Posted on 04/04/2008 4:41:26 PM PDT by xcamel
Direct Buy Direct Lie Frauds Liars Biggest scam ever ripoff Shrewsbury Massachusetts
"S" thompson, Connecticut:
We fell into the trap after the initial visit tour. We should have known better because of the high pressure sales tactics but unfortunately we joined DIRECT LIE.
We were builing a new home and were told that we would save tens of thousands of dollars. Yeah, right. This from someone who has no clue about building. It was not until after the first two months, we discovered that they could not beat our price quotes on windows, shingles, doors, siding and most importantly the kitchen that is their big seller. What a joke.
When we tried to approach the owner, who is not a very good business person and is actually very immature, and received no satisfaction. I called UCC headquarters and spoke to franchise relations and reported the Shrewsbury franchise and their bad business tactics.
Within four hours, I received a call from the Shrewsbury store stating that my membership was revolked with a full refund. My response was 'revoked?' more like terminated at the customers request but if it makes you feel better to say my membership was revolked so be it. Bottom line is I got my money back and never have to deal with that BS again.
DO NOT FALL PREY TO THE SCAM, YOU WILL BE SORRY
An educated customer is their worst enemy.
SB thompson, Connecticut U.S.A.
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Direct Buy Lie's When going to there presentation, No savings here, try to work with them and told you don't understand. Ripoff Midvale Utah *Consumer Suggestion ..Thanks to Santa
This company has a great sales pitch that you can save a lot of money by joining there club you can even save big money on items that are on sale at retail stores.
They claim during there sales pitch that they carry low end and high end items so there are savings for all members. Huge Lie
I have been a member for about 7 months as I really wanted to give this company a real try. however I never found anything in the club that I could not get somwhere else for less. I went to the warehouse on December 29th and the manager told me I just did not know how to read there prices. and that I should attend a direct Buy new member orientation which Me and My Wife did on December 30th. After the orientation we took the time again to look over there catalogs. with no savings found. again we talked to the Manager and at that time was told that the items we were buying were not as good a quality as the ones they carry. we even showed them items that were exactly the same item. then all of the sudden out of knowere the savings were not the great thing about direct buy it was that we could buy any product from there manufactures without going from place to place.
I joined the club to save Money. The Big Rip-off however is not only do they charge as I have learned now a huge Membership fee. that has to be renewed every year but on top of that they charge 8% of everything you buy just to make the order which if you order online they don't even do. This company is not out to save there members anything they are out to rip off all the people thay can.
There sales pitch is very convinceing when you hear it I was really looking forward to being able to save a great deal of money. as I think most people are. I made the Mistake. I really tried to give this company the oppertunity to show me that there were savings. that is why I took the extra steps with them.
However at this time I am submitting This report to hopefully stop others from making this Mistake. You will be very sorry if you do. I wish this was not the case but in all reality it is.
Just BEWARE
Santa Murray, Utah U.S.A.
No problem. I hate seeing people get ripped off too. I’m always telling my family to check out who they do business with because there’s so many hustlers out there, and sadly, there’s a lot of gullible people who can easily be taken advantage of.
Amazing that your family still has the same business through almost six generations. That’s something to be very proud of, especially in this day and age.
I’m familiar with ‘suggested retail’, and how stores mark down from those. We always comparison shop, looking at the DB price, and we also check the Internet. We know that DB doesn’t always have the best prices on everything, in fact they TOLD us that, when we were there at the Orientation. A shopper always has to do his homework to get the best price on anything.
So when they write an article about walmart we would be talking about something else. However, this story is not about walmart, it is a higher order of scam.
Completely off topic consumer FYI
Please forgive..
Direct Buy may very well be a good deal for someone who doesn’t know how to negotiate.
We too looked into the Direct Buy thing and decided that it wasn’t such a good deal for us.
In considering what you would have purchase at their prices to cover your membership it looked like one would have to spend in the neighborhood of $30K. If you’re building a new house, and you want to get the best of what’s available (that does not imply best quality, only highest price) it may very well be better pricing overall.
The furniture is basically crap. As for the rest of it..since I’m not a memeber, it’s hard to say that any of it is a good deal.
