How many times have you been pressured into buying something you don't really want or need?

According to NewsChannel5's Troubleshooter Chris Caswell, some Ohio consumers say they were given the hard sell to buy a membership to United Consumers Club Total Home.

Amanda Overholt says that it started over the phone: "They would call every other day. 'Why don't you come out? Why don't you just come to an open house, just see what we're about?'"

But Claudia Bowling says that once you get to the warehouse, there isn't much to see.

"I was looking for this huge warehouse and it was this little small office and I was like, 'How the heck do they get 7,000 items in this little building?'" Bowling told Caswell. "All you see is shelves of books and magazines."

She says there is no furniture, just an hour-long sales pitch.

"Our members deal directly with 800 manufacturers. They're able to buy direct, eliminating retail markup and all that middleman cost," a salesman said while being taped on undercover video.

The salesman said that would give consumers good deals on furniture, electronics and other items.

Caswell says that after the pitch, consumers are asked to sign a three-year, $2,400 contract. UCC's own book, "America's Best Kept Secret," states that if you don't join now, you can't come back for 7 years.

"They don't give you time to think," Bowling said. "They don't say, 'Go home, think about it.'"

Overholt says that she asked about canceling her contract later: "I asked them several times and they wouldn't give me a straight answer. [They] kind of jumped around the issue."

However, NewsChannel5's undercover consumer did get a straight answer.

"So if I sign up today and I get cold feet tomorrow and I just don't want to do this, I'm stuck?" the undercover consumer asked.

"To be honest with you, anybody who cancels within three days, we give them their money back," Rick Hatfield said.

Caswell says that the undercover consumer had to ask the question; the cancellation wasn't volunteered.

But Overton and Bowling say they never got their money back.

Overton says that she tried to cancel at a local UCC the very next day. But her salesman wouldn't let her go without a fight.

"It was basically, this time, (an) in-your-face kind of thing," she said. "He basically told me in no uncertain terms, 'Well, only morons want to buy retail.'"

According to Caswell, Five On Your Side found more than 80 grievances filed with the attorney general's office since 1993. Some complaints focused on delivery problems, others on UCC's pricing guarantees. But most of the complaints lodged had to do with getting out of the contract shortly after signing.

The sales manager in Middleburg Heights says UCC does not allow cancellations. Caswell reminded Hatfield what he told customers on the hidden camera video.

But UCC's contract states: "No oral promises or statements not contained in this membership agreement are binding."

Why did Hatfield say he would offer refunds?

"If you ask me in the middle of open house, what was I going to say, 'No?'" he said.

Yet at no time during the hour-long seminar did Hatfield tell his audience to get it in writing. He says there's a good reason why the contract doesn't allow cancellations.

"If they know in three days that they can cancel the membership, they could take that $9.82 price and go to the store and say, 'If you can sell it to me for 10 bucks a square yard, I'll cancel my membership with UCC Total Home,'" Hatfield said.

Customers aren't the only ones complaining, Caswell reports. Leonard Nicholson used to own a UCC franchise in New Orleans. He began feeling uncomfortable about UCC's pricing claims.

"A number of members were complaining to us that they were seeing the same merchandise in the stores, which was readily available, as opposed to having to order and wait, at the same or cheaper prices," Nicholson said.

The court dismissed some of his complaints. Yet Nicholson is still suing UCC for fraud and misrepresentation.

UCC's headquarters told Caswell that Nicholson's allegations are untrue and are being vigorously defended.

Five On Your Side asked both local UCC franchises to respond to their customers. The Highland Heights office told Caswell that while they disagree with the statements that Overholt made, they look forward to resolving her complaint fairly.

The Middleburg Heights UCC told Caswell that Overton tried to cancel too late.

As for consumers left with nothing in writing, Caswell says that a seemingly good investment can turn into an expensive gamble.

"My credit report is still showing I'm under this collection agency, and it's kind of ruining my credit," Overton said.