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5/30/2008 - SteveO writes:
I have an idea, I fell into this trap too BUT found this website in time.....thank god!! Evryone here and future posts should all fill out the "free pass forms" with 5 fake names and phone #s everyday to try to fill up there orientations with no shows and leave them standing around. UNITE!!

5/30/2008 - dave writes:
I purchased this program last night. I was unsure about the decision but after looking at it closer it was beyond our affordability. I will be honest, there was no high pressure sales and the salesman was proffesional. Shortly after getting home I read this and was terrified about the decision we made and that I would be able to get out of it. Either way, we had to get out of it. I researched for hours the "right of recession". Just so everyone is clear in this....in New York State it mostly applies to mortgage refinance. There is actually a loop hole that Direct Buy can use that says that if the consumer signs the documents anywhere but the designated office of the "contractor" right of recission applies...otherwise you don't have this right. Everyone signs at The Direct Buy warehouse! I spoke to The New York State Attorney General's office and they re-affirmed this. So I did everything I could before picking up the phone and calling Direct Buy, I sent 3 certified letters, Called my bank and covered myself. After hearing all the stories I was terrified that this would become a nightmare. I believe that you should still cover yourelf but what I did was probably over and above. I called the location manager, politely and proffesionally explained my predicament, and of course she tried to find a way for it to work for me financially but in the end, she politely agreed to null my membership. At this point They only had $50 dollars deposit and a promise to pay 4 installlments totaling $4900. I am more than willing to forgo the fifty to save 5K.I am sure that this works for somepeople and it may work for me in the future, who knows. In the end, you have to understand this is a business. They work on Commisions, profits and incentives as alot of us do. Watch yourself, we all are responsible for our own actions(like signing something before doing the math). Ask questions and force them to give you all the facts, and if they won't walk away. We wonder why there is a mortgage crisis.

5/30/2008 - Nicole writes:
I have been a DirectBuy member since November 2007 here in Ontario, Canada. We are completely renovating several rooms in our home and knew that we would get our membership money back in product savings. Unfortunately, the problem we are having with DirectBuy is their horrible customer service. It is amazing how they promise you the moon and the stars in the promotional sales meeting, but then, once they get your money, Reality Hits! A few months ago we made an appointment with their Blind Associate to order custom made blinds for our front window. This DirectBuy employee, who is supposedly trained to order blinds, entered our window dimensions into her computer backwards. So instead of 69" wide by 60" long. She ordered 60" wide by 69" long. I then signed the work order to place the order, but on the sheet that I signed the dimensions were not labelled. All it said was: "Shadow Magic 60x69" So unless you were aware that blinds are always ordered Width by Length, then you would have no idea that the order was incorrect until the blinds actually arrived. DirectBuy is refusing to accept any responiibility for this mistake made by their employee, and now there is a useless set of blinds sitting in their warehouse because I refuse to sign for them. I can't use them because they are almost 10" too narrow for my window. I now have to either take them to small claims court or just accept the loss of $650 for the cost of the blinds. Please save yourself a major headache and do not join DirectBuy.

5/29/2008 - Joseph writes:
Brought my 80 year old mother to Direct Buy in Randolph NJ. I had the house need, she had the money. We went into the sales pitch and mom went directly and politely to the point. How can such a good thing be offered. When mention of a $4,500.00 membership fee was suggested, mom asked "for what". I asked if the membership fee was applied against purchases and the salesman was more nervous. These people are good at talking to you about your money but when we pressed for the types of savings and how one saves, they stated Direct Buy was not for us and showed us the door. Since they would not volunter information prior to the appointment, my mother stated this type of gimmick used when she raised a family was commonly referred to as a power sale by a bunch of scoundrels. I wonder if Direct Buy workers would fork over a membership fee, for what?