I hate to say it, but here’s a good rule of thumb: If a company advertises on conservative talk radio, DON’T DO BUSINESS WITH THEM. Maybe the same rule applies to liberal talk radio—I wouldn’t know. But if your favorite conservative talk show host is plugging a product, it’s best to stay very far away. There is no scam that those guys won’t promote.
I guess it all depends on what kind of furniture you want. If you're not a member, how do you know what kind of furniture they offer? I was looking at some of their furniture catalogs recently, and while there was some lower priced furniture, many of the lines were well known, well made, and fairly expensive. The DB prices were very good, compared to local stores, and even the Internet. Same thing with their kitchen cabinets. While some of the lines are medium quality, some of them are very good quality, and terrific prices.
Just because some have not had a good experience with the company, doesn't mean the entire company is bad. What's happening is that the people who are angry are the ones who are making all the noise, and the folks who are satisfied are just quietly going about their business.
Santa Murray in Utah needs to learn to write in the English language.
When I saw the first commercial featuring a couple who spent $60,000 on kitchen cabinets I stopped watching. I assumed anyone with a brain would too. (Sorry)
What branding I saw at the orientation was enough for me, and a friend is a member so I have read their Dimension Catalog mailers to their memebers. And the brands were not what I consider heirloom quality furniture.
We buy Stickley, Hardin, and knock-off’s of same from the Amish locals. The Amish do amazing work, though the scheduling can be a little lengthy. 3-4 months to get a piece completed.
It looks like the appliances are a good deal for the most part, but how many appliances can one purchase in 7-10 years?
I don’t think that DB is a crap company, I just came to the opinion, that the overall product quality choices were not what I was looking for. I wanted a braoder selection of higher end of the market(s).
The fliers they have at Orientation and the Directions Catalog only cover a small portion of what they carry.
No problem. I’ve actually been waiting for someone to comfirm my suspicions about this outfit.
Man..you got that right...after reading some of the complaints it really burns me that Savage has the gall to call people "schmucks" if they don't call DB.
I like listening to him sometimes but I would never use any of the products he endorses after hearing his ensorsement of DB.
Good point. Anyone who supports the war on drugs has to be void of the concept of freedom and intellectually challenged....
Someone needs to write to Mike Gallagher ... if he cares to continue advertising for them.
Imagine that...
Timeshare for shoppers!
Gheeez!
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You nailed it.. I went to one of their sales seminars ,, before I went I already knew something wasn’t right as they insisted that if married both must attend ... very similar to a timeshare presentation... they want you to feel pressure from whoever the more gullible partner is and to remove your built in “I’ve got to talk to the wife” exit strategy... stay away ,,, stay FAR away... nothing they have is as cheap as you can buy in other retailers and if you’re a GREAT shopper you can save tremendously over their list prices..
:”They have to be raking it in from the real suckers just to afford their advertising budget... “
I saw a TV spot for these people for the first time last week. Right in the middle of wondering how good they were I saw the graphic illustrating their showroom locations. Question answered. No outfit with ‘showrooms’ is a direct buy outfit, rather, they are a retail outfit. Showrooms cost money as does shipping to the showrooms.
Mike Gallagher: I have heard him a few times. He seems to me to be more like Hannity, not exactly top notch talent like Rush or Laura or even Medved.
IOW, seems to me that Mike (like Boortz, Colmes, Sustern) is a blow hard though he is apparently successful so he should have at it.
But, Mike Gallagher could not sell me jack on a jackless afternoon.
Aside from food, though, I don’t buy anything anyway.
The comment about never buying from a conservative talk show ad is a little unnerving. Do the ad agencies think we, as a group, are gullible, or just that, like everyone else, we are gullible, but have money?
Not to support these bozos but Direct Buy Showrooms are merely offices with a lot of manufacturers' and suppliers' catalogs.
Memberships cost about $5K (depending on location) and you MUST decide to join at the first meeting. If you say you want to think about it and come back, they will not let you and they keep a database of those who have decided against joining and you cannot join for seven years.
You pay your original membership fee (and I believe a yearly additional payment - it might not be yearly but it is spread over several years) and you also have to pay a percentage on top of the pricing... plus of course, sales tax.
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