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6/7/2007 - DJ writes:
Wow, thanks for the heads up. My red flags went up after they insisted that the spouse attend an "open house" this is a time share hard sell shell game. If you need to make it a now or never offer, TAKE NOTE and pick NEVER. Good offers are always available, bad offers are now or never!

6/6/2007 - Eboney writes:
I attended a Direct Buy presentation 6/6/07 in Monroeville,PA. A waste of time...and 1 1/2 hours of life that I will never get back. We watched a dvd (i fell asleep on the membership part) then he showed us laminated circulars pages from a old sunday paper..claiming how much we would save by joining DB. I am a online shopper, a BARGAIN shopper. You will not find a bargain anytime they want you to pay a $3990 UP-FRONT fee for 3 years and $145 after the 3rd year. What caught my eye is the portion of the video that showed you a "sample" of the "exclusive" website. They included LINKS to the manufacturer's website.I am on the internet all the time, and very aware of how to go to a manufacturer's website. Why would I pay $3990 for that? Jim, you and your shiny "silk-like" shirt was a scam.As soon as I saw links to FREE websites..I was ready to go. PLEASE DO NOT FEED INTO THE NONSENSE. Retail and online shopping is just fine. You can do without membership fees and the nightmare stories others have posted here. I'm pissed I wasted gas (at 3.03/gallon) trying to make it to this "appt" on time..for nothing.As soon as the presentation was over. I held my head high, clutched my purse, and strutted out of FRONT DOOR of the store.

6/6/2007 - Curt writes:
After signing up for a visitors pass, I got a phone call that sounded suspicioulsy like an Amway presentation. I told them I didn't want to bring a spouse, but my brother might be interested because he just bought a house... no can do. GUESTS are absolutley forbidden. Reminded me of the Twilight Zone episode where the dog wasn't allowed in heaven, which turned out to be hell. After that I looked up this sight on the internet fully believing I would find it. Lucky for me, I get to skip the "tour." This is a place to stay away from.

6/5/2007 - Alesia writes:
I made the unfortunate mistake of succumbing to the high pressure pitch of the DirectBuy team in Alpharetta and have lived to regret it. Everything you've read previous about this scam is absolutely true; it seems to me that all the franchise operations are the same...Sucker you in and then lower the punch! I have purchased only one item since joining last summer; I later found the same item at [] for less. I've tried to use the remodel services for my kitchen and baths, only again to find out that [] and another Granite stone supplier here in the ATL area, are MUCH MUCH less expensive with the same HIGH quality if not better, stone. I should have read this site first before going to the presentation and committing my hard earned money.

6/4/2007 - Tom writes:
Our neighbor told us about Direct Buy. They had remodeled their house and had saved a lot of money by using Direct Buy. The next day we called Direct Buy and told them we wanted to look around to see what the had to offer. That was not permitted but we could come to an open house latter that day. At no point were we told that we had to join that day. The open house is very high pressure and the membership fee was very steep. The math the use to justify buying the membership is optimistic at best. I pointed out to the sales person that the examples they used did not apply to us or most people. However we are going to remodel so we felt we would get our money back. The people at the store were nice (even after you join) and we were getting our questions answered. On the third day (you have three days to cancel) we canceled our membership. You are probably wondering why. It had become more of an exercise on figuring out what to buy to get our money back! We felt that we need to save several thousand more dollars than the membership fee to justify the limitiations and the hassles of going through Direct Buy. We were a little depressed the next day that we let this opportunity to by but I am confident that we made the right decision. I guess the thing that bothered me most is how they make money. They have little incentive for you to buy through them. The real money comes from membership fees.

6/3/2007 - Carol writes:
Oh boy, where do we begin. For those of you who are trying to save money dont go to direct buy. We were trying to remodel our game room with new sofas and had plans to remodel our house. New carpet,tile, lamanate flooring dining set,kitchen,bath etc. We were suckered into a Direct Buy membership. High pressure sales, threats of "if you don't take a membership now you will never have the opportunity to join in the future." We are the average working family. Not many of us have the opportunity to "Cough up" almost $5000 for a membership to anything. So we "FINANCE" our membership to Direct Buy. BIG mistake. If you miss 1 payment they cut you off and of course start the daily "you need to pay" phone calls. and then when you pay up you go thru so much crap to get them "activate" your online account. All of you other people below have experienced the same problems we have when it comes to purchases. Delayed shipments, hidden fees, crappy customer service via phone and in face to face interactions. My big question is this. Is there a Class Action Suit in the works somewhere out there? Where do I sign up? and If there isn't a class action suit pending who can we talk to to get one started?? I am so sick of the games Direct Buy is playing.

