for the presentation, but could tell from start that this was not for me. I felt really pressured. Direct Buy would may be benefit those building their own homes, but not for small furniture items. If you have $6,000.00 to join go buy your furniture with that money. They need to be shut down. I did not join, and I cannot thank you people enough. I left feeling really sick and spent the rest of my weekend feeling very bad about the whole experience. Only today, I feel better after reading some of the comments on this website. I do not know if you can call it a scam, but please follow your gut before you throw your money away. It is truly not what they make it sound.

6/11/2008 - Gary writes:
T...Please let us know if you did/did not get your $2200 they promised you. I am guessing you will NEVER see the money from them, but we would all like to know one way or the other.

6/11/2008 - Thouse writes:
Direct Buy. You have read all the others. Everything everyone is saying is true. STAY AS FAR AWAY FROM DIRECT BUY AS YOU CAN. ALL THE RETAILERS IN AMERICA SHOULD GET TOGETHER AND CLOSE THEM DOWN. THEY ARE HORRIBLE

6/10/2008 - pke writes:
I am not happy with this membership at all. I am angry at the fact that the sales lady told us we cannot cancel the membership once we join. Now I learn that we have three days after we join to cancel it. She basically lied to us. She also told us that we can order any product online. The furniture that we saw online just gives us the price and says we have to go to showroom to place the order. I would really like to cancel this membership and get my money back. Did any one succeed in doing so? Can you tell how? Thanks.

6/10/2008 - Jessica writes:
I just went to the direct buy website and it said it was like a privet club I think its kinda stupid to pay some one just so u can get a better deal on something that cost over $3,000. u probably have to pay monthly if it is like a club and if so u would be better off paying the full price in the stores

6/9/2008 - Helen writes:
My husband & I foolishly joined Dierct Buy of Brooklyn and Queens, NY a copule weeks ago. I saw the infomercial & heard ads on the radio. We recently purchased a home and plan on furnishing it right away and we plan on expanding and renovating it in the future. I thought it sounded like a great way to save money. Too bad I didn't find this website first. We fell for their high pressure sales tactics including the fear they instilled that we would not be invited back to join in the future. We found living room furniture that we totally love at Macy's. The manufacturer is Chateau D'ax. Direct Buy does not carry this manufacturer. We ended up buying it from Macy's because we couldn't find a good substitute from Direct Buy. We found a bar and stool set made by Pulaski furniture from the Park Avenue collection. I was thrilled that they do carry this manufacturer, however they do not carry this collection. It sounded strange to us. We purchased a similar set from Pulaski's Sixth Street Collection. We ended up saving about $300 even after the shipping and handling fees. However, I don't know if this collection is just less expensive. That may expalin the $300 difference. We opted to pay with our debit card instead of credit card so they charged a 6% fee instead of the usual 8%. We were told the delivery will take approximately 12 weeks. Retail stores usually have a stocked warehouse so delivery time is much faster. Macy's would have delivered it immediatley, plus I would have gotten the bar I truly love. Maybe it would have been worth it to spend the extra $300 to get it 3 months earlier. I have yet to see the one I ordered so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. A picture in a catalog is not always an accurate image. After joining, I appreciate retail stores even more. I can't purchase items from a catalog. I need to see them first. They recommend that you do not waste the salesperson's time at a retail store if you plan on buying the item from direct buy. What choice do you have if you want to view a product before buying it? I now realize I don't mind paying extra for retail. It gives peace of mind knowing that I am getting what I truly want and it will be delivered in a speedy manner. Nothing in life is free. With retail you pay extra for the convenience. With Direct Buy, you pay less for the product but then pay more in freight and handling. Direct Buy say they cut out the middle man. I feel like I'm my own middle man because I have to spend so much time shopping around before I can go back to Direct Buy to place the order - if they have the product I truly want. I paid $4500 for this membership and saved $300. I will have to save another $4200 just to break even. I will have to save more than that for it to be an actual "saving". How much will I have to purchase before that happens? If I had not joined in the first place, I would have already saved $4500.

6/8/2008 - Jesus writes:
I am just mad reading the response from Nathan below. What Private Club? What Country Club? I bet this guy never been to a Countyr Club. Low Life! If you pay over $10,000 in fee in Country Club and being treated this way. No service, nothing, damaged goods. Only 3 days of cancellations? Why, if anything that does not equal to what they say you should be able to get all your money back? Why nobody report them, expose them nationwide, get on the national TV. Get all your money back. Why we all suckered by the Gas and all that: If this is a scam then you should be able to report to the authorities and take them down. Close the "damn" business....WHY WAIT ANYMORE !!!!

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