Choosing a brand..HELP

[drcollie]

One of the things about operators like Direct Buy is service levels. They are designed as a clearing house for all categories of goods and are not specialized or knowledgeable about a product specifics as is a specialized dealer. If price is your only concern, then you can go for it, like buying from Amazon.com. But if you anticipate any service needs you're pretty much left out in the cold. And most customers are really mostly concerned about price. They forget about service levels until they need it.

Examples?

Let's say you get your new sofa and there are skipped stitches on a cushion seam that leaves a gap in the fabric between that and the welt seam of 1/4". If you buy from a reputable furniture store, it can get taken care of in minutes. They call the maker, arrange for the cover to get back to them (UPS, etc.) and know how to get an R/A done on a product along with which person to call at the manufacturer usually within a hour or two of your contact with the dealer. With operations like Direct Buy, you're not going to get that level of service, most likely you won't get a response at all and wind up sewing the seam up yourself.

Buy a leather sofa and there's a small scuff on it from the delivery company. Not bad enough to return it, or even contact a leather restoration expert. Just scuff. A dealer will get you a small bottle of touch-up at no charge mailed to you in a few days. Do you think an operation like Direct Buy would source that touch-up? Doubtful.

Or even at another level.... Your furniture arrives and you are HUGELY unhappy with it . Its not defective, you just don't like it for any number of reasons. With Direct Buy - you own it. Done. You get a manufacturer's warranty and that's it. In my experience 95% of all dissatisfaction issues are NOT warranty based. That's right...95%. Customers may have mis-calculated the scale, made a serious mistake in cover selection, have a perceived warranty issues that really isn't or a spouse goes ballistic over the cost and there is buyer's remorse...this happens. If you buy through a good dealer, they are going to work with you on a return/exchange in some manner. As of this writing, I currently have three customers (long-distance) that I am re-ordering product for because they were very unhappy with what they received. This doesn't mean its a no-cost transaction for the customer to do trade-outs (mostly delivery charges to and fro or some restock charges), but the point is a good dealer will try to make things right in some manner. Everyone shares the pain a little but at the end of the day the customer isn't stuck with something they don't want. As a dealer, I have an outlet for the returns and can put them on my sales floor. A franchise like Direct Buy does not. A dealer is not obligated to do that sort of thing, so it will vary from one to another, but those that try to do the right thing by their customers WILL work to find a solution to the dis-satisfaction that is palatable for all.

And that is why you find so many negatives about operations like Direct Buy. There is no service support with the sale and very little or no recourse if you don't like what you purchased.

[aaron]

I've read another complaint, which is that even if you confirm that DirectBuy carries a specific brand, they may not carry all lines within that brand. I heard somebody complaining that they had picked out some top-of-the-line kitchen cabinets, confirmed that DirectBuy offered that brand of cabinets, signed up, tried to place their order, and were told that they could only buy the lesser grades of cabinets from that particular manufacturer through their membership. DirectBuy's standard policies make it very difficult to get a full sense of what you will be able to obtain through your membership until after you sign up.

[paulette]

Thankyou so much..I think I may pass up her offer to order through her membership. I did not think of service issues and that's what brought me here in the first place. I am shopping and taking my time. I was talking to a friend about my dilemma and she said that for her kids playroom they bought a Bauhaus? She said its comfortable and really easy to clean. Can you tell me anything about this brand? I also saw a Robin Bruce sofa, are they any good?It would be in a kids area as well.

[simplyjeff]

The company Direct Buy is mentioned occasionally in this forum and more frequently on the Gardenweb forum with many comments both pro and con on the merits of the company. Here is an article from the September 19, 2011 edition of Furniture Today regarding this company:

S&P Lowers Direct Buy Corporate Credit Rating

Merrillville, Ind. - Standard & Poor's has lowered the corporate credit rating of DirectBuy Holdings here to CCC from B, saying the outlook is negative in the face of declining membership and ongoing legal issues.

The ratings agency also said it lowered the rating on DirectBuy's $335 million in senior secured debt to CCC and revised down its "recovery rating," saying it expects modest recovery for lenders (10% to 30% should the membership club default on the payment.

DirectBuy CEO Scott Powell did not return a call seeking comment.

Founded as United Consumer Club, DirectBuy is a consumer buying service that boasts of 400,000 members on its website and says it offers more than one million products with no retail markup. Instead, the company charges consumers membership fees reportedly in the $3000 to $4000 range for two- to three- year terms.

The S&P report said that DirectBuy has been experiencing monthly declines in membership levels sice February 2010 because of the weak economy and labor market.

It also noted that DirectBuy is facing lawsuits alleging it misrepresented the cost of goods to members -- something S&P said it believes has contributed to the membership decline and will hurt its performance going forward.

DirectBuy was acquired by private equity firm Trivest Partners in December, 2007.

If some good Samaritan would pass the word to GardenWeb I'm sure it would be appreciated by many of their readers. That forum has not allowed me to post on it for the past 3 years and does not return my requests asking why it has done that.

[drcollie]

HA! I got thrown off Garden Web too, Jeff. First time you mention the name of your company they toss you off, that's why.

Its also why I started this one!

[bubbaonline]

Not to defend GardenWeb, but some forums are for consumers only, and most business-related posters are only there to shill for their company.. As a forum moderator for a consumer-oriented website, I've found that the "do not identify your business" policy sometimes works better.

However, not notifying the member as to why their posts have been deleted or why they don't have posting priveleges is just poor management of the forum.

I do love this forum, obviously!

regards,

[drcollie]

The problem at Garden Web (which is owned by NBC) is they don't monitor anything until someone complains and then they simply click off the person from the list. I put hundreds of hours into that list on posts, then someone asked me the name of my store in a post. BING! Someone complained (probably another person in the trade) and they sent me packing. There are no mods on Garden Web lists, just ADMINS at NBC Corp that react to complaints.

[aaron]

They have pretty remarkable traffic, and a lot of good content that is... Hard to find. Weak search, weak interface. I'm surprised NBC doesn't update it a bit.

[organic_smallhome]

I got kicked off GW, too. Actually, the moderator "Tamara" (if she even exists) suspended me "temporarily" and I told her she could suspend me "permanently," for all I care--so she did. There are some really great (and talented!) people on that forum, and I miss chatting with them. But there are also a few really nasty people who go around reporting others, including those I used to refer to as "the spam patrol." They seemed to take it personally when someone posted spam, and would get snarky and even angry and would report people post-haste. (Seriously, what kind of grown person does this?) I remember your posts on the furniture forum, Duane, and was astonished to learn that you were booted, since you so clearly were not using the forum to promote your business, but in fact sharing a wealth of information that had nothing to do with your store. So while another person in the trade might very well have reported you guys, my guess is that one of the zealous GW regulars, who considers himself/herself the guardian of the forum, is probably the more likely candidate.

[Briant73]

I haven't used GW much lately but remember how quick they could pull the trigger to ban someone. I was amazed they would ban the open honest person saying they are working for so and so but the spammers and corporate marketing hacks rarely got removed.

It's still a great resource but you still find some of the bad ones posting in there and have to be careful of spammers, trolls and the worst of the bunch IMO the person paid to market certain products/brands as if they were a consumer who just bought it.