DirectBuy
Reviews and Complaints

In September of 2011, I received an email informing me that Direct Buy of Fairfield County had lost their franchise after only 6 months after signing up and paying the $5000. They "graciously" offered to transfer our membership to a club that was more than an hour from our house. My wife and I NEVER would have signed up with a club so far away from where we lived. When I contacted the corporate office I was told, "Fairfield DirectBuy is privately owned and operated franchise. They own your contract and you will need to contact them at [protected] for assistance." Clearly since they were going out of business, this was a "screw you" response. There was never any mention that we were at risk of losing our membership fee due to a franchise going out of business. This is a company I would NEVER do business with again, and I warn all of the readers of this post the same.

Direct Buy is dangerous. If you make the mistake of letting these clowns get your phone #! They will NOT quit calling you even after you have CLEARLY, and LOUDLY voiced the fact that you are NOT interested in doing business with people like them. In addition they flood your mailbox with unwanted literature steadily.
Last night I got a 4th call from them within the last month and again I harshly told them to buzz off. Withing 15 minutes I get a call back from a screaming, ignorant lunatic supposedly named Amanda who claimed to be the manager of their operation. She told me that she was going to keep calling and there was nothing I/we could do, and that she was going to report me to their local police for being a rude person. Better rude than ignorant and dishonest in my opinion.
Stay clear of these dingbats. I have begun legal steps to prevent them from continued harassing phone calls to us. They are losers personified.
I would advise anyone considering doing any business with this bunch of slime balls to first check them out thoroughly. A good place to start is complaintwire.org. Sounds like a lot of their staff belongs in prison to me!

I had already filed one complaint. I just went to reread it and it is gone. Complaint #2
My husband and I went to Direct Buy ust for our try at a $50, 000. home make over. Of course my very own special Gold key was not specail at all. I had to reach into a huge glass door to get it. Our complaint is like everyone else. The staff is so friendly until you have signed. They then forget who you are. They worked us hard. Lots of pressure and coercing. My husband and I made it very clear. We are not buying anything. We are just there for the gifts as promised. My husband suffers with Combat related PTSD, and hearing loss. We have a service dog who is with us at all times. They new all of this and still put the screws to my husband. My husband had reached the red zone when I just said we will come back in November. Needless to say. Some how we went home members.

We got a call from a representative at directbuy offering us an opportunity to come see the great savings that they have to offer. I don't know where they got our name. We are building a house, do they actually go to places to see who has a permit issued to them? Anyway, we got sucked into going to a "presentation" to find out about the company. They put on a good show until the number gets involved. The cost is outrageous, over $5, 000.00 to join. After comparing costs on TV's, I could actually buy cheaper at best buy during a sale! Then when you tell them no, they go into different categories that would cost less for you, which there are then buying limitations on that tier group. After another "no", how about a 30 day FREE membership. After looking up furniture pricing, yea the price was good on the merchandise, but then add shipping, tax, handling and whatever extra hidden costs and the price is no cheaper. We had thought about doing the 30 day free, but there is a dollar cap and for the furniture we wanted we could only get 1 piece after all the hidden costs are added. Don't be fooled by the enthusiastic sales people, what sales person is not enthusiastic and cheery to get some money in their pockets. Go to the store and get a couch that's on sale and you will be better off! The atmosphere of the employees is not good either. What employee sits and talks on her cell phone at her desk? Maybe she was new and didn't know any better. Just a view of how the customer service probably operates. don't want to get involved.

We joined Directbuy and the costs was financed by Beta Finance. In less than a year, the local showroom closed and is now in bankruptcy. Neither Directbuy or Beta Finance will discuss cancellation of the so-called membership as they say I can still shop on-line. The nearest showroom is over 4 hours away and if I purchase something, I have no idea where I would go to pick it up or how much I would have to pay in shipping. So, I'm left out to dry with a 'membership' worth very little and what jerks both Directbuy and Beta Finance are to do business with. I'm in the process of filing a report with the VA Attorney General and the feds to see if I have any recourse since Directbuy or Beta are will to negotitate.

