Real Consumer Reviews and Ratings
Direct Buy Reviews and Ratings
Consumer Ratings - Page 12 of 24
Not a happy camper
5/1/2007 - Arnold of Texas, USA writes:
I got sucked in. I thought that as high as the entry fee was that I would surely get something for my money. I was wrong. The salesman at DB did not let anyone see any magic prices or for that matter even what products they handled. There was no mention of 8% and supposedly free shipping on most items. $37 was the most I would pay for delivery. I looked at a 42"LCD TV that was priced at $160 more than the next highest priced store, on top of that DB also charges $175.00 "White Glove Installion" fee. The only thing I found that was lower priced was some wood flooring. DB price $1.92 SQF other outlet $1.98. That is without DB's $37 delivery or 6 week wait. I paid $5000.00 to get this great deal.
Think First
4/30/2007 - Jorge of Florida, USA writes:
Very expensive to join, $3500 for us. I did not go into the meeting blind. I already knew what I was in for. Will be told after the presentation that you must make up your mind NOW or leave!. For us, it was a very good deal. We had just purchased a new home and had to decorate and furnish it. We saved a ton of money!! However, if you are just going to be a causual user, beware. You may never get your money back. Many products can be purchased MUCH cheaper elsewhere. Again for us, it was a great deal.
Deceptive Sales
4/30/2007 - Jane of California, USA writes:
My husband and I went to a direct buy appointment yesterday. We waited about 45 minutesfor the salesman to tell us the price. $5900 for 2 years. we showed no interest in joining and were ignorned after that. High pressure tactics watch out, if , if it sounds good and probably is.
Not Worth It!!
4/30/2007 - Shahab of Illinois, USA writes:
DirectBuy is just like all those timeshare presentations where they give you all their "facts and figures" and tell you how much money you're going to save-but you have to make your decision right now!!I went to their presentation in Naperville, IL. The dvd was pretty clear and the staff was courteous, no pressure. However I crunched the numbers and unless you're going to be spending $20-30K you're not going to recoup the membership cost. In the presentation, they give you all sorts of cost savings but you don't have a way of independently verifying these figures.Unless you have a list of things you want with their prices going in, you're not going to be able to make an informed decision. Shahab
Get ready for HI-Pressure
4/29/2007 - Tom of Illinois, USA writes:
Went to check out Direct Buy today, and after a flimsy presentation my sales person tried to make me feel stupid as I asked good sound questions about their business. This sales man was rude and obviously only wanted to close the sale without providing me with helpful information. Because of the "you must join today" policy, people should be extremely suspicious of this companies. There is no way that you can varify how their pricing and service is before your stuck for over 5 Grand. BE Carefull out there folks!!!!!
Poor Value
4/28/2007 - Ron of California, USA writes:
My wife joined Direct But about a year ago. We have been very disappointed with the cost of their merchandise and the poor (actually rude) customer service. I would not do business with them even if they had no membership fee.
Buy NOW or forever BANNED!
4/27/2007 - Eric of Texas, USA writes:
Our open house was today and I was actually ready to sign up after sitting through the DVD and presentation. After the presentation, we sat down with a sales rep and we started to get spammed with different sales tactic and eventually the "Join now or forever banned" clause is what raised the red flag. Then we asked them to look up a contemporary piece of furniture and it turns out that they don't carry anything similiar and that's when we realize that 700 manufactures are split over hundreds of industries/categories so your choices are very LIMITED. Finally, they just couldn't convince me why I can't sleep on it and why my money is no good 12 hours later. However i'm a fair person, if you enjoy timeshare presentations then you'll enjoy this too.
Good Value
4/27/2007 - Ryan of Minnesota, USA writes:
Price is what you pay for something, value is what you receive for the price. We have been members of DB for about 3 years. DB is definitely not for everyone. It takes time to shop and compare and crunch number to determine whether purchasing a particular item through DB is the wisest decision. We did extremely well on cellular blinds, a living room set and tables. You won't likely actually spend any less money on most items you acquire through DB, but you will be able to acquire higher quality products for the same price as you would pay for lower quality items. So, if you are into high end merchandise at good value, then DB may be for you; but if you are looking to get things "cheap" my experience is that you'll probably do better working sales and no interest financing and won't have to pay the membership fee - I thing ours was about $2500 initially.
