Cost of living? Not on QVC

[QVC Princess]

QVC started pushing the ultra expensive brands and because of easy pay, loads of customers went Oh! I, too, can have a dyson hair styler/hairdryer, a kitchen aid mixer, £200+ handbags and shoes. They see the z celebs have them TOWIE etc, and now they too can have all this too. The old monkey see, and the others want that too. QVC are giving it to them because of easy pay.

Totally agree Donna but when they are punting a £6,000 ring even five easi-pays is £1,200 each month - who can afford that comfortably? Mind you there might be a few on Quirio who might get themselves into debt just so they can post a video to the high gods of QVC. But as you have said if they are getting the sales they’ll keep upping the prices. Shameful really

 

[Vienna]

There`s a big difference between people who have a low income and have to buy necessities or the odd supposed luxury on credit or weekly/monthly payments and those people who spend well above their earnings and get into debt just to show off or for one upmanship.
When I was young my Mum had 4 children, only my Dad`s basic wage and they were a rarity for the time because they had a mortgage on the house they`d paid £360 for.
We were clothed from weekly paid catalogues for things such as shoes and coats but Mum made everything else and knitted horrible itchy jumpers and cardigans and every item was passed down to younger siblings. I never got a brand new dress until I was 13 and when I outgrew my older sister.
For Christmas my Mum paid a small weekly amount into a local toy shop`s Christmas savings club and then just before Christmas she`d buy toys to the amount she`d saved with them. It was basically one item each and topped up with crayons, colouring book, selection box and a Christmas annual book.
Life got a bit easier for her financially as we all grew older and she was able to return to part time work but even then she cleaned a bank before it opened in the morning and cleaned an Insurance office after they closed at night. Back breaking work and I recall going with her one day and watching her on her knees polishing floors.
Eventually as we all became teenagers she knew she could leave us to take care of ourselves during the day, get ourselves off to school etc and be ok during school holidays so she got a full time job in a factory.
If she could see the tat sellers on Q and the customers who clamour for junk or tying themselves into huge monthly easy pays, she`d have a fit. Yes we`ve all had to use credit from time to time, broken washing machines, poorly cars, unexpected bills etc always seem to arrive at the wrong time but in my mind diamond rings, expensive clothes, gizmos and gadgets, overpriced skincare are luxuries not essentials and I begrudge nobody any of them IF they really can afford them after everything else is paid in their life.

 

[Toril]

I think if i compare QVC with supermarkets - QVC (think) they are Waitrose and the other shopping channels are Lidl/Aldi I think. They seem to be trying to attract the type of customer who doesn’t need to ask prices - they are so rich they buy what they want regardless of cost. How long/if QVC survives who knows but I’m buying more and more from IW - good brands,great prices,flexi pay,capped p&p and free returns via Asda.The items of fashion I have bought I’ve been impressed with quality,value and their packaging doesn’t include plastic,everything is recyclable - a big bonus.

I’m not sure that all the customers are rich. Most of them probably buy everything on EZPay. Heaven help them when they realise that they’ve overdone it and can’t afford to heat and eat after Christmas.

I agree with you about IW. If you choose the right things the quality is really good and their capped P&P, and often free P&P, plus the free returns is something from which QVC could learn a lesson.

I’m sure all the EZPays is simply to boost their sales, rather than for the customers.

Mum and dad never bought anything on credit/hire purchase, which is probably why never do either. I’d rather know that I can afford something and not run into debt because an unexpected bill arrives.

 

[May]

I bought 2 such great value .. said absolutely nobody

 

[loveallthingsitalian]

An uncle (dads side) worked in a factory making ladies underwear and nightwear and he used to give my mum off cuts which she got made into dresses for us by a dressmaker. She knitted jumpers to go with kilts both of which itched the life out of me.

Mum’s only brother didn’t get married until later in life and he paid for Clarke shoes twice a year. Gran paid for our Sunday coat, (very similar to those the Cambridge children wear now!)

Everything was saved for BEFORE you got it - no paying up for anything.

 

[merryone]

There`s a big difference between people who have a low income and have to buy necessities or the odd supposed luxury on credit or weekly/monthly payments and those people who spend well above their earnings and get into debt just to show off or for one upmanship.
When I was young my Mum had 4 children, only my Dad`s basic wage and they were a rarity for the time because they had a mortgage on the house they`d paid £360 for.
We were clothed from weekly paid catalogues for things such as shoes and coats but Mum made everything else and knitted horrible itchy jumpers and cardigans and every item was passed down to younger siblings. I never got a brand new dress until I was 13 and when I outgrew my older sister.
For Christmas my Mum paid a small weekly amount into a local toy shop`s Christmas savings club and then just before Christmas she`d buy toys to the amount she`d saved with them. It was basically one item each and topped up with crayons, colouring book, selection box and a Christmas annual book.
Life got a bit easier for her financially as we all grew older and she was able to return to part time work but even then she cleaned a bank before it opened in the morning and cleaned an Insurance office after they closed at night. Back breaking work and I recall going with her one day and watching her on her knees polishing floors.
Eventually as we all became teenagers she knew she could leave us to take care of ourselves during the day, get ourselves off to school etc and be ok during school holidays so she got a full time job in a factory.
If she could see the tat sellers on Q and the customers who clamour for junk or tying themselves into huge monthly easy pays, she`d have a fit. Yes we`ve all had to use credit from time to time, broken washing machines, poorly cars, unexpected bills etc always seem to arrive at the wrong time but in my mind diamond rings, expensive clothes, gizmos and gadgets, overpriced skincare are luxuries not essentials and I begrudge nobody any of them IF they really can afford them after everything else is paid in their life.

