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originally published at http://www.thecomplaintstation.com/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Forum&report=Subtopic&SubtopicID=00026963&firstrecord=0&finalrecord=14

Letter to Editor
Unregistered
Posted on 08 Feb 2003 at 04:24.05 AM
Company City:Saginaw
Company State:MI
Company Country:US_United States

"Letter Warns Readers of Scam December 24, 2002 Before you visit...do some research. We are warning people of a scam in town. The UCC Total Home (formally United Consumers Club) contacted us recently one morning by phone. We were told we could save up to 50% off manufacturer prices. We were asked to schedule a visit to see their showroom. It seemed to us like another Sam's Club or Costco type of business. We set an appointment but wanted to ask some more questions like what is the cost of membership? They were so evasive that red flags started to surface. We were told everything would be answered in our visit...well not exactly. We did some research online. Just type in your search engine "UCC Total Home" and you cannot miss the pages of complaints and angry customers that were taken by this group. Here is a good article by "*** news marketplace".

http://***.ca/consumers/market/video/programs_2001_02/ucc**t_020306.html

There have been several suits filed against UCC Total Home. In Ohio for instance, a person went to court over a dispute with them. The court told him UCC Total Home contract does not promise the member anything for the $2500 membership fee, not even a discount! Many people were writing complaints in Indiana and Ohio and Michigan that they were not delivered what was promised and charged fees upon fees which actually cause you to lose money. We didn't sign on. At our visit there were many other people with the sales reps. We felt we should write to warn the buyer. Don't believe us...do some research before they have you cornered with the deal of the century.

Christine & Kurt "

User Message 
Here's Another
Unregistered
Posted on 08 Feb 2003 at 04:26.58 AM
Company Country:US_United States

* Posted by: jmalkames (My Page) on Sat, Feb 1, 03 at 14:06

i just got suckered in to this. well i have only been a member for two weeks and have found nothing i need to buy. I asked them if i could get out of my contract even if i payed a penalty, they said no (wasnt really supprised just wanted to try). I did a search before i went to their "open house" to see their showroom of catalogs... i found no info on the www. after i signed up with the company called Direct buy, i found out the company is actually called ucc total home then i found all sorts of info on this company.

Never commit to something you can not walk away from and sign up later."

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/furniture/msg1001352311620.html

User Message 
Another
Unregistered
Posted on 08 Feb 2003 at 04:29.25 AM
Company Country:US_United States

For the many of you who find your way in here because you're looking for information about UCC Total Home (which is, indeed, a sale of some kind—and may, in fact, be operating out of a garage near you), here's a public service message:

UCC Total Home = Bad. You pay upwards of $2,000 up front to join this elite club, and the member agreement you're forced to sign makes no promises guaranteeing you savings on your home furnishing purchases. Basically you pay for the privilege of looking at the UCC Total Home catalog. From what I've read, you're forced to sit through a sales pitch where someone tells you about all of the exciting deals you might find by becoming a member. You pay lots of cash up front, which is good for a three-year membership, I think. Then it's maybe a couple hundred bucks a year after that. After you sign up, you have three days to cancel your membership, but you have to do that by sending in a certified letter.

So you're wise to do some Googling before you sign up. posted by Marshall Norton / 4:08 PM / No comments"

User Message 
More testamonials
Unregistered
Posted on 08 Feb 2003 at 04:57.53 AM
Company Country:US_United States

Anonymous, thank you for the helpful links. My wife and I joined two days ago and just didn't feel right about our decision. We came home and did some research and found much more negative comments than positive. Our contract said we had three business days to cancel our contract and that's just what we did. I just retuned from mailing them a certified letter requesting cancellation of our membership. At the open house we were given a Direction magazine, (after we had paid them $2,990) an exclusive guide for members only. When I got home I went on the internet trying to price some of the items in the magazine. The items I was able to find info on (they don't include model numbers in the magazine) I was able to find comparable prices on many and better prices on some items. There were quite a few items I was not able to find any info on. I'm hoping everything goes well with the cancellation. After reading some of the horror stories, I'm bracing for a long drawn out proccess. Hopefully, I will be able to report otherwise. I will repost the outcome when I know it.

