Complaint Review: DirectBuy - Sunnyvale Texas

I am the husband of a UCC Director. We are members of UCC Total Home / Direct Buy and have been for almost 8 years. I have noticed over that timeframe, that the major complaints come from people who either could not afford the membership or refused to believe the "UCC Concept". Recently, the Boise Idaho Office, has hired multiple customer service people to help with new customers and to handle any customer service complaints. Please note that when a member joins, they are required to attend a "New member orientation" to learn how to use the Catalogs when ordering their new furniture, windows, tile, cabinets, etc... When these people don't attend, then its no wonder they have a hard time with their orders. There's only so much customer service can do for you. Sooner or later, the consumer has to take some responsibilty. Abiding by the membership rules is just one way to make things easier. If there are any questions, the owners of each club will be more than happy to assist them. THAT's why they own the club!

Membership costs about $3,000. Find out all you can before you commit to paying them a non-refundable $3,000 membership fee. Note also that if you buy merchandise from these scammers, there is no returning the merchandise, no merchandiese refunds and no warranty or after the sale service. links to additional information about these directbuy scammers - http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/services/ucc/ http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/video/programs%5f2001%5f02/ucc%5fqt%5f020306.html http://www.newsnet5.com/News/335540/index.html http://www.wbz4.com/lyons/local%5fstory%5f063165203.html http://plex.us/outbursts/marx%5fmotivation.html http://forums.delphiforums.com/ucctotalhome/start A NY court found the membership contract "grossly unconscionable" and that "Club membership is nothing more than a cleverly disguised method of selling nothing but hopes and dreams." http://www.mlmlaw.com/library/cases/mlm/state/nyniemiec.htm Paragraph 8 is where they said they aren't required to give any service after the sale. Yes, see for yourself they used it in court to try to save themselves. http://www.sconet.state.oh.us./rod/documents/2/2002/2002-ohio-3806.doc http://www.geocities.com/directbuyinfo/ http://www.geocities.com/directbuyinfo/MEMBERSHIPAGREEMENT.html

Try Googling DirectBuy Now I realize that many people view anything that they have to pay upfront for without seeing the total benifit will upset or it may confuse many people. When I first started working for them I was very skeptical. Now, don't get me wrong. The work enviornment was horrible and they treat their employees like crap but the product was not bad. I had homeowner friends that benifited greatly from their services. If you are planning anything major for your home then this is the company to join. You will probably not benifit if you aren't doing a remodel or building a home but if you fit into one of those catagories then it's fabulous. I've personally seen friends save 10,000+ on a home building project. Even contractors can get a discount. The thing that throws most people off is that there are no prices on the website. This is not something that the company enjoys not being able to do. It is just the only way that they can still be in business. If they listed the factory prices for any major manufacturer then everyone would know what furniture costs or carpet costs the retailers to buy. That wouldn't be good for their business so they if we are to carry their products they write into the contract that their prices can't be available to the general public. Before you say something negative about a company I would suggest finding out exactly why their business practices are the way they are.