We lost our home to a fire and needed everything. Like the others that complained we got suckered into Big promises. After trying to buy Hardwood flooring, kitchen appliances, Tv sets, Porch Columns, Porch railings, Kitchen stoves, Bedroom, living room to name just a few, all they could say was well we can match it or beat it. Then they tack on their 8% handling fee and 10% tax for Memphis plus most items won't get shipped to our home which means we get to drive 2 hours. Unbelievable. I'm going to voice a complaint on the Tennessee Attorney Generals office. Probably won't do any good. Watch OUT, RIP OFF

My husband and I joined Direct Buy on december 2, 2010. After reading the emails on this site and having second thoughts, we cancelled on December 9. They will not let us out of our contract, and after putting 1200.00 down we are now being billed for the remaining 5300.00. My husband and i have agreed that we will not give the company any more money and are prepared to fight collections, and file Bankruptcy if we have to. We both have excellent credit, and just want out. We have now written two letters sent via certified mail rescinding the contract. We have not used the service at all. We are at our wits end. We would like to picket the business, but we are only two people and think it would have more effect if we could get a large group to picket. We also need to contact local law enforcement and verify it is legal to picket on Shaw ave in Fresno. See our second correspondence to the company below:

Seaver group LLC
DBA Direct Buy of Fresno
4150 West Shaw Ave.
Fresno, CA 93722
[protected]

Dear Troy Seavers,

I am writing to respond to your letter dated December 17, 2010.

As you know, we signed our contract with your business on December 2, 2010 and called to cancel the membership on December 9, 2010 as well as sending you written notification of our wish to rescind the contract on December 9, 2010. My husband and I have notified Beta finance company that we cancelled our membership with Direct Buy and that we would not be paying any further amount toward the membership. The response from the finance company was that they would continue to bill us until they received notification from Direct Buy that the account was cancelled. Now, in addition to having paid a down payment of 1200.00 to your company for services not utilized, Beta finance will continue to bill us and eventually send us to collections for a membership we simply want out of.

In addition to not receiving our username and password in the agreed 3-5 business days, as discussed in our previous letter, we also have not received our membership cards to access other Direct Buy clubs. We believe that you are in violation of the contract and therefore we require a full refund from you and cancellation of our membership. Above all, we believe that Direct Buy puts undue duress and pressure on all clients thereby making the contract invalid.

We have been attempting to contact the Better Business Bureau regarding this dilemma, and will continue to do so. We also would like to prevent other people from making this same costly mistake, so we are sending copies of this correspondence to local newspapers and television stations as well as telling our story by word of mouth.

Sincerely,

CC: Channel 17 Eyewitness News, Bakersfield Californian, Kern Valley Sun, Fresno Bee

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated!

My boyfriend and I signed up for Direct Buy last November. I was currently purchasing a condo and specified that I couldn't do anything that would go on my credit, or have my credit checked. Gail, who was the sales woman who helped us, insisted that it has nothing to do with my credit and is simply like a "gym membership". After signing up, the following evening I tried calling the owner of the company to cancel. His secretary claimed he is on vacation and will call me back in a couple days. When a couple day's have gone by, I still have not received a phone call. I called back and his secretary says he is in a meeting, and would call me back after 6 p.m. I waited until 6 p.m. and still have not received a phone call. So, i called back again and his secretary put me on hold for about 4 minutes and then came back and said he was still in the meeting. After that, my boyfriend called and said he needed to speak with the owner because he was having shipping problems, the owner admittedly answered the phone call. My boyfriend stated that Gail had lied to us, and he wanted to cancel our membership, and that he would like to come in and sign the papers to cancel. The owner started yelling and proceeded to say that if we step foot in the building he was going to call the police. I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, and still nothing has been done about this.

I have been a member since 2004. Only now, having renovations on the way, am I starting to make more use of my membership. Having more hands-on experience, now I realize there are gross inadequacies in this particular location. I never anticipated when I signed up, having accrued so much debt for the thousands of dollars in membership fees, that there would be so many bungles in my orders and so many rude and incompetent staff members. I increasingly find our family in a dilemma. Having paid so much in membership, I feel that if I discontinue my membership, I would lose thousands because the savings-to-date have not been what was advertised. But, then I have to balance the health of my family having been treated so poorly by the staff at this particular Mississauga location.

