DirectBuy - A Zcam!!! (or DirectRipOff)

For months we've been "tormented" by calls and mailings from this "outfit" called "DirectBuy" (you might have heard of them, their ads and infomercials are everywhere), so last week we finally decided to drive up to Bothell, just to shut them up (and also to sort of silence our own curiosity).

Being rabidly suspicious of ANYTHING that smells like timeshares, or when a large sum is asked to be paid "upfront", w/o really seeing what it is you get, DirectBuy for sure did not disappoint us!

This is a "buyer's club", with massive (that is a major understatement...) savings compared to buying "retail". In order to "benefit, you of course have to be lured in to becoming a "member". They do this with a pretty sleek presentation and repeatedly trying to get you to understand how much (or rather how bad) retailers are and how much they "dare" to mark up their prices - and there is nothing you can do about it - apart from joining DirectBuy. Hmm, what is wrong with this picture? Never heard of a free market with competition and freedom to shop where you so choose (normally where you deem to get the best combination of low price, product quality/features, good service, etc)?

BTW, the "sleek" presentation (a video interrupted twice by an entrance of the "membership director") is hosted by a "Leisa Hart". Not to judge other people's looks, but there is something really sinister in the way she uses her mouth. Both the facial expressions as well as the actual words used (scripted of course). Nothing that would help to get a better perspective of DirectBuy in any case.
But, enough of personal attacks.

DirectBuy promises you "savings" (up to 60% or more) but NEVER shows you the prices you will pay - not until you shell out (in our case) $5,350 for a three-year "membership" with possible annual renewal of $200 for up to seven additional years after that. All for a sweet total of $6,750. A big chunk of change to drop into someone's franchise.
For this is what it is. This is a franchise, and you do business with the "local" owner. If he/she goes out of business, you might have hours (of driving) to the next "showroom" (overstatement, the facility is more like a place with tons of bookshelves filled with binders) where you can "shop". And, since you'll never realize any savings unless you "shop" there, your initial investment now starts to sound a bit steep and unsecure.

As a franchisee, it is supposedly a good business, at least as long as you manage to sign up new members. New members pay for the old ones and pay for the neverending "expansion" (this since there is no "profit"(?) on any of the merchandise).

In any case, we were pretty dead set on not signing up, and we left (happily) not having done anything stupid!. The only good thing I can say about these guys, is that at this location (Bothell, WA), they actually did not use any of the "strong arm" sales tactics far too common at similiar outfits. Sales tacticts that are used to essentially pressure undeciding or "negative" customers by sending in "managers"(?) with ever more "impressive" titles.