Direct Buy

[steveo10]

who uses it? pros/cons?

gonna be furnishing a new house next year and wondering if the lemon is worth the squeeze

thx Steve

 

[Cyle]

who uses it? pros/cons?

gonna be furnishing a new house next year and wondering if the lemon is worth the squeeze

thx Steve

No first hand experience, but I am convinced from what i've heard if your going to be spending enough the membership is trivial. The prices are really good. Plus it's worth a LOT to not have to shop prices around.

 

[sleded1]

I used a buddy's membership, put rug in the house, it was around 8 g, but the carpet quality was top notch, I think if your looking to save money, it's ok, but they get some different levels of quality product..... Do it...


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=53.418348,-113.445590

 

[007sevens]

I'm a member.

The pros are you get quality for less. usually I end up spending the same as I would in a retail store but I got 10 times better stuff.
Keep in mind you can get the cheap stuff too just way less.

The biggest Cons are that it takes time to order your stuff (4-8 weeks wait), and most of the stuff you want is not online so you have to visit the store and hand pick what you are looking for. They have samples of a lot of stuff but no product (leather samples for a couch for example). So you have to spend the time to look at it at the retailer and then order through DB. The payment part is not that bad and getting better, it use to be that you had to be in the store or direct deposit into there bank account. Now I believe you can do it via internet. I recommend it, but remember they ask for about $5000 up front, so they can weed off the one time buyers.

I would recommend going in for a visitor pass and see if it fits your needs, they will tell you everything you will need to know during this visit.

 

[E to the v]

Worth it if youre gonna buy lots of stuff, like a whole house worth of furniture & appliances. If youre just looking for a new couch & microwave dont bother. And electronics arent smoking deals....

 

[adamg]

The first rule of Direct Buy is you don't talk about Direct Buy.

 

[hmmc]

I was going to join then did a bit of reading (googled it) that made up my mind. Way to many bad stories and there shipping and handling department must be run by ups. Think twice and if you join try and find someone to pay for half of the membership. This is against the rules just like talking about it. There presentation is quite similar to a time share so make what you want of it. I have a few friends that joined when they built there houses so i just go through them.

 

[steveo10]

seems like the pros outweigh the cons. my buddies membership just expired... not too sure why he didnt renewal it or else i would have ran under him.

 

[Uturn]

I had a tough time deciding on buying a membership or not. Don't like giving someone $6000 up front. With building the new house we have paid off our membership and now we are saving money. After 3 years it cost $399/year to stay a member.

Pros

1. You can get a higher quality product for the same money.
2. You can save a lot of money on big purchases

Cons

1. High pressure sales to join. Video and one on one time with sales rep. (Ours didn't know his stuff and wash full of crap)
2. Limited selection in store. (you need to do your research ahead of time and know what you want)
3. You will travel to other stores to see the product you want to order.
4. You are buying from catalogues (Not always easy to use and you may end up short on parts you need to finish)
5. People don't put catalogues back when finished, so you may be looking all over for the one you need
6. The order desk can be very busy, especially evenings and SAT.
7. Delivery times are long (4 to 12 weeks) even though the supplier has the same thing in their warehouse stock.
8. Not all pickups area at DB warehouse. (I've been to 5 different west end warehouses picking stuff up)
9. A few suppliers don't like dealing with DB, so you always get the look when you pick stuff up
10. Very few knowledgeable staff in store (Hard to get help or questions asked, the ones there are usually quite busy)
11. Only about 15% of available merchandise is online, so you need to go to DB
12. You can use VISA/MC/AE online but not in store. Cash/cheque or debit only instore.
13. The price listed doesn't include shipping and handling. (Drives me crazy to pay a handling charge on a product they don't even get in the DB warehouse) Shipping and handling usually add 8% each to the cost of the product, then add GST.

To make a long story short, it's not for everyone. You really need to know what you want and don't expect any help while there. Building our new house we probably save $10k overall. Once it is done, I'm not sure how often I will travel to the west end to shop.

 

[steveo10]

reminds me a lot of purchasing something in the states and bring it back to Canada.... little more hassle but save money in the long-run.

once DB get ahold of your number, they are worst than telemarketers pestering you to pay a visit to their warehouse. typical salesmen

 

[burnt toast]

No first hand experience but my brother inlaw joined when he was redoing his house and he didn't seem to think it was worth it in the long run. Pain in the ass waiting on things and when they did show up and not what he asked for it was another 3 week wait. i don't know how close you are to the city but that can get costly running back in forth if you are any distance. Nothing like driving 1 hrs and getting there and it isn't the right stuff.

