Just wondering if anyone is a member of this thing.

I seem to recall going to one of their open house and listening to their sales pitch. They would not give any prices until you signed up and forked up the cash to be a member (IIRC it was a pretty hefty sum of cash at the time).

I keep seeing their ads on TV and wonder if anything has changed. My experience was at least 7 or 8 years ago if not longer.

www.directbuy.com

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Sent from an agnostic abacus

2014 C250 21,XXX my new DD ** 2013 GLK 350 18,000 Wife's new DD**

- With out god, life is everything.
- God is an ever receding pocket of scientific ignorance that's getting smaller and smaller as time moves on..." Neil DeGrasse Tyson
- You can pray for me, I'll think for you.
- When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

Things haven't changed at all.

Went to a meeting about a year ago. The cost was extreme - over $1k if I remember, and the "savings" weren't that apparent, as they wouldn't allow you to look through any of the catalogs to see what you might be able to save.

In order to recover the investment of the membership, assuming an across-the-board average of 20% discount (they 'swear' it's MUCH higher), we figured we'd need to spend the equivalent $20,000 in stuff.

We don't need $20,000 in stuff you can buy from Direct Buy.

Having said that, if I was building a house, the membership would probably pay for itself several times over in plumbing fixtures, lighting, flooring, cabinetry and appliances.

But I'm not building a house. We figured with the amount of $ that we'd have to invest to join, we'd find ourselves in the position of trying to find stuff to buy in an attempt to recover our investment.

They don't allow it - but a cooperative might be the way to go. Get several families together and split the cost of the membership. However, they'd surely start asking questions when you purchased the 3rd refrigerator in a year.

The one thing that surprised me was that when we said "no thanks" and were actually able to walk out - they were very insistant we "think it over" - they said that they were prohibited from contacting us for 7 years to re-join.

I thought "yeah - sure - you'll be calling me next week with an 'even better deal'". I never heard a peep out of them again.

I do know/suspect that a large portion of the fee you pay to join goes to the staff in the form of commissions. The new DB near my home, at open/close times has lots of very nice luxury autos parked at the curb - and I assume those belong to the employees.

I would never pay to join something without knowing what I am getting first.

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2006 CL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2026 Genesis GV70
2007 Tiara 3200

I would not do it. When I joined it was $750.00. Worked as well as any Ponzi scheme I have been associated with. If you are building a house, well, it may pay off. HOWEVER, if you are getting a bank loan to build your house, you had better have some serious cash in reserve because you have to pay to play. Meaning, draw schedules mean nothing to them, you want the stuff, you pay for the stuff. Besides, you are not getting any better deal than a builder would give you, or I should say what a builder would pay, not necessarily what he would charge you. But that is a bird of a different feather. The builder stuff needs it's own thread. My .02 cents worth.

There is another scam like that called Team National. I have a client who has been pestering me about it so much, I finally fired him over the issue. He quit his job as a textile sales rep and pimps it as his full time job for six years now. Problem is, much like the Jeffersons, he has been moving up from a mobile home into a McMansion, few acres, lake house.....don't know the concept, but he obtained a Lexus 470 for a mutual friend and somehow managed to get it for $17K less than the best price the local dealer would come to....something about group buying.

Not my thing.

Some of that stuff strikes me like a full time job, and a weird one, sorta like day-trading.

And the business of using the bricks and mortar guys for a showroom and then buying from someone else is a bit cheap. I mean, I do it a bit, but I try to patronize now and then the people whose showroom I'm taking advantage of.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

I went to one of their showings two years ago. The salesman quoted me I believe it was $3,900.00 for the membership. He was rather pushy at getting me to sighn and fork over the money. He even offered me a finance option which he quoted the payment and term. When I asked about what the interest rate was he got squirmy and said something like 14% or 15%. The catalogues were fun. I found my t.v. I had purchased and it was $120 more than what I paid for. When I told him the price he said then you have the cost of the mount and tax. I then replied actually that price included the mount and the 5yr extended warranty. He was lost. What h didn't know was that I knew the manager who let me use his discount to buy the t.v. at cost as long I bought the warranty, because they make more money on the warranty split then they do on the sale.

Bingo! If they "can't" let you see everything before you sign up, it's not legit and they are trying to hide something. Lots of Multi-Level Marketing schemes are like this - when you finally find out how everything works it's a big disappointment.

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1984 300TD

I'll bet somewhere in there is, "Become a distributor and make big $$$."

B

Yep.

Amway.

B

Is this MLM?

MLM is a nothing but a ponzi scheme.

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2006 CL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2026 Genesis GV70
2007 Tiara 3200

Fricking Amway...one of my evil x-wife's friends is maried to a loser who falls for every get rich quick scheme going, I got shamed into sitting through an Amway presentation, they kept calling it "the system" or something, avoided calling it Amway all the way through. I finally told him at the end, that I was in sales, and had been for years, and thought it was pathetic to try to rip off your friends and family...if there's any value to this, go out and cold-call people and sell it on its merits.

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2002 Ford ZX2
2 x 2013 Honda Civics

The direct buy outlet I went to had around 30-50 employees and occupied a warehouse in an industrial complex. I sat in for the spiel and asked the rep right off what a membership cost-$5500 for the first year, with an additional yearly maintenence fee. It was my impression that it was a nationwide scam, and not a franchise offer.

I have a problem with the concept of PAYING money in order to get a discount . . . It seems to me like it has "SUCKER" written all over it.

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" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

pyramid scheme...

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"It's normal for these things to empty your wallet and break your heart in the process."
2012 SLK 350
1987 420 SEL