Random musings and general banter.

[harrytumkins]

Rare look at QVC

"open-topped yarn"

£69 quid

Just buy it

 

[Muttley]

Just had a read of that, christ wish i had been around here back then sounds like it was real fun.

So the Goddess didn't like folks slagging off Mike of the Masons, shame, not.

I read that. I'd love to know the legal basis for this. Calling him Gollum or a dodgy market trader are not nice comments but is it libellous? There's plenty of evidence regarding dubious sales tactics, I'm sure people were just describing what he was doing. His Goddess may love him but some people on here don't, but if she only wants to read a Mills and Boon description of him I suggest she stays away from forums.

 

[Jazzydrury]

Rare look at QVC

"open-topped yarn"

£69 quid

Just buy it

With 90 year old Flinty

 

[Muttley]

does a cracking Spanish accent too by all accounts, answers to the name of Juan Kerr!

It still amazes me Sally Jacks keeps claiming this 'northern bird' tag or in her accent 'nowvern bird'. She might be living in Lancashire these days but she sounds about as northern as Harry Redknapp.

@Hammy60 you missed caravan of love house martins!!

No disrespect to Sally (because I think this is a sign of the times) but is this the sort of thing people are watching these days? A neighbour of mine said he doesn't own a TV, they just watch YouTube channels.

I'm a huge fan of YouTube to help me when building flat pack furniture (I'm totally useless and the visuals help) or following fitness videos (very slow ones for people with chronic health conditions!!). It just wouldn't occur to me to watch a shopping telly presenter doing a tour of her caravan and looking in her cupboards. But that's just me and it would be a boring world if we were all the same.

 

[MrMarple]

No disrespect to Sally (because I think this is a sign of the times) but is this the sort of thing people are watching these days? A neighbour of mine said he doesn't own a TV, they just watch YouTube channels.

I'm a huge fan of YouTube to help me when building flat pack furniture (I'm totally useless and the visuals help) or following fitness videos (very slow ones for people with chronic health conditions!!). It just wouldn't occur to me to watch a shopping telly presenter doing a tour of her caravan and looking in her cupboards. But that's just me and it would be a boring world if we were all the same.

I barely look in my own cupboards to be honest so I've absolutely no interest in watching someone go through theirs

 

[Hammy60]

I read that. I'd love to know the legal basis for this. Calling him Gollum or a dodgy market trader are not nice comments but is it libellous? There's plenty of evidence regarding dubious sales tactics, I'm sure people were just describing what he was doing. His Goddess may love him but some people on here don't, but if she only wants to read a Mills and Boon description of him I suggest she stays away from forums.

Well can't comment on the specifics of that thread, but it's always handy keeping video evidence if you are accusing folks of certain types of behaviour.

As an example, my ASA complaint i mentioned a few posts back regarding CCCP watch shows, was upheld in the Nov 2020 and despite IW's claim it wouldn't happen again and staff would receive training, low and behold in May 2021 i've a video of both Mason & Bordell on an 11pm watch show making the same erroneous claim that a CCCP "Gorky" watch (the very SAME watch in my ASA complaint which was upheld) contained a Slava movement, Mason even called it a FABULOUS Slava movement as he showed off the display back, and Bordell did his monologue of the Slava factory, yet like in my complaint the watch still contained a Seiko NH35 with no Slava in sight.

And that's only one video, have more, so i feel happy and quite safe calling them out on their behaviour and for spouting bullshit, especially as they had already received slapped wrists 6 months earlier from ASA for spouting the same bullshit.

The few remaining shopping TV channels must know by now not to repeat the same mistake that Ideal World made in taking on nearly all of the Bid/Price-drop TV presenters. People were watching Bid and Price-drop not because of the excellence of the presenters but because they were absolute car crashes to watch (especially Price-drop) towards the end of their existences, and although there's a logic to attracting familiar faces hence more/different viewers to your shopping TV channel, Ideal World effectively took on Bid TV's dodgy reputation in the process (and with less 'entertainment value') which in the longer term sank it.

In retrospect Ideal World might even have been still profitable today if it had only taken on three or four of the best Bid/Price-drop presenters instead of importing nearly all of their collective incompetence, though of course the rot extended to management as well as the on-screen 'talent'.

For me that was IW's biggest problem, Management at IW was poor to say the least, while the presenters were bad (unlikable, obnoxious, dodgy sales tactics, lies, egotistical behaviour etc), it is obvious this behaviour was not only condoned but encouraged by the Management, so it is little wonder they failed so soon after the previous failure.

 

[Jazzydrury]

Regarding Sally’s YouTube channel, I think she makes them more for women or that is how it comes over, that’s why I subscribe

People will watch anything though, not shopping related, but a lot of channels run especially by teens are like, What I had to eat on a day, when I’ve only eat blue food

 

[Deleted member 21838]

I think at the time it may have gone beyond pastiche or comedic ridicule. I think you need to be careful in what you state as a fact in print. For example: Presenter A is a liar and a thief and Presenter B is stealing the stock, say. You would then need to back up what you allege in court. I have been writing about shopping telly for probably 20 plus years on and off, and following the if you can’t prove it, don’t state it as a fact routine.