 

[steveo10]

i make trips to Nisku quite often so it wouldnt be a total waste but still

 

[winterulez]

U Turn is pretty much a 100% with his statement. Building my house i have saved lots on the big stuff like appliances and granite. Was going too order my cabinets through direct buy, paid the fee for the cabinet guy but didn't go through with it, bought from a local cabinet shop in Edmonton. Glad i did there were too many things that could of went wrong, everything is on you. All the fine details measureing etc. I am in the early stages of my build. I beleive if you are building you will do good, a small reno not so good. You still have too watch prices and compare. They have lots of stuff too choose from, and i hate going in the store and going through the catalouge. It can get frustrating in that show room ordering stuff. Overall it has been pretty good. The closest i found appliance shopping was Home depot beleive it or not, future shop was a close second, but i still saved a lot through direct buy.

 

[buck50]

we joined when we built our house. mostly just for the cabinets and windows. you CAN buy all the smaller stuff, but it's an hour and half drive to the closest DB fro me, so we just got the big stuff there. cabinets we got are kitchen kraft---everywhere else we looked they were gonna be ~$35000---DB we got them for $10 500.. windows are jeldwen---was gonna be about $32000---thru DB we got them for $19 000. our membership cost 5G's. a cousin of my wife's joined after us and bought basically everything for his house build short of the basic building materials. he saved a chit load. like others have said, you may not save a ton of money, because you end up buying higher quality stuff for the same price you were gonna buy the cheaper crap somewhere else for.

 

[enis750]

have heard a lot of manufacturers wont warranty an item if purchased through DB, because of the discounted prices
turn around times are LOOOOOOONG
had a friend wait 3 weeks for a fridge, stove etc....after already waiting 5 weeks in the first place
then it showed up damaged......no refund was possible, had to wait for the new one to show up

if your building a house, MOST places will offer you a contractors discount on your items
especially if your doing a construction build w a builder
if your doing a self build, it might be a bit trickier
but IMO if your doing a self build, you have the contacts to certain trades etc... that can get you these contractor discounts

i personally wouldnt get the membership

 

[Sleeper700]

I have been a member for a while now. We built a house, and used a builder that allowed us to provide materials. The retail prices direct buy uses to compare are always the msrp when the product first came out, so sometimes they are a bit high, but the savings are still substantial. Windows were retail 16000, direct buy 10000. Cabinets were kitchencraft retail 44000, direct buy 16000. We also saved 3700 compared to all current sales on appliances. Our fireplace was retail 4000, direct buy 1700. All of the tile was around 40% less than anywhere else we looked. We did have to wait for the fridge and stove a bit, but they were in before the house was ready. As for warranty, I had bought a Samsung 50" plasma TV last January, and in late November dead pixel lines showed up. I phoned Samsung, and there were no hassles. I sent them pictures and my receipt, and they replaced the tv with a 59" 3D plasma. I paid 780 for the 50", and the best price I can find online for the 59" is 1900. Pretty good replacement program from Samsung. We also bought a dining table, air jetted tub, laminate flooring, PVC decking, and saved big on those items as well. My only frustration is the lack of assistance in the store sometimes.

Sent from my HTC Legend using Tapatalk

 

[steveo10]

so you had to deal with the manufacture with it came to warranty claims not DB?

ill throw a little curveball here.... where would you spend your coin to furnish outside of DB?

 

[Sleeper700]

Warranty service is always manufacturer direct with DB. If we weren't Direct Buy members, I would have furnished the house at the typical retail stores, keeping my eye on flyers for deals. We wouldn't have been able to get the quality that we did using DB. I cringe at the thought of how much money we would have spent on crappier stuff elsewhere. Another item I forgot to mention was the living room furniture. We got 2 rocker recliners, 1 reclining loveseat with center console, and 1 reclining couch - all leather. The manufacturer was Ashley Furniture, so my wife went to the store to sit in them before purchasing them to make sure they were what we wanted. The salesman there wouldn't leave her alone, and ended up offering the set for $3000 (they were already on sale for $4000 on the tags). We got them for $2100 at DB.

 

[RETODD]

I am a member - We are in the final stages of building/outfitting a house. Paid the $6000.00 May 2010. Bought all plumbing fixtures through EMCO via DB, interior hardware, Steam Generators, under tile heating, Fridges, Stoves etc...etc. Will buy our Hot Tub from them....13k retail for 8k, another example for example. We figure we've saved in excess of $20,000 AFTER the $6000.00 wife keeping track not too sure the exact number till the build is done.

Have never had a shipping issue, anything that was incorrect or damaged was received back by them with no questions asked or hassle.

Agree bout the high pressure sale to get you in....once that chit is done yer good to go...their on-line shopping has improved greatly over the last year. I always check DB before buying anywhere else.

Generally very happy with them.

T.