"I believe I can see why some UCC/DirectBuy customers could believe that they've saved a lot of money, based on my own experience at a UCC presentation in June 2003 in Toronto. I was shown a copy of DIrections, the UCC magazine, and the saleslady pointed out a couch I was interested in that had a listed price of something like $4000 or $4500 but that UCC could sell it to me for $1500, showing me that I could save most of the membership fee on the first purchase. But I knew that the $4000 price was the list price and it was, in fact, very similar to the couch I was thinking of replacing. I bought that couch for $1700 and the sticker price was something like $3000 or $3300 at the time. I think if you rely solely on the list prices that UCC presents to you, or even the sticker prices at retail outlets, it would be very easy to convince yourself that UCC is a great deal, that you're going to save thousands of dollars on each purchase. But as any careful consumer knows, there's no need to pay list price and especially not the artificially high list price that UCC tells you in their in house magazine. You can always find another retail outlet that sells at a lower price or you can negotiate with the retailer for a lower price for big ticket items like furniture. I think the other factor that allows UCC customers to think that they've got a great deal is that they always seem to exclude the peculiar charges that UCC adds onto the final price. The 8% handling fee, 6% to 10% shipping fees, 3% to 5% "manufacturers fee", 2% credit card fee. If the UCC price has a 25% discount off retail, but UCC is adding in 15% to 20% in fulfillment charges, you quickly find that you're only saving 5% to 8% from the retail price. In the case of appliances and electronic equipment, where retail markups are typically 18%, you'll save nothing buying from UCC. In the case of computer equipment where the margins can be as little as 7% to 10%, UCC's final price will always be higher, which is probably why UCC doesn't offer those goods in their catalogs. When I analyzed UCC's total pricing structure, I found that on furniture you could probably save 10% off a negotiated retail purchase. That meant you'd have to spend at least $30,000 to $35,000 on furniture to get back the UCC membership fee. On small appliances, large appliances and electronic goods with small retail margins, you'd never save enough to get back the UCC membership fee, UCC charged the same or actually more than retail, once you factored in the UCC add in charges. Add in the non monetary factors, like no return of goods after delivery and no warranty or after sales support and the UCC purchasing experience is very poor compared to retail. I think the natural UCC customer is someone who is going to spend $30,000 to $50,000 for furniture, doesn't like to negotiate with retailers and who is willing to accept that UCC has no after sales support, no return of goods for refund after delivery and, with many goods like furniture, no warranty on the purchase. That probably explains why, as another poster calculated, UCC's stated revenues of $75M/year and 500,000 members results in an average purchase per year of only $150 per member. At that level of purchasing, those members will never, ever, save enough to offset the $3500 membership fee they paid up front. Obviously what happens is that people join, discover that they'll have to spend $30,000 or more to save enough to recover the membership fee and then find out that UCC's price plus added fees for most goods makes UCC no better than ordinary retailers. They then abandon their membership after a few purchases, leading to the very low average annual purchases per UCC member. UCC's natural customer must be one in ten thousand or one in a million, someone who is smart enough to earn enough money to be willing to spend $30,000 on furniture but at the same time foolish enough to not want to negotiate with a retailer over such a large purchase. That probably explains why UCC presents such a horrible deal to their potential customers, the worst I've ever seen. You must decide on a $3000 or $4000 membership purchase, a major expense, instantly right after their sales presentation. And if you change your mind, you won't get a refund. AFAIK, no other consumer business presents such a bad deal. Even used car lots will only keep your small deposit if you change your mind. They won't keep the entire purchase price AND keep the car if you want out of a deal. The natural customer base of UCC is far too small ( you could argue it's nonexistent, are there really people who can spend $30K on furniture, not want to negotiate and put up with no warranty for such a large purchase?), so UCC has to resort to extreme sales pressure tactics plus legal trickery to first get potential members to hand over the membership fee and then to keep unhappy members from getting their money back. If UCC ran such a good operation, as some posters have stated, then why doesn't UCC have a money back policy, like every other business, like insurance, Wal Mart, Costco, used car lots, any retailer at all.If UCC were a great deal, UCC would have a money back offer, because they'd know that most consumers wouldn't want to back out of a good deal. If the UCC deal was as good as some posters have said, why does UCC use such extreme sales tactics, forcing people to decide to spend $3000 or $4000 with only a few minutes to think about it? If UCC were a great deal, UCC wouldn't care how much time you spent on considering the purchase, they'd know that you'd come back and buy in because it's such a good deal. UCC is basically the same as any retail outlet, except that they make you pay all the profits for all the purchases you might make in the next few years up front. But instead of calling it what it is, retail profit, UCC calls it a membership fee. Once UCC members discover what has really happened, they want their money back. But UCC won't give it back to you, and if you complain, UCC will cancel your membership. That' s almost certainly why the average purchase per year of a UCC member is only $150. Most UCC members are probably severely disappointed after finding out that their best ongoing strategy is to continue to buy retail because UCC really doesn't offer much of a discount. Then UCC boots them out if they complain. But only after carefully setting up the legal situation so UCC can keep the entire membership fee. There are some facts you can deduce about UCC from this web site. Almost every UCC franchise has BBB complaints against it, unlike any other busines. UCC has the most number of complaints per customer (same number of complaints as GM or Toyota with with 1/200 the customer base) on The Complaint Station of any business. Think about that for a second. Car companies have 100M customers, UCC has 500,000, but they both have the same number of complaints on The Complaint Station. But I think the decisive factor against UCC is that in transitioning from UCC to DirectBuy, UCC shed about 1/3 of their franchises, and that the DirectBuy name is the third or fourth name change in the last few decades. A healthy business that offers a good deal to consumers wouldn't lose 1/3 of its outlets and wouldn't ever want to change business names. The name of a good business is priceless but the name of a bad business has to be discarded every now and then so that new people can be fooled. So, when you add up all the factors, extreme sales tactics, no membership fee refunds, 1/3 shrinkage of franchises, multiple name changes, it's hard to argue that UCC is a good deal for consumers. And that's even before you consider that UCC's purchase model, as presented to consumers, means they'll never save enough to offset the membership fee."

UCC has started a T.V. add campaign. This is a very costly venture for franchisees to participate. Some do not wish to participate at this point in time. Therefore those who do will do business under the new name DirectBuy, those franchises that are not going to participate in the advertising at this time continue to operate under the name UCC TotalHome. As anyone who operates a business knows, name changes involve a lot of expense. No magic or secret here. It's amazing what myths people will propagate when they are too lazy to find out the facts or have some self-serving agenda.

