DarrenBarefoot.com

I have several friends who’ve joined right around the time they were purchasing/setting up homes, and they found incredible deals through the company. They actually thought there was a fair amount of selection to be had.

But yeah — you have to be planning to put out the coin before it becomes worthwhile.

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Countless times I have been out for a drive with my buddy Sam and they call. Then I get to hear about it for about 1.5 hours about how this company tried to sell him some loaner furniture once and now he can’t get off the list.

I asked him why he doesn’t just tell them to go away. Apparently he has, but to no avail. I’m just glad they don’t have my number!

The best way to keep these people at bay and rid yourself of the “creepies” in your life is to store the number in your phone and name them something terrible… so that if your friends ever see the number they’ll know to play the game.

Why take them seriously? Just BS with them on the phone until you’ve wasted as much of their time as possible. Why not?

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Side note: if you buy a home, ask your real estate agent if they have any discounts with local furniture/appliance stores. Our realtor gave us a slip that allowed us to get wholesale prices (40% off) on all our appliances. We could have got a discount on furniture if we wanted, too.

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We get calls all the time when we’re out, but they never seem to catch us at home. Actually, they did reach us the other day, but nobody was there when we answered; I guess their hopeful predictive dialer reached somebody else first instead.

If they do reach us, I will ask to be placed on their no-call list.

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Yes, they called us for a time too. They finally stopped when I told them we would just get our parent’s to use their membership, should we ever feel the need to buy from them. Our folks have given them a mixed review – decent discounts and quality products, but on balance, not the great value they expected. My assessment: Direct Buy over promises and under delivers. What a revelation.

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Check out “The Secrets of Direct Buy” investigative report:

http://www.bcctv.ca/displayresults.jsp?id=/olsen/stories/2005/11/olsen-20051121.htm

and “One Man’s Story” about Directbuy

http://www.bcctv.ca/olsen.jsp?id=/olsen/stories/2005/11/olsen-20051122.htm

CBS-New York, NY: “Big Membership Fee Doesn’t Always Mean Big Savings” with under-cover investigative video:

http://wcbstv.com/seenat11/local_story_135210040.html

Text of story at:

http://w4.stern.nyu.edu/news/news.cfm?doc_id=6103%20

Note -

In US, a court found the membership contract “grossly unconscionable” and that “Club membership is nothing more than a cleverly disguised method of selling nothing but hopes and dreams.”

http://www.mlmlaw.com/library/cases/mlm/state/nyniemiec.htm

In Canada, a provincial court found the membership agreement untenable and unenforcable because it violated the Consumer Protection Act, the Sales of Goods Act, and The Trade Practice Act. Read this at at paragraphs 13-20 of the ruling.

http://www.provincialcourt.bc.ca/judgments/pc/2002/01/p02%5F0197.htm

Best thing is to avoid this scam.

http://edumacation.com/DirectBuy

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WHewww!! I just signed up a contract with them just last Saturday, July 22. Any advise on how to get out of contact?
Thanks!

Malou

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I koined Direct Buy 10 years ago when it was called United Consumers Club. I am still a member and I have found significant savings. I’ve purchased china, flatware, stemware, furniture, lighting, and bathroom fixtures. I am getting ready to purchase siding from the number one maker of siding for half the price it would have cost at one of the home centers! I will also be ordering more furntiure in the next month!
Each Direct Buy is a franchise- so the problems you are having are with the franchise not indicative of the company as whole! So sorry you’ve been bothered by telemarketers- I’ve never experienced it from MY franchise.

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It’s evident Direct Buy uses an automatic dialer, which is prohibited by federal telecommunications laws. Call or email the CRTC to report such instances. I received one this evening from Direct Buy in which I was told I was chosen as a candidate to win a large cash prize — I never entered any such contest. The caller said they “got my number from the phone book” but it was evident from the five seconds of dead air after I picked up the phone that an auto dialer was used.

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Even as you read, this scam, which is nothing more than and a variation of the “Advance Fee Fraud” scheme, is parting yet more of the “something for nothing” crowd from their money.

Here’s how it works: a telephone “tickler” call is made to a potential victim and an informative letter is sent afterwards inviting them to an open house so they can see for themselves how much others like them have saved and how much they themselves would save, along with some form of an invitation to join. The letter and subsequent follow-up telephone calls promise rich rewards of savings by buying direct from the manufacturer, at cost, with no Mark Up, No Middleman if only they were “members” of this so called highly esteemed and long time in business organisation. Typically, the pitch at the open house includes mention the so called fact that tens of thousands of other smart and savvy consumers have saved along with a slick selection of what they have saved on — and you, too, can begin saving as soon as you join this elustrous group by signing a “membership agreement” costing thousands of dollars payable in advance of receiving any benefits – you are told that amount is paltry compared to the savings you will obtain over a 10 year period – and you must sign the contract on a now or never basis. You are even made to feel stupid if you don’t sign – only a fool would not take advantage of the savings – spend a little to save a lot sort of thing.