Reply

User Message 
And a serious warning
Unregistered
Posted on 08 Feb 2003 at 04:59.12 AM
Company Country:US_United States

Beth, you don't want to do this unless you buy a lot of stuff or you like to get screwed over. Fred said beyond $1000 try $2900, if you keep the membership. Like Fred my wife and I changed our minds also after signing up, seening we would spend more money keeping the membership rather than getting the things we need. We didn't do the letter until a week later... now they want me to pay for this so called service in full... for something we never got to use and all because we just had a baby and wanted to save a little money! Dispite us never using there service and submitting the letter a few days late they are suing us for the whole ten year amount plus court and legal fees!

Reply January 08, 2003 01:20 AM Subject: RE: UCC Total Home By: clarence

P.S. they would not let me access my acount after submitting the letter and they still want there money!!!

User Message 
Yet another
Unregistered
Posted on 08 Feb 2003 at 05:04.36 AM
Company Country:US_United States

Thanks very much for your support. Brian Vogt "

User Message 
Testamonials all over
Unregistered
Posted on 08 Feb 2003 at 05:06.48 AM
Company Country:US_United States

"For $ 2500 they provide nothing! UCC promises prices 50% below the prices available by local retailer a better selection and top quality service. We priced cabinets with UCC we got a price $900 less on the exact same cabinets from a local dealer. We ordered a bed from UCC Sept 2001 You have to pay in full at the time of the order, they charge a fee for credit card use. We were told the bed would come in Dec 2001. In Dec we were told the head board was no longer being made. We picked another headboard that we did not like as much. A month later we were told that headboard was no longer available. To date UCC refuses to refund our $2500 and release use from our membership. They also, refuse to refund the price of the bed that is nolonger being made $476.47. We complained to the Better Business Bureau they said that our comtract promises nothing for our $2500 and provides for no refund. We had an arbitration hearing; the arbitrator stated that even though UCC did not dispute our clams they owed us nothing for our $2500; UCC was made to refund our $476.47 with interest for the bed. We have also complained to the Ohio Attorney General and the Governors office. UCC Total Home is worse than any Time share scam I have ever heard of. At there presentation you have to decide that night to join or not with no chance to compare!

UCC Total Home has just been sent an e-mail message letting them know that you have seen this page.

Thanks very much for your support. Jeff Newell "

User Message 
Unregistered
Unregistered
Posted on 08 Feb 2003 at 09:22.46 AM
Type:Products
Company Country:US_United States

http://google.com/search?q=site%3A%63%62%63%2e%63%61+UCC+TOTAL+HOME CBC TV did an expose on this scam - blocked on the complaint station because it's really very bad for UCC, but it can be found by the link above - be sure to view the actual video.

User Message 
Unregistered
Unregistered
Posted on 08 Feb 2003 at 02:25.11 PM
Type:Products
Company Country:US_United States

User Message 
Contract is Tool of Scam
Unregistered
Posted on 08 Feb 2003 at 03:16.24 PM
Type:Products
Company Country:US_United States

the arbitrator stated that even though UCC did not dispute our clams they owed us nothing for our $2500 .

Ever wonder how they do that - its all done by the contract - the tool of this scam

Check out -

http://www.geocities.com/ucctotalhomeinfo/index.html

http://www.geocities.com/ucctotalhomeinfo/MEMBERSHIPAGREEMENT.html

Once you're duped into believing the "we have thousands of satisfied members who have saved tens of thousands of dollars" sales hype routine, beware that once you sign that contract, there isn't much choice but to put on a happy face because - surprise - there are no refunds!

Read and study that contract before you sign it - it may not be what it was all hyped up to be.

Their sales methodology is designed to create excitement for the moment and get you to emotionally imagine all the savings you could have. All of this is to get you starry eyed about the possibility of savings in order to get you not to fully appreciate or pay attention to the actual terms of the sales agreement-that in reality they owe you nothing.

It will be your fault for being deluded - that "No oral promises or statements not contained in this membership agreement are binding." means that you soly and only relied upon the contents of the contract to make a decision.

So what do you think all that stuff during the open house was all about? Just warming you up for the sale.

Beware of the contract - its a one way ticket of you pay'em money ($2600) and they do'em nothing (except receive your money!)

