We were told up front that some catagories of products offer more savings over retail prices. We have found this to be true. You won't save as much on electronics as on furniture or home improvemnet. We don't feel that they misrepresented the membership. That said, we would only recommend them if you are planning to purchase new furniture and do some major remodeling as those catogories have the most savings. We've also saving on sporting goods. It does take a long time to get most products, so if you need something right away you'll be stuck. Our dishwasher broke and we got a good price on a 'club exclusive' but didn't get it for 5 or 6 weeks :-( Also, you save more if you are going with higher end products.
At the time we joined we were planning some major remodeling, but that didn't happen. We are hoping that we will still be able take advantage of our membership and make it worth while, but as of now it has not paid off because we haven't used it how we thought we would. If they go bankrupt from all the lawsuits I guess that won't happen. Other members we have talked to (people who have $$ to spend) are happy with theirs.

My boyfriend and I signed up for Direct Buy last November. I was currently purchasing a condo and specified that I couldn't do anything that would go on my credit, or have my credit checked. Gail, who was the sales woman who helped us, insisted that it has nothing to do with my credit and is simply like a "gym membership". After signing up, the following evening I tried calling the owner of the company to cancel. His secretary claimed he is on vacation and will call me back in a couple days. When a couple day's have gone by, I still have not received a phone call. I called back and his secretary says he is in a meeting, and would call me back after 6 p.m. I waited until 6 p.m. and still have not received a phone call. So, i called back again and his secretary put me on hold for about 4 minutes and then came back and said he was still in the meeting. After that, my boyfriend called and said he needed to speak with the owner because he was having shipping problems, the owner admittedly answered the phone call. My boyfriend stated that Gail had lied to us, and he wanted to cancel our membership, and that he would like to come in and sign the papers to cancel. The owner started yelling and proceeded to say that if we step foot in the building he was going to call the police. I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, and still nothing has been done about this.

Buyer Beware they will tell you anything! I had recently purchased a house and went to the direct buy showing. I wanted to put a new fence around my property. The salesman promised they had all the contractors and equipment I would ever need. He also promised that they had roofing companies at low prices. The promise of future savings and THE ONE TIME FEE to be a member for life pulled me in. He was so nice and polite and seem to understand all my concerns. I wanted to go home and think about it but once you leave you cannot join...My roof was going to cost upwards from 7, 000 and my fence 5, 000 or better both items materials included from direct buy would be more than half off my doing it without them. I signed came back the next day to shop guess what? No fencing materials and no contractors that work directly with them, and to add insult to injury there was also no roofing companies. Which she explained to me very briefly and apologized for the misunderstanding which cost me greatly.

Fast forward there years and now they want 200.00 to continue my membership which at signing was supposed to be for life at the cost I paid. Made a call to the company and they politely sent me a copy of my contract which stated it at the end very briefly...That is the reason they don't want you to leave cause if you had all the info you wouldn't sign up.

Shipping is awful, for most items you can almost always find a defect if its furniture but nothing worth the hassle of sending it back and waiting for a year for the replacement.

Time lost looking through catalogs recording your own order and then sitting with them while they examine every item and charge for every item is ridiculous. You actually want them to pay you for the work you do while you are there.

Embarassment when you realize what you have allowed to happen to you makes you want to use Direct buy more until you realize they expect you to keep paying for the service. Due to their lies I have only purchased two items which did not come close to what I spent to become a member! The roof and the fence would've been worth it a table and a crib is by no means a fair trade. Just say no!

We purchased a Direct Buy membership back in 2003, when the price to join was within reason. The first purchase was for Bathroom cabinetry, marble sink, etc. We were pleased with the purchase and felt we made a good decision in joining the "club". We then moved to a new location and started delaing with another Direct Buy office - this is where the nightmare begins. First purchase we bought a set of curio cabinets. When we received them they were just about identical, however, we found over 12 variations of the design, be it the location of shelves, locks, the top, bottom legs, and the pane sections for the front doors. One unit sat really nice, the other wasn't racked properly and the color was off between the two. After 3 months of going back and forth with the Purchasing team at Direct Buy, the manufacturer cut us a check for one of the units. They were made in two seperate facilities - hence the difference. We felt that they were seconds asnd shipped as seconds by the manufacturer. We then picked up a set of bureau drawers for our kids. Once came in with a forklift hole through the unit - they didn't notice it nor did they notice the broken leg on one of the units. They ordered one new bureau and had a wood craftsman come out and fix the broken leg. Then we ordered a sleeper couch for our home office. This piece is really nice except for the fact that the seat cushions are off center to the back cushion, so you have to really squish the seat cushions to make the back cushions line up, which again makes it look like we received a second. And finally, my wife ordered a real nice teapot, and the first time she boiled water in it, the steam, instead of coming out the spout end and whistling, came out the lid and burnt her hand. The lid was bent where the external and internal pieces came together. Then there was the color, looked like it was not uniformly coated. We went around Direct Buy and contacted the manufacturer who provided us with a call tag and sent us a new tea pot.
For the money potential "members" would pay now to join, find someone who is a member and ride their membership - Direct Buy had a good idea, however, it has gotten greedy as an organization and lost sight of what it was trying to accomplish.

I am complaining about not having my membership to Direct Buy cancelled although I submitted a letter requesting the cancellation. I saw the commercial and called the number for a chance at winning the $50, 000 home makeover. I was contacted by a sales consultant to set up a time to go to my local Direct Buy and try the key that was mailed to me to see if I won the $50, 000 home makeover. My husband and I had to spend 2 hours listening to how great the company was and how much money we could save. Needless to say we were also dupped into signing up to become members and realized after looking at the Direct Buy membership magazine, we couldn't afford anything in there. We decided to cancel our membership and wrote a letter stating the reasons we wanted to cancel. The owner said that he would take care of it and get back to us about it. He actually took our membership cards, the insiders price guide, and magazine from us. I thought he was actually going to cancel our membership, but did not do so and now we are stuck paying for something we can't use. HELP CLOSE THIS BUSINESS BEFORE OTHERS GET DUPED!!!