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Compare Closet Systems

My house has became a closet systems showroom. I have installed 4 different brands of closet systems for my closets. Part of it is out of curiosity, try to figure out the different between those closet systems. Part of it is out of necessity, different closet space has different requirements and one size does not fit all.  Here is my review summary for all the closet systems.  I also include the PAX wardrobes IKEA in the comparison for reference.

IKEA PAX wardrobes

Price: $$$$
Install: ***
Look: ***
Review:  This is the first closet system that comes into my mind when I start looking for closets.  Too bad its depth does not fit my closet spaces.

Martha Stewart Living Closet System

Price: $$$
Install: **
Look: ***
Review:  I use this closet system for my master bedroom walk in closet.  It is easy to install but still require a stub finder and a power drill.  It looks nice with the laminate wood finish, but it only comes in one color

Canadian-Tire Extend-it closet kit

Price: $$
Install: *
Look: *
Review:  If you already have the horizontal hanging rod, no tool is required to install the  Extend-it closet system.  The height and width of rods are adjustable and they fit together with clip-on.  However, this closet system is very ugly and looks pretty flimsy.  I regret I had it for my wardrobe in the hallway downstairs.  I am considering replacing it with a different closet later.

Rubbermaid Configurations Closet System

Price: $$
Install: **
Look: **
Review:  Installation requires stud finder, power drill and some 10# screws.  The rail is vertical with slots for adjustable bracket.  Rubbermaid has shelving pieces for the closet system but it is a bit pricey. I used generic brand laminated shelving from home depot and cut it to the right width instead.

DIY from Home Depot parts

Price: $
Install: *
Look: **
Review:  I build this closet from Home Depot DIY parts.  I have to cut the shelving and dowel to the right width and fasten the bracket on to the stub.  Install the DIY closet system is quite some work but it has the lowest price tag.

Cleaning mold

Mold grows on the windows frame rail is very hard to clean. The steam cleaner helps me a lot by blasting them out, but the problem becomes what to do with the flying debris. I first tried to use a cloth covering area I am blasting, but I found the cloth get soak up with dirt pretty fast. I spent more time walking back and forth between the window and the sink to rinse the cleaning cloth. Then I remember when I went to see my dentist, he has some kind of vacuum sucking the water from the tooth drill and the loosen plagues form my month, I could use a similar idea. The only problem is regular household vacuum cleaner can not handle water, since the water in the air may short circuit the fan. I got myself a wet/dry shop vacuum for this task. A shop vacuum use negative pressure to create suction, so the air does not flow through the fan directly. My only complain is the hose of the shop vacuum is pretty heavy. I have to put it around my neck and let my shoulder carry some weight. Now I work very efficiently with a steam cleaner and a shop vacuum and somehow I think I look like a dentist.

Dream kitchen almost comes true

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.

Direct Buy, scam or big saving?

Can you believe I just pay $5000 for a membership at Direct Buy, hoping to recoup my membership fee from the saving I will get from the deep discounted catalog items through Direct Buy? At first, it sounds like a scam, I thought so too. CBC news even made a report on this company trying to uncover the scam. Internet forum has very mixed review. Someone call it out right fraud but someone think it is a good deal.

The idea of the Direct Buy is quite simple. You pay the heft membership fee, in return you buy product at manufacturer price plus 8% handling fee and freight fee. Retail shop make their profit from the mark up on the goods they are selling. Direct Buy basically makes money from membership fee. It has minimal customer service. You don’t get any sales who try to sell you stuff or answer your questions. You won’t even see the product you are buying. All you got is a room full of manufacturer catalog and a price. You have to look up all the specification, figure out the part number. You may have to go to retail shop to see the item for real. The staff there only do one thing, help you submit your order form. Then you have to wait for the shipment to come, anywhere from 2-4 weeks. Once you pick up the product, you are on your own to deal with the manufacturer with any warranty problem. You don’t get convenient refund or exchange policy from the retail store.