Here are the links -

http://www.geocities.com/ucctotalhomeinfo/index.html

http://www.geocities.com/ucctotalhomeinfo/MEMBERSHIPAGREEMENT.html

User Message 
Unregistered
Unregistered
Posted on 16 Mar 2003 at 03:14.22 AM
Company Country:US_United States

Discount Buying Clubs

Mar 4, 2003 4:50 pm US/Eastern A discount buying club is supposed to get you cheaper prices on things for your home, but the offer can be too good to be true. Especially, as Paula Lyons explains, when its only valid for one day.

At area home shows, discount buying club, UCC Total Home, trolls for new members who have major purchases in their futures.

Peter Mulcahy, UCC Total Home owner ”It's membership only. And that membership enables them to buy direct from the factories, at cost, with no mark-up.”

UCC owner Peter Mulcahy says members make selections online or through catalogs, and save thousands.

But you do need to pay a membership fee.

To join, newly weds Chris and Marisa Bortlik had to attend a two hour open house at UCC North headquarters in Stoneham.

Chris Bortlik ”We were told it was a one-time offer. You come in, you need to make a decision on the spot.”

Their three year membership came to nearly $2500.

The Bortliks had buyers remorse almost immediately but assumed they had a three-day right to cancel. They were wrong.

Chris Bortlik ”I was told that I couldn't cancel it.”

No surprise to consumer affairs professor Brewer Doran.

Brewer Doran, Consumer Affairs Professor ”The contract is totally one-sided. It's totally set up to protect UCC Total Home.”

With no way out, the Bortliks tried to use their membership to buy a big screen Sony TV.

UCC requires payment in full before ordering.

So they had to hand over another $2000 to for a TV that never came.

Chris Bortlik ”We're now out $4000 between the cost of the television and the cost of the membership.”

Brewer Doran, Consumer Affairs Professor ”A buying club like this isn't going to work for 99.9% of the people.”

The Bortliks got back what they paid for the TV but not their membership fee.

UCC Total Home says the Bortliks asked and were told there were no refunds of membership fees once the contract was signed.

This is an isolated case, says owner Peter Mulcahy. Most of his members are happy.

For more information on UCC Total Home log on to their website at http://***.ucctotalhome.com

Links to other news stories -

http://bcctv.ca/olsen%5f%75%63%63totalhome.htm

http://html.newsnet5.com/news/specialassignment/news-specialassignment-20000211-185155.html

"C"-"B"-"C" TV did an expose on this scam - blocked on the complaint station because it's really very bad for UCC, but it can be found by the link below - be sure to view the actual video. http://216.239.51.101/search?q=site%3A%63%62%63%2e%63%61+UCC+TOTAL+HOME

Visit

http://geocities.com/ucctotalhomeinfo/index.html

and see the article from the Wall Street Journal about ucc totalhome and the Membership Contract for yourself BEFORE you sign and it becomes a big mistake.

User Message 
more complaints
Unregistered
Posted on 04 Apr 2003 at 05:07.11 AM
Company State:TX
Company Country:US_United States

User Message 
Unregistered
Unregistered
Posted on 14 Jul 2003 at 05:02.55 PM
ompany Country:US_United States

User Message 
Unregistered
Unregistered
Posted on 28 Sep 2003 at 11:43.35 AM
Company Country:US_United States

Everything my wife and I tried to buy through them was cheaper at major retailers like Wal-Mart, Sears, Canadian Tire, etc. When I confronted the owner/operator Bob with this info he claimed that these were called "loss leaders" and that there was nothing he could do about that. The one thing we did buy from UCC was for sale three months later at Canadian Tire for $100 less.

Thoroughly unsatisfied I asked if I could cancel my membership, I told Bob that he could keep the $500+ that I had already paid if he cancelled the remaining $1500. He refused insisting that I could save money by buying through him even after I told him that there was nothing for sale in his catalogs that we wanted that we could not get for less at a major reatailer. What he did do was put my request to an internal review board that I was not allowed to attend. That "happened" two or three times before I gave up.

Lesson learned, if it sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true. We were never given adequate opportunity to investigate the claims of this compnay in order to make an informed decision, we took a chance and it cost us, don't let it happen to you!

Garry Russell, Ontario Canada

User Message 
Unregistered
Unregistered
Posted on 04 Nov 2003 at 06:32.26 AM
Company City:Hauppauge, LI
Company Country:US_United States

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