6/3/2007 - Michael writes:
My wife made an appointment for us to visit the showroom. I was not particularly thrilled, but had seen the commercial and we decided to go. I told her on the way to the appointment that there was no way we would buy anything today. It made it very easy when they said we had to make the decision before we left. As soon as we were told that, we left. Nothing good can come out of that!

5/31/2007 - Joanne writes:
I am a member of Directbuy in Barrie Ontario, and i cannot believe the type of service that I am getting. I have been a member for awhile ago and everyone who works there dosnt seem to have a clue! The fact that they want the membership fee up front and do that give you time to think about it is unacceptable. I was told a million lies, and i feel bad that i believed them. If you ever have the oppertunity to meet the owner, i think he is John, dont even bother complaing he wont do anything, he just passes you off to the girls at the front. Now given some of the staff are helpful, the receptionist is very nice, and there was a heavyer blonde girl and a short blonde girl who were just so helpful, but there not there anymore, but everyone else didnt care what i needed. The manager is a joke, and once agian i just get passes off to others. I order things and there some how "no longer available" even though i have already purchase them and paid in full! Items come late, or damaged, if they even come at all. All i can say is DONT WASTE YOU MONEY!!!!!!! my husband wont even come in with me anymore because he just gets frustrated. For all the other members having the same problem as me, keep in mind that you can just switch centers, i was lucky and joined at in a club in Toronto, so they didnt get any of my money, and only switched to the Barrie location because it was closer to my new homw, well let me tell you after all this i switched right back, the showroom may not be as nice as Barrie's (not that its that great anyways) but atleast people want to help me!!!

5/31/2007 - Randy writes:
We have been members of Direct Buy for about 3 years now. We have purchased a few items all of which after the handling, shipping, routing and several other fees, cost the same as any place else. Then you get to pay the membership fee on top of everything else. Not worth it by any means. The straw that has broke the camels back in all this is one leather chair that we ordered 6 months ago. Of course you pay for it in advance and of course you can’t get your money back. And if it is like the other furniture we have purchased at Direct Buy it will need repair after it is “dropped” shipped to the store. I’ve called a couple times trying to get our money back on this chair that was to be a gift, I’m hoping the person doesn't die before I get it. Every 30 days I’m promised that the chair will be shipped in 30 days. Then the next 30 days I get the same story. We are coming up on month number 7 tomorrow! Folks DO NOT sign up for the program. It will cost you Time and Money in nearly every case. Contact you local builder or building supply companies and make your purchases. These people live in your area and are in business still for a reason. They are not there to steal from you like Direct Buy. I was hoping to get interest on the money they have been using now for 6 months, but that's kinda funny too.

5/30/2007 - Debbie writes:
My husband and I joined Direct Buy about 2 years ago. Since that time, I have purchased a ceiling fan, and two smaller items. I paid what I thought was a lot of money for a ceiling fan, but figured it was a better quality than one from the home stores. I then got a bill for about 35 dollars along with it. This was after I paid for the fan. It seems the total they give you when you order is only an estimate! You run the risk of having to pay more after receiving your item! I have wasted so much time in that showroom, never quite finding what I want or need, unless I would be willing to purchase very expensive top of the line items that I would never be able to afford anyway. When you go to the presentation, they give you the impression that you can buy anything you want from many manufacturers at a great discount. By the time you add in the extra fees, and outrageous shipping charges, you don't save a thing. I went in to purchase a Bauhaus sofa, and found it was going to cost me just as much as in the store. When I complained over the phone to the manager, he had the nerve to tell me that they never guaranteed they could save me any money!!!!! I would love to sue them, truly, for this incredible scam! Don't buy into it!!!!