Poor Member Service

Threatening Preschool and Primary Aged Children
What disturbs me the most, are the two most recent incidents which prompts me to write this letter. One involves the owner MIKE WILSON. The other involves the receptionist DIANE.

Mike Wilson, owner
The case involving the owner Mike Wilson is surreal. As stated, I have been in and out of this location countless times without “incident” with my children. As a general note, my children are well content children and well behaved. I personally make sure that everything is okay. One night in September 2010 my children were in the play area watching a DVD. As the night progressed more children came to the room. I noticed, on my frequent checks that there were two particular rambunctious children. One boy had a video game in his hand and the other boy was looking on and was very absorbed to what was on screen. These two were particularly loud throughout the night, but I thought nothing of it. Time passed and then there was loud “excitable” screaming in the room. This prompted all parents to look at what was happening, and some stern warnings. I particularly asked my children if they took part in this yelling and they adamantly said no. I believe them, as this is not their typical behaviour and they were more interested in the DVD. I am very inclined to say the child with the video game and the one beside him were the ones misbehaving. However, Mike Wilson the owner, took all the children out of the room and returned them to their parents. Fair enough, I can understand this, since he didn’t know who was responsible for the misbehaviour. However, after having talked with my children about the incident, I was very shocked to find out that prior to returning each child to their parents he THREATENED each of them. (These are children 2 to 7 years of age. A very vulnerable and impressionable age). His words were, “If you decide to do this again, I will personally hang you upside down and nail your toes to the wall.” I couldn’t believe it! My husband couldn’t believe it. We had to keep on asking an account of what happened. Time and time again our children stated the threat made to them. I asked, was it said in a joking fashion. They explicitly said he was very stern and serious. There was no other way to interpret his statement. I was just astonished and flabbergasted. This is totally unacceptable and inappropriate. How dare he make such a statement to these small vulnerable children. Would he dare to do this when he is asking us to spend thousands of dollars to join the membership? If he finds that threatening children an appropriate and acceptable means of deterring behaviour, he needs serious counseling. I cannot express how truly upset this was to learn that my pre-school and primary aged children were threatened in this manner for something that they did not do. I am almost afraid to leave my children near this man, in case he decides to threaten them again.

Diane, the receptionist
The case regarding the receptionist also follows in the same pattern of rudeness and lunacy. I came in November 24th, 2010 at 3 pm, to sort, once again problems with my orders (again due to lack of updates in the catalogues). This time, I brought my mother to look after my 2 year old son and 5 year old daughter, in anticipation of slow service. During this time, under my mother’s watchful eye, my daughter got thirsty. She was sitting quietly and decided to get up and take 3 little milk cups (typically for coffee) from the refreshment stand, not more than 2 yards away. (To my understanding this is available to all members and their dependents. There are no signs to indicate otherwise). However, DIANE the receptionist thought otherwise. She chased and ran after my daughter from the front desk (a good 15 yards away). She roughly grabbed the 3 little milk cups from her hands and proceeded to shouted at my 5 year old daughter “This is only for coffee drinkers”. My daughter who was in the process of asking permission to drink the milk cups, turned completely pale and was on the verge of tears. What poor judgement! Nobody has the right to be humiliated and shouted at in this fashion…moreover a preschooler. My mother was absolutely taken aback by the sudden uproar. Never having been treated so ridiculously, my mother shot back and tried to complain to customer service. Unfortunately, JAGG at customer service didn’t want to hear any of it, because my mother was “not a direct member”. He proceeded to say, “only Direct Buy members are allowed to file a complaint”. I, was in the process of paying could not believe what was transpiring before me and I was totally shocked. Diane then tried to defend and deny her actions in front of me. She then tried to hush my mother away. (Please read my mother’s enclosed testimonial). I am utterly at wits end as to the treatment me and my family have received at this location. What value do those 3 little cups of milk have, especially in proportion to the fees I pay as a member? If I could have a refund of my membership, I would gladly do so. I also feel a direct apology is inadequate for the treatment that my children have had to bear, compounded by the anxieties caused by the people at this location.

Slow and Not doing their jobs
The service is slow. So very slow, that I had to wait 1.5 hours for my order to be taken, yet there were two “staff” members at the order desks that refused to take my orders because (a) SAM was too busy with paper work (b) GORDON had an appointment to wait for …(by the way, his “appointee” came 40 minutes after…he could have easily taken my order within that time frame). It certainly sent me a clear message that they couldn’t care less if I wanted to place an order or not.

