I guess this applies only to Vancouver residents (Directbuy Vancouver), but you may find it interesting:
Here are steps how to get out of this contract. It will be many months before you will see your money, but you will get a full refund:
1. First, find some products that can be purchased via Directbuy and find the same products in retail stores for the same price or less. It's not too hard especially when they are on sale. It would be great if these prices would be advertised so you would have some proof (i.E. Flier), so it's not just their word against yours. Check out the 'Direction' magazine you will get in the mail, you may recognize some of the brands and compare those with retail sale prices.
2. Set up a meeting with Terry Litt and explain why you are asking him to cancel your membership and why you want to get a FULL refund. I suspect he will offer you to cancel the membership, but he will want to keep half of the membership fee. I suggest you do not take it. He will do a lot of posturing, but it is important to have this meeting
3. File a case against Directbuy in the Small Claims court in Vancouver (downtown). It cost about $150, but you will be asking to get this money on top of your membership fee.in the same time check out the little computer (on the left of the Small Claims front desk) they have available for public to view previous cases. Search for key words like Directbuy, Adagio Ventures, Total Home, Terry Litt. You will find dozens of people who took Directbuy to court (I counted about 36). If nothing shows up for the keyword Directbuy, ask for assistance and tell them you know there are many cases against Directbuy. I found sometimes the software they have doesn't bring all results, but the clerk was able to retrieve all results. Get the names of these people and try looking them up in the phone book and call them and ask about their experience. You will find some people reluctant to speak for fear of Directbuy taking them back to court, but others are quite open to talk about the facts they found. If it comes to any real court date (which I do not believe it would), you can call these people as your witnesses.
4. You will have one or two settlement conferences with Terri Litt organized by the Small Claims court. Again he will do a lot posturing, threatening you with high power lawyers and he will offer more money back, but not the full refund. That is his M.O. - he tries to tire you out so he get to keep at least some of the money. You will need to come back to the court several times, but don't settle for anything less then full refund! He will have to give it to you, he knows that and he will do that. It's because the contract you signed is not valid in BC (see case Roa against Total Home in the court's registry).
5. Send your experiences to BC Solicitor General John Les SG. Minister@gov. Bc.ca and let him know why Directbuy should not be able to issue non-refundable contracts. They have already a lot of complaints against Directbuy taking advantage of consumers. Also contact your local MLA.
6. Send your experiences to Lower Mainland BBB.
Good luck!
PeterVancouver, British Columbia
Canada
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