Today I went to an open house at Direct Buy which was over 2 hours of my life that I will not get back. I went to what was supposed to be a tour with my recently-widowed mother because she did not want to go by herself.
I was caught off-guard at first when I noticed several signs telling people that they could not use cell phones. Was there medical equipment in this building that cell phones could interfere with? I doubt it. Then, we sat through a 2 hour propaganda session about how much money we would save with Direct Buy. I was a little surprised when the presenter insulted a man who didn't give the expected answers when he asked questions, but it still seemed interesting at first until we saw... The rules and the fees. $5000 membership fee for the first 3 years and if we didn't sign up tonight, we would miss this golden opportunity and would never be offered another chance. I was very annoyed for several reasons.
First of all, we were never told prior to coming that we had to buy a membership tonight or never or we would have done research prior.
Second, I don't know of very many financially responsible people who would walk in to a business without any prior knowledge and drop $5000 on the spot based on a sales pitch.
Third, we were only allowed to look at catalogues that contained some items that they carried only after the 2 hour sales pitch. I imagine that they did not want us to use cell phones so that we could call someone else to find out what the 'retail' price was of some of the items offered at Direct Buy. Then we would may find out that the membership was not worth the $5000 membership fee. When I told them that I did not appreciate feeling threatened into buying a membership that I didn't know would benefit me, they offered to find ways to finance the membership for me. How kind of them, from what I have seen on the internet, there is a 17% interest rate if you finance your membership. No thanks, I am not poor, I am just not about to blow $5000!
I find Direct Buy's method of conducting business condescending and unethical. Because of their marketing strategies, I would imagine that they attract many potential members who would greatly benefit from saving money. Unfortunately, these poor people are not given the chance to talk it over or comparison shop to see if this is really worth their $5000 investment.
I hope that my mother and I were not the only people in the seminar tonight that did not succumb to the pressure to buy a membership tonight and that others followed us out the door. I did save $5000 today-I did not buy a Direct Buy membership!
LoryTinley Park, Illinois
U.S.A.
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