5/30/2007 - Diana writes:
I wish we had found this sight before we went to our local showroom (45 min.drive). Hind sight is 20/20. But it is nice to have a place to vent the frustration. We, like so many others, fell victim to the high pressure sales tactics (our fault). Our membership cost was $4200 for 3 years. My husband and I were not left alone (for even one minute) to discuss the whole thing. So we had our discussion (after signing up) on our way home. We decided we really did not want the membership but figured we would just have to bite the bullet. We were not told about a 3-day cancellation policy. I read the contract more thoroughly after we got home to try to find some way out. NO WAY OUT!!! So we decided we would just buy everything we needed for our kitchen remodel (floor, counter tops, appliances) through DirectBuy, keep a log of purchases and try to recoup our investment. This is where the lies (or not telling) begin. We were told we could shop on-line for everything they had available (LIE). When we finally got on-line with DB, the items we were interested in could not be ordered on-line and/or prices could only be gotten at the showroom. A couple of things I looked on-line that did show prices were available that day but, then, 3 days later when I went back to the sight to order the items, they were lon longer available on-line. On a couple of other items the prices had gone up substantially. (Where are the savings if prices go up every couple of days?) The real frustration started when we needed a new TV. Again, you cannot get prices or order a TV on-line. So we went to our showroom (fortunately, ours had not moved YET!) to go thru the catalogs. We knew what we wanted so it was just a matter of putting in our written order. We were shocked at the 4-6 weeks delivery time. And they HAD to deliver the TV to our home. This serivce (they called it "White Glove" service (sounds special)) costs $200 on top of the freight, taxes and handling fee. (This all falls into the lies and not telling area I mentioned earlier.) But we had done some checking around and we were still saving around $300. So fast-forward 6 weeks to when we are expecting delivery (because we hadn't heard anything from them by 4 weeks). The phone rings. We're expecting to hear "Your TV will be delivered tomorrow". (You know, they like to get things out of their warehouse right away.) Instead, we are told "The TV you ordered is no longer available. But the manufacturer has a new model and it is only $200 more." Plus, we now will have to wait another 4-6 weeks for delivery. Here, I do have to say a positive something about DB. We were allowed to cancel the order and our credit card was credited immediately. We did end up buying our new TV from our local retailer, brought it home that day (no 4-6 weeks later and no $200 delivery cost) and had it set up on about 45 minutes. Voila! We, like so many others, would like nothing more than to get our money refunded. (I have to say we did not asked if we can get out of our contract simply because we could not find an out clause initially. Seems hopeless.) We haven't been able to buy anything and are certainly not going to disclose their "higher" than retail (OOPS! Did I say higher?) prices. No one really wants to reveal their stupidity to the world. Direct Buy is a scam. Don't waste your time or your money. PLEASE BE AWARE!!!

5/30/2007 - Christine writes:
My husband and I joined Direct Buy back in September of '06. Of course the infomercial that we saw on TV made it sound like this place would be worth our time since we were fixing to start construction on our new home. We attended the tour of Direct Buy and it seemed to be like it might be a good deal, but we wanted time to think about it since the membership for two years was over $5000. The sales person told us we had to make a decision that day before we left the store or we would never be able to come back. So after feeling that pressure of making a decision, we joined. It has been nothing but hassle ever since. It took almost 2 months to get a quote for our flooring, which was done incorrectly twice!!! Getting someone to help you at the store was almost impossible and if you finally got someone, they made you feel like they had better things to do than to help you. We tried to order windows and we were told it would take 6 months for them to come in!!!! Getting someone to return your phone call was impossible. We had ordered a dining set back in February which came in about 3 weeks. You have to go to their warehouse, inspect the merchandise which took over and hour to do because if you don't to it there and the product is damaged when you take it out of the box then you are stuck with a damaged product. Well when we inspected our merchandise, one of the table legs was damaged along with one of the chairs. Direct Buy told us that they had to return the damaged items back to the manufactuer and it will be another 3-6 weeks before we get another table and chair. Well it has been over 8 weeks since then and we have been calling Direct Buy's warehouse every week for the past month and no one can tell us the same story everytime we call. We left several messages for the warehouse manager to call us with an update and he never did call us back. Now I have them telling us that they have no record of what is going on with our table and chair. If you are considering a membership with Direct Buy, I would save your money. I would rather deal with a regular store w/ less hassle.

5/28/2007 - John writes:
My wife & I decided to go to the Direct Buy presentation, as we are planning a major renovation to our house - doubling the square footage - and will need all brand new appliances, bedding, furniture, etc.. Probably about $50K in brand new stuff. I warned my wife that this is probably a high-pressure scam! Boy was I correct! We were introduced to the owner (really the DB Franchiser). Everybody and our Rep were all smiles! We sat through the presentation. When I questioned the "sales" price for a Sony Blu-ray player and the Direct Buy price, it didn't seem like a big savings. Then we heard things that we didn't like - you pay $5,600 up front for 2 years (a gasp from the 3 couples & us), shipping is only to the Direct Buy warehouse, you pay to have everything hauled to your house, you pay 8.75% sales tax, plus an 8% "handling charge"!! What is that? So when my wife wanted to know what we do if we find something cheaper on the internet - she was told by the VP of Sales (who didn't look a day over 21) "I don't know why you came in here." How insulting! My wife wanted to walk out then and there, but I wanted access to their "secret catalog price" becaue I just bought some appliances on the internet ([]) and got 10% off, free shipping, no sales tax. I wanted to see just how great their prices were. My wife wanted to hit the VP. We ended the presentation and were then reunited with our Rep. When told about how rude the VP was, she told us "he would be dealt with"! Anything to get us to sign. We did not sign. We caught the owner/franchisee on our way out and reported how rude the VP was. He shrugged it off, saying "he's been with me for 2 years and is one of my best guys." In other words, he stays and you go. We did. Then, the owner ran out to our car to apologize. Too late! Here's how it works - pay $5,600 up front now or you can't come back (why?); that covers you for 3 years. For the remaining years, you pay $175 up to year 10. It's front-loaded because they know that everybody will only use it in year 1 - if at all. You pay sales tax, you pay shipping to their doors, you pay shipping from them to your door, you pay an 8% handling charge. Now, tell me again why it's such a great deal? We weren't suckered in to the deal; like a timeshare presentation but you don't get anything at the end but a huge bill. Also, there were shills all over the warehouse thumbing through catalogs. They were there to tell us how great this is! Stay away or you'll waste 2 hours listening to their baloney. I feel sorry for the pitiful weaklings who signed up. Caveat Emptor - Latin for "let the buyer beware!"