Potential savings, but not for everyone
4/26/2007 - Adam of Texas, USA writes:
I joined Direct Buy about 6 months ago. Prior to joining I shopped around for the best prices on a large amount of high end patio furishings. After listening to the sales presentation (I didn't care for the high pressure sales tactics), I went and obtained prices on the exact items I had already identified and priced. My first purchase was $30,000 which was $20,000 below the best prices I could find shopping on-line and in the retail stores. I recently priced a plasma tv, carpeting, and wood flooring. However, in these cases was able to find the items for less elsewhere. I would only recommend joining if you know you can save the $5,000 membership fee is your first purchases. Go to the presentation prepared (exact make, model, and prices).
Run
4/26/2007 - Glen of Ohio, USA writes:
Learn from our mistake; Don’t Do It. Joining DirectBuy Shopping Club is one of the biggest mistakes my wife and I ever made. Please; if you take away any thing from my advice “run away and run fast from DirectBuy.” They also have the worst customer service and don’t have a clue what they are doing. Every time we order, something goes wrong. Either the product was damaged or it’s the wrong thing. Be careful if your order is wrong they blame you for the mistake and then you have to make phone call after phone call fighting and following up until the issue is fixed. They also don’t remember what they did the day before so each follow up call you have to explain the problem since day one. Don’t to it; run run run. Cleveland Ohio.
Overall Good so Far
4/22/2007 - Richard of Maryland, USA writes:
Sales experience satisfactory. We went to presentation with two quotes for tile floor. Salesman allowes us to cost out a "high" option using top of the line product and a "Low" option. Bottom line we saved $3500 installed. Also bought bookshelves and was encouraged to inspect befor deilvery. Very Helpful in the process. If you buy at middle to high end, DB seems a good value. Internet showroom needs a lot of work.
Talk about RUDE!
4/21/2007 - Jill of New York, USA writes:
My open house was today & I have never in my life been treated with such rudeness. When I first walked in (without my husband) they said that I could come in as long as I was able to make the decision today. The salesman told me up front what the cost was. I sat through the presentation. Some of the rules did not make me feel comfortable. I did not want to spend $5k on a service that I was unsure of. When I told the salesman that I would have to decline, he got up from the table. I put out my hand to shake his & he just walked away without saying anything. I was left in the middle of the showroom, my hand extended and had to escort myself out. I will bad mouth these people whever the opportunity arrises. I would rather pay extra money to a store that gives me good service than Direct Buy anyday!
The Good, The Bad, The Unknown
4/19/2007 - Paul of Minnesota, USA writes:
We became members 1 month ago. We are planning a Kitchen remodeling project. The Good: 1)Large number of Manufacturers books are available. Prices 15%-50% off retail. 2)We saved 20% off our major Kitchen appliances. 3)Our Sales Rep let us see the prices of the appliances we wanted to buy BEFORE we committed to membership. The Bad: 1) Large upfront cost. 2) Not an ideal environment for shopping. Know the model numbers of what you want to get PRIOR to going to the showroom to order. 3) You need to go to the showroom to order items. The Unknown: 1) We haven't taken delivery on our appliances yet, so we don't know how hard/easy it's going to be. 2) We haven't had to return anything, so we don't know how hard/easy it's going to be. 3 Stars for now. I will update once I go through the delivery process.
Recommend to All
4/18/2007 - Tina of Tennessee, USA writes:
My husband and I went to the Open House and watched the video and "listened". I think thats the problem with most of the people who are complaining about DB. The video and sales pitch explain everything to the last detail. People are not paying attention and complaining later that they were unaware of a handling fee, delivery time, the price or "You have to make a decision today" (which is in the greeting when you walk in the door). The sale was not high pressure because we got it! If you are not going to be remodeling or building and don't have the need for DB then don't go to the open house. It's that simple, there's no point in buying something you dont need and then complain about it later. We have saved thousands of dollars and we love DB and recommend to all who need it and will use it.