Rude and Intolerant of Young Families
The staff are rude and not family friendly. How do you expect members with young children to riffle through so many catalogues when there is little for their children to do? IKEA has better customer care and it’s free! I don’t have to pay membership in the thousands to look at what they have. To add, the kids’ play area is so poorly fitted. The toys are old or cracked and broken. There are 3 DVD’s geared to older children. Hundreds of VHS tapes when there is no VHS player. There’s scribbles and drawings all over the wall and not cleaned up…etc. The list goes on.

Incompetence and Lack of Knowledge, Catalogues Poorly Updated
As an example, earlier this year, I wanted a dishwasher panel. After many consultations amongst themselves (the staff) and a “kitchen specialist (SAM)”, I placed an order. When the package arrived it was the wrong item. This “panel” was sent back two more times. Each time, the order was still not right. After waiting in excess of six months and after hearing multiple (lame) excuses like “my computer was broken”, “the manufacturer’s computers were being updated”…etc… I decided to go to a retailer. So much for my membership! As stated earlier, I’ve had to continually go back to change my orders or cancel my orders because the catalogues were not current. This is unacceptable, especially after having spent lots of time going through the catalogues finding the items to order. Again, no easy feat when you have small children.

Conclusion
I am very dissatisfied at the constant mix-ups and lack of updates in the catalogues that have forced me to go to this location, more times than I would like. It makes it especially difficult since I have three young children to attend to. I am even more distressed at the rude and alarming attitudes of the staff I encounter at this location. There is really poor customer service at this location. Many people need to be let go or re-trained on how to be helpful and courteous. Only two staff (out of 10) that have been helpful. All the others have serious attitude problems and could not be bothered. It has caused me, to ponder the legitimacy of Direct Buy. I do not feel that my membership has been worth it. I would be very glad if my membership fee ($3500+) is returned.

I just tried to revoke my husband and I membership with direct buy and they told me that in the state of Louisiana that I only have three days to cancel a binding contract. This wasnt outlined in the contract and I wasnt aware of that. We havent even been members for 30 days and they dont want to release us from this membership. Is that legal or we screwed? Im calling them again on there next business day which is Tuesday. What they brief to us and what it actually is I think isnt factal.

I was given Trudy as the name of someone that can help me.

Buyer Beware they will tell you anything! I had recently purchased a house and went to the direct buy showing. I wanted to put a new fence around my property. The salesman promised they had all the contractors and equipment I would ever need. He also promised that they had roofing companies at low prices. The promise of future savings and THE ONE TIME FEE to be a member for life pulled me in. He was so nice and polite and seem to understand all my concerns. I wanted to go home and think about it but once you leave you cannot join...My roof was going to cost upwards from 7, 000 and my fence 5, 000 or better both items materials included from direct buy would be more than half off my doing it without them. I signed came back the next day to shop guess what? No fencing materials and no contractors that work directly with them, and to add insult to injury there was also no roofing companies. Which she explained to me very briefly and apologized for the misunderstanding which cost me greatly.

Fast forward there years and now they want 200.00 to continue my membership which at signing was supposed to be for life at the cost I paid. Made a call to the company and they politely sent me a copy of my contract which stated it at the end very briefly...That is the reason they don't want you to leave cause if you had all the info you wouldn't sign up.

Shipping is awful, for most items you can almost always find a defect if its furniture but nothing worth the hassle of sending it back and waiting for a year for the replacement.

Time lost looking through catalogs recording your own order and then sitting with them while they examine every item and charge for every item is ridiculous. You actually want them to pay you for the work you do while you are there.

Embarassment when you realize what you have allowed to happen to you makes you want to use Direct buy more until you realize they expect you to keep paying for the service. Due to their lies I have only purchased two items which did not come close to what I spent to become a member! The roof and the fence would've been worth it a table and a crib is by no means a fair trade. Just say no!

We are still unable to contact the local owners of the DirectBuy here in Roanoke, we are therefore appealing to DirectBuy Corporate to rectify our problem.

