I'm glad I never bought into Direct Buy. Although I unfortunately submitted information to them right after buying my home. I was warned not to fall victim from a co-worker who paid the exorbitant $5000 membership and found himself wedged into a deal that wasn't so great. After several months of ignoring their mailers and phone calls which were from a foreign call center. How do I know this? I receiving calls from a certain set of 503 phone numbers I did a reverse lookup online for free to find out that it was linked to Global Crossings, a company that routes for foreign call centers. So deciding I only wanted to be entertained by their marketing scheme, I signed up for my free showroom tour and to receive a key in the mail that may open up the lock that would enable me to win a $50,000 home makeover or $50k in cash. They also were offering 2 other complimentary prizes for showing up. The smallest of the five prizes was a $20 cash prize and a ""free"" vacation which I assumed already was probably a timeshare leading trip. I immediately wanted to see this scheme first hand. So I signed up to see a presentation. When I got to the showroom in Beaverton, there were mainly older people and individual blue collar workers who probably couldn't afford to pay $5000. There were a couple of professional looking people like myself who appeared they would be good targets. So after the presentation of videos, speeches by the salesman, and the quick showroom where you couldn't see any of the prices, everyone was strategically split up among tables where they couldn't talk to other groups/couples. I played the consumer who was seemingly interested in the program, so I was left for last. After I played the ""hesitant"" role, I declined the offer and then presented the key and card I had gotten in the mail. At this point the guy was furious because everyone was smart enough to walk out. Of course my key didn't work, but I got $20 in cash and a ""free"" vacation. Very entertaining!
Pros: Creative Marketing Scheme
Cons: $5000 membership, Secretive Pricing on Items in Showroom, Salesman
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