DB is creepy. That's exactly what I implied 9 years ago when this thread started. LOL. Article from Dallas News - Nov. 2016 This is a story about a creepy business gone bad that is now trying to go good. Do you remember DirectBuy? The company used to advertise in TV commercials as a members-only savings club for every kind of household item. You'd go to their showroom for a pitch and that's where the wackiness kicked in. If you didn't bring your spouse, you couldn't come in. If, after listening to the sales job, you decided not to buy a membership package right then and there (as high as $7,000), you were banned from coming back. If you bought and then found out that you couldn't buy what you wanted and the prices were not cheaper as promised, you couldn't get a refund. Lawsuits piled up. Consumer reviews were awful. I remember trying to interview franchise owners in 2010. They wouldn't talk to me. The PR guy for DirectBuy in Indiana didn't bother to answer all my questions. Yes, indeed. DirectBuy was a truly crummy company. Then the company disappeared. The TV ads stopped. The last of the 160 franchise stores, including one in Carrollton and another in Fort Worth, closed forever, leaving high-paying members angry and confused. Where did DirectBuy go? Answer: This month, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, listing $185 million in debts to the best-known home furnishing and supply companies in the world. Sounds like the final act of an old-line company that couldn't cut it anymore, right? Turns out, it may be the beginning of a new DirectBuy. Chapter 2 I'll admit that I had to alter the course of this story. A crummy company filing bankruptcy? What's left to save? Turns out DirectBuy has quietly remade itself, as executives describe it, into an Amazon wannabe with "concierge customer service." No more 20,000-square-foot showroom stores. Everything is now online and mobile-ready. You want a certain sofa? You take a photo of it, and the new DirectBuy app recognizes the sofa and shows you their cheapest price. If it's not low enough, DB will drop even lower. Need a home decorator to come and help you? Sure. Got that, too. Live chat? Yep. The price for this service is $200 for a one-time initiation fee, and $40 a month in a one-year contract. That's thousands of dollars cheaper than the old cost that came with a three-year contract. DB also promises a refund if not happy within the first 90 days. That's a jolting change for the company's old ways, fighting to hold customers to their wacky restrictive contracts. DB claims 200,000 customers nationally. They now switch to the monthly subscription model when their contracts expire. Six years ago, my records show, DB had 10,000 customers in North Texas. Chief marketing officer Curt Hilliard says his mobile-ready company uses search tools to find the lowest price, including delivery charges. "We don't just meet the price," he promises. "We drop the price a guaranteed percentage." The bankruptcy establishes a "clean slate," says spokesman Mike Georgeff, the PR exec who was hard to pin down in the old days. Now he's pretty talkative about the future. The company expects to be acquired by its lenders who become the new owners, he says. "We can establish a clean slate for our future business and prosperity," Georgeff says. Be skeptical The company must prove itself as a reincarnated version of its old self, says Julie Baker, retired TCU professor of marketing. She checked out the older version years ago and realized the offerings were better suited for someone furnishing a house or doing a major renovation. Otherwise, initial costs to join were too steep to overcome. She told me this week that turning around a company with a bad customer service culture is very difficult. "For me, it just doesn't make sense, especially over the long term," she said. "I don't see how they can be profitable charging $40 a month. They have to make a profit on the furniture even if they say they are not. There are warning flags for me." Can the same company come back in a bigger and better way? I hope so. Remember, this is a story of a creepy business that's trying to reform. Certainly, we need more of that. Staff writer Marina Trahan Martinez contributed to this report. Check out The Watchdog on NBC5 at 11:20 a.m. Mondays, talking about matters important to you.