If you’re not saying “scam” by now, you should be. Should you agree to participate in this Advance Fee savings scam, something will go wrong. Savings evaporate … or.. Wrong or defective merchandise will be ordered … or … Order delays … or … Order mishaps and screw-ups. You will not be allowed to cancel your “membership” and get out of the deal.

If you decide to order merchandise, money from you, in advance of receiving the merchandise — an insignificant sum, really, in light of the windfall of savings about to land in your lap — will be required to order merchandise without any written guarantees of actually saving money.. You pay, you wait for the merchandise . . . and all you’ll get in return are more excuses about why the order is held up and assurances that everything can be straightened out if you’ll just be patient and wait a little while longer or send a bit more to pay for this or that price increase. Once you start making threats, these scammers will threaten to sue you if you don’t make good on your end of paying for the membership contract in full.

Beware that the Membership Agreement is in reality nothing more than a legally binding sales contract that may have been glossed over in light of all the savings you are excited about expecting. Carefully look at it – it contains NO GUARANTEES OF SAVINGS – instead there is a “NO ORAL PROMISES” clause: “No oral promises or statements not contained in this Membership Agreement shall bind or obligate the club.” It’s like a get out of jail free card – they can tell you anything pie in the sky in the open house tour or over the phone to get you to join, but once you sign the sales or Membership Agreement, you agree to the NO ORAL PROMISES clause! So what happens if it turns out not to be what you expected? Ouch. Too late. You’re stuck. That NO ORAL PROMISES clause comes back and bites you. Want a refund? Beware that the Membership Agreement states: “Members understand this program is not sold on a trial basis and that no refund of membership fees will be made.” So you only partially paid on your contract and think that you’re just not going to pay the rest of the contracted amount? — beware that the Membership Agreement states further: “Members do not have the right to terminate the Membership Agreement without paying the amount remaining for this Membership.” And if you think you’re going to get a refund because you never found anything cheaper and therefore didn’t use the club, think again. There’s a clause in the Membership Agreement about this too: “The Membership Agreement is not conditioned on the use of this Membership.”

In a nutshell, the con works by blinding the victim with promises of an unimaginable fortune of what others like them have saved, what they could have saved if only they joined earlier, and what they can expect to save by joining now. Once the sucker is excited and sufficiently glittery-eyed over the prospect of what he or she would do with all the money he will save, he is then squeezed for however much membership fee in full at the time of “joining” or have the sales contract balance immediately financed by a separate finance company, actually a subsidiary of the parent scam company. The money the victim parts with willingly, thinking “What’s $5,000 here when I’m going to end up saving over $50,000 when this is all done?” He fails to realize during the sting that he’s never going to actually get the promised savings because all of savings are expressly disclaimed in the fine print of the contracts and merchandise ordering materials. The very sales contract, which the victim was at first eager to sign, now comes back to bite him with all those adverse terms and conditions. All of this messing around is designed to part him from his money.

Once the scam is explained, it seems so obvious a con that you’d wonder who would fall for it. Yet fall for it people do because they’re mesmerized by the wealth that will soon be theirs in the form of all the savings by not paying any markup or middleman costs – and how smart they are by taking advantage of the join now or never opportunity. They also fail to realize there’s a hook hanging just out of sight; at first all they see is that others are getting savings and they want to join this cadre, thus they’re ill-prepared to mentally shift gears when the con artists turns the tables. Because the premise of “saving tons of money” is wholeheartedly swallowed early on, it’s not at a later point questioned when things begin to go wrong with the transaction and the dupes who have been targeted find out the hard way that there is a no refund policy on all the money they have paid in advance of receiving these now questionable “savings.”

Beware paying in advance for something for nothing – no written guarantees of promises made should send you running – especially in light of the tactics of “Be like me, I’ve saved money.”

http://edumacation.com/DirectBuy

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Direct Buy used to be known as the United Buying Service. It’s the same bunch that had numerous law suits pending against them and terrible reviews on the internet.

I doubt if they’ve changed their methods just because they changed their name.

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Sid Brail is mistaken as the company started as United Consumers Club (UCC) and still continues to use the UCC at some of the branches. United Buying Service is listed in the BBB as a “Auto-Automobile Buying Services” company.

