Originally posted on Brads Blog at http://www.bradsblog.net/beware-directbuy.htm and reproduced here without permission under the Fair Use Doctrine. This stuff is excerpted and edited. Comments are in italics.
(NOTE: before you even try it, NO, I am not an employee of DirectBuy, I just wanted to give people another point of view so everyone doesn’t get scared away when this might actually be a good option for you.)
Ummm, like, you're an imbecile, Matt. Nobody's aking you to make anything be "fair and balanced" ... if you have some experience, positive or negative, post it. If you have some "perspective", then fer sure, we all want to hear it. But if your purpose is to counterbalance everybody else's opinions, then you get a great big GFY from me.
We were presented with the cost of the membership during the presentation, and I could tell a lot of people hadn’t done any research on what they were getting into.
So am I to presume that you had done the research and had at least a general idea of the membership fee? But you're trying to say, like, other people should have done their research first? You know, I don't disagree with you, that's not a bad idea to look some of this stuff up on the internet first, though you can kind of figure that most of the people who did that probably aren't coming to the presentation. But what's that tell you, huh? You think people ought to know the membership fee going into the presentation, but the people running DirectBuy think otherwise. You seem to have at least made the case that the people running DirectBuy feel the need to be sneaky about things. Just what I wanted to do, pay several thousand dollars to people I can't really trust, based on their promise that they're doing me a big favor. Uh huh.
We have yet to buy anything, but from the prices I have seen for items I will need to purchase in the next year, I’m very glad that we joined. Of course it’s difficult to pay $4700 for basically the “rights” to purchase something. And of course, if you’re just looking to buy an end table and a step stool, this isn’t the best thing for you. And yes, you can sometimes find lower prices in the stores if they are on a really good sale. You’ve just got to be a smart shopper and do your research before you buy.
I'm overjoyed to have you share your perspective... you paid the money, you endorse the service. Even though you haven't got any experience with them yet, you're already glad you joined, even though you think you pretty much paid a huge membership fee which you could have avoided by being a "smart shopper." I guess that means you don't think of yourself as a "smart shopper." I'm inclined to agree with you.
Anyhow, we were allowed to ask any questions we had. I even had our host look up a couple prices for me so I could see exactly what the purchasing prices were really like. We found that the furniture, flooring, cabinetry, jewelry, grills, etc were all big money markups at the stores. After doing some math on what we would need to buy (dining room set, kitchen table, family room furniture, kids bedroom set, 2 garage door openers, light fixtures, ceiling fans, a grill, lawnmower, etc) it really was a no brainer to join.
You were allowed to ask questions? Well, what were they going to do, gag you before you entered the room? You claim you were able to determine the actual purchase prices, yet (if you had done some research on the internet, you would know that their's some dispute as to whether they actually fulfill the representations they make about product and price availability at the presentation, after people become members). How can you possibly know anything about the markups on furniture, flooring, cabinetry, jewelry, grills, etc.? You're basing everything on what the DirectBuy salesfolk are telling you. Oh, I forgot, they couldn't possibly be exaggerating your savings.
After doing some math ... it really was a no brainer to join.
Trust me, it's a "no brainer" if like Matt, you've got "no brain."
EliMantel - 12 Sep 2006
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Revision r1.1 - 12 Sep 2006 - 08:04 by EliMantel
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