Technically speaking it is not my dream kitchen, it is Pat’s dream kitchen. Ok, a guy don’t have a dream kitchen, maybe a dream garage, but definitely not a dream kitchen.
For the past two days, I was losing sleep worrying about my $5000 Direct Buy membership fee. I was so worry that it is a scam like many people say online and I have to go through all the trouble to get my money back and worse feeling like an idiot got ripped off. Today after spending three hours meeting with the kitchen designer in Direct Buy, my worry is gone. He is one of the most professional and helpful kitchen designer I have met, much better than those at Home Depot or the Chinese cabinet contractors. Most important of all, their claim of 40% saving in kitchen cabinet is true. I will recoup my membership fee just from the kitchen alone. We don’t have the final quote yet, because we are still fine tuning kitchen design idea. Judging from the estimate, we are $2000 ahead in saving taking the the membership fee and 15% sales discount in Home Depot. The price is comparable to Chinese cabinet contractors but we are getting cabinets from Kitchen Craft.
I spent some time study their catalog, checking the price against retail stores. The price is ok in general. Some stuff is pretty good deal, some stuff are actually more expensive. It beats those boutique shop or designer shops charging clueless customers fat margin, but does not give save much pitching against big chain stores, especially when they are on sales. Big appliance has good deals, too bad that we don’t need to upgrading our appliances.
I have booked the second appointment with the kitchen designer to go over the details. So far I am happy with what I got from Direct Buy. Let’s see can they keep up with my expectation. I will keep readers posted with my Direct Buy adventure.
P.S. Direct Buy is a franchise and the membership fee and catalog selection is different from location to location. I read from Internet, some location is pretty bad. My location seems pretty good so far. Always get opinions from existing members in your location before making your decision.
I was reading your last article but refrained from making comments because I knew zippo abt Direct Buy. Based on what you’ve said so far, I hope your adventure (or gamble, as you are taking a calculated risk) will end up with a nice big kitchen in your house. Keep us readers posted 🙂
Oh! If there is anything I need to know, you better tell me now. Today is the last day of the 3 days cool down period, and if I really have to quit, I have do it within 10 days with some help from my legal service.
Hi Horace:
No I do not have any concrete evidence for or against. I would assume Market Place had the resources to do the necessary research and come up with the report. I also checked up Wikipedia (some of its articles have been known to be biased and written by authours with alternate motives) which suggests Ottawa’s Direct Buy was good for blinds and shades. I don’t think I will pay $5000 membership fee to buy that. I would suggest that the integrity of the local franchise is a key factor in your decision and you should contact the local Better Business Bureau to verify. In principle, I never like pressure sales and don’t like to entertain “deals”, esp when the dealer makes the rules and controls most of the cards.
Bottom line: A gamble is a calculated risk.
Thanks for the tips. The one at Coquitlam has BBB. I read all comments on CBC website. The funny thing Market Place actually did not do proper research. It quotes 3 items and assume they all have handling and shipping fee, but it turns out only 1 out of the 3 require additional fee.
I check quite some price these few days and I am convinced the most of the claimed saving is geniune. But still the bottom line is you have to buy lots of things to justify the $5000 fee even at 25% saving. Don’t forget that’s only comparing against the non-sales price, so you have to really really buy lots and lots of things to comes out ahead.
Yeah. Gambling is a calculated risk, that’s what I learned in my Game Theory class.
Actually, retailers also make rules and control most of the cards. I have been going to Canadian Tire every week for the past 3 weeks and slow work out how their flyers works. Only idiot would buy not on-sales items from Can-tire, the price can be double!