My Wife and I went to the ‘open house’ at the Vancouver UCCTotalHome/Directbuy almost 3 years ago. The sale pitch was high pressure and the staff was less than knowledgeable, still we hesitatingly joined as we were about to purchase our first home. We will be renewing our membership this year but, as I would highly reccomend to anyone else considering a membership or renewing one at the Vancouver location, to join the Coquitlam location. We have made all of our purchases in the last 2 years at this location and have found the staff to be much more knowledgeable and helpful, the shipping was much faster and cheaper, and the warehouse much more organized. On multiple occasions at the Vancouver store the newly hired receiver (they seemed to go through them quickly there) would either not find our item or lose our slip all together. They also tended, as our experience with the Coquitlam location has taught us, to overcharge on the shipping and handling costs once they finally got around to ordering. The problems are definately related to the individual franchise owner and staff and not with the company.

There are huge savings to be had if you are spending thousands, especially tens of thousands on furniture, electronics, and home improvements. A warning to anyone considering joining is that if you aren’t interested in purchasing higher quality merchandise, you can usually get better ‘deals’ from buying cheaper and lower-quality items for your home at big box discount stores like ‘Ze$#er’s’ or ‘WalM$#rt’ (don’t want to slander the stores) or buying used/factory seconds items.

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my friends just got back from direct buy. i think they got brain washed. they were trying to sell me what direct buy selled to them. i told them they got brain washed. they disagree.

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Every telemarketer in BC who calls BC consumers must be licensed.

So if they call again, just ask for their license # (each agent must have one, not just the company).

If they dont have a license#, contact:

http://www.bpcpa.ca/contact-bpcpa.htm

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[...] An interesting thread of comments on Darren Barefoots weblog shows how prevalent this issue. [...]

I recently attended a Direct Buy presentation in the Seattle area and I’m considering purchasing a membership in Vancouver. Apparently you can use your membership at any store location and the membership fee’s vary from store to store since each store is independantly owned and operated. In the Seattle area the membership fee is $5360 for 3 years and you need to commit to buying it and pay them during their presentation or you are told you will not ever be given to opportunity to join again. Since I’m going to build a new home in the Blaine area, Vancouver would be more convenient to pick up my items such as cabinets, windows, flooring etc. This would also give me an excellent opportunity to purchase any new furnishings and appliances for the new home. The membership rate is cheaper in Vancouver but the Seattle sales rep told me that in Vancouver they charge GST tax. I’m not sure if this is true or was just an attempt to convince me to buy in the Seattle store. Also the sales tax in the Seattle area 8.8% which is higher then your 7% PST tax. I would need to find out if I would need to pay a tariff on these goods when I bring them across the border and how much that would be. In my case I believe the membership would be worthwhile since I’m building and furnishing a new home. Otherwise it would take me a long time to recoup the savings to off set my $5360 membership fee. I just need to find out if it is more cost effective to purchase my membership in Vancouver or in the Seattle area.

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call the direct buy # in the phone book(604-251-5822) and punch in any 3 digit # EXT…..speak to a person to be removed from the list- call the same person back every day for a week- and hopefully they will figure it out and delete your number…. i used ext #251 and got a real person!!

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My wife and I decided not to join after one of their presentations. We were then told we were “losers”

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I made the mistake of filling out a card at the BC Place Home Show two years ago. They called every week for 1 1/2 years. Only after I moved and had the phone number temporarily disconnected for two months have the calls stopped. Stay away from them and do not fill out any cards offering ‘free’ tours of their showroom.

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Everyone who is complaining needs to see a real deal when there is one there. If you not interested, hang up and finish your liver and onions.

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My girlfriend and I finally went to an “open house” last week. When we arrived at the office the girl at the front desk asked if we were there for the open house. I was told by the telemarketer that I would be attending a presentation and to let the staff know my reservation number. When I told the girl at the front desk this and gave her my reservation number she looked back at me with a blank “are-you-stupid” look for a few seconds and repeated “Sooooo you’re here for the open house?” We were speaking English but there was very little communication going on as I attempted to figure out if “presentations” were the same as “open houses”. We finally sat down to wait for an associate to see us. Another couple came into the lobby as we were waiting. The man went to the front desk. The girl asked, “Are you here for the open house?” He replied, “I had a membership but it has expired. What can I do to renew it?” “Can I see the membership card?”, answered the girl. After about 2 seconds she gave it back saying it couldn’t be renewed then looked at him for a few seconds and said to him, “Soooooooo you’re here for the open house?” I almost fell out of my seat. Great first impression. A gentleman finally came in to see if we were here for the open house, asked us our names then immediately disappeared into the show room. We had no idea if we were to follow or stay? We looked at another couple in the waiting room who were similarly confused and decided to sit back down. We never did see him again. A minute or so passed and then 2 salesmen arrived, one for each couple. Hey, they know our names! That first guy who introduced himself to us was clever. He just wanted to get our names, run to the back and assign us a sales guy. That was a really intelligent bit of salesmanship. Great second impression. I was awed. We then had a chat with our guy for a few minutes. He forgot a few key terms during his pitch but figured we knew what he was talking about. He then went in search of a viewing room for the presentation video. He opened up a hidden door close to where we were sitting. There were already people in there watching a video. He went looking for another… We finally got a room for the video, he led us in with another couple and just before leaving he said, “This is an amazing video. I get excited about it every time I see it!” I felt that way about seeing Star Wars in the theatre again after 20 years, this video must be spectacular. The pitch was there, save money, brand names, testimonials, et al. The video made this out to be a pretty exclusive club with some secrecy rules – to protect the business.

