My husband is interested in joing Direct Buy, that membership club that gives its members discounts on home furnishings and stuff. Do any of you moms or your families belong to Direct Buy? What do you like or dislike about Direct Buy? Would you recommend it to other people? What can you tell me about them?
It's nice if you use it. We got some really good deals on furniture. The only thing is if you don't use it, it's not worth the $100 or more yearly membership.
Hi Christina,
I am one of the owners of the DirectBuy in Rochester Hills, MI. We have had our DirectBuy since 1990. We offer a membership that allows our members to purchase items from over 700 manufacturers at dealer cost + handling and freight, creating huge savings for our members. We offer furniture, floor coverings, window treatments, bath fixtures, lighting, kitchen cabinets...oh my, the list is never ending...all the way to garage doors. We have a service staff that is very knowledgeable about the products we offer. Schedule yourself for an open house presentation. The presentation is designed to explain exactly how DirectBuy works and gives an opportunity to see what we offer. For the other 2 responses...thanks for your nice reviews!! There was one thing though, purchasing for others as a bonafide gift is encouraged...non-members using the service is not...it is for members. Hope to see you soon!
My husband and I went to a presentation about 5 years ago. I did not like the pressure tactics they use to sell the memberships. They tell you--if you don't sign up now, you can't change your mind, you can only look through a few sample catalogs, they wouldn't tell us the names of the vendors telling us we'd find out once we joined (claiming publicity and advertising is what drives up the cost--yeah right have you seen the commercials they have? if you can't advertsie why do you have commercials?). Additionally, the cost is HUGE. If a company is asking me to pay that kind of money for a service, I want proof that they are a reputatble company and that I'm getting what I paid for.
Anyways, to me all of these things were red flags. But, the final straw was the end of the night. After sitting through the presentation and looking at a few catalogs for about a half hour, the owner came up to us grabbed the catalog, closed it and said (VERY RUDELY) it's time for you to go if you aren't going to join. My husband (politely at this point) replied that it was a significant sum of money and we were trying to access if it was worth it for us (we were building a house at the time--which is how I belive they got our name). The owner proceeded to say some pretty rude things such as: you're low rent, you don't have the money for this, we don't need you anyways.
Now, I don't care who the heck you are or what kind of money you have, this man (and I use that phrase lightly) didn't know us from Adam and had no right to talk to us that way. Funny, but the loser backed off when my husband (6'4") called him on his language. I personally would have lOVED to see my husband deck him, but unfortunately didn't get the opportunity.
The whole thing reeked of a scam. I have since looked into the company on line and while there are individuals who are happy with the company, there are a LOT that are not. Given the way the owner talked to us I would NEVER recommend a membership to anyone. In fact, I make sure I tell my story to everyone who brings up Direct Buy.
My husband and I joined about 5 years ago and it was one of the worst decisions we ever made. We let our membership lapse - even after paying the thousands of dollars up front, we were so unhappy with it that we didn't even think it was worth the relatively small yearly fee thereafter. Basically, you're placing an order with people that know nothing about the products, the shipping and additional fees they add make the savings very small (if any), unless you live by the showroom you have to make long drives to look through catalogs or pick up your items. When I picked up a large gas fireplace, they wouldn't help load it into the truck we had rented. (Don't forget to add truck rental into the cost of large items). We originally thought we would get kitchen cabinets thru them but like the other review said, unless you're a contractor and can figure everything out yourself, it is way more that the average person should take a chance guessing on. One order I placed was such a hassle, basically due to the staff not knowing a thing about the product you are trying to buy. Long story short, it's not worth the time and hassle - you're better off buying retail. The ONLY people I might recommend it to are those that are building or renovating an entire house and live close to a showroom. If you are buying a whole house full of appliances or big-ticket items, then you might save some money. Otherwise, DON'T DO IT!
My husband was interested in doing this also. He signed us up for the presentation. I wasn't a big fan. If you didn't sign up right then and there then you could "never" have the opportunity to do it again. They only will let you browse a sample catalog at the demo. When I went it was an upfront cost of thousands of dollars that you needed that night. Needless to say we didn't sign up. I did some research online afterwards and found that many people had been scammed through them. They've changed their name through the years and have tons of complaints. For example someone had said they wanted to get cabinets from there but they don't have anyone to help you out so you have to figure out exactly the size and the layout that you need. If your off or wrong then it's not their problem.
I've read the other 2 responses and so there must be some happy people out there with this place. They must have some great deals on certain things also. I just highly recommend that you research it online BEFORE going in for their demo so you can make an informed decision one way or the other. Good luck!
