Yesterday, we shared the news that DirectBuy, a company often featured on this very site for its anti-consumer practices, had filed for bankruptcy protection. However, the company wants to make sure that you know something: it has been making changes to become less terrible, including monthly fees instead of multi-year contracts.
We’ve written in the past about the stores’ policies not allowing people to even browse on their own, customers stuck with memberships after their local stores close, and even newly minted members who can’t actually buy anything.
IF you’ve wondered why you haven’t heard much about DirectBuy for the last few years until now, we learned that new management came in in 2013, changing the business model from a franchised one to ne of direct ownership and encouraging members to come back more often than every few years.
Memberships now can cost as little as $40/month, billed monthly instead of all at once, and the company claims to have a 78% retention rate. Instead of in-person sales of memberships at local stores, the chain now seems to be focusing on serving customers online and not on taking hours to make hard sells to prospective members.
by Laura Northrup via Consumerist
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