Rip-off Report Investigation:EDitor’s UPDATE: Positive Rating and Recognition has been given to
DirectBuy for its Commitment to Excellence in customer service.
Rip-off Report’s investigation of DirectBuy uncovers an ongoing commitment to total client satisfaction. This means that clients can expect the company will always work towards finding a mutually satisfactory resolution to any complaints or concerns in the past, present or future. DirectBuy pledges to help members and guests realize their dreams through exceptional customer experiences and unparalleled savings, service, and selection.
The Rip-Off Report Investigation revealed a demonstrated commitment by DirectBuy to providing excellent customer service and resolving customer issues. They achieve this through several means, including a recent partnership with customer service experts to actively survey their members and guests and make changes that improve their processes and ensure a uniform exceptional experience for every customer. To address the most common concerns, DirectBuy recently started offering free trial memberships at participating club locations, as well as additional tiers and terms of membership to meet a broader range of household budgets.
The Investigation also showed that DirectBuy members are renewing their memberships at record rates, indicating members are still very satisfied with the value they receive through DirectBuy’s home furnishings and home improvement products and services. DirectBuy is one of the largest consumer buying clubs of its kind, and we are convinced they are dedicated to using feedback from customers to continually improve their policies and procedures.
One DirectBuy executive explained about their many changes stating, “We have a team of service support specialists available specifically to address concerns from members and guests who visit Rip-Off Report. We want to ensure that their experiences with DirectBuy are positive, whether they join or not." Should you require this assistance, please contact them at
DirectBuyHELP@directbuy.com Provide your name, the date of your issue, and the name of the location you visited. If you are a member, please include your member number if available.
Given DirectBuy’s commitment to excellent customer service, they were alarmed by some of the complaints lodged with Rip-off Report. Rip-off Report found that most complaints about DirectBuy were made by non-members who were critical of the cost of membership and the policy that a decision about membership must be made the same day of the open house visit. The policy is there to protect the manufacturers. It ensures their confidential pricing cannot be used by non-members to negotiate better deals with retail stores, thereby protecting the best possible pricing to members. The policy has not changed, but as stated above, new tiers and terms of membership are being offered at participating club locations
DIRECT BUY recognizes that complaints posted on Rip-off Report (true or not) are issues that need to be addressed and if handled correctly can be valuable learning opportunities. With the feedback generated by Rip-off Report’s Investigation DirectBuy has made the necessary organizational changes to allow their members a more streamlined approach to problem resolution and a total overall commitment to customer experience. As one senior executive stated, “We have learned that even the most committed companies can make mistakes, but if you really pay attention, you can learn from them. We’ve adjusted policies to please both members and manufacturers, and we hope that anyone who has further suggestions on how we can improve our services will contact us with their ideas.”
In summary, after our investigation, which included discussions with DirectBuy Senior Management, Rip-off Report is convinced that the company has been and is committed to quality delivery of services resulting in total client satisfaction.
Read about DirectBuy .. see their websites and the services they have to offer. Read more about DirectBuy’s Commitment to Excellence and Total Consumer Satisfaction and why consumers should feel safe, confident and secure when doing business with a member of Rip-off Report's Corporate Advocacy Business Remediation & Customer Satisfaction Program. ..yes, a long name for a program that does a lot for both consumers and businesses alike. Read about Rip-off Report Corporate Advocacy Business Remediation & Customer Satisfaction Program,..A program that benefits the consumer, assures them of complete satisfaction and confidence when doing business with a member business. this program works.=====================
NOW TO THE ORIGINAL REPORT THAT WAS FILED =====================
Direct Buy Of Silicon Valley Direct Buy of Silicon Valley WHAT A SCAM Mountain View California
On December 12, 2007, my wife and I attended a presentation by invitation from Direct Buy o at their facility located at 1157 San Antonio Road, Mountain View, CA. 94043. After the presentation we were given a one-time opportunity to join their membership and we made an uncertain decision to do so. After leaving the facility, my wife and I started questioning our decision to join their program with such an impulsive decision and decided to cancel our contract that we signed with Direct Buy of Silicon Valley.
When we arrived home we placed a phone call to Direct Buy of Silicon Valley at 5:10 PM and spoke with the front line operator expressing our desire to cancel the membership contract that we had signed earlier that day. The lady who answered the call instructed us to issue a letter to the corporate offices in Merriville, Indiana to cancel the contract (since the Silicon Valley address was a post office box and not a physical address) . Also, we were informed that the corporate offices is located back East and were closed for the evening, she suggested that we call them tomorrow to get a fax number. The same evening at 7:39 pm, we placed a second call to Direct Buy of Silicon Valley to see if there was a possible way to deliver a cancellation letter to them without having to wait to send one to their Corporate Office in Indiana.
The lady who answered the phone was uncertain of whom that might be and we then waited to fax our cancelation the next morning to corporate.
On December 13th, 2007, my wife phoned (from her work office) the Merriville, Indiana corporate office and was given the fax number of 219-755-6245 where to send the cancelation letter. In addition to faxing the cancellation letter to corporate, my wife faxed a letter to the Direct Buy of Silicon Valley facility at 650-810-1919. Also, I emailed a copy of the same letter to (service@db487.com) the Direct Buy of Silicon Valley Customer Service Manager, Jessica (Jessie) Sanchez.
