DirectBuy of Minneapolis-St.Paul

DO NOT JOIN. I have been a member for about 7 years now and have purchased many items. My problem occurred after I designed my new kitchen cabinets and countertops. Once I designed my cabinets they sent me over to the countertop area and worked with Anne. After she received my cabinets plans she sent them out to Select Surfaces who was going to fabricate and install my countertops. Select Surfaces then returns an estimate to her and she sent me their estimate. After I paid Select Surfaces to measure my countertop, I went in to pay for the countertops at the price they quoted me. First the bill was now about a $ 1000.00 higher than the estimate because they tried to include tax, which countertops are not taxable item, and also now added in a handling fee. After I complained about everything, Anne and the manager kept saying that I should know there are other fees on what they quote you. Every other time I purchased a item from them or any other professional company, the estimate included any handling or other charges up front, not after. They said either pay or leave so I left. I emailed the corporate headquarters and they said they will let the owner know my situation. After 4 days of not hearing back from them I went back into the store and the owner was not in. I told Anne again to have the owner give me a call. The owner couldn’t even give me a call, she just emailed me her response (which I included below). After receiving that email, I did email the manager back directly to attempt to explain my frustration and complaints. I gave her one more chance to call me to discuss the situation further… again, no call or reply whatsoever. Great customer service to a long-​time customer, don’t you think!!! Very unprofessional and unacceptable.
(Email response from owner)
Joe,
I’m sorry for your frustration with your order. Estimates from our local suppliers are product-​only. We do incur additional expense on our end with order processing, as I’m sure you’re familiar with in your own business.
If you want to proceed with the order, I would be able to reduce your handling by $ 100.
Additionally, I have asked Anne to make sure to tell members that the quotes they are receiving are product-​only in the future.
Let Anne know if you want to proceed with the order and she will send you link for payment.
Thank you,
Rebecca
As an owner of a company myself, when I give out an estimate, I give my customers a quote with a total of what the product costs and what my cost will be, therefore, when a customer is ready to purchase they will know the total price and not have any hidden charges. If I screwed up their estimate I would honor the price I gave them.
You pay a high membership fee and dues to belong to Direct Buy and this is how the workers and owner of the store will treat you. I will not do business with them again.

This place is great. Yes you do have to pay to get the deals they offer, but the savings on building products and high end furniture are outstanding. My wife had to twist my arm to get me to join, but it’s been an excellent investment for us. The only down thing is they close the location closer to us so now it’s a much longer drive

Here is an honest review. This business is not a scam. However, you have to make your own determination as to whether this is a worthwhile venture for you.
The initiation fee is hard to swallow. I have been a member for about 25 years. When I joined, the fee was only $ 1,300. At that time, it seemed like a lot of money. However, I can tell you that we have saved at least ten times that amount over the years.
Now, we are in the process of building a new house. Pricing just things like appliances and light fixtures, we are easily saving at least 40% over any retail prices. When all is said and done, we will easily save at least ten thousand dollars on the basic things we need.
If you don’t envision ever making many big purchases in your lifetime, then this is not for you. But, I would suggest you consider the longevity of it and the possibilities. How often over your next 25 years will you need a new mattress, new furniture, replace your appliances, or things of that nature. Even if you don’t have a large one-​time bulk purchase like you do with a new home, you should still consider your potential purchases for the future,
One of the comments here said, «Over-​paying for things you can’t see». Well, basically you can see anything they offer if you go to retail stores. It is the same stuff. If you have been invited to their presentation, do your homework before you go. Go to a furniture store and jot done a few prices of pieces you like. Go to Best Buy or an appliance store and take note of their appliance prices. Go to a mattress store and do the same (though this is more of a challenge because mattress companies change the names of their lines for each store they sell them in, but if you know what you’re doing you can still figure it out. Get the basics of the mattress specs and compare.
I have no affiliation with Direct Buy other than being a member. I was pretty wishy-​washy and a little skeptical at the start, but they have never failed to saves us money as well as provide us with great service. And, over the years it has improved with their on-​line presence and the ability to have a lot of the suppliers deliver right to your house.
So, again, think about the long-​term when you make this decision rather than just the initial shock of the fee. Then, decide if its right for you or not.