5/26/2007 - Dave writes:
My fiance and I looked into this after seeing an infomercial on Saturday morning TV. There was a warehouse realatively near, so we scheduled an appointment. There were about 5 other coples taking the tour. It took about 2 hours. All the major brands you are familiar with are available at substantial savings. The pitch was low pressure. However the club "fees" are astronomical, in excess of $3,000 and you are required to make a deposit that is refundable should you change your mind, which we later did. The check wasn't cashed, and our money was refunded with no problems. We simply could not see taking out a loan to save money. Perhaps if the house we ended up getting wasn't in move-in condition and needed more, it may have been worth it.

5/26/2007 - Toni writes:
My husband and I had our presentation today. I was so disappointed to learn that you are pressured into making a costly decision on the spot. When we originally spoke to the person who scheduled our appointment we told her that we wouldnt be ready for another 6 months but she assured us to come in for the presentation. When we got there we found out (only after sitting thru the presentation) that if we DIDN'T sign up today we would lose our memebrship privledges forever. I say "Good Riddence" How dare they stronghold and pressure you into buying into their program. They say no sales pressure. Well of course not, because once they have your $6000.00 for signing up they could care less whether or not you ever come back. They are nothing but an over glorified "mail order" program. I am glad that I didnt get scammed!!

5/23/2007 - Rose writes:
I wish I saw this site before I went to the presentation and liked a dummy, I joined it! It has been 6 months since I joined this club and I didn’t get to buy anything and I’m planning to move to the smaller town which doesn’t have Direct Buy. I called the center and asking them about the cancellation policy. There is NONE! You have to cancel it within 3 days of the inception to get a refund otherwise, you are “s.o.l” and of course, the membership is not transferable.

5/23/2007 - Carey writes:
We too purchased a membership . It is a scam , save your money. And if you already purchased a membership contact [] and your states Attorney General, if enough people complain they'll have to crawl back into the hole they crawled out of. Thanks

5/22/2007 - Jeff writes:
I read all of your complaints about DirectBuy, but I have not heard anyone say that they reported this to the Better Business Bureau. Each of these DirectBuy locations are assigned their own Better Business Burea region, and so it helps to shield them all from the overall complaint count of BBB reports against the company as whole since they are broken up into counties. So it's important to log your complaint with the BBB. As more consumers these days get savvy about using the internet and checking out companies on BBB before using their services, it's important that the scams you all faced are well documented there.

5/22/2007 - Paul writes:
We are at the end of our initial membership period. I admit we were probably the most gullible of the people viewing the presentation. But after the $3500 we had to cough up just to join this nebulous scam we have purchased nothing! We had to drive almost 100 miles one way just to visit the store located in a defunct shopping center in Birmingham to put in an order and drive another 200 miles round trip to pick up what we had bought. We tried using the internet site to look at things to buy and get prices, but the website would not let you into certain sections but bounce you around and then kick you out. Frustrating to say the least. Being vocal, I complained about the website treatment and finally got an email about how they were addressing the website problem. With all the upfront hassle of getting to the store with the cost of gas like its been and then trying to get someone to help you we just gave up and chalked up another huge financial mistake to believing people who were not trustworthy and a salesman with bad teeth who "said" we was in construction. We have learned our lesson I hope. Deals that require you to commit your money up front do not guarantee that the company you gave you money to is committed to providing you with anything on the list of promises they made to get your money. After all, they've got your money now, what do they care? Grow up consumers! If it is too good to be true then it is! We just took it in the gut and moved on!!

5/21/2007 - Mike writes:
In my free time I setup tons of fake reservations to tour their showroom!! I get a huge kick out of this after reading all the complaints. I figure it's the least I can do to get back at them for you guys.

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