DirectBuy

We recently bought another KitchenAid refrigerator and they sent a bill through their concierge service. I processed the bill and then they processed the payment. When they send the shipment through, it goes through KitchenAid’s parent company which is called Whirlpool. DirectBuy hands it off to Whirlpool and Whirlpool then has everything electronic. They called and said when they were coming to deliver and I couldn’t contact them back. If they show up and I'm not there, they give two more tries. And there's really no way of communicating with them when they show up to deliver it.

The Whirlpool situation is less than desirable because they called on a weekend and I tried to get back in touch with them. Then DirectBuy has a hard time getting in touch with them. They read off a number to you and if you don’t get it correctly or if they’re speaking slowly, it’s okay. But they speak fast or soft or the communication’s not a good connection and you don’t know what number they’re talking about and then they can’t find your order. Then they just show up and you better be there. So, that’s less than desirable.

The thing that kinda bothers us is when we joined back in 2005, we had to pay nearly $2,000. Now, the membership is like $200. Why did I have to pay so much back then and so little now? Also, they used to have local stores and that made it a lot better because you had the in-store advantage of being able to see the products. Now, everything's online and it's more difficult because if you’re gonna buy it online and spend a lot of money on it, you wanna make sure you know what you’re getting. Just a picture online and a couple of reviews don’t tell you what you need to know.

I’ve tried to communicate with DirectBuy when I’ve had concerns and they’ve made some adjustments. There has been some change from last year so that’s good. Also, they fixed the delivery problem. There used to be a stack of charges. If you order something and want it delivered, then it was like one price was for the delivery to your driveway, another price for the delivery into your house, a third price for delivery into your house to a specific room, and another price for delivery into your house to a specific room and unbox it. They don’t have that anymore. Now, they bring it into your house, set it wherever you want, and they take the packaging away.

My profound thanks to Amy ** however who vigilantly persisted with patience and courtesy and after almost 2 hours by phone...mostly on hold and several emails she was able to obtain for me the 2 discounts and finalize my order, diffusing my growing frustration and disappointment with DB. Thank you also to Jan ** senior concierge agent. Unfortunately it required far too much of my time to see this through but in the end the acting good faith and comittment of Amy was admirable. Amy even called me back 2 days later to access my satisfaction and process my order. I told her that she could go home that day knowing that she had made a very disappointed and disillusioned customer satisfied and restored my faith in DB. Sincerely, Janice.

We’ve not been so pleased lately because they got rid of all their showrooms. We like to see and touch and get a better feel for things we’re doing. And now, we’re kinda stuck doing that on the internet. And I don’t think they have all the products that they offer on the internet because that would just be a Herculean task. Another thing is the manufacturers that they represent, some of them stay for the long-haul, but a lot of them, you buy one you really like, and then, you check back with them a year later, and they don’t offer that manufacturer anymore. And that can be a little frustrating.

We recently bought a bed and a frame for another house we bought in Florida. We were told that the delivery of both of them would be four to six weeks. So, they have a tendency, which is a good practice, to under-commit and over-deliver. I think it is a good thing. But the problem is, in this case, we really expected the frame to come before the bed. The bed came before the frame, and the bed had white glove delivery. So, we really couldn’t have a delivery until the frame got there. And we kinda got a nasty letter from DirectBuy saying, “Hey, the company has been holding onto this mattress for a month, and they need to deliver it.”

We ordered the frame a week before we ordered the bed. And it was a little frustrating because we were waiting and waiting for the frame. I could’ve bought the frame on Amazon and had it there in two days. But I decided to buy it from DirectBuy instead, which probably was a mistake. Another thing that was interesting was it was cheaper on Amazon than DirectBuy, which was kind of a rare occurrence. I give DirectBuy credit because they did credit me the difference, which was nice. I didn’t expect that.

There's one thing that really frustrates me. When we first joined, they took American Express for the membership fee. And then, they stopped taking American Express and they only took Visa. Then, a couple years ago, they started taking American Express again, which I was thrilled with. But a couple of months ago, before we made this purchase with the mattress and the box springs, they stopped taking it, and it’s frustrating. I really like to use American Express wherever possible because we get points, and we travel a lot, and we use these points for traveling.

The quality has been very good and wonderful. I got carpeting to redo one of my houses and everybody was asking where I got it. I had a carpet guy locally install it and he said that he has never seen anything that nice before. I know that I got a good price because I kinda priced it out as to what it would’ve been if I had to pay retail for it. I saw high-end chairs in Alabama, and I came back home, got the numbers and looked it up and DirectBuy had it. I got two chairs for the price of what it would cost me to get one. The prices were very good. I don’t have any complaints and the reps seemed to be very helpful. DirectBuy has improved a little bit and I just hate I don’t have the store that I can go to but I’m still able to get on the website and ask questions.

I have been to two of their stores. Our location is one that was originally in Kingston, Ontario and then one in Ottawa. Because we do not have a store in my hometown, I talk to representatives via email and I have never had a difficulty. I searched through the website for something that I want, I send them the SKU number and ask them about the price, availability, delivery, the charges, as well as to ask them to get back to me within 24 hours. Very easily, I have not left my desk.

I, however, would like to see delivery being moved up a little bit, but I can understand that that can be difficult. Not every company is in the same situation where they have stockpiles of things. Sometimes the order goes in, it has to be manufactured, and then it is delivered. Overall, I have not once had a complaint of any purchase that I have gotten. You have planned for it because it is not like you go drive, get your car, and go pick it up because sometimes there is a waiting period, two to three weeks or more. But as long as your willing to do that and plan ahead, so far, it has been very much worth the money.

I was just asked to renew my membership with DirectBuy. I can't renew with such terrible customer service. I don't know if people are overworked, just don't care, or a combination of the two. Bottom line is that is if this is the way things are going with DirectBuy I would not recommend anyone take a membership. It will just be money you are going to lose.

This is truly a misrepresentation of charges at check out and leads the customer to believe they have a certain charge amount; however, they are going to add an additional one third for shipping and handling. You pay an annual fee + paid $5,500 to join. This is a scam. You can get most of these items cheaper on other websites with free shipping and no handling fees. Why have cheaper prices then charge handling and shipping which will equal most website charges. Customer service is of no help!! I cannot see how this is legal to add additional charges later after you only authorized the charges you placed on checkout on their website.