Complaint Review: Direct Buy - Davie Florida

I have been a members for over a year now and have never had any problems with Direct Buy. My neighbor almost joined, but ended up canceling. Of course after seeing my savings, he's regretting his decision, but he did state that canceling his membership was quick and easy.

Hello, My wife and I became a member of Direct Buy a few months ago just before we decided to redo our kitchen. We had gone around local cabinet companies to realize that what we wanted simply didn't fit our budget. After 3 quotes from local vendors we were looking at 45K for cabinets alone. We joined Direct Buy after analizing the posibility of saving money on the cabinetry. We took our notes from a quote from one of the vendors to the Direct Buy designer. Direct buy had the same line of cabinetry including doors, colors etc. Our biggest surprice was that after pretty much upgrading some of the original features the total for our cabinets was just over 22K. I couldn't belive it, it had to be to good to be true. The cabinets were delivered on time and installed by one of the Direct Buys subcontractors about 6 weeks later. I won't argue that Direct buy maybe doesn't have enough savins on some of the items you buy every day but if you are redoing your kitchen or re-furnishing a house it is really worth it. In our case even after paying the $4800.00 membership we saved close to 18K, that is hard cash that I just can't deny. I will also agree that it is a bit of a pain to have to pick up the merchandize and we've had a couple of items that were damaged in shipping over time and although they replaced it right away it was a bit of an inconvenience but once I go back and think WE SAVED $18000.00. I would say Direct buy is not for everyone, If it hadn't been because we were doing our kitchen I would have said no to them. I hope this helps some one out there make an educated decission.

Clarissa, In response to your question of "is this legal," the answer will likely depend on your state's laws and the terms of the contract itself. There are some circumstances where federal law allows you to cancel certain consumer contracts within a given time frame and without penalty, but I'm not sure if your case would qualify for such an allowance. Now, if the cancellation letter you sent was sufficient under the law to nullify the contract, then you likely have some solid legal claims against Direct Buy and possibly against the collection agency. But the only way you're going to figure out if this is the case is to consult with a local attorney. Best of luck!

Hi Amy I am an ex employee of Direct Buy. I know how they operate and their dirty tricks and lies Although Direct Buy memberships vary from franchise to franchise and state to state, you will pay anywhere from a starting price of $4000.00 to $7000.00 for 2 years and then $159 per year for a ten year period. They will usually let you pay the initial huge membership fee off over a 2 year period but at 17.75% interest. Definitly not a smart idea. If you want to order anything from their catalogues/internet after wasting your hard earned money (Membership Fee), you have to PAY FOR IT ALL UPFRONT, plus a huge shipping and handling charge (several hundreds usually) and then a 8% handling fee. You will rarely if ever save money. There is no guarantee your merchandise request will be filled and if it is, you will have to wait several months for it to arrive to their warehouse and then come and pick it up yourself. Plus, they do not offer any warranties on their products. Plus on the BACK of the sales contract that you are HIGHLY PRESSURED into signing ON THE FIRST AND ONLY NIGHT YOU CAN GO, it states that manufacturers are under no obligation to fulfill your order!!! You will experience shockingly inferior customer service as usually Direct Buy only care about getting your membership fee. Its all about selling, recruiting new members. The franchise owner, "Direct Buy Corporate" and sales staff get big fat commissions on every membership sold. Thats why they will not refund memberships after a 3 day period. You will be kissing your money goodbye Amy. Read the other reports about Direct Buy. That will really open your eyes also I see you are in Lancaster. Don't make the mistake of thinking you can go to another location like Norristown PA.....and get a better deal.... It wont happen. You will be financially and verbally abused. That is guaranteed. I was. These vermin need to be exterminated/put out of business. Dont fall for their evil, pathetic lies If you are contacted by Direct Buy or any of their stores, HANG UP THE PHONE OR DO NOT ANSWER. SAVE YOURSELF! If you have an appointment, DONT SHOW UP! EVER! Spread the word about this evil company.