5/28/2008 - David writes:
The Direct Buy scam is one of the worst in our time. The sales pressure is like none other and the gimmicks are unending. They work every mathod to control you to the point of getting your money, membership fee. Once they have that in hand the story changes. There is little similarity between what you receive as a member and what the smoke they blew to get you money. First off, they talk about all the money you can save by ordering thru them. The fact is you might save a little money, but not nearly what they claim, when you add the time you spend "shopping" for items in their library, if you can even find comparable items. Then add the service fee you pay them to "handle" the order/transaction. Add the shipping cost then and the fact that you will be waiting quite some time to receive your order, usually two weeks or more. This is time and travel at your expense. Their grand saving disipate quickly when you include these considerations. Plus, there is nearly no assistance with your selection/order process. (They have your money!) During my membership I built a $859,000 house. After several frustrating attempts to purchase items through my membership it became rapidly apparent that I was wasting a lot time and saving very little in cash outlay when the several factors were included, and they so conveniently circumvent in their membership sales presentation. My membership fee was offset in my construction cost savings through prudent research and shopping. You can do much better with savings by spending your valuable time shopping and negotiating with local/reputable vendors. As for Direct Buy, Do not waste your time even listening to their scam, complete with a polished smoke screen. Run, and do not look back, change the channel or at least press the "mute" button. Caveat Emptor!!

5/28/2008 - Alene writes:
I have been a member of Direct Buy since January 2008. My husband and I are building a new home and when we went to the presentation, it sounded like we could save thousands of dollars with the membership and could continue to save for years to come on all kinds of products. 5 months later, we have not been able to save any money. We have not recovered any of the $4,000 membership fee. We tried to order windows, doors, vinyl siding, etc but found all products cheaper locally. (We live in KY and there isn't a Direct Buy in this state so our membership is with the location in Knoxville, TN) I have looked at lights on the Direct Buy website but can find comparable lighting at Lowes much cheaper. Our shingles came from the same store in Knoxville that is affiliated with Direct Buy but the quote they gave us was more than the price that we bought them at the local building materials store. Although when we visited the local building supply store we did not identify ourselves as Direct Buy members (You're told not to reveal the fact that you are a memeber of Direct Buy when you visit a store because they "can't compete" with the Direct Buy price. Ha), the clerk said he would have to contact their supplier to check the current price in order to give us the best price he could. He named the supplier and guess what, it was the same as the one affiliated with Direct Buy in Knoxville. The clerk at the local building supply store gave us a better price than the supplier did through Direct Buy! Same supplier, same product, cheaper at the local building suppy store and we didn't have to pay shipping. We would have had to pay shipping on the product through Direct Buy. We would have also had to pay more sales tax. The sales tax is almost double in Tennessee than it is in KY. I called Direct Buy to try to get a refund of the $4,000 membership fee since I have not been able to use my Direct Buy membership at all. I was treated like I was stupid by the person that I talked to at Direct Buy. He told me I was "being ridiculous". So, moral of my story, if it sound too good to be true, believe me it is.

5/28/2008 - A New Yorker writes:
I joined a few weeks ago before I find this website. The membership which was a bit over $5,000 was something I was not thinking of when I went there. I was taken by so much information, beauty and the idea that if I did not become a member on THAT day I was going to be denied the opportunity to come back. As soon as I got home I googled the company I had just invested over $5,000 on and OH MY! OH MY! The things I found!!! Not happy and devastated I immediately began writing letters to everyone I thought could help me, including Senator Clinton. I could not sleep that night and cried over this major mistake a lot. NOW the good news is that many of these blogs are negative and others can help you. This is what I leave you with. If you are within the first 3 days of membership you can CANCEL it, send a certified letter to the company and the corporate organization, if they do not cancel it, complain to BBB or to your politicians. I did all of this at once, but actually did not need to do it all as someone from the office in Manhattan was able to cancel my membership as they understood my concerns and I was within the 3 day period. This is a membership I really can't afford because of my current economic status PLUS I will not be able to take advantage of it now or 5 years from now as I am not planning to make any major expenses in the next 5 years. If YOU are planning to invest $15,000-$20,000 in redecorations of your home, this program may be FOR YOU! Just note that they do not deliver directly to your home and you must pick up everything at a warehouse and you need to put it together too. As per all the people that shared their experience here, I know I could not manage all of this so I know I will never need this membership. As for you, you will love all the things you see at the tour and it MAY seem PERFECT and what you are after, just remember if you are spending over $15,000 it may be for you. I am thankful that my membership was cancelled and was able to by myself a bedroom set I needed with that money. Good luck!