Interesting to read the reviews — - are you rating the up front sales pitch, or DirectBuy as a member? I also painfully sat through the sales pitch 4 or 5 years ago (I absolutely hate these kinds of pitches) — but because we were building a home and had great recommendations from friends who had been members for years, we bit the bullet and paid the $$$ fee to join.
That was 5 years ago. We have ten times over recouped our membership fee — so I have gotten over that initial sting. As an example — just recently, we ordered replacement windows for $ 6,000 (includes installation). The quote from our local window representative (same window company) was nearly $ 20,000 for the same products/​service! Carpet — unbelievable savings! Fixtures, appliances, furnature, decking, tile, window coverings, rugs, luggage — — you name it – all can be had at tremendous savings (even with the added shipping costs). The only thing I’d probably suggest Walmart, Costco or Best Buy for is electronics (i.e. large TV’s)
The staff at Bloomington has been there since we joined. They are extremely helpful — will caution you if they think the quality might not be what you are looking for (based on other members comments) and are great at double-​checking orders. I think they have every catalog memorized.
So — if you are going to DirectBuy simply to get the free gift (by the way, I think this cheapens DB and attracts the wrong kind of people) or if you just want a new couch, forget it. If you plan on remodeling, building or more substantial or ongoing purchaces over the long run — then you must check it out. I have not regretted our membership. I am now buying things for my kids and they are benefiting from this savings.

I appreciate DM’s review. I thought it was hilarious. I also thought it criticized a program that he/​she does not understand in the least. It seems like he/​she spends a great deal of time attending various presentations in pursuit of free stuff. There is a Direct Buy in White Bear Lake that is probably much closer to him but he/​she drove to Bloomington for the Premium. I have never attended a timeshare presentation for the free TV and I did not go to the Direct Buy presentation to get the awesome Android Tablet they were offering. It was not a great unit, nor did I expect it to be. We gave it to our 5 year old niece to play Angry Birds on.
I don’t want to diminish DM’s review, he/​she must be a writer. It was very entertaining.
Okay, yes the sales pitch is somewhat annoying and yes you have to listen to a pitch, and yes, they take great pains to manipulate the situation to make sure you listen to the entire value proposition. I just wanted to hear how it worked without all the «salesmanship». That being said we joined.
At last count we have saved over $ 100,000 dollars. We have bought Floor Coverings, Furniture, Luggage, Appliances, Cabinets, Tile, Home Accessories, and even a Diamond for my wives wedding ring when hers fell out. As far as the diamond goes, we saved over $ 10,000 dollars and when we brought it to my jeweler (RF Moeller (best jeweler in the city by the way)) they were very impressed with the quality and were shocked when I told them where I got it.
If you are going there for the free item they promise you in the card you get in the mail, don’t bother. It would be a painful process if you are just trying to get to the end to get your free stuff. If you have an open mind as to a great way to save money then tolerate the process. A bit of patience will serve you well.
Go to Direct Buy if you want to save money on high ticket items like Electronics, Furniture, Household Appliances, Wall Coverings, Blinds, or almost anything else you can think of, the membership is well worth the fee. My wife is there 4 time a month researching something. I actually bought some Tumi Luggage at 50% off retail today. If you know Tumi, you know it is one of those items that does not go on sale much if at all. I am also buying a Lynx grill, decking, High end patio furniture, and retaining wall there in the next few weeks for spring… assuming spring ever comes.
In order to justify the investment, you need to commit to leveraging DB for everything that they represent. They have a very useable (not great) website, and the people who work there are very knowledgeable about the product lines. I have checked the best online prices I could find against most DB prices and DB wins by quite a bit.
Most items can be delivered right to your house or you can have it delivered to the DB warehouse.
I am obviously a fan, I like saving money. Costco and Direct Buy are my two favorite places to shop.
Good luck!