Buyer Beware!
4/17/2007 - Anonymous of Arizona, USA writes:
Yes, we were suckered in. $4600 and all and no, we were NOT allowed to see any of the catalogs before being pressured to sign up for the membership. After signing up, I checked the internet and found this site and all the negative feedback. But the article that really did it for me was written in the Better Business Bureau website for AZ. It said something like if they won't let you see the catalogs before signing up, buyer beware. We sent a certified overnight copy the next day to cancel the contract, EXACTLY how it stated on the back of the contract we originally signed. You guessed it! They initially refused to refund the money. I also hand-delievered a copy stating we wanted to cancel. I notified the credit card company that we were going to dispute the charge and I just checked today---the charge has been reversed. I was just about to go to the media.
Absolutely unacceptable
4/17/2007 - Lisa of Pennsylvania, USA writes:
My husband are in the middle of a terrible experience with Direct Buy. We ordered 4 kitchen appliances, 3 of which arrived damaged or incomplete (part in the microwave didn't work, the ice maker for the freezer was missing, and there was a hole that had been torn in the bottom of the dishwasher). They are not even expressing willingness to replace or fix the dishwasher, or even give us our money back. Furthermore, we ordered the bedroom furniture set more than 13-14 weeks ago. Their customer service is terrible and they never seem to know the status of your delivery when you call them. All around horrible experience.
hard sell? no sale!
4/17/2007 - Rick of New Mexico, USA writes:
I was referred to direct buy by a friend. I made the appointment and already knew the membership was $5000 up front buy I am building a new home and figured it could be big savings if as advertised. When I showed up to fill out the paperwork, I read the "decide now or forever banned" clause. I asked the very arrogant rep and he said it was correct and the manufactures insisted on it. Right. I have been a car dealer for 19 years and if I used these tactics, I would have been out of business years ago. I went home to do my research before re-scheduling another appointment and found this website. I am really glad I walked out before I was put on the spot. Great concept, extremely poor tactics. The product should stand on its own and not need to be shoved down peoples throats.
Thank God
4/16/2007 - Peter of Minnesota, USA writes:
I went to buydirect last saturday. On the surface it makes sense until you do the math. For somebody to recover the $5300 in membership fees you have to buy $16000 in products, based on average 30% savings in margins. Even if you would buy $32000 in merchandise, your savings total $530 a year over the 10 years, which is about $45 a month. Hardly worth the effort. I also didn't appreciate the high pressure sales tactics. Sorry to say that some of those people with me in the room actually signed up. I was lucky to let my math guide me. After reading this site I am glad I did.
Save your 4500
4/15/2007 - Anthony of Arizona, USA writes:
What a sales pitch! Join now after listening to our sales pitch for 45 minutes or never be invited back. It all sounds so good but why force someone to make a decision of that cost so fast. Never trust anyone that tries that. Our salesman was Jim and I could see the slime dripping off him evertime he spoke. These people even make car salesman look good. Glad I got up and left with my wallet and money still intact. Don't join
I received better C.Service in China
4/14/2007 - Kasra of California, USA writes:
I have the same “wife not here? no can do" story after driving 40 each way in the rain to go there. I have yet to deal with a business as un-professional, rude and below 0 customer service as these frauds. I don't care what they offer and what the savings are, just the poor and rude customer service was enough to discourage me. Has no one told these guys that if customer service is no subject, at least dress professionally and shave?!! However, I'm glad that I experienced it today before the "tour", and saved myself a few hours of time listening to their pitch. Also, [] and have some Respect. Have you read all the negative feedbacks? There is a reason there are votes. I’ll make sure I well publicize this guys, and not all publicities are positive.