5/27/2008 - BL writes:
I want to cancel my membership with Direct Buy. I joined less then a year ago and have been making payments monthly. I don't want to stop making payments fearing it will jeopardize my credit. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to go about geting my money back? Help Me!

5/23/2008 - Lily writes:
I was denied an appointment with DIRET BUY because I told them that my husband will not attend to any appointments since my daughter and I were the persons to make any decisions of the remodeling of the kitchen and baths of that particular property. They said they could not help me for now but perhaps in the future when my husband decided to go with me to the appointment and he hug up. I had no idea that these people were SCAMMERS and so unethical not counting how discriminating they are. I am glad I am not giving any of my business to them. My question is: would they take a rich senior citen window with no one else?

5/23/2008 - Stephanie writes:
Direct Buy lost me at hello. My husband and I do not live together yet and he called or clicked to get a "free trial membership". Once he did this, they started calling many times each day. The reached him at home one day and insisted that he schedule an appointment. He told them he needed to talk to me, but they insisted he schedule something telling him he could alway reschedule. We only see each other on the weekends (about one day a week!) We had carpet installed last week and our phones were unplugged for two days. On Saturday when I was putting the house back in order and plugged in the phones, it rang within minutes and it was Direct Buy. The lady begain asking me if the appointment on a particular day would work. I had not seen my husband and he had not even mentioned this to me. She asked if we were able to get a babysitter becuase we were not allowed to bring the kids. I told her the day she was asking about would not work and she demanded that I set another day. I told her my husband was not there at that time. "Let me check with him and call back in a few days and we will let you know." She (rudely) informed me she could not call again unless it was to verify a meeting. I told her I could not set one without talking to my husband. I went on to tell her I did not appreciate the 5 plus phone calls we were receiving daily from them. She said they had never called that many time, she had the call logs in front of her. I have caller ID and I could verify one day when we were not home that we got 7 calls from her company. She got snipy and said she had been trying to call and verify this appointment but no one would answer the phone. I explained about the carpet and she said she did not care. She was suppose to call and we should have been expecting her call. Anyway, I would not give her a specific date to reschedule and she said she could not call back then. I said fine. My husband just wanted some info on your company, not to be harrassed by calls all day. With that, I said goodbye and hung up the phone. Luckily they have not called back (at least to my knowledge they have not). So we never got to the appointment and at this time I think we are out of it. I was just appalled by their customer service from the beginning. It is 2-1/2 hours away for us to drive to the showroom. Now reading these postings, I am glad we never got that far. I would have lost it. I do not approve of the now or never sales tactics. If I had $5,000 I would not be looking that hard to save money. No thanks!

5/21/2008 - Michael writes:
I had made an appointment for the orientation this evening at 7pm. A couple of days ago a very nice lady named Ashley called to confirm the time and request that I arrive 5 minutes early and not bring children because they might distract me. She also asked if I lived with anyone, was married, etc., to learn if anyone else might be attending with me. Yesterday I received a voicemail from Ashley notifying me that my time had been changed to 6pm because she had forgotton that Direct Buy does not have 7pm orientations any longer. She certainly hoped that it would not be an inconvenience, and that they looked forward to seeing me at 6pm. I leave the office at 6pm so when I heard the message I made other plans for the evening that was now free. Since making my initial appointment I have been researching Direct Buy and coming aross various sites, like this one, where savvy shoppers share their reviews. I decided that I was going to honor my appointment, politely listen to the presentation, but more than likely not join. There is no way that I would spend over $5000 on a membership right now unless it involved a country club, or free gas fill-ups for a year. I wasn't too worried about the sales pitch because I used to work in high pressure sales and know how to deflate salesmen really fast. Consumers have choices and I always pick mine carefully. Having Direct Buy change the meeting time was just an easy way out that didn't involve me driving across town. Tonight at 7:30 I get a call from Ashley saying, "You had an appointment with us at 7pm, what happened?" I was kind of surprised and reminded her that I was not there because she had called yesterday, changed my appointment time to 6pm, and that it was not a convenient time for me because of work obligations. I also reminded her that she said that Direct Buy no longer had 7pm orientations, and asked her if that was not the case afterall. Her mildly snippy response was, "Oh..uh..well, do you want to reschedule?" I nicely told her that I did not. She hung up. As nice as Ashley was, I was not impressed that she would apparently lie about 7pm orientations, obviously forget about calling me to reschedule my time, and then boldly call to ask me why I had forgotten about making my appointment with them.