Whoa, no other reviews of this rip-​off scam? Here’s the short version for those who like to skim reviews for just the summary: Think «time share presentation» with over priced furniture you can’t see or touch in person that you have to deliver to your home yourself.
Long version: Our experience was terrible from start to finish. It felt like walking to Mexico for a burrito through 3 burning deserts under a scorching sun while being stung by scorpions and a vulture circling overhead offering to sell us sand at a steep special discount. Maybe just buying a burrito at any one of a million Taco Bell or Chipotle stores might be a better idea than going through that? But hey, if you’re really into suffering and being ripped off because you think their discounted sand is better than the billions of tons of sand you already have at under your feet, then you may want to talk to the vulture.
We recently bought a new home and in the mail we received an offer for 2 round trip tickets to Las Vegas provided we simply sit through a half hour presentation at Direct Buy. Seeing the commercials on TV and visiting their website, we decided to make an appointment with them. They called incessantly to reaffirm the appointment even the same day so that should have been the first red flag.
We arrived and sat in a general office room near the main entrance with about 8 other couples while a TV sitting on a cart was in front of the room. While they were over eager to have us arrive on time, they certainly didn’t start on time. After a long delay they finally came in the room and basically pushed play on the video they told us would answer most of our questions. The video? Pretty much the same infomercial from TV and you can find on YouTube except much longer and more repetitive on «how great a deal» this is. OK, so maybe this is the half hour we have to suffer through for the tickets, we’ll just say no and leave when it’s done. Ha ha no.
So when the video ends the car salesman guy right out of central casting claps his hands together and keeps asking all of us «boy that sounds like a great deal doesn’t it?» And he goes on and on to tell us that when we go into their main room, it’s a super secret special thing and we’ll only have today to take advantage of the special pricing they have. Suddenly a bunch of other people appear and call us out by name because they are going to escort us and basically shadow us to make sure the indoctrination goes as planned. (I’m sure if you visit a Scientology center it goes just like this too) So off we go with our manservant Pepe — not his name but it’ll work.
We get into the main room and see some basic furniture examples but it’s a mostly empty room with photos and catalogs and guess what? NO PRICING. Our manservant Pepe is a non-​stop chatterbox about value and selection and how hundreds of others have saved thousands of dollars blah blah blah. The back of this room has several little coffee tables where the real fun begins, the hard close.
We sit down and Pepe asks, «do you have any questions?» My first question was going to be «Is your throat dry yet?» from his non-​stop talking but my wife asked «Where are all the prices?» Ah, here comes Pepe’s big smile, «The prices! Yes we have them over in this special book.» And leads us over to giant thousand page book at the wall. I’m like, really? How caveman is this? I thought Bloomington had internet by now, at least dial-​up access. Then we are told that the super special discounts are only for premium members and we have to be sworn to secrecy because these manufacturers don’t want the general public to know how cheap their prices can be. How cheap are the prices? Not very. Any casual search online would bring prices at the same discounts or even better. So we’re ready to bid Pepe adiós and hasta la vista.
But not so fast! Back to the kiddie table we go and now the real hammering begins. Over and over Pepe tells us how great of deal this is and how wonderful the discounts are and if we could buy what we wanted today for 75 or 80% off would we do it? (all of his questions are supposed to prompt a YES from the beleaguered couples) we’re already WAY past the hour mark and my wife and I have sat through time share presentations in Mexico several times so we’re very familiar with the drill. Pepe drops the big bomb that only for today their super secret ultra mega special deal is $ 8000 to join.
Then Pepe gets interrupted by one of the mother ship vultures who have been eagerly eyeing the kiddie tables like a dog eyeing table scraps. Their price keeps dropping and we just keep making plans to make a break for the door. Finally they let us go after speaking to yet another vulture and then they try shoving us out the door without the trip voucher. Twenty more minutes later, they produce them with a million restrictions for use. We leave about 2hrs later with a worthless voucher.
Run Forrest, run far far away.