More DirectBuy Complaints (before they hired Dozier Internet Law)
by Dan tdaxp ~ October 10th, 2007
For those joining late: DirectBuy is a “home improvement” company with a mixed track record. There’s a number of mixed reviews of their services, available from both blogs and mainstream media outlets. More recently, after a blogger at Infomercial Scams complained about Direct Buy’s infomercial scam, DirectBuy’s lawyer, Dozier Internet Law, sent him an incompetently written “cease-and-desist” letter that was copyrighted! This “strategic lawsuit against public participation” would be more threatening if it was filed by such “chuckleheads.”
Then blogs stand up. Public Citizen exposed the DirectBuy/Dozier threat, I Hate Linux asked to be sued too, and I posted the plain text of the demand letter.
Unfortunately, DirectBuy generates so many spam websites that it is hard to find out opinions about the company. Therefore, this post contains mainstream media and blogosphere reviews of Direct Buy that did not make it into my previous posts
From the Mainstream Media:
- Team 5 Investigates DirectBuy.”
- WCBS TV reaches a similar conclusion.”
- Direct Buy: One Man’s Story (From CTV, Canada) (thanks to Jeremy’s Thoughts for the link
From the Internet:
Over at Mafe Maria, a long complaint against DirectBuy’s deceptive hard sell includes includes this paragraph:
The poor woman doesn’t know that both Joey and I are fricking MBAs and have spent a ridiculous amount of our lives making a living out of understanding concepts like the present value of money and financial risk… Who can guarantee us that they’ll still be around in 2-3 years?… That manufacturers won’t get off that business model in 2-5 years, when we may be ready to buy, finally taking advantage of our extremely expensive upfront investment? Why would we put down $4,500 now, when we’re not ready to redecorate yet, so the savings are uncertain, and most likely far ahead in the future?
Rate That Company has detailed consumer complaints against Direct Buy.
Complaints.com has a detailed posts which reveals that another name for DirectBuy is UCC Total Home. My 3 Cents likewise complains posts a “UCC / DirectBuy Complaint.”
Deaf Biz wonders if DirectBuy is inhospitable to the hearing impaired.
Bringing up memories of the JL Kirk saga, DirectBuy’s hard sell requires you to bring your spouse.
Larry over at The Squeaky Wheel is angry enough at DirectBuy to type ENTIRELY IN CAPS. Pangloff is disappointed enough to write everything about DirectBuy in one loooooong paragraph.
DirectBuy in Buffalo has some problems with the Better Business Bureau. Ditto DirectBuy of Westchester and Direct Buy of Nassau County. What’s going wrong with the DirectBuys in New York?
Servo Magazine has a page full of criticisms against Direct Buy. So does the Yahoo! Answer to ‘How much does a membership in Direct buy cost???‘ But that’s nothing compared to the Edumacation wiki on DirectBuy ComplaintStationComments! And that’s not even the index page of DirectBuy problems!
March 27th, 2008 at 11:58 am
I think people are to judgemental. Just because they cant understand something it has to be bad. There is nothing wrong with DirectBuy it is a good investment for those who can afford it. As for the supposed high pressure tactics thats crap they tell you straight put either you want to do it or you dont so whats the problem. I think people complain to much just cuse they cant afford it. Bo hoo get over it they are a great company and realy do save people money. Hell just ask there members,
March 30th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Rebecca,
People have been asking their members — the scandal began when DirectBuy began threatening current and former members who complained about their treatment by the company [1]!
[1] http://www.infomercialscams.com/scams/direct_buy_scams
June 16th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Here’s what the Consumer Watchdog in Hartford, CT found:
“If you don’t like the product, tough. You are stuck with it. DirectBuy unlike retail stores has a no-return policy and provides no warranties.
Sales books are not always up to date, and not every item is always available.
More disturbing to me is that DirectBuy attempts to hide the fact that not all savings it sees from manufacturers are passed on directly to members.
By reviewing the 260-plus page agreement with its franchise owners, I learned that DirectBuy reserves the right to keep rebates, discounts and other payments from manufacturers and suppliers.
It also keeps early-pay discounts, and all DirectBuy purchases are paid by the member at the time of ordering.”
http://www.courant.com/business/hc-watchdog0511.artmay11,0,3450527.column
Somehow when a buyer’s club keeps discounts and rebates it’s a good deal for the consumer?
You guessed it: It’s a scam!
July 15th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
2 years ago my husband and I picked up a DirectBuy membership, despite my reservations. Granted we did save money when we renovated our kitchen, but the 3 month reno ended up taking over 8 months due to DirectBuy’s incompetance. Their so-called ‘kitchen expert’ (the wife of the owner of that location) barely understood the program she was using to map out our kitchen, and half of our cabinets were misordered and/or mismeasured. It was such an incredible hassle to deal with them, and even though they covered some of the expenses from mistakes (up to the value of our membership fee) - after that it was like pulling teeth to get them to fix the rest of their mistakes.
At the end of it all, we were still out of pocket at least $400 just with DirectBuy alone, plus we had to spend another $350+ at Home Depot and Ikea to finish our kitchen (plus our time, plus another $800 in contractor fees to install parts of our kitchen that came in drastically late, etc).
We’ve dealt with at least 2 DirectBuy locations in the Toronto area, and very little convinces me that DirectBuy is not only drastically incompetant, but a huge scam as well.