5/21/2008 - john writes:
We went to the best buy presentation last nite. Even before my wife and i arrived we were suspicious because they were extremely evasive about answering any of our questions over the phone plus wanted both my and my wife's name etc before they would give us an apointment. When I found out they wanted $5000. to join and it was a one time offer only I was really suspicious. I indicated to their rep I may be interested but since they wouldn't give us any information about there organization over the phone all I wanted to do was assure myself that all these representations they were making about saving money were true or at least have some thread of legitimacy. I told him we wanted to go out and pick out a number of brand name appliances, furniture and other products that could be of interest, find out the actual price the stores were asking(not the MSRP) and come back to verify if direct buys saving were in fact a real savings. we were told no way and we had to give them five grand on the spot but we were free to look at their books supposedly from manufactures to compare the MSRP to theirs. well we walked out and then found this web site. Wish I had been better prepared before going there and wish I'd checked out this web site first as well.

5/19/2008 - mike writes:
okay first off i am so glad that i read these complaints. my fiance contacted direct buy and scheduled the appointment without me. i am busy i work full time and go to school full time. somehow he brought me up in conversation and she said that i had to be there also. we arent married but we live together. he proceeds to tell her that i am busy and that i wouldnt be able to make it. she says it has to be both of us. we have conflicting schedules and only see each other on mondays. so he makes the apointment for that monday. that monday i was having minor surgery done so i wasnt sure if i would be able to make it. she calls me that saturday and i explain this to her and tell her that we need to reschedule. she says that we cant. she was so pushy. shes says to me well it doesnt start until 7 and that my surgery shouldnt take that long. at this point im annoyed. i tell her my surgry is at 4 and i dont know how long it will take. i tell her that i probably wont want to do anything after that. she still wont give up. she proceeds to tell me that they are a laid back bunch and that it will only take 40 min. and that if i cancel now we cant ever join. i tell her that i cant say for sure if we will make it or not. then i ask why he cant just go by himself. i never did get a straight answer. finally after 52 min. of being on the phone with her she tells me to call by 6 on monday to let her know if i would make it or not. she calls my fiance on sunday night trying to see if we would commit to the appontment on maonday. he explains everything to her as i did the day before. she then tells him that my surgey shouldnt last until 7, like she would know. at this point he is thouroughly annoyed. he has a short fuse anyway. so he says to her no lady maybe we need to reschedule our appointment. she finally agrees. so of course i am busy and we cant schedule anything that works for her. so he asks if he can call back at a later date when our schedules are lighter. she says its now or never. i dont understand that. he tells her that it sounds like a scam and that if it is such a great deal that they wouldnt be pushing people into getting in there. she avoids this comment like he never said it and continues to try to schedule something. he eventually hangs up on her. and tells me it sounds like a scam. i would like to know who teaches them their sells techniques. she was pushy and extremely rude. she never told us about the 4000 sign up fee, she told us it was a couple hundred dollars a year which would be fine. we bought a house and have already put roughly 20,000 into it and we are still doing work. so this sounded great to us. i felt bad at first because i thought that we may have missed out on a good opportunity. but after reading all of these complaints i am glad that i didnt waste my one night a week off on this. and i would have never handed over 5000 to someone for nothing. she should have told us that in the beginning.