So, I have read several of the posts and for some unknown reason felt compelled to leave my 5c worth of information. My wife and I joined direct buy in 2005, and we paid about $3000 for our membership. At first, I was afraid we had made a huge mistake, because the savings with our small purchases were not making up for the membership costs. $100 back then was a lot of money for us; $3000 was a fortune! In 2006, we bought a Condo and we re-did one of the bathrooms. Travertine and glass tile, granite countertop, 2 sinks (Kohler), 2 faucets (danze), 2 shower heads and 2 body sprays (Kohler), shower valves and diverters (Danze). I shopped online and found that prices for fixtures were about 40% cheaper at DB, and for granite countertops about 20% cheaper than local quotes. I figured we recouped about $1500 to $2000 that first project. Nevertheless, back then, I often would become frustrated because I would find products which were cheaper or really close to the prices at direct buy elsewhere. After the initial 3 years, we began paying $150 per year to keep our membership. We made several small purchases, which did not amount to a whole lot of savings. Things really changed in August 2011 when we bought a large foreclosed house, a total gut job. This is our dream home. Our new place has about 10K square feet, 5baths, 2 powder rooms, a sauna with a shower. We purchased through direct buy: - all plumbing fixtures (kohler, hansgrohe) - tile / marble (emser) - hardwood floors (indusparquet and homerwood - $7.80 for solid walnut floors vs $16 per sqf locally) - heated floors / heated towel bars (warmly yours / Amba - kitchen cabinets (Omega solid walnut) - vanities, laundry room cabinets (Brookwood) - bar cabinets (Ultracraft) - Fireplaces (Regency) - Sauna (Amerec) - Steam generator (Kohler) - appliances for a second kitchen and bar (kitchen aid, marvel, Perlick kegarator, summit) - all light fixtures, including trims for recessed lights, LED strips, exterior lights (eurofase, Eglo) Direct buy does not offer Thermador, which we bought for our kitchen from Nebraska Furniture Mart. Regarding costs? Our kitchen cabinets were 22K for solid walnut cabinets. 20K local quote for veneer doors; 23K for solid cherry local We used Kingston Peninsula 16x32 for 3.50 per sqf, vs $11.40 per sqf at wayfair / walmart, but I think you can find it for around $8 per sqf. Assuming $4 difference, in 5K sqf we saved about 20 grand. Now, let's say you shop online or somewhere else and you find a product cheaper than DB's price. It actually happened to me. I was looking at the Hansgrohe raindance imperial 600 ( retail $4500, cheapest online $2700). I actually found one at plumber surplus for $1600. I requested a price check at direct buy (sent internet link, showing lower price and item in stock, available for purchased). Direct buy lowered the price to $1150 (all fees included). Is direct buy perfect? Not by a long stretch. As other members pointed out, there is little support in terms of selecting or getting info about products. You have to do the leg work yourself, research products online, etc⦠Not all manufacturers ship to home, but nowadays a large number of them do. Also, as pointed out earlier, items are not available off the shelf. This is a problem if you need something right away. Our washer broke, and we bought a new one from Lowes⦠All and all, I think direct buy is a really good deal if you have a large project (even a total kitchen redo). It is a bad deal if you require a lot of assistance, are not willing to do the research on products yourself, cannot wait 1 month or more for shipment, and if you are not planning to buy a lot in the near future. I hope my experience helps...

fwiw...some cheapie hints... Home Depot online can be accessed through EBates, which gives a little rebate for the referral. Go to Ebates first (have to register), then go to HD. Some of the other online kitchen stuff companies are also available through the Ebates internal referral service. I got a $35 refund check from them one month. I wish I had known about Ebates before I spent big bucks on two cast iron sinks and two faucets through HDepot online. Look for online codes and/or holiday discounts from the various vendors. You'd be surprised what are considered "holidays" by the online companies. Mayday might be a 10% off day, that kind of thing. I know that "Black Friday" after Thanksgiving was a good discount day (actually the entire weekend and the Monday afterward) and even April Fool's Day had a discount for some vendors. Often the home web page for a company has today's discount code listed on it. I've sometimes emailed the company on the "contact us" and asked point-blank, "Is there a discount today or in the next week which I need to type in when I buy online?" Often they give me the info. Or they tell me to register for their email newsletter so I can snag the upcoming code for the next "sale." At least that tells me that there is a sale coming up.

