DirectBuy, UCC Total Home Use bad faith selling techniques to sell memberships Ripoff Rochelle Park New Jersey
After sitting through a sales pitch, much like time share sales, I was skeptical to sign up for a membership to a "wholesale" merchandise club. They claim to have deep discounts on everything from furniture to appliances but in reality use bad faith sales techniques to lock in consumers, who spend thousands of dollars for a membership, for 3 years. After the sales pitch video they allow you to browse through their books to view prices on furniture and compare prices. But they don't give out any information before you come there to view the video and make your decision to join. They don't tell you that you should bring some price info from other furniture stores, and for appliances say from Sears, Home depot etc and compare them to their prices. Why? Because their prices are not so low as they claim they are. After you add their shipping charges, and other "fees" to the disclosed price, the amount is the same. I unfortunately did not realize this until 5 days after I joined and compared prices, plus the only way you can compare prices on anything is buy physically going to their location. They don't give out prices on the phone, over email or on their website even after putting in your name and password. Plus they tell you and if you don't sign up you'll be kicking yourself after you realize that you could have saved thousands and thousands of dollars, you can't sign up for 7 years if you choose not to sign up, and you cannot cancel your membership. I have to say they do a good job of sales. They even tell you that typically 8 out of 9 people who walk through their doors sign up for their membership. I suspect that those 8 out of 9 people feel trapped and they can't do anything except go there for all of their items to try to recoup their membership fee which would take 100 years since you really save 20-100 dollars on furniture and none on other times such as electronics, appliances, etc. I would be willing to file a class action lawsuit if anyone is interested.
Cindy
Hoboken, New Jersey
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Patricia
Chicago,Illinois,
U.S.A.
Satisfied Customer -- Member since 2004
#2Consumer Comment
Sat, January 07, 2006
I have been a member of DirectBuy of Tinley Park in Illinois since March 2004. On the day that I signed up, I hesitated because, like you, I was being asked to make a decision on the spot. While I was suspicious, I made myself stay for a couple hours after the presentation, after the sales person walked away, to consider exactly what this offer would mean to me. I simply walked around, no high pressure sales people following, and investigated this "great offer." Knowing that I was about to undergo an extensive home remodeling project, it seemed clear that I would recoup my original investment. I signed up, paid the fee in it's entirety so that I would not incur finance charges if I paid over time. Bottom-line, while it was eight months before I made my first major purchase, kitchen cabinets, and my savings were over $18,000. I've made back my original investment. Since I still have more work to do on my home, I fully expect to see more savings. I'm very happy with this decision. This does not keep me from shopping around for the best prices. In the end, I still come back to DirectBuy.