DirectBuy membership buying club

Those of you who have seen the infomercials for DirectBuy may wonder what it’s all about. Here’s the scoop:

They will set you up with a visitor’s pass to come and get the grand tour at the location nearest you. They will show you all sorts of things, many from manufacturers you know and love, at discount prices. Then they will tell you the beginning membership fee—literally several thousand dollars!!—it’s a lot of money, but if you’re planning major home projects, you’re led to believe that it will be worth it, that you’ll recoup the money in savings. You are also told that you have ONLY THAT DAY to decide if you’re going to join or not, and that if you refuse, you will never be given the opportunity again, because they have to protect the vendors who work with them.

A few words of advice—DON’T DO IT! At least, *most* people shouldn’t do it, because it’s a very bad deal, with a few exceptions. A few things you should know:

* They may say that you’ll be able to consult with their kitchen designers to get your new kitchen design, but it turns out that their “designers” aren’t really designers at all; they are trained to write down the basics of custom kitchen orders and forward them to the actual designers who work for the cabinet companies. You will never get to discuss your kitchen with a real designer. You must provide the drawings and the notes, and if you have problems with the design you receive back based on those notes, after the 3rd time you send it back for reworking, you will be charged a significant design fee.

* They don’t deliver anything—they have local contractors they refer you to. Because the delivery is not subsidized by a regular store, the delivery charge is significantly more than a store would charge, AND you are assuming complete liability for anything the installer does wrong. The vendors do not like returns, especially if there’s a chance a flawed appliance didn’t actually arrive at the DirectBuy shop that way. (Note: A very few of the vendors will deliver directly to your home, but they do not install. Can you install your own dishwasher?)

* You can find many of the smaller items and (when on sale) technology items for the same or even LOWER prices on the Internet or through sales at local discount stores.

* You can never take *anyone* shopping with you who is not part of your immediate household, not a friend, not an interior designer.

* There is an 8% handling fee added to most items, in addition to sales tax.

* You only make significant savings if you buy A LOT of things—so you need a big enough house to put them in. If you have a small house and only buy a refrigerator once every 20 years, you will never recoup the money you laid out to join.

* Receiving/pick-up times are limited. So, come to that, are the times when you can “shop”: they’re not open Sundays or Mondays and the rest of the week they don’t open in the mornings, and they close at 5 on Fridays and Saturdays.

* Once you have a contract, you’re locked in, and if they let you out of it, they’d have to let all the many dissatisfied customers out of it. (Read more at http://www.infomercialratings.com/product/direct_buy).

* When you go in for your “visit”, you will meet people who like and even love DirectBuy; there are many more who aren’t there who totally hate it.

To summarize:

Joining might be good for you IF:

* You like catalog shopping.

* You have a big house, and/or multiple offices or rental properties for which you need to provide appliances, nice furniture, etc.

* You hate shopping in stores.

* You can deliver and install appliances yourself, or you have someone handy to do it for you cheaply.

* You are free to shop or pick up on weekday afternoons.

*

DON’T JOIN IF:

* You like shopping with friends.

* You like to see and touch things before you buy them.

* You don’t like catalog shopping.

* You have a small home.

* You don’t redecorate often.

* You’d have to pay a stranger to deliver and install.

* You’d have to take time off from work to look at catalogs during their business hours (it takes longer than you think!).

And if you are part of this latter group, DON’T LISTEN to the members of the former group! Just because someone else likes it, doesn’t mean you will!