Hi! It is very nice to meet you! I was actually looking up DIRECT BUY myself for more information because as most others have stated they saw the informercial about DIRECT BUY and it sounded quite interesting and great for pepole moving into a new home owner such as myself. So I had called the phone number provided to me on TV and spoke with a rep As stated I did get a call and a SPECIAL INVITATION to review the DIRECT BUY showroom which apparently is only 1/2 mile from my home so I thought okay, great that is not bad at least I would not be traveling any long distance and would not be disgruntled if I did not want to join the membership base, afterall if there were any hidden costs or some catch of some sort. So I did schedule a tour and when the time came to take the "Tour" I had gone alone because it ended up that my husband and I had conflicting schedules and he had to work late so I went by myself (as I make the decisions on these types of things for the most part anyway so it was not a big deal to me to go alone and possibly sign up after reviewing the stores TOUR and product line. But I did not even get that far! You see I was told that because I was married my husband was REQUIRED to be there and that I needed to be rescheduled for another day that would better suit us because they wanted BOTH of us there to do the tour and everything. (which shouldn't that be MY decision actually?) But since then we re-scheduled and it was with the actual store person that would be giving us the tour and explaining the entire program in further details. With that being said I explained to him that the operator was reallyt vague and ot so knowlegeable on my initial call so I then asked some more "probing questions" and explained that I worked for COSTCO WHOLESALE as an Asst. Whse. Manager for 13 years and that I was entirely familiar with the whole concept of member based clubs and that the actual revenue that these clubs make is not off of the products they sell, but rather the actual incoming monies people paid to be members so I asked what the cost was for a membership with DIRECT BUY? But he had insisted that this was much different than any of the wholesale clubs. I pushed further and was told that they have these "relationships" with MAJOR well-known manufacturers of many products that team up with them to offer reduced cost to the members but that they would not disclose ANY of the NAME BRANDS to me previous to becoming a member because that causes the companies of these NAME BRAND items to be targeted by other merchandisers to sell the items to them for a lower cost (for example: LOWES would then contact GE to say "Hey, what is the deal here?" We have a model # 12345 oven range by GE in Stainless Steel and you sell them to us at a marked up price for $300.00 and we sell them for $550.00 and I found out that DIRECT BUY is getting the same items from you for a low cost of $200.00) so it could potentially cause retailers WAR so ALL INFORMATION IS SECRETIVE and NOT TO BE DISCUSSED AT ALL. Well, I did not buy that bologna at all because what then would be the incentive for say PANASONIC to manufacter and sell 24 stereo units *model # 123 for $50.00 each which is what it cost them to make that item to just turn around and supply them to DIRECT BUY at cost price (no mark up at all?) because obviously who at PANASONIC would be making a dime if they gave their products away at cost with NO MARKUP? What would they be gaining in the deal? So I went back to the first question and that was how much is the membership fee because I knew that is where the answer was for me. And I did not mind a membership fee if I was going to use this membership often for larger purchases I would definately be interested in this program still. I know alot of people have the opinion that if they have to "PAY TO SHOP" then they are going somwhere else to shop but having worked for COSTCO for so many years I could care less if they make money off of my membership fee or the mark up in the merchandises prices .... to me its all one in the same in the end? The final cost is what matters to me, right? But before going to the re-scheduled tour I went online to see about any comments that were maybe made regarding DIRECT BUY by people who are members already and try to see if I could get an idea on what the membership cost would be a years so I could add up what I think I was going to spend in merchandise for our new home we are building and get an idea of the fee's involved first, prior to going for the tour. (Something I DO NOT LIKE AT ALL is when you are treated like everything is a secret which only leads me to think that there is some sort of funny business going on if they can't be outright and forward with you on costs to be a member!) Well in looking on the net I just found your blog and see that you have had a bad experience yourself amoungst MANY OTHERS whom listed sites on the web so when you look DIRECT BUY up, it shows all of these varied opinions on the DIRECT BUY concept and their general practices of business. So I am getting the feeling after reading other notes and then coming acrossed yours too on the web, I have an uneasy opinion on the whole thing. May I inquire what your cost of the membership was when you purchased it? I haven't found the actual membership fee;s out yet except that they have been mentioned as being extremely high and not worth the cost? Thank you for your time!