Comments on: Why DirectBuy Sucks

By: erica

erica — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 01:08:48 +0000

im in a contract and im unable to work like i use to because im pregnant so we dont have the money anymore.i think the accounts under my husbands name but im still on the paperwork and i was wondering if it would affect my credit if we didnt pay.we started ours in april 09 and we havent bought anything.

By: Diana

Diana — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:48:02 +0000

I worked for Direct Buy and let me tell you this…it is an awful place
filled with pushy sales people and crazy ideas
serisously you think its ok to ask for a 6k memebership the first time you enter the store?
and you HAVE to come with your husband/wife…otherwise they will shun you
i remeber an old couple traveled a long way only to be turned down because of their age (they were retired)
they didnt even get to see their little presentation
working there was the worst experience of my life (i was in the call centre)
I do not recoment it
DIRECT BUY SUCKS

By: Inside info

Inside info — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 05:22:44 +0000

I was a member. There used to be A LOT MORE stores in California. They are closing them down. Stores closed: San Marcos, El Segundo, Costa Mesa, San Bernadino, Las Vegas, Pennsylvani, Miami, Austin Tx, Memphis Tenn, Boise ID, 2 or 3 in Illinois and some in Michigan. Things don’t look good and the service SUCKS really BAD. Some time a few extra dollars is worth the added service….

By: knowledgable person

knowledgable person — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:22:49 +0000

DirectBuy should be put out of business. They used to charge $1290 for a membership that now costs $6K to join. The corporate office receives a fraction of this fee, the rest goes to the said owner of the franchise. There have been many times that people would come in and compare the pricing and maybe save $200 on something, but then when you add the handling fees that they charge, they save nothing… in fact, they ultimately pay more for the items. Dont join DirectBuy unless you think nothing of flushing your money down the toilet. These franchises are scams and one day they will be brought up on criminal charges. A good bulk of the people that know about DirectBuy will rejoice when they are shut down permanently. DirectBuy is a criminally operated company.. and that is not just my opinion… it’s the opinion of many.

Dont waste your time with DirectBuy – when they call you for an open house and refuse to tell you what the dues are.. just tell them that you know it’s $6K to join and slam the phone down hard. One such franchise owner has instructed the employees to not disclose the name of the owner.. why ? because this person doesnt want any complaints and does not want to deal with the members problems.. and, well, there’s always problems. DirectBuy sucks, you’re correct… and if anyone could start a class action lawsuit, maybe they’d get their business license yanked but good!

By: Katrina

Katrina — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 23:09:51 +0000

Just for a different point of view – my parents have been members of directbuy for about 2 years now. They decided to join because they needed to purchase all appliances for a house (washer, dryer, dishwasher, etc etc etc) as well as a number of appliances for a rental property they own. They researched all of the appliances they wanted, then took those numbers to DB to compare them. Unlike everyone else’s experiences, they were allowed to compare some things before signing up for a membership.

They’ve been happy with their experience, but they also bought a TON of stuff from DB over the 2 year period. By that, I mean a fridge, 2 freezers, washer, dryer, flat screen TV, some furniture, tiling & some flooring/carpets – I know there’s more. My mom’s been doing comparisons of prices this whole time, and she’s very adamant that the only way to save money with them is to do a lot of research before you go in AND you’re starting from scratch on a house. If you don’t qualify under both categories, it’s not worth the time or the money to join.

By: Darwin's Finance

Darwin's Finance — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 11:26:55 +0000

Directbuy got my buddy (and he’s an attorney!). He doesn’t complain about it but I’m not sure if it’s because he actually thinks he’s getting value out of it or he’s too proud/embarrassed over grting into it. I was mortified when I heard about what it was all about though. So here was his experience:

They hear the commercial and go in and the rep tells them they have to sign up NOW or they aren’t allowed back in a store for like 10 years or something. WHAT???? What kind of outfit is this? In negotiations terms, this is referred to as an exploding offer. This is a sure sign of weakness. Basically, if said consumer is allowed to research further, compare the prices there with what they can do elsewhere etc, they walk. But the hard sell tactics and ultimatum coerces some to sign up.

Now I don’t k ow if this is everyone’s experience but when I heard this itsounded horrific to me.

Next, they offered toorder something for us if we wanted so we could take advantage of their ‘low’ prices. Well, for the things we could easily compare (since furniture is tough to find a perfectmatch online when they use niche names and dealers) like electronics, when you consider the high shipping costs it wasn’t a deal at all. I don’t recall specifics but if Amazon could ship something for like $40 or even free during black Friday or something, theircharge was like $225. It seemed to me like a cower hidden meant to more than offset any discount saved by the purported Directbuy experience.

Well, that’s what I know about it. Anyone out there actually like it?
Darwin’s Finance´s last blog ..Weekend Reading – Market Just Won’t Stop Edition

By: Mr. Not the Jet Set

Mr. Not the Jet Set — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 03:45:32 +0000

I remember when a DirectBuy came into our city, and the local TV stations were filled with their ads and infomercials.

5 minutes on google gave me all the horror stories I needed to see to know to steer clear of them. God bless the internet.
Mr. Not the Jet Set´s last blog ..Seasonal Recipe: Peaches

By: MrsMicah's Mom

MrsMicah's Mom — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:36:47 +0000

I’ve run into contracts that didn’t refund money or pro-rate and return money if you wanted to cancel or let you cancel before the appointed date, but all of them were small outfits with short term contracts, a semester or so long, who couldn’t handle the accounting problems. Nine years is just too long for any contract but a mortgage, and most of those allow early pay-off and cancellation, though some do, or used to, require interest for the full term of the contract even if you paid it off early. I recall checking to make sure that our mortgage allowed early pay off.

Congratulations to all the people who resisted DirectBuy’s hard sell.

By: K.

K. — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:42:34 +0000

Try the BBB too. Good luck!
K.´s last blog ..More Facebook status update fails

By: Emily @ Under$1000PerMonth

Emily @ Under$1000PerMonth — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:16:11 +0000

Yeah, I remeber a few years back all the talk radio hosts were plugging DirectBuy pretty hard. I haven’t heard any plugs recently. Thanks for bringing these shady practices to light.
Emily @ Under$1000PerMonth´s last blog ..Crock Pot Bread – $0.65