Anyone Join Direct Buy? Would like to Know More About It.

It is a super hard sell with very pushy salespeople *before* you join. Once you've joined, everyone is super nice and helpful. We were about to embark on a $300,000 remodeling project (gutting the first floor, adding an entire second storey, major, major remodel). We DID join DB and overall it saved us around $50,000 on that project. We've kept up our membership because I anticipate doing another major remodel on another house in the future. But if I *just* had to furnish a few rooms, I wouldn't bother joining, the savings wouldn't be as great. The place we saved the most was on the stuff that actually went into the house - appliances, cabinets, flooring, tile, that kind of stuff. After our major remodel, we had one bathroom we hadn't touched during the remodel. About 3 years later, we decided to go ahead and remodel *it* too. My neighbor had just finished remodeling a similar bathroom using high-end finishes like we were planning. She told me she spent close to $30,000 on her bathroom. We spent $13,000. So, yeah, DB can certainly save $$, but not always and their hard sell can a total turn-off.

Added: It cost us $3000 to join, but that was many years ago. I've heard it's more expensive now...

I looked into DB when we embarked on a home building project, but there were so many horrible reviews online that I didn't bother. But one way I found to save a lot of money on items for our construction was to find local online auction companies (in our area my favorite is Auction Masters). They hold auctions for businesses that are either selling overstock or are going out of business. We got amazing deals on high end lighting, bathroom furnishings, cabinets, etc. They also hold auctions every other month with household furnishings, accessories, paintings, etc. Very good deals if you are patient.

We have been members for 16 years (they were called United Consumers Club before). We joined because we bought a new house and needed furniture. Back then it was not as expensive to join...it's all relative. We did make our money back and then some on the furniture. We kept our membership going throughout the years and so happy we did. 5 years ago we added a huge addition to our house including gutting the kitchen, two bathrooms and two new rooms to our house. Direct buy saved us sooooo much money on the project. We bought everything from the kitchen cabinets (they have a contractor helping you measure everything out and design your kitchen), all faucets, appliances, carpet, light fixtures and so much more. It is a lot of work, you have to know what you are looking for, but the savings was probably around the $50,000 mark.

My suggestion is that before you go to your initial meeting, have a list of things - make, model and price of several things you would want to purchase. Ask them to tell you how much it would cost if you purchased through them and then you can see it right away and make a better educated decision.

Good luck

Google Direct Buy. Lots of people apparently think it is a scam.

Some how they got my name when we moved into our new home and I felt they were extremely pushy sales people. I thought if they were this obnoxious on the phone they must be terrible to deal with in person so I never went to one of their presentations though.

We signed up and then backed out by cancelling our contract in the first 48 hours. Sooooo glad we backed out. They do save you money off of the items they sell, but they seemed WAY overpriced in the first place. Not the same things we would have been purchasing in the first place for our home. Maybe that is why they are going for a higher wage audience?? I wouldn't do it...

I received a phone call from their telemarketers years ago. They asked if we were at a certain income level and when I said no, they hung up. LOL I later heard that you have to pay $5,000 up front to join and there must be some truth to that because I read one of your replies that mentions that fee.

I think like some of the other replies, it really depends on what you're doing and how much they can really save you.

I would advise against it.

When we were building our house we looked into it and immediately realized it's risky. They send you a 'personal' invite to come talk to them, you can only come at THIS time, etc, etc....I googled it and basically it is a hard sell (akin to timeshare like pitches). What they don't tell you until youlve wasted your day there is that you need to give them $5K up front before you can do anything.

We used to be members...there is an upfront fee (possibly a couple thousand dollars??) and then an annual fee of $100. We used to buy several things and did save money. The money you save depends on the items you buy...appliances, carpet etc will save you more money than say a coffe maker etc. Some things didnt really save you any money. The people were always pretty friendly and we got good service when we went in. The bummer of it all is that you need to go to other showrooms (Ashley, Slumberland etc) to actually see the items and then you go back to Direct Buy to make the purchase. And you sometimes have to wait a while for your stuff. But, all in all in was a pretty good experience for us.

Don't do it! We did it after we bought our first house. A few things to keep in mind:
1. You have to pay for everything in cash. If you use a credit card they charge you the 2-3% fee. Also if you go to a furniture store you can usually get a financing deal - like 12 months no interest if you pay it off.
2. You have to figure out how to get all this stuff to your house -- or pay $ for someone to deliver it to you.
3. If you are buying "high end" furniture - like a $15,000 bedroom set you probably save money. But, if you buy more like $5,000 furniture - the savings is harder to see.
4. Everything has to be picked out of a catalog. I want to SEE what I'm buying. Hard to shop for furniture that way.

We found it very frustrating and did NOT get our moneys worth. Definitely a hard sale when you go in. They make it sound really good... we definitely felt stupid after buying it..........

We went to one of their presentations and thought it is not a good deal at all.