5/18/2008 - Johnny writes:
I just got back home from the Direct Buy presentation and felt complied to post something. First I‘d like to say I’m a very easy going person and l almost NEVER, NEVER, EVER get so upset that I’m willing to write a report on any Company. There are list of MAJOR Problems I had: 1. I was interested in Direct Buy like everyone else here even at $5500, however I close on my house in a less then a week and I did not know it was a ONE TIME OFFER. 2. You watch about 40 minutes total between all three videos then after the presentation you’re SUPPOSE to want to give $5500 just like that… Okay, yeah right. If I had it I might not be at Direct Buy wanting to get discount buying products. 3. The personal was I spoke to on the phone was very rude and stupid. I told her I wanted to bring my girl friend as my guest. She asks if we are engaged I said no. She then asks me if we are serious and did I think we will ever get married. I’m not sure but what does that have to do with ANYTHING and why should it. Is she a relationship counselor, I think not? 4. She (the rep on the phone) was not Direct Buy the today when I went in, however I get this pushy sales guy and this a high pressure salesman too. I’m sorry but pressure sell people are also stupid and well won’t get anywhere with me, I was once in sales. 5. Like I said I close on my house in less then a week, I have a one-person income. I don’t have $5500 to drop down now. So I tell the guy maybe in a 30-45 I can get a better understanding of what all my new home expenses will be. He then asks me what will chance...umm I just told him this way my first home a I’m not 100% on all cost or maybe additional costs I might have. He then asks me if I have friends that own house that I can ask to get estimates on monthly costs? Again what dose that have to do with anything. 6. Then he pulls the old sells trick makes them want it more by trying to take it away. Even more BS can about. 7. Please don’t waste your time with this company and its pushy people, and they said the are there to help… ha. It might be good for some people but middle-income people might want to avoid this one.

5/17/2008 - Christy writes:
I joined for $4500.00. We ent through the same strong arming that most of you wrote about. My husband was dead set against it. Me on the other hand was interested. We were adding a level to out home that included 4 bedrooms and 2 baths. In addition we needed to refurnish the entire house. We were going to spend well over $250,000.00. I did some basic research on materials and furniture before we went to the presentation. I knew what my costs were. I compared my Direct buy costs to the prices I had researched. There was a significant savings. Enough to warrant the initial $4500.00 investment. After a heated argument with my husband, I joined. Several weeks later I returned to the showroom to begin the procurement process. UT OH, something was not right. Nobody wanted to help me. The personal were the ruidest people I had ever come in contact with. It was the beginning of a two year nightmare. Was it worth it? NO WAY, the stress that place caused me was unreal. I would rather pay more more and have people who appreciate my business then ever step foot into that place again. I was forced to deal with them (after all I had the heated argument with my husband before we joined) and thier attitudes never changed. There hours of operation stick. The quote you a price and then back charge you after you have paid, up front for merchandise you will not receive for weeks. It was the hugest waste of TIME and MONEY I have ever encountered. Now having been a member for 5 years or so I have mastered the art of RUDE customer. I use them when it suits me, and I deliver that same outrageous attitude back at them. I will not take NO for an answer, I've had to get loud so that others could hear me. I've told people in the show room, there for a presentation, to leave when there not looking, run and don't come back. This place is like a cult. I live in New Jersey and use the Rochelle Park store.... They are the most unprofessional group of misfits that I have ever encountered. I'm stuck with them, YOU ARE NOT....run as fast as you can, flip the channel when that commercial comes on. Don't ruin the enjoyment of your family project by iuncluding these crooks in your plans. You will shed many a tear before its over, and you still won't have want you wanted. Get Out why you can.

5/16/2008 - Rosa writes:
My husband and I went to the presentation and they were very nice to us at first but as soon as they said what the fees were and that we had to sign a ten year contract and we had to pay a total of $6,300 with a down payment of $5,100 we were not intrested to pay that amount of money inorder to gain the privlage to shop in a direct buy magazine. That is a lot of money to have to pay for a membership but that is not the only problem when my husband and I decided that, we were not intrested they began to be rude and pushy, judging us and basically talking shit to us for not wanting to join and saying things like why did you come if you were not going to join and you seemed to want to spend money on a nice purse. My taste in purses is none of there business!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Save your time do not go to that god for saken place!