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With no response from the Corporate or the Direct Buy of Silicon Valley office, I called Direct Buy of Silicon Valley facility and the corporate office on February 20, 2008 to confirm our cancelation and status of our refund of $900. I spoke with a lady named Stephanie.
Stephanie asked me what fax number we sent our cancelation letter to and that she would look into it. Stephanie gave me the email address of her manager, Rose (rsoffa@directbuy.com) and suggested that I re-send the email to her since she would most likely be the one who handles cancelations. I asked Stephanie if she wanted us to re-send the fax so she would have it as a reference when she spoke with Rose about this matter. Stephanie agreed that would help.
I then continued to do the same by calling Jessica Sanchez at the from the Direct Buy of Silicon Valley office. Since Jesse was not available by phone, I left here a voice mail and sent here an email explaining what had transpired.
Again, with no response from the Corporate or Direct Buy of Silicon Valley office, I emailed out a new letter and placed a phone call on February, 29th, 2008 @ approximately 11:34 AM.
Finally, I received a response email from Jessica on February 29, 2008 @ 2:29 PM.
Jesse’s response was,
“ I apologize I have not gotten back to you sooner. I did receive your fax copy of the email, however when I compared that to our email logs for service@db487.com on 12/13/08 I have all emails except yours. I have all emails prior to 2:35pm and after 2:35pm, again none are your email. We keep all emails for tracking purposes. You mention that you were instructed by one of our representatives to call our corporate office in regards to your cancellation. We would never have referred you to our corporate office as the cancellations are handled directly here at our local showroom.
I will have to take this matter up with our owners who are expected back from vacation sometime tomorrow. We will be in touch shortly.â€
On February 29, 2008 @3:55 PM
I also received the following email response from Rose
“I did receive the email you referred to and, as indicated in the email the center sent to you today, concluded that this was something that needed to be handled at the center level. I forwarded all of the information to them through our member messaging system which is the normal procedure. Based on the email they sent you today (which they copied me on) they will be in contact with you further on your request.â€
On March 04, 2008 @ 5:30 PM
I received via email form Jesse Sanchez the following
“After looking further into your request we are requiring additional information. It is odd that our email system has ALL emails for 12/13/07, except yours. We are requiring some additional information from you. You mentioned you spoke to someone here at our facility. Please provide us with the phone records showing us that call was made and we will more than happy to honor your request.“
On March 05, 2008 I responded to Jesse via email:
I am a bit taken back by this email response. As far as I was concerned, I after in good faith when I signed up for your service on December 12th, 2007; I also acted in good faith when I attempted to cancel our contract the following day December 13th, 2007. I feel as though I am having to defend myself when I was misinformed by your representatives to contact corporate to contact you corporate offices to cancel my plan. I have furnished you documentation showing that I did email a cancellation letter to your company on December 13th, 2007. Up to this point, I have been patient waiting for your responses in addition to our refund check to be issued. I do not intend to go searching through my phone records to further verify my desires to cancel our contract with you.
I respectfully ask you again to process the cancellation request effective December 13th, 2007 per the documentation already furnished.
Up to this point, I have furnished email to the Direct Buy of Silicon Valley facility the following documents which they have requested: email messages with a return receipt attached, the month of December 2007 phone records showing phone calls placed from my residence to the Direct Buy of Silicon Valley facility.
After issuing these emails, I was ask to come to the facility to show original documents and they would issue me a cancellation of contract and a check for my refund of $900.00. I set up an appointment to meet Jesse at the Direct Buy of Silicon Valley facility on April 2, 2008 between 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM. After arriving there, I was asked to wait in the reception area, after waiting for over 30 minutes then I was asked to come back into the facility to show Jesse the original documents. After furnishing Jesse the requested documents she excused herself from the room (with the documents I furnished her) asking for me to remain in the room. When Jesse returned she informed me that she would not be cancelling the contract unless I provided her additional information. The information she required was the phone records indicating calls to their corporate office. I explained to Jesse that these calls were placed from my wife’s corporate office (Computer Associates in their South San Francisco facility) and that there were hundreds of lines there that her request was unreasonable especially since I had already furnished her with enough documentation supporting my claims.
Jessie responded saying that without the additional phone records as documentation they will not cancel the contract. I explained to Jesse that I have acted in good faith through this whole process by following their many requirements to cancel. Also, throughout this process, it was clear that I had lost my desire to do business with them especially after how I had been treated. With no response from Jesse, I informed her that I would rather attempt to resolve this peacefully without third party intervention; Jesse said that she didn’t take threats lightly. I informed her that this was not meant as a threat; however, I just didn’t want to involve others into a situation that should easily be resolved. At this point, I said you don’t want a consumer in your facility with a bad experience that might offer negative feedback to others. Jesse then asked me to leave, saying that I was speaking to loud. I responded by saying that I will leave, but keep in mind that they can’t have it both ways by holding me to a contract and not allowing me in the facility.
One other thing is that a portion of this contract was financed through a third party company named Beta Finance Company Inc. in the amount of $6,000.00. I have informed Beta Financial of my request to cancel this with Direct Buy and as a result my contract with them should be cancelled. Beta Finance instructed me that the only way to cancel with them is to have Direct Buy furnish them with a letter. I informed them that I was having difficulties with Direct Buy acknowledging my request to cancel the contract I signed with them, and that I am concerned that this might impact my credit rating. Beta Finance informed me that it hadn’t been sent to collections yet; however, it is getting close to that point.
Tye
Redwood City, California
U.S.A.
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