We joined DirectBuy on December 10, 2010 and were notified on February 8, 2011 that DirectBuy of Roanoke had closed it doors (This came as a shock to us as it now means we have to travel over 4 hours to visit a DirectBuy showroom in order to make any major purchases) .

We placed a down payment of $500 in December and financed the remaining balance of $3990 for 36 months at $143.75 per month for a total of $5175.00 if the contract goes to maturity.

We were shocked to find references that guarantees a 3 day cancelation period of which no mention is made in our contract nor was it communicated to us verbally which is against your company policy. Therefore our contract is invalid and obsolete due to your use of a contract not stating that we had an opportunity to cancel after 3 days.
(IE Based on the information provided by a DirectBuy owner in the video investigation by CBC MARKETPLACE- THE PRICE CUT PROMISE on March 27, 2009. Stating that, DirectBuy was in the process of printing new contracts including a three day cooling off period, it also stated that this policy had been in effect since 2007).

According to VA Consumer Protection Laws a contract cannot be written biased in favor of your company, forcing a consumer to give up their rights to complain and or cancel.

At the time that we signed, we were put under intense pressure by your salesperson. We were not offered any trial membership and told that this was a one time offer and we could not come back for 7 years.

I would like a rescission. We want conformation in writing by mail within 10 days that we will receive a full refund of the down payment and will not owe any money to you and/or any companies you may try to submit the Retail Installment Contract.

Todate all Directbuy Corporate has offered is 2 free years added to our membership. They also stated that I had to go to the Franchise to get a refund and guess what they don't answer their phones nor any emails.

Visited the Direct Buy website after I saw a link on another site. Decided to check it out. Looked interesting. Filled in the interest form (partially) but, closed the form without submitting it and closed the website after deciding I didn't like some of the promotional materials. They require both you & your wife to attend an "open house" and kids are not allowed (RED FLAG)!
The next day I got 5 calls (one as late as 9:40 pm) to my cell phone from them. WTF? I didn't give them any info but, they phished the information from the online form. So, now you know that they will do things with your personal information without your permission.
The sales person on the phone did the same song and dance as the website. Decided to look them up on the internt...HORROR SHOW! So. glad I didn't commit to anything. Hopefully you do too!

I went to a imformation session at Direct Buy in October 2009 and was placed in a situation of an intense marketing session of the benefits of having a membership. I was not given an opportunity to think about of the membership is the right decision for me. I decided I could benefit from the membership because I was a new homeowner, with lots of repairs that needed to be done to my home. I was coersed into leaving $600.00 towards the $5k membership. I was not told about the canellation and the amount of time that I have to cancel the membership.
I later received a billing notice from Beta Finance indicating that my payments were $176.00 monthly. I told them that I could not afford this payment and they stated that they could accept $100.00 monthly, if this is what I could afford. I have been making the payments monthly until recently. I had to have surgery and my disability benefits were not sent to me and I was unable to make the payment. I have NEVER used the membership and now they are threatening collections and stating I owe over $1000.00 to them. Is there anyway that I can obtain a refund of all the monies that I have paid and have my membership cancelled. I have not used their membership, I have never been back to the location in Davie, FL where I obtained the membership and do not plan on using this. I am really struggling with this and need assistance in resolving and getting rid of this. I'm a single parent struggling to provide for my child and maintain my household without the added burden of this bill for something I haven't and will not use.

I am complaining about not having my membership to Direct Buy cancelled although I submitted a letter requesting the cancellation. I saw the commercial and called the number for a chance at winning the $50, 000 home makeover. I was contacted by a sales consultant to set up a time to go to my local Direct Buy and try the key that was mailed to me to see if I won the $50, 000 home makeover. My husband and I had to spend 2 hours listening to how great the company was and how much money we could save. Needless to say we were also dupped into signing up to become members and realized after looking at the Direct Buy membership magazine, we couldn't afford anything in there. We decided to cancel our membership and wrote a letter stating the reasons we wanted to cancel. The owner said that he would take care of it and get back to us about it. He actually took our membership cards, the insiders price guide, and magazine from us. I thought he was actually going to cancel our membership, but did not do so and now we are stuck paying for something we can't use. HELP CLOSE THIS BUSINESS BEFORE OTHERS GET DUPED!