One thing people complain most is that Direct Buy use the typical high pressure selling tactics. They invite you to an open house, force feed you a video, so testimony form “happy” customers and make you sign the contract right away. The catch is you have to sign up on the spot or they will turn you down. Their claim is to protect their manufacturer price is confidential information, they don’t want shopper use it to leverage against retail shops. At first they refuse to show me the the produce catalog and the price. The sales only willing to quote a few items for me. That does not make sense to me. How can I make decision to spend $5000 without knowing how much I can save?

To keep the long story short, at the end we spent 3 hours in the place. The sales pretty up just gave up persuading me and let me wander the place on my own. I have access to all the catalog and able to check out the price as I like. The catalogs are from known manufacturers, not no name brands. Since I am shopping for furniture and house hold items a lot these days, I recognize many brands from the list. The selection is good, it probably beats any one retail store but can’t beat all retail stores combined. The price is actually pretty good. They are really selling at the cost or very close to the cost. For example, we just bought a Simmons mattress from the Bay on sales, the price of the same mattress at Direct Buy is $780 + 8% handling but not shipping = $842. We pay $715 at the Bay, but that’s on the 2 weeks only the Bay super mattress sales and the Bay somehow made an error in subtracting the box frame from the order to our favor. It should be about $810. The not on sales price at of the mattress is $2000 at the Bay, which is ridiculous. The market price I found when I shop around for the mattress is around $1200.

I check many other things and I am convinced they are real savings. It is probably in the order 20-25% rather than the 40-60% they claim. If I can spend $20000, then I could make my $5000 membership fee worth while. The bottom line is Direct Buy’s price beats non-sales price at retail shop, but probably can’t beat the sales price of big chain stores. You actually get access to many more products than you can find in retail shop but at the same time it limits your choice to their catalogs. The bang of the buck would be on big ticket items the retail store getting a fat margin like furniture, vanities, light fixtures, cabinet, fringe, etc. You won’t save much on small appliance as the chain stores probably get a better deal on sales. Since we are remodeling our kitchen and the cabinet is really cheaper than Home Depot. I decide to give it a try. Although the membership contract says absolutely no refund, by law BC has 10 days cool down period and I know there are court precedence winning against Direct Buy to get your money back within the first 10 days. If after doing more calculation, I could save close to $5000, I will keep my membership otherwise I will cancel it.

Stay tune on my price hunting adventure with Direct Buy. I will keep everyone posted. See whether I turn out to be an idiot got scam $5000 or a smart shopper who saves a lot.

iRobot Looj 120 Gutter Cleaning Robot

iRobot_Looj_120_Gutter_Cleaning_Robots95Standard

I love my iRobot vacuum cleaner. It saves me lots of work cleaning the house. I just have to press a button and it will get the job done. It’s fall season, leaves is falling and rain starts to pour. It is time to clean the gutter. I see iRobot also makes a gutter cleaning robot, base on my good experience with their vacuum cleaner, I decided to give it a try.

I did not get the latest model, Looj 125, which is in yellow color. I spot a previous generation Looj 120, which is in green color selling cheap on Craigslist. The only difference is the newer model and the older model is an internal antenna instead of an external one the motor, the brush and everything else is the same. The Looj works amazingly in youtube, but unfortunate it does not work on my gutter at all. My gutter is not standard size, it is too wide for Looj. Instead of throwing the dirt out of the gutter onto the ground, it just flipping the dirt from the left half of the gutter to the right half and vice versa.

I have a few minor complains about the Looj. It uses Ni-Cd battery instead of Li-ion battery, so I have drain the battery completely before recharging to avoid memory effect and make sure I do not overcharge the battery. The external antenna is inconvenient. Once awhile, the Looj will flip up side down. I have to reverse the brush rotation to flip it back otherwise the antenna is on the way. Without the antenna, the Looj can move on either side. Other than that, the brush motor is pretty powerful, dirt and leaves is flying high. It should work well if mine is a standard 4″-5″ gutter instead 8″.

Since the Looj does not fit my gutter, anyone interests in buying it from me?