“1ST RULE: You do not talk about FIGHT CLUB.
2nd RULE: You DO NOT talk about FIGHT CLUB.”

Then the clincher – $4300 sign up fee due now with no time to think it over and if you decide not to sign up you are black listed, never to see these savings again.

“8th RULE: If this is your first night at FIGHT CLUB, you HAVE to fight.”

The 30 minute video ended with a “Ding” signaling the salesmen to open the door and grab their respective prey. I felt like toast. Great 3rd impression. The “now-or-never” clause surprised me and I told our guy this. He had an answer for every doubt I had (as a good salesman should). But I was not prepared to drop $4300 because a lady on a video told me this deal is soooooooooooooo good that it must be protected with these rules.
During the post-video pitch, while we were asking questions, our guy asked to be excused for a smoke. He either really needed to smoke or realized that there was no use trying with us anymore.

“3rd RULE: If someone says “stop” or goes limp, taps out the fight is over.”

Great 4th impression. Upon his return we told him that the “now-or-never” clause was dodgy and weren’t comfortable dropping that kind of dough to satisfy the “rule”.
We also mentioned that we forgot our paper that had the scratch and win on it so he went to the back, got a new one for us and brought out our prize at the same time – a set of cheap luggage. “I’ve got a feeling this is what you’ll win.” he said with a smirk. We scratched… and… revealed… a…. LUGGAGE SET!!!
Woo hoo. By this time the rest of the staff had all gone home for the night. We had one more question: I was the guy called and booked the “open house”, I don’t mind being black listed but will my girlfriend be exempt from these savings in the future? “Well, you can always go to the website and ask for an invitation…” – leading me to realize that showing up with $4300 one day will not get me booted out.

“7th RULE: Fights will go on as long as they have to.”

.oO sigh Oo.

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I’ve been a Direct Buy customer for several years. I’ve got to say that it’s been a good experience overall. We found their membership sales practices to be abhorent. Still, the system works when you work with it. We’ve been renovating our house and have saved thousands of dollars over the years. Yes, you have to wait for the merchandise and yes you have to be careful, but if you’re smart about it and shop around, you really can save money – not on everything, but on most things. What we’ve found is that while we don’t always spend less money, we usually get a much better product than if we were to buy in the stores.

While searching the catalogues can be a pain, we have found that once you have an idea of what real prices are out in the stores, you can save a lot of time by having all the catalogues in one place rather than driving all over the city. I’d also have to say that the staff at the local Coquitlam location have been extremely helpful to us – much more than we expected.

I just wish that they weren’t so high pressure in their membership sales approach. I don’t think it’s necessary for them to be that way, because the product isn’t that bad. On Saturday, we were at the showroom and bumped into our lawyer who was shopping there as well. I’m figuring if our lawyer is happy with the service, it can’t be all that shady.

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I used to manage one of DirectBuy’s call centers in Ontario. The call process is based on phone numbers loaded into their software program at a point in time (ours was from very old information). If the call center rep calls and there is no answer, they hang up and move to the next call. Previously called numbers (“attempts”) will cycle through eventually. If, and only if the HOMEOWNER specifically says “Do not call me ever again” or “Remove my number from your call list”, then the phone number is discarded. If you simply hang up, or say “no thanks”, you WILL be called again. The reps on the phones have a VERBATIM script that they must follow and all calls are taped. If the rep on the phone allows the call to get off-track, they are reprimanded during education sessions and one on one coaching. Under NO circumstances can a rep tell you the price of the membership. Thats a surefire way of a rep to get fired. Working in the call center making HUNDREDS (300+) outbound calls a day is tedious, boring, and degrading. Call center rep retention is very low. Also, the pay is only cents above mininum wage. Each DirectBuy location is owned independently (franchise), but this company has a cookie-cutter methodology and everything, I mean EVERYTHING is scripted… even the call you receive to say your merchandise has arrived in the warehouse is a scripted call. Working there is like being brainwashed, and you can NEVER question their marketing methodology….because, they say, its a proven methodology and it works. The atmosphere working there is contentious at best and I can honestly say, it was one of the worst experiences of my working career. My last comment here is this: try to be civil on the phone to a rep when they call…. keep in mind, your call is one of 300+ they have to make that day, and they are often hung up on, sworn at, and even threatened. All for minimum wage with no hopes of advancement, and worse, being put under a microscope (the call monitoring) and constantly told they need to improve their numbers and their ATTITUDE.

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