It all started when I received an advertisement post card stating I would receive a bonus gift for going and hearing about Direct Buy of Westchester and what they had to offer. The bonus gift was supposed to be an Android Netbook (like a small computer with android system). Sounded pretty good so I called and made an appointment on a Saturday. They asked if I was married and told me my wife must attend. We could bring the kids as they had a place for them. So we went on Saturday (Memorial Day Weekend). We were greeted by "our" representitive who was very nice and showed our kids a room with kid stuff and a tv with DVD's. They were happy.
We were then told a little how direct buy works and we could save thousands over shopping for home at regular places for appliances, tile, cabinets, blinds, just about everything for home. Then we were taken to a room with two other couples and watched a video for a while, long while. A lady then pulled ads from different stores and merchandise to compare incredible savings. After all this we sat at a table and were told the membership is thousands of dollars. I don't even remember the exact amount. I immediately said "No Way" we can't afford this. They pushed some more offering a general plan which could be moved up at a later time. I still said no. Then they pushed a little more by having the owner come over. Very nice man, who talked like family and how this would be the best thing of our lives. He offered a much smaller price of I think $1,500 (not exact) with $690 down which is their required minimum deposit and then monthly payments until the membership (at this level) was paid. I said I'd like to go home and think about it and research a little. I asked if they had any bad reports. I was told no to all. And if we left we could not get this membership nor visit back for 3 years and was given some story of why that is.
Then the owner offered two payments of the $690 to help to start so at this point we were broken down and said maybe it's a good idea and wrote a check for $345 and gave credit card to charge the other half of the deposit in two weeks. Over all, my family was there for just over 3 hours believe it or not. As soon as we returned home I did research this company and location only to find horror stories. Nearly 100% bad from my location and many others. Terrible stories one after the other that there were many lies, bait and switch with the comparison prices that were shown, etc... Knowing we had made a mistake I called immediately this company to cancel and it was closed being later on Saturday. Of course memorial day they were closed, then I made a series of 12 phone calls in the week to come with absolutely no call back only voice messages. Until a few weeks later I demanded someone live to talk to and they directed me to Frank who said he handled this sort of thing. Said he was unaware of any messages I left.By the way I sent a certified letter the first week as well of my intent to cancel. Frank said he'd look into it and call me back. I told him there was nothing to look into I want my $345 back (which was cashed in the blink of an eye) and did not want them to charge my credit card.
Again, week passed, no call back. I spoke to Frank 4 more times over the next few weeks in addition to about 8 more voice messages and never once did I get a call back form him nor anyone. On my last contact with him he said, "didn't the owner call you back?" "he said he would". Said he'd tell him again. Still nothing over a month later. Well, felling totally stupid and ripped off I went on an attack and had my attorney send them a letter that I was going to sue if I didn't get my money back. Also called the Attorney General, Better business Bureau, Federal Trade Commission, etc... All with whom I filed complaints. Imagine what bad business to allow me to have to go that far and never once give me a phone call back or a letter or anything just to hold my $345.
Well, it took over three months but recently, I finally received a check in the mail for my $345 which I cashed in the blink of an eye and this nightmare is finally over. I guess we all make mistakes but what kind of business people would do this to anyone and not even address the concerns. I'll close in saying that I, of course, never got to use this service and can't confirm it's the worst or greatest and never said either. Just about business practices. And, not that it matters, both the owner and his wife were extremely gracious and nice to talk to. Why they didn't address my concerns after this day and get all these complaints is beyond me. Just glad it's over.
Oh and P.S. The FREE Gift for attending is not FREE at all and yes their print says something like a handling charge and such. If I had time to tell you fully about this free gift I'd be asleep. First you have to fill out your life on this form and mail it somewhere else. It states if one item is wrong you get nothing. If you don't include a self stamped envelope you won't even be notified. You need to send $9.95 for something to get some certificate mailed back to you. Then you have a window of time to send this back with another $29.95 for some kind of handling and activation and if anything was wrong on that you'll get nothing then it can take a few months to recieve. Over all it was around $50 bucks we would have to send with all these BEWARE items and when i looked the item up it was an old discontinued model that I could buy on Ebay for not much more then the fees they wanted. Scam, Scam, SCam all the way. Buyer Really Beware. For your own money please.
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