The way things are nowadays makes a mockery of all the hard work our parents and grandparents had to go through in order to feed us, clothe us and give us treats. Of course there's always been people more well off, and I'm not saying that they haven't worked hard for their money, but for whatever reason, it's less of a struggle. My christmasses were similar to your I'd get one main present, which depended up what I needed, so one year it would be something big, like a bike, but another year might have been a doll and a couple of outfits - They didn't feel the need to spend a ridiculous amount of money just because it was my birthday or Christmas. My grandparents used to buy me a nice gift and other than that it was topped up with an "an annual, a selection box, colouring books/crayons etc". Kids these days get these as a matter of course. Looking back, I loved the imagination. I remember putting an old wooden ladder on the floor and sitting in the gap at the front and putting dolls and teddies in the rungs - That was my bus,and I was the "driver" - beats the hell out of any all singing all dancing plastic bus, they could've bought me, had they got the money!
Clothes were done over two shopping trips per year, other than that, jumble sales, and hand me downs and I always looked smart, ok not fashionable, but clean and presentable!
It's all on a plate nowadays, in many ways, yes it's good that the less well off can have a taste of the stuff our parents/ we couldn't afford to buy back in the day, but it comes at a cost that the less well off have to bear the brunt of. Yes, my grandparents would have a fit too if they could see the QVC tat merchants at work!

 

[Deleted member 21838]

It’s not a generous retailer in general. Postage and packing charges are expensive compared to others. Essentially, there is virtually nothing of any note given back for being a regular buyer with the channel. No loyalty points system, no decent voucher scheme for reaching a certain spending level such as Tesco do with their Clubcard system. And they seriously believe in 2022 and prices going through the roof for so many things, that offering a miserable £5 voucher is a satisfactory reward for being a frequent spender of money with them.

 

[loveallthingsitalian]

If we got a bike then granny and uncle bought the saddle/bell/etc (no helmets or knee pads then!) or if it was a pram then they bought the blankets etc.

We were lucky in that we got one good present for birthday and Christmas but apart from a stocking with colouring pens etc we got nothing during the year other than a weekly comic whereas friends got plastic tat from Woolworths every few weeks and sweets every time they went to the shops. Any pocket money had to be saved for days out or holidays, no buying sweets

 

[Vienna]

Off topic but this photo really made me laugh. An ideal way to have a Christmas tree which costs nothing and I`m guessing more than a few homes already have one.

 

[Dame Fondacox]

Do QVC not realise how much it's costing us to heat both our homes and that we have to run the heating even when we're not there?! Then there's the cost of travellng between them - we have to send the staff on ahead, followed by a van with the provisions - it al adds up! I certainly won't be gifting that lollipop person I drive by and splash when it's raining with their usual L'Occitane Coffret this year!

 

[ERICS MUM]

Its the christmas buts n bobs that get me. You can go into the big high street supermarkets and get the same items for a lot less money. £40.00 £50.00 for a light up ornament. For a lot of people that will be thier entire budget for thier Christmas dinner.

This is a perfect illustration of how QVC have failed to keep up with the changes we’ve seen on the “dreaded high street” in recent years.

Nowadays the sort of tat for which QVC demand premium prices and p&p are easily available from the likes of B&M, Home Bargains and The Range. Plus market stalls. Particularly the case for Christmas tat. If I’ve paid £15 in a shop for Christmas lights I won’t mind so much if they don’t work the following Christmas. Paying double that plus p&P from QVC, I’d be bliddy annoyed if they were ‘dead’ the next December.

 

[Old Man Steptoe]

Typical of QVC people on the breadline fighting to put food on the table,and trying to keep warm,it is all warm and cosy in QVC world,nothing from the outside world ever seems to penetrate that bubble,of self indulgent smugness and lack of awarenes.
Perhaps it would be better to donate some of their overpriced food,to local food banks instead of highlighting the haves and the have nots.

 

[Grizelda]

Not my idea of fun shopping with QVC,slow refunds that take a lifetime to be sorted out,overpriced food,overpriced fashion,and slop,presented by smug people,who think it’s great to sell crap.
Dont get me started about the tech guy in a wig,many words said but no information given,harsh but fair assessment in 2022.
Cost of living(crisis)not on QVC until people wake up.

The tech guy must be Lee. I agree, he's a prize gas bag who wants to dazzle us with his vast tech knowledge. As for the food, it must be a help to people who can't get to the shops easily and who don't have to count their pennies. I imagine that many people use the cheap and nasty Chinese made Christmas ornaments once and then chuck them out. Some of the BA's and presenters have the gall to tell us that various ornaments can be passed down through the generations! What a crock!