A 'Throwaway Price'...

I think I'm generally in a bad, grumpy mood today so :tongue: .

But this really did annoy me today. Was watching an hour of Silver Day this afternoon and Claudia was on presenting a pair of earrings. The price of them was £20 and something or other...and she remarked that that amount of money was a 'throwaway price' and that everyone could afford to throw that sort of money away on jewellery.

I know £20 is not a King's ransom by any means, but to suggest something is 'throwaway' in price to me demeans both the quality of jewellery they sell and also is a touch arrogant in the current economic climate we're in. I can't remember the last time I had a £20 note in my purse to spend on anything - and if I did have one it wouldn't go on jewellery at the present moment.

I do sometimes wonder what planet they live on at QVC Towers - just now Jill Franks was urging us all to buy two or three of a silver bracelet costing the same amount of money, because it was on easy-pay. Easy pay still means you have to pay for it...!

:angry:

I,too,get a bit narked when they comment on prices - its not for them to decide its a bargain or a stupid price - or at these price its worth layering/buying several.Thats for me to decide!

Jill Franks was referring to a silver stretch braclet - a oto - and kept saying she would buy two of them. Well bully for her!

Remember what happened to Gerald Ratner back in the 80's or 90's when he said something similar about the earrings Ratners the jewelers where selling at the time.
The press had a field day and not long after they went out of business.
Now I am not suggesting QVC are on their way out but they really should think before they open their big mouths.
£20 is a lot of money in my book and even if I had it to spare I wouldn't be buying earrings from QVC with it.

totally agree, £20 is a lot of money to a lot of people, they need to get in the real world, I have not shopped with them for nearly three months as sick of the p and p costs and frankly (no pun intended) have not seen anything I really want.

madmax said:

Remember what happened to Gerald Ratner back in the 80's or 90's when he said something similar about the earrings Ratners the jewelers where selling at the time.
The press had a field day and not long after they went out of business.
Now I am not suggesting QVC are on their way out but they really should think before they open their big mouths.
£20 is a lot of money in my book and even if I had it to spare I wouldn't be buying earrings from QVC with it.

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I immediately thought of Gerald Ratner's stupid comment when I started reading this thread.

I'm sure £20 is loose change to Claudia but she should remember that's not the case for everyone and these kind of comments do alienate people.

What makes me cross is when they are selling an item of jewellery for around or under £20, and they say "at this price you could buy two or three of them". It's as if they assume we all have £60 to spend on wristwear and that we'll either choose one piece for £60, or three for £20. They also seem to think that we have special money with the ability to regenerate itself so as to allow us to 'throwaway' £60 in such manner repeatedly every third hour of every day.

ArtDeco said:

What makes me cross is when they are selling an item of jewellery for around or under £20, and they say "at this price you could buy two or three of them". It's as if they assume we all have £60 to spend on wristwear and that we'll either choose one piece for £60, or three for £20. They also seem to think that we have special money with the ability to regenerate itself so as to allow us to 'throwaway' £60 in such manner repeatedly every third hour of every day.

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ooh I wish, that would be great, wouldn't spend it on stuff from QVC tho

ArtDeco said:

What makes me cross is when they are selling an item of jewellery for around or under £20, and they say "at this price you could buy two or three of them". It's as if they assume we all have £60 to spend on wristwear and that we'll either choose one piece for £60, or three for £20. They also seem to think that we have special money with the ability to regenerate itself so as to allow us to 'throwaway' £60 in such manner repeatedly every third hour of every day.

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That annoys the hell out of me too. If I could afford £60, I'd rather buy ONE better quality item than lots of tatty little bits. The price isn't really the point. If it's something you love, and you have to have it, provided you've got enough money to buy it, You buy it...and ok, if it is a bargain, then that's a bonus. We don't need them to underline that at that price you can afford to buy three, what do they know what we can afford for a start?, or to say you can buy one for your auntie Jean, your daughter's teacher, the woman next door....I think we are all capable of deciding for ourselves whether we want to buy more than one, and who we can give them to!

