Direct Buy?
Has anyone become a “member” of this company. I see their ads all the time and I called to get the scoop but they are insistent that you schedule a visitor’s day with them. Now I’ll go the ends of the earth for a perceived bargain but something about them just seems shady. How much…
Has anyone become a “member” of this company. I see their ads all the time and I called to get the scoop but they are insistent that you schedule a visitor’s day with them. Now I’ll go the ends of the earth for a perceived bargain but something about them just seems shady. How much does a membership costs? Are there offerings really that great of a savings? Is it worth it?
My sister and her husband were suckered into the “cult” and were very unsatisfied. First it took them 6 months to get the three matching pieces of a bedroom set for their daughter. They then renovated a bathroom, purchased the fixtures through direct buy…had a problem with a toilet that had to be returned as it was damaged in delivery…it took four moths to deal with that, they ended up going to home depot so they could finish the project. They paid like $5,000 for a membership and just did not find it worth it and found it very difficult to deal with…lost money in the process.
My cousin is a member and last I heard he swears by it. He does alot of renovation work and purchases cabinets and fixtures through them to save his customers cash.
On the other hand, my sister-in-law joined years ago and has never taken full advantage of it, so now they want to opt out (there is an annual maintenance fee). I’ve often browsed their catalog when we needed things, but never found anything I’d want to buy.
If it’s anything like a time share presentation it really is a hard sell. I haven’t seen any “direct buy” memberships for resale on the internet, but you never know your luck. If anyone out there is thinking of going to a time share presentation, look up the resale prices on the internet before you go to the presentation. You will find that the resale prices are 25% – 50% of the price that’s offered by the sponsor. If you have the resolve, take the free vacation, if you like the plan, buy it on eBay or another website.
My mother is a member for years, it really is a cult-like operation.
Yes – You definately do get amazingly discounted prices. My mom recently bought us a dresser & night stand for around $2,200 including shipping. Cheapest retail we could find was around $4,000.
The catch – Membership is around $15K for Ten years last I heard. Pretty steep if you dont plan on spending at least twice that over the next 10 years. If you buy alot of higher end furniture or plan to furnish a new home it can definately be worth it. The other catch – Think carefully about using the “Free Day Pass” they offer. Once they get you inside its all about the HARD SELL…i.e. “Now that you’ve seen what we offer would you like to join? Oh, you want time to think about? Sorry, unless you join right now on the spot, you are going to be banned from ever coming back again!”
Yes it really is that intense.