Direct Buy Calgary Alberta Misleading statments to sell membership Calgary Alberta Canada
"With out Prejudice"
We attended a Direct Buy seminar by invitation. After the initial presentation we sat with a hired sales person to get us to sign up. I voiced my concerns regarding the services that Direct Buy provided and in actual fact all they did was an intermidate service. We were in the stages of an renovation and indicated that our daughter was the individual who would be getting the benifit of the savings on the product and she would be present in the ordering. (No problem the sales person says) I also voiced the concern I had in ordering product like a fireplace insert which required specific knowledge in the ordering, size, gas requirements, combustion requirement to fit to our code requirement, etc. As I do not have this expertise can their people help in this area. We were given a list of Direct Buy preffered list of people who can do this and were reasured that all these issues would be handled. I was still reluctant but swayed by their sales person that my concerns would be looked after. We signed up. The next day I try get onto the web site to view options. Cannot access, back and forth with them for over a week and still problems. I than call their suggested Plumbing Co. Left numerous messages. Not ONE phone call in return. We left for an extended vacation. On return, I try to get in touch with the same supplier, same response , No Answer. Go back and visit the show room. Looking for the supliers of direct vent fireplaces. Need help. No one in the store knows anything all they are are order takers. Again the front girl gives me a list of suppliers. Same Company still on the List, I call them again, leave messages No answer and any returned calls. My wife goes to order window blinds. No one at the showroom knows anything. Cannot take samples out to match our wood windows , Question how do we know what to order if we can't match colours? After some heated discussioin and $100 depoist for colour samples my wife leaves and comes home. Direct Buys resonse , We cannot get and pricing , you have to make an appointment with our supplier agent and there is a One week wait. My wife calls Costco, represntative over next day, measures windows and gives us a price. We buy from Costco. These are a few situations which we had. I had a meeting with there Sales manager went over our situation and demanded our membership fee back because we were led to beleive certain things when we signed, they did not provide the service as promised and they falsey represented Direct Buy to us . They would not refund our membership Fee and basically indicating indicated tuff luck, but you should continue to order the product and get value and savings. What a crock of Bull s**t. They are a total rip off.
Larry
Calgary, Alberta
Canada
5 Updates & Rebuttals
Jon
Ft Lauderdale,Florida,
U.S.A.
They have just about everything you need for a home.
#6Consumer Comment
Thu, July 30, 2009
Be ready to spend A LOT of time just looking at the stuff from all different manufacturers
Jon
Ft Lauderdale,Florida,
U.S.A.
They have just about everything you need for a home.
#6Consumer Comment
Thu, July 30, 2009
Be ready to spend A LOT of time just looking at the stuff from all different manufacturers
Jon
Ft Lauderdale,Florida,
U.S.A.
They have just about everything you need for a home.
#6Consumer Comment
Thu, July 30, 2009
Be ready to spend A LOT of time just looking at the stuff from all different manufacturers
Jon
Ft Lauderdale,Florida,
U.S.A.
They have just about everything you need for a home.
#6Consumer Comment
Thu, July 30, 2009
Be ready to spend A LOT of time just looking at the stuff from all different manufacturers
Philip
Edmonton,Alberta,
Canada
Edmonton Experience
#6Consumer Comment
Wed, November 26, 2008
Hi there,
Thought I would share my experience since I'm close to Calgary (Edmonton Alberta). My experience seems fairly different them most that listed here. Don't get me wrong the high pressure sales are there as was the join now or never speach. Aside from that my experience was positive but that's mostly because:
- I am renovating a house and looking to spend around $35,000 on it.
- I did my research and had specific items in mind when I came in.
The price was much higher then I thought (I was told it was around $700 a year but I didn't know it was averaged over 10 years). Still all I cared about in the end was good i get a deal. The sales person started their fancy speach and I basically told him. "I'm renovating my place. I have specific items in mind. Can you show me savings on them that are more then the membership". I gave him the list of items I wanted Flooring, some furniture, cabinets (kitchen/bathroom), countertop, sinks, appliances, man made stone to finish the outside of the house, speakers, projector, washer, etc.
The sales person went over and started to bring over the catalogs for the items I was planning to buy. The cabinets and flooring looked like they would cover the cost of the membership. Now keep in mind I did do shopping around. I called every flooring place in Edmonton to get the best price on my floors I could. I even called the manufacture and got a list of all retailers in Alberta. The price from DB was still $2100.00 cheaper on 1,400 square feet. That's not counting the $400 savings on transition pieces (t-moulds, step nose, etc). Based on this we decided to go with it and purchased the membership.
The flooring was a very nice suprise as the distributor is in town and called me 2 days later to pick it up. Now I understand this is not the norm and usually there is a wait for items but in my case It was very easy.
I got most of the items I wanted that first purchase with the exception of the projector (Direct buy did not carry the one I wanted) and furniture for downstairs guest room (cheaper brand again not carried by direct buy). These 2 items I picked up a retailor I had originally priced out. The speakers were a very nice suprise as they are ones bestbuy carries and the price was about 38% lower then the bestbuy price.
Also I found a fantastic deal on theater seating for my projector room. Basically I got the same type of setup from the top brand in home theater for the same price as I had priced out a entry level no name type chairs.
So Here is a list of the postive and negatives:
Negative:
- High pressure sales to get the membership
- Very high upfront cost of $5k
- Have to wait for shipping
- Have to know what you want
- Have to do research before you go in
- Have to purchase at least $20,000-$25,000 of product to get the savings
- No low brand names. No Ikea type stuff.
Positive:
- Good prices on the items I looked at. Much cheaper then the price I found by looking at multiple retailors.
- Once you buy the membership no pressure on buying items. Sit all day and look through stuff if you want. Nobody will bother you unless you ask for help.
- Large selection of medium to high quality brand names.
- If your renovating or building a house you'll make up your memebership on your first purchase.
In the end it all comes down to savings. I saved more then by not buying it but please keep this in mind so you don't regret your purchase as this only appeals to certain type of people:
- You need to be planning to buy alot (renovation, building house, etc). If you are only planning to spend a few thousand a year don't go here.
- You are a person that is looking for medium to high quality items. Let's be realistic. Even though I saved $2,000 on my flooring I could have saved $4,000 more by buying 89cent laminate from dicount outlet. If you shop at Ikea or Zellers this is not the place for you. Trust me I use to shop there as well when going through school and you can't beat prices at Ikea for low quality products. Don't let the sales person tell you otherwise.
- Your not trying to do a quick flip of a house so want the lowest quality stuff.
I've read some of the other posts here and it may be down to the individual owner of how stores are run as I've had no issues like listed in some of the other articals.
I was told up front how it worked, that I couldn't bring other people to the showroom. I was not charged any frieght on items I picked up from the distributors warehouse (I was for items that did not have in town distributors). I had no issues contacting the contacts on the list provided. Each one answered the phone when I called and provided the information I requested.
Please note this opinion is based on my personal experience. I can't speak for everybody that's ever used the service.