The throwaway comment about the "throwaway" price is a ridiculous thing to say, in this, or any financial climate. I'm sure NOBODY thinks of throwing money away in any way, shape or form! I also find it irritating when they say...this is fine jewellery for the price of costume jewellery...I'm sorry, but there's a world of difference between a good quality piece of costume jewellery and a cheap n' flimsy piece of gold or silver, and an even bigger difference between cheap precious metal jewellery and the expensive stuff!

It's the same for the easy pay items. Yesterday on both occasions when I tuned in, the presenter said something like "and your first payment is only £8 and you won't even notice that!"

I know people know that they are paying this £8 x 3, but it seems again, they assume that we all have lots of £8s or whatever that we'll never notice leaving our account. But it all adds up.

I really don't think these comments are anything but sales patter - 'considered purchase' is another one they reel out on a regular basis, though they probably don't start using that one under £100!
I just can't imagine sitting there hour after hour enthusing about whatever jewellery you're selling and not slipping in the odd (or in my case probably frequent) silly/annoying comment, though some presenters are worse than others. Heyho, I must be in a mellow mood this morning!

I find the problem is a lot of these phrases that the presenters use on tv is rubbing off onto ordinary shop assistants I was with my sister looking for a smart brown skirt and we heard "oh that is so last seasons colours" and" this is on trend for now" I thought these sort of carp lines were only spoken on telly and this was in classic shops not high fashion,
I think for our age group thats mature to you lot black navy and brown are staples for our wardrobes not lime green and barbie pink lol

I agree Cavegirl it is so annoying, they all come over as if they care about their customers but they clearly don't. It wouldn't affect them in the least if you got into a financial mess through being sucked in by their sales pitch. They are all clearly over paid if that's what they think about £20. I have just paid my debit card bill and was gobsmacked at the amount of QVC purchases so I am not watching any shows for the next month or maybe two.

Birdie said:

It's the same for the easy pay items. Yesterday on both occasions when I tuned in, the presenter said something like "and your first payment is only £8 and you won't even notice that!"

I know people know that they are paying this £8 x 3, but it seems again, they assume that we all have lots of £8s or whatever that we'll never notice leaving our account. But it all adds up.

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Don't forget easy pay = easy debt!

Argh! A similar thing has just happened again, in the last shoe sale hour. A pair of shoes were being sold and they only had a £4 saving on them which was miniscule compared to some of the other savings. But according to Claudia it didn't matter as the item was on easy pays 'which made them cheaper'. NO, it DOESN'T make them cheaper you still have to PAY for them...argh!!!!

Yes i noticed that too CG!

The "savings" make me laugh too, they are generally miniscule, well in the £2-£5 bracket, I had half an eye on the shoe show while cleaning the windows (aren't I good?) and Claudia was wafting on about £50 being a bargain for a pair of flat pump things, not in my world it's not. Maybe I am not the sort of person QVC aspires to have as a customer.

The worst case of this 'savings' nonsense used to come from Sara Griffiths when she said that if you bought something when it was at a red box price you were actually making money by buying it! That's a direct quote, I heard her do it several times. I was surprised one each ocassion that QVC management hadn't had a word with her about it since the last time she said it. I imagine it's one of those bizarre comments that's hard to argue as unacceptable in a legal context but is to my mind a very erroneous claim!

:cheeky:

rainbowdottie said:

I,too,get a bit narked when they comment on prices - its not for them to decide its a bargain or a stupid price - or at these price its worth layering/buying several.Thats for me to decide!

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A little while ago there was some sort of beaty product on, i think it was a TSV and I think it was JR and she said "and look at these two brushes, you don't even have to pay for them, they are in the kit." Excuse me, who else is paying for them?

That was a Smashbox show I think, I also think she said it was a great buy with all the items ie low individual price per item and fairly quickly made the contradictory comment about not paying for the brushes at this price. It stuck in my mind as playing both ends against the middle once I managed to think it through, which is why I remember it. I have to confess I was tempted in the Awaken jewellery show but only in that on Silver Day.