Buying Direct

[TALB]

We are buying a new home and need to purchase several rooms of furniture. We are considering buying into one of the direct buy programs. Has anyone done this? Was the savings substantial enough to offset the buy-in cost? thanks for the feedback!

 

[cgcruz]

I personally dont have a membership, but there's a recent thread about DirectBuy if you search. I think they said membership is around $2,000 a year! Oh, and appearantly people regretted signing up.

 

[cats mom]

We have friends who say it was worth it to them - but they were completely furnishing a new house AND business offices.

It is outrageously expensive to join and from what I understand if you ask for one of the complimentary one day passes to check it out you WILL be pressured to come up with your membership fee on the spot, no going home to think about it.

Do a search here. I'm sure I've seen posts on this board from folks who have first hand experience.

 

[luvthatdisney]

Please do an internet search about these places as you might be surprised what you find. We also looked into them before we remodeled our kitchen, I dont think Direct Buy is the place for us.

Just remember buyer beware!

 

[kfeuer]

Clark Howard is a consumer advocate who has his own radio show. Here's what his website has to say:

Legitimate warehouse clubs such as Costco, Sam's Club or B.J.'s often can provide excellent savings on merchandise.
In the legitimate clubs, you pay a membership fee of up to $45 a year and the merchandise is right there on the shelves for you to purchase.
Non-legitimate buying clubs are nothing but catalog distributors. They have a showroom, but that's just a front, because they don't actually have merchandise in inventory.
Non-legitimate buying clubs charge an initiation fee typically of $900 to $1,500, plus an annual membership fee of $50 to $100.
The ripoff clubs don't care if you ever buy anything from them, but they'll force you to pay the fees, to the point of suing you.

http://clarkhoward.com/shownotes/category/3/73/257/

 

[asgt]

OMG! Please look into extremely well first!!! My friend was building a new home and they thought it was a good idea. They went to a DirectBuy showroom, was given the "pitch" and was sucked into it. they laid down $4000 for a membership and had immediate buyers remorse. They tried to get their money back but couldnt and she was sick to her stomach for weeks! They were never even able to use it because they found everything they needed to build thier entire house cheaper elsewhere. We are forbidden to ever talk about it around them. It was a huge mistake. I am not trying to tell you what to do but that is a big decision to regret later and a lot of money to flush down the toilet.

 

[ntink]

Another option:

My In-Laws have saved lots of money buying furniture direct from North Carolina. One of the stores they have used is Black's Furniture http://www.blacksfurniture.com

 

[Tinkerbelle99]

It is true, that is it a front - as they say. Its a 'showroom' full of catalogs. I think for the general/average consumer - you will never get your moneys worth.

On the other hand, if your a HIGH END consumer, looking to spend crazy amounts of money anyway and know EXACTLY what your looking for - then you very well may be able to use it to your advantage.

My DH and I got suckered into this a very long time ago, as newlyweds with a new home. It was called United Consumers Club back in the day and they swiped $1200 from us. Did we get our monies worth? HECK NO!

We chalked it up to being young and naive, a hard lesson learned. When those stupid direct buy commercials come on, i change the channel.

You werent getting normal things cheaper, but high end stuff with a bit of a discount.

Funny thing, I can see how a home and/or business owner could get sucked into this web, but my DH and I can not figure out why/how his brother did when he lives in an apartment? Yep, BIL is one of Direct Buys victims, at a whopping $2500!!!

Buyer beware, very aware!!!

 

[MaryKLady]

My BIL & SIL did this. They paid $5000. (Keep in mind they do research and will ask your annual income, keep it low. ) However, in their case it makes sense. They have an older home in a nice area that needs a ton of work. They are looking at getting six, 6' sliders. My BIL said they will save almost $500 a piece on just those. That's $3000 right there and they have a long way to go! Figure out what you really will use it for, how do the #'s work out?

PS-My BIL said he can get stuff for us too! Ask around and see if you know anybody who already has a membership and will do you the favor. Then buy them dinner.

 

[koziclan]

My friend just finished building a house and used Direct Buy. She will NEVER to that again! You have to pay a percentage for storage or something on everything you purchase plus transportation from their warehouse. These things add up fast! When she called some vendors that dealt with Direct Buy for pricing she often got a high cost than what was given to her as a regular consumer!

 

[TALB]

Thank you everyone! I think we will look into the NC furniture option first. You are the best!!

 

[tor]

We bought in 15 years ago when it was UCC as well. We made our money back within a few purchases. The stuff we bought was higher end and we would go and shop it elsewhere before we bought to make sure there was a real savings. But that was then now it seems as if the prices are good but rip you off on the shipping wich is done in their own trucks at inflated prices and it seems you can probably get better prices off the internet in most cases when you consider the membership fees.

 

[merekc]

Here in Kansas City some people I know have purchased into it. What they found is that when Nebraska Furniture Mart came to town, they were way cheaper than DirectBuy. Before NFM came, I had heard of people going to Omaha to shop at the original store and bringing back a UHaul full of their purchases to furnish whole houses. I don't know compared to other areas of the country what options you have but NFM has pretty good prices when I have priced things. I see you are in Central Illinois, you might check out how long it would take to get to a NFM and check out their website it shows furniture and pricing. Might be worth the trip if you don't have any place nearby with deals.

I also think DirectBuy used to be a better deal years ago when the membership fee was around $1000, now I think it is up to $4000 or so. This is hard to recoup this much of a savings. Maybe it would be worth it if you were building.

 

[eliza61]

We are buying a new home and need to purchase several rooms of furniture. We are considering buying into one of the direct buy programs. Has anyone done this? Was the savings substantial enough to offset the buy-in cost? thanks for the feedback!

When we had our home built we thought about the program. It was so expensive. We took the cost of the program ($800 bucks at the time) and took a trip to High pointe NC, which is the furniture capital of the world (or so they say). They selection and prices were outstanding, it literally took us days to go through some of the stores. We saved $1000's going directly through the manufacturer. Only drawback, The furniture is made to order. you see what you like and it's custom made so that took about 10 weeks.
Pm for info.

 

[umaangel00]

My inlaws bought into Direct Buy a year ago and loved it. They are building a new house though and have saved a ton. They also go to Lowe's a lot though because our local one has crazy good clearance deals on friday night and saturday morning!