My parents belong to Direct Buy. My dad joined when he was getting ready to remodel their bathroom. He said that on many things you can get really good deals. THere are some things, like lumber that you can't. THere is no value.
The other thing is that you have to plan ahead. You have to figure 6 weeks for delivery. In addition, typically you have to pick up the items at the store. However, I do know you CAN get some things delivered. For instance, my parents just bought my sister and her husband a new washer and dryer through direct buy. Dad said he got it at about 1/3 of the cost in the store, which is significant considering these are the Whirlpool Duet High Efficiency units WITH pedastals! You buy you pedastals seperately and in the store they typically run $500 EACH! Anyway, my dad was able to have those delivered directly to their house.
Upsides: Great discounts on lots of stuff. If you're looking to do a kitchen or bath remodel, it WILL save you money. Cabinetry has deep discounts.
Downsides: you have to plan ahead. Can't buy anything you need right away. Have to do a little homework to buy. You need to know the make and model # of whatever it is you're purchasing. You then either call or go to the store and place your order.
They do have a catalog and they do have a website, but it is NOT comprehensive. What they actually carry and what they have in the catalog and on the web are vastly different. They can get WAY more stuff then what is in the catalog and on the web. So, no real 'browsing' can be done. That being said, there are some brands they do not carry...but you don't really know what those are until you go and look through their catalogs and talk to a representative.
When you want to purchase something, you really need to go in with a few options, in case your first option isn't carried. For example, my parents wanted to buy the crib for our daughter. I wanted a convertable bed. The first one I chose, wasn't carried by Direct Buy. But, I found a gorgeous second option that was! And, honestly, it is a much nicer bed then the first one I chose. :-)
So, bottom line, if you have some bigger purchases coming up then yes, it is worth it. You just have to do a little planning and rethinking. But I know my parents have found good value.
Oh, and the ownder of the membership can buy stuff for other people.... but other people can not go into the showroom. No membership, no entry. But you can use your memebership to buy for anyone you want.
By the way... before being a mom, I too was a career gal... it's weird! ;-) But I love it.
I wouldn't recommend Direct Buy. My in-laws joined last year. Afterwards, they realized the prices are great, but in the end with shipping charges you could probably get it cheaper or at the same price with your local home improvement store. I guess the shipping charges are really high. I am glad to see you are researching before you jump in.
Good Luck!
K.
I would recommend it IF you will be purchasing A LOT of stuff.
We joined when we were reanovating our house. We did buy some high quality items for the house like cabinets, sinks, counter tops, light fixtures at great prices. It is expensive to join, so you have to be sure that you will use it to get your money's worth. If you go for the visit, understand that with shipping and handling that you end up adding about 15% to the listed price. We also found that, in some cases, it was cheaper to buy closeouts off of the internet than to order from Direct Buy. They will caution you that you do not get the same level of support and warranty with close-outs, but in our case we were buying things like a kitchen sink and faucet and we were not concerned about that.
We became members last year. I'm disappointed. We have so much work to do on our house and are do- it- your- selfer's so we've bought - hard wood flooring, river rock for the fireplace and ceramic tile in which we saved a little money, but not much. But we got a better deal on our washer and dryer from ABC warehouse and they delivered it to our door. Direct buy doesn't deliver much - you have to have a truck to pick it up - or rent one. Plus EVERYTHING has a freight charge, which can be over $100, which seems to take the "deal" out of the deal. It's a pain to go there and look through catalogs, unless you know what you want, exactly. And everything is so high end that the prices on those are lower than retail, but still high. We don't always need the best quality for some things. We regret joining but am sticking it out, hoping that alas, we will make it worth it. It seems you can always find deals on things on the internet or through other people, that it's not worth the $5000 to join (or whatever it is, I forget. We pay monthly payments)
I think that I read all the reviews so I hope to ad something here. Anyway, my hubby and I have a membership and are happy so far. We have looked online, through the cataloge and in the showroom books and have found many things that we would buy. We have family that have it as well and are really happy with it. It can take a while for delivery and you do have to go pick it up but they pre-assemble and make sure it works before they give it to you. I saw someone said they had a hard time with cabinets. We haven't gotten that far yet but it was our understanding that when your ready they will have the cabinet rep do the measurements for you. I think it's a deposit for them to do that but the $ goes toward your purchase. All in all we like it. It is expensive, but if you have a big remodle or like to give expensive gifts or maybe flip homes it's worth it.
They have jewlery, some clothes, appliances, workout equipment... At least go to the presentation and see if it's for you. We belong to the one on Grosebeck near Hall road and like the sales people so far.
Good luck!
I had also been interested in this and did some online research and the company got horrible reviews. I found very little good compared to the bad. You may want to do some searches for reviews of the company.