5/15/2008 - trudy writes:
I GOT MY MONEY BACK!!!!! I hope that other people will fight the fight that is worth it. Don't give up, you should contact google.ca and type in "the consumer protection branch" even though they are in Toronto, Ontario,in Canada,they have really excellent information on how to file your complaint. They will give you suggestions on how to write your letter. If you are in Ontario, you can file a formal complaint with them but you must contact Direct Buy by registered mail and do not have any verbal conversation with Direct Buy whatsoever, because they will just be resentful and delay any type of response. The consumer protection branch can help you take them to court if necessary or they can guide you to whoever you need to complain to in your area. It takes about 6 to 8 weeks for the gov't to assign someone to your case. But I was one of the lucky ones who did not have to wait that long. Direct Buy does not want any major bad publicity, so they should cooperate. DO NOT BACK DOWN. Don't forget to look up the successful money back court case in British Columbia. 1) in the column on the left you will find JUDGMENT DATABASE (click on it) 2)under search this database: type in "Fernando Roa Vs. UCC 3)below this select 2002 judgments 4)highlight and click on the title to find the 6 page lawsuit. Print a copy and review the clauses in the judges decision. You will find that your contract is probably written with the same illegal clauses in it. So keep this for ammunition but don't tell Direct Buy how much you know. There is also a successful law suit in the states. I could not find this case but I do not know how much of this you have to type in to get the info. It doesn't say what year either. If you are determined, I am sure that you will find it. The judge called the membership "grossly unconscionable" and a cleverly disguised method of selling hopes and dreams.

5/15/2008 - glenna writes:
You do save some money upfront but the amount you have to spend in legal fees out weigh it. The lack of customer service is unreal. Most of the products we purchased were damaged and they will not help get them repaired or replaced. Have even contacted the company just to be told they are out of warranty. These people are rude and their behavior is unprofessional. Do not even bother with a "visit". Not worth the headaches!

5/15/2008 - Lori writes:
What a CROCK!! DO not waste your time or your gas driving to their scam pad in fraking woodbridge - they told me the lifetime membership was $5100.00 - yes, fifty one hundred dollars to join their direct buy scam for the privilege of looking at thier "secret" direct buy catalogs with their "secret" prices ... give me a break!! Run fast and far and save your money for the real deal - not these piss poor irritating scam artists! GO! Next call I am making - the better buisness bureau

5/14/2008 - Jane Smith writes:
Thank you for this site. My husband and I bought a house in March. We had to do ALOT. We checked into Directbuy but I was not able to make it to the store. My uncle has a membership so we spoke to him and my aunt. They never used it so couldnt say much. My husband received a call about this "key" promotion and he said yes we would be interested as we have a ton more that we plan to do to the house. We received the flyer with the key and a promise of 2 BONUS GIFTS just for coming. We went to a 7 o'clock presentation. I had just lost my job and was not planning on joining at the moment, only checking it out to decide if it was for us (if we liked, we planned on joining later after I resumed employment). We sat through the presentation and then we being pushed to join. We told the salesman we are not joining today and would not have come in had we known it was a today or not today deal. He persisted to push and I calmly explained to him we just bought a home, put $10,000 into it already (still owed) and I just lost my job. I was NOT agreeing to anything at this time. Oh but he pushes and pushes and pushes about how we have to have things done and this will save us. My husband explained to him we will not be doing any work until I resume working and how can we save until then. Oh but it pays for itself. I told him, bottom line I'm not agreeing to anything because I do not know what will happen and will he pay my bill if in 3 months I am still not working. He says no (lol I thought that was funny). They then try to sell us on a $100 "holdover" fee. My husband was ready to give it to them, but I said NO, I handle the finances and $100 might not be much but when you have as many bills as we do at the moment and I am not working, $100 could be the difference between a tank of gas and food or 2 small bills. I was NOT giving them money, if they wanted me as a customer they could wait. My husband quickly agreed with me after that (they were starting to talk to him alone after I resisted and he wasnt). My husband said I would much rather pay the higher rate when we have the money than paying you all this when I may not use it anytime soon. I also told the young salesman (after his continued but but but but), look the only way I can pay anything right now is from my savings and NOBODY is getting that. He said oh but your only getting a small interest on that and this is saving you. So my husband told him, if we do not have the money to make the improvements we save NOTHING. He was really beginning to annoy me. Im persistant and stubborn in my ways, and food and shelter is my number one priority at the moment, not a membership. So I told them you should tell people this before they come in and we could have all saved our time. After we left, I realized, hey we did not get any of the two bonus gifts and did not get to "turn the key". What a crock. I decided to look up the company just to see what was said and boy am I glad I did. It sure seems like great savings, but having to pay the s&h AND 8% handling AND having to wait, just not worth it. Just a side note, we ended up talking to a real nice manager who helped us out and even said I wouldnt recommend you joining right now with your situation. THANK YOU. I know this was long but I was so annoyed after leaving and then reading this.

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