Regarding DirectBuy

I wanted to start an email to warn people of DirectBuy, and how they conduct

business. My husband and I are new-ish members, and have signed up for the

initial membership of two years, wanting to renovate parts of our home.

In the year and a half so far, we’ve gotten nothing but hassle.

First and foremost, most of the staff who work there have no idea what

they’re doing. We’ve gone in on a few Saturdays – that being the only day we

have available to visit their ‘showroom’ – and we struggled with getting any

help. We were told to make ourselves available on a weekday to talk to

presumed ‘renovation experts’ and ‘electronics experts’ who don’t work

weekends. The problem is, is that my husband and I have jobs that interfere

with our weekday availability.

Secondly, there is no return policy when the staff make a mistake. Their

kitchen expert had botched measurements for our kitchen, to the point where

our contractor was unable to fit in many of the pieces that were custom made

for us, and when we approached DirectBuy about it, we were given a hard

time. I spent over half an hour on the phone with their kitchen expert

trying to get her to just come out and see what the problem was, and

remeasure the kitchen. She then also expected us to spend more money on

buying pieces to replace ones that were ordered wrong from her end. After

much persistence, she finally agreed to replace it for us, but not after a

condescending lecture about how we, the customer, should swallow the cost of

her mistakes (valuing at a few hundred dollars) when considering the

thousands that we’re saving on this room’s renovation.

We’ve dealt with two different locations of DirectBuy, one in Mississauga

and one in Brampton (Ontario, Canada). The reason why we left the

Mississauga location was because of the incredibly poor customer service

that we received from there, as well as us realizing that the staff, at

best, are inept. By dealing with this second location, we’ve come to realize

that this seems to be a common thread throughout the chain.

DirectBuy's gimmick is that they 'dont make a profit on anything they sell,

just the membership fees' - but this has become an excuse. Abiding by this

policy allows them to make whatever mistakes they want, and in tern, the

customer looses hundreds of dollars (or more) because if their ineptitude.

I’ve been looking at a few links regarding DirectBuy and how they do

business, and am glad to see that we’re not the only ones unsatisfied with

the way they do business. It's unfortunate that we've spent the $4000

membership fee though before finding this out. Despite the fact that we've

saved a substantial amount on our kitchen and other items that we've bought,

it’s more stress than what it’s worth, and I would very much discourage

anyone from even considering dealing with this company.

Thanks for reading, I hope this is shared and helps people in avoiding to

deal with DirectBuy.

Sabrina Thompson

Mississauga, Ontario

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