Originally Posted by
spiffylooks
I signed up for directbuy July 01 20010 and I will really like to cancel right away.I have discovered a lot of inconsistencies and prices out there from retail stores that are cheaper or even just about the same.To be specific,I tried to purchase a camera on the website of a particular retail store and the price was way better than what direct buy offered.Does anybody have a straight and direct answer on how to go about this?I live in Maryland
Hi there,
Oh geeze! I too purchased that horribly priced membership years ago w/my ex. We got wooed to a meting where they pitch all the great things about d.b. I had literally just finished school as an interior designer so I was very excited to get working, getting my name out there exc. So we sat through the long speech & while a lot of things sounded great there were some things I wanted to check into (about pricing on various items) since I now had access to a lot of wholesale places because of my designer's licence.
So as we were trying to leave one of their sales guys got us to try & "sell" us some more. Out of politeness we listened. When I said to him we wanted to go home & talk about it some, after we found out the huge price tag, we were told " well if you leave now we can't sign you up because this price is only offered once." we were totally caught off guard, talk about intimidating sales tactics! He wouldn't even leave us while we were talking about what to decide. I really wanted to be able to go home & check things out but my ex said well lets just do it, so we signed on. We knew we were going to be doing several home improvement projects so we thought it would help us.
BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER!! After I got going w/my design business I realized that I could get just about the same discounts on things. We never ended up using it 1 time in 5 yrs! Towards the very end of the last time I renewed the membership I went there to look for a somewhat expensive sink for my parents, they were remodeling there kitchen. I ordered it & got the surprise of the century, I had to pay an order fee to order the sink! I just shook my head in total disgust. You pay $4000.00 to join, after the 1st 3 yrs you then have to pay $100.00 every year or 2 to keep the membership up. The member ship that's supposed to save you thousands... YA RIGHT!! In the end I saved my mom about $100. Oh and it took me hours to even find the stupid catalog, there were many in the brand, & then to look up the correct code # for the sink. Not worth the time/$.
Now that I know about what a joke that membership is, if anyone I know starts talking about it I tell them to steer clear, it is a huge waste of $$. Especially now a days when you can find anything on the net or even in stores certain times of the year w/big sales, that will allow one to buy what they're looking for at the same price or close to it. You would literally have to be continually be remodeling your whole house/property, build a house or more to justify the money you "might" be able to save. You would have to buy thousands of dollars+ before you'd break even on the cost of your membership before you would even start saving any sort of $.
Anyone who's thinking of joining this club or any other like it (there are several out there now) don't waste your $$. If you even have the money to join invest it, you'd do better in a simple savings account at the bank. Even w/the rates being so low at least you'd be earning something & not losing anything.
Sorry to say but good luck trying to get out. They know exactly what they're doing & unfortunately I've never heard of anyone being allowed to get out of their contract. Awhile back I saw on the net a ton of complaints for these very reasons all over the net. You could check, I'm sure there are people who are trying to form class action suits against them. I believe there are several places you can register a complaint. Enough complaints w/some agencies & sometimes the government or somebody will get involved. I think they should not be allowed to practice such sneaky business practices & should have to be up-front, honest & make potential new customers completely aware of how they "work" before they're allowed to sign on any new members & their money.
Good luck to you, if you can't get out of it I would try to use it as much as possible. Ask family/friends if they need anything, not just for their house but anything since they sell electronics, jewelry, all sorts of stuff. Although they say your not allowed to let family/friends to use your account, you are allowed to buy gifts for people.