Consumers should do careful research to learn as much as possible about DirectBuy, before making any appointment. DirectBuy is another name for United Consumers Club AKA UCC TotalHome. The membership costs $3500+ (they will finance it for you, to your detriment because you must pay for all purchases in cash, in advance. Imagine how likely it would be for a family who was unable to pay in full for the membership to be able to pay cash in advance for high dollar merchandise!) The marketing approach is to suggest that by paying several thousand dollars to join the "club" you will get access to lower prices than anyone who has not joined this "club". Unfortunately that is a mistake many people have experienced with this organization. DirectBuy does not guarantee lower priced merchandise. There are not any guarantees whatsoever that you will ever save any money on anything.Not on furniture, not on anything. This misconception leads people to ask for their money back. The sales strategy unfortunately includes a "No refunds" and a "no oral promises" clause. This enables this company to say whatever it takes to get you to join, and allows them to keep your $3500+ membership money whether you ever save any money or not. Look up "UCC Total Home" , "UCC TotalHome" and "United Consumers Club" for much more information. You will see why they had to change their name.

Some obervations: As a couple who just became members of DirectBuy, let me just first that the salesman quickly pointed out that they make their money by selling memberships, and thinking back, his pitch showed great savings on select best case scenerios. He did say that there are some low end items that the retailers could match. But during the seminar we were not allowed more than brief glances at selected price lists. As of one month, we still don't have our cards, but you don't really need them. One of the first things they stress is to not reveal the membership fee. (hint:4 digits) And, I didn't care for the several implications that you were stupid if you didn't accept this offer (The way SMART people buy!) This is a great service for money savers, but keep in mind that there is no retail return desk, no complaint dept, you pay shipping; plan on spending A LOT of time looking through catalogs and waiting on delivery, and if you want to cancel an order, it's up to the manufacturer! You are your customer service! BUT-if u have the time and patience there is plenty of $$$$ to be saved. We have yet to buy anything (no money left after paying upfront fee--lol) but home improvement items picked out will likely save thousands.

I know that the "member only" warehouses do not match everyones buying patterns. But, in defense of the UCC franchise, we became members in 2000 and have been with them every since. Our first purchases were for our new home in which we were building ourselves and we looked to save as much money as possible. Yes, the initial fees can be quite expensive, but in the long run if you can make educated decisions on you purchases, you can save many, many dollars. Now, there are items that are not worth buying through the membership. Items such as low end VCR's, DVD players, mailboxes, etc. A good general rule of thumb is the cheaper the goods on the open market, it's not worth buying as a member. We purchased over 950 square feet of Wilsonart laminate flooring for our house and we saved over $3500 from the current retail prices at that time!!! That alone made up for the cost of the initial membership fees. For the everyday Joe Schmuckatellie that first off couldn't afford the initial fees, this program is not for you and it will look like a rip-off. Thanks for letting me state my personal opinion on the Members Only Warehouses. They can be a good thing. In addition, I do signs for the local UCC TotalHome and the name DirectBuy is a name change that is coming up by the first of May 2003... this may be the reason why it does not show up on any search engines.

Here's an intersting quote. "mistreated and ripped off screwed others too the business that doesn't give a dam ripoff con artist fake ripoff fraudulent ripoff business Sunnyvale Texas *Consumer Comment ..DirectBuy Who are they? They are," Now why does this sound not credible to me? I'm sure middleman companies are dying to get back for the loss of services... It could be something else too. I KNOW that middleman companies have to mark up prices to make up for not being able to sell merchandise fast enough. Here there is a company which (should I understand correctly) makes most of its money off of membership fees. It is understandable that some companies should be envious, and that people should be suspicious, this is not a normal method of making money... I am a Sam's Club member though, so I am not as bothered by this, I get most of my food from there... My point is this, don't you think that this person is trying a little too HARD as far as attracting attention, I have never used this kind of sentence in my life... "the business that doesn't give a dam ripoff con artist fake ripoff fraudulent ripoff business" Use that phrase in an intelligble sentence without sounding like an idiot who used to work for the company but was fired for incompetence (sorry, no proof of what you say, I have to assume that you are only interested in slandering the company) Or bettter yet, give me some hard facts, some solid proof, I am improving my house, and this just makes me think DirectBuy is telling the truth. And don't say the BBB is Sh## it is likely swamped with things to do, so even if your claims were true they wouldn't have the time to deal with it UNTIL they reached a complaint threshold

I saw an infomercial for this company. I decided to do some research to find out anything about them. Like the gentleman who reported previously on this company I found nothing. I decided to check the Better Business Bereau and found that this company goes by the name UCC Total Home of Sunnyvale. They have been a BBB member since March 2002, but have not had any complaints in the last 3 years. Just thought I would throw in the info I found.