We just bought the Moen Brantford Motionsense in ORB, and I struggled with the decision too. Like so many other great things my kitchen has acquired since finding GardenWeb, it's life-changing. So on to some details... Is it crazy to mix water and electronics? Well no, not in a kitchen. Your ice maker does it. Your garbage disposal does it. Your fridge-mounted water does it. Your electric stove does it, in a sense. Today, there are steam-clean options for ovens and steam-dry options for dryers. The Moen faucets have 2 sensors and MANUAL CONTROL. You don't have to use any sensors if you don't want to. And, honestly, when you have company, it makes sense to turn off at least the front sensor (guests seem to have a talent for dousing their sleeves). Turning on and off either sensor is easy but not so easy you'll do it accidentally. There are 3 basic "components" - the faucet, the mixing control box, and the power source. The mixing control box houses the electronics, mixing valves, and bypass lines. Sounds complicated, but hooking up was really (really!) easy. We put the mixing control box on the back wall of our cabinet to keep the hoses out of the way. The power source is just a small plastic box that can hold batteries or connect to the plugged-in transformer. We paid for the transformer, but it sounds like most people can run for about a year on one set of batteries. The wire connecting the power source to the control box is pretty long, so we put the power source box on the side wall right next to one door. The temperature control is on the power source, and we figured we may want easy access to it. The wires can be tucked up at the top of the cabinet (they come with ties) so if there is ever a hose failure, there is a minimal chance of electrocution. We have an outlet under our sink, and I see the risk as equivalent if we had left our garbage disposal in place. Have sensor faucets improved over a few years ago? I think the answer is yes, but I also think it's important to differentiate between the sensors in public restrooms and the residential model you'll be buying. The sensors in residential models have no excuse for being faulty. If you're not happy, return it and get a replacement or buy a different brand. Our sensors are well-placed and have shown very consistent operation. Based on reviews, this is normal and I can expect years of this. The bad reviews I read indicated faulty mechanics or incorrect installation. Statistically, there is certainly a chance of getting a dud - and that's true of standard faucets as well. 3. Pros for us - and every family is different - far outweigh the cons. Here are some of the ways we are using the motion sensor that make our lives more pleasant: Washing chicken hands Washing hands after cleaning the litter box Wiping down counters without leaving the water on Rinsing out the cat food can Rinsing off fruit and veggies Rinsing out a coffee cup or cereal bowl single-handed and without getting wet Rinsing off a serving spoon covered in soup or spaghetti sauce after a quick stir Rinsing off a heavy pot carried with 2 hands These are all pretty minor, but it's shocking how few times a day I actually touch the faucet - really just to wash dishes. Cons are pretty few. Okay, I admit we all douse our sleeves once in a while. When I scrub down the sink, I have to remember to turn the faucet aside so I don't accidentally wash the cleaner out before I'm ready. Sometimes I wish the front sensor would extend out just one more inch. The Moen technology has adjustable temperature but not adjustable flow; this was a major issue for me before we installed and now it doesn't matter at all. The handle must be installed on the right; this was almost our deal-breaker. We really wanted a 360-degree faucet so we could install in front. But with the Motionsense, we only touch the handle once or twice a day. Do I wish it was on the left? Well, yes, but it really doesn't affect my enjoyment of the faucet, and it's habit now to reach AROUND the right side to get to the handle. It's really the only compromise we made, and it was so worth it. So... I love it! But, I paid for it and I'm biased. What I found most interesting was my mother's response when she stayed with us for a week. Initially, we turned off the front sensor so she wouldn't get wet. After 2 days, my husband and I missed it so much we turned it back on and told my mother "tough luck - keep your sleeves out of the sink." 2 days after that, Mom said she kept waiting for the bathroom faucet to turn itself on! She adapted quickly, despite her aversion to gimmicks and technology in general. She misses it now that she's back home.