 

[Muttley]

Going back to the demise of the shopping channel in general, I think one of the biggest problems is having nothing new to sell anymore. The George Foreman grill was launched on a shopping channel as was the Magic Bullet blender, Lock n' locks, memory foam mattress toppers, ahh bras, the wonder Core exerciser, I'm sure there's loads I've forgotten. These products are now all available in the mainstream and have been for ages, not only that, cheaper imitations are widely available. The shopping channels are no longer the leaders in innovation that they used to be. The Jewellery channels seem to be hanging in there because they're concentrating on one thing and attract people who are specifically looking for it. QVC on the other hand is a mystery to me. I don't know what they're like in the other countries they serve, but over here they're a ludicrously expensive department store selling mainstream stuff that can be bought cheaper literally everywhere else. I can only surmise that it's a combination of Kim & Co, Marla Wynne, Diamonique and those blind to the pitfalls of the 60 day MBG that's keeping them where they are!
Would I want to rewind to the those heady days? Yes and no. Yes because they were entertaining and dare I say exciting, and no because despite discovering some brilliant products that I still use today I did buy an awful lot of crap that I most certainly wouldn't have bought had I not seen it on the telly. I remember buying this weird mobile phone that hung around your neck like an old person's alarm. It had no dial and was operated by means of one central button and the rest was voice operated - It had its problems, one being that you had to speak very loudly and very carefully if you didn't want "phone home" to be interpreted as "phone John" or "doctor" on one occasion! I guess it picked up some background noise. I went out one balmy sunny evening with it hanging around my neck then out of nowhere the heavens opened and I got soaked to the skin - The phone did not enjoy the experience and stopped working from that day forth - It wasn't cheap!

Also, are shopping channels only getting viewers who are tuning in there and then? Didn't know George Foreman grill was launched there, I love mine and its used a lot. But if it needs replacing, I'll probably use Amazon, or my local Argos if I need it now. It wouldn't occur to me to see if a shopping channel had one, and of course the high p&p would put me off. I was never much of a shopping channel shopper (mainly here for the banter!) so others may have a different view.

 

[Muttley]

Regarding Sally’s YouTube channel, I think she makes them more for women or that is how it comes over, that’s why I subscribe

People will watch anything though, not shopping related, but a lot of channels run especially by teens are like, What I had to eat on a day, when I’ve only eat blue food

I feel so old....

I think I should start a channel aimed at over 50s ranting about all the things that have annoyed me today!

 

[Jazzydrury]

I feel so old....

I think I should start a channel aimed at over 50s ranting about all the things that have annoyed me today!

You wouldn’t be the first

 

[Craftalot]

I feel so old....

I think I should start a channel aimed at over 50s ranting about all the things that have annoyed me today!

Isn't that GB News?

 

[Craftalot]

Rare look at QVC

"open-topped yarn"

£69 quid

Just buy it

QVC is a mystery - it doesn't really follow any of the rules of what should and what shouldn't work. It's quite cult-like, and it often feels that the audience is told to drink the Kool-Aid. They had a rare misstep of launching a 'social shopping app called 'Qurio' where people were encouraged to post videos and pictures with reviews of their products: probably the worst advert for being part of the 'QVC family' that they could have imagined.

You don't hear so much about Qurio now

 

[Muttley]

Isn't that GB News?

I watched about 5 minutes of that recently. Never again...

 

[merryone]

QVC is a mystery - it doesn't really follow any of the rules of what should and what shouldn't work. It's quite cult-like, and it often feels that the audience is told to drink the Kool-Aid. They had a rare misstep of launching a 'social shopping app called 'Qurio' where people were encouraged to post videos and pictures with reviews of their products: probably the worst advert for being part of the 'QVC family' that they could have imagined.

You don't hear so much about Qurio now

As far as QVC's concerned anyway - They're on their own lol! "Cult like" - I think you've hit the nail square on the head there. There'd be absolute uproar if M&S started adding £3.95 postage to every item in your basket!

 

[stratobuddy]

I barely look in my own cupboards to be honest so I've absolutely no interest in watching someone go through theirs

I've just had to clear out then re-arrange my under-sink cupboard in order to access the stop tap. Found lots of items I'd forgotten I had.

 

[Deleted member 21838]

I am afraid I don’t see any part of two thirds of their slogan that actually works regularly in reality. Value? Not really overall. You rarely see major bargains staring out at you. One or two recent Ninja TSVs have been good prices, but most of what they sell seems price wise to be run of the mill to me. Their postal charges, which they impose per item are equally poor value compared to many other major Internet retailers and how their postage and packing systems costs work. Convenience? Really? Having a website where there is no up-to-date management of your order. Usually taking a number of days for your goods to arrive, and with no flexibility of when and how they get to you. no named day delivery option. No locker system for non-address collection. That isn’t very convenient in 2023 Britain. I‘ll give them ‘Quality’ overall. But again some of the stuff they sell, seems to be under the tat umbrella. Christmas novelties and the like. I don’t see much quality shining out from those.

 

[Old Man Steptoe]

Christmas in July one to avoid serious tat!
Chocolate who buys this stuff in July for Christmas.
Oh know I hear the ominous scurrying to the website qurio qurio your feeling very very sleepy,when you wake up buy buy buy!

 

[Deleted member 21838]

I think some food related products are also incredibly poor value in general. I am thinking about meats packs over the years, pies and pasties type items, some of the sweets and chocolates, too. I recall one particular butcher they used some years back quickly disappeared over some hygiene related issue. Not the present butcher I might add.. Something Green - the butcher’s company name, not the colour of the meat…?

 

[Jazzydrury]

Christmas in July one to avoid serious tat!
Chocolate who buys this stuff in July for Christmas.
Oh know I hear the ominous scurrying to the website qurio qurio your feeling very very sleepy,when you wake up buy buy buy!

if you bought chocolate for Christmas now, one it would get eaten by Christmas, or it will have gone off