General Banter and Random Musings

[Duke of Cheese]

Totally agree some of these posts have been brutal,and it’s not me saying it as a channel fan

I do think questioning him on products is fair game. But personal stuff to somebody who has tried to engage with us, and in his own name, wrecks it, essentially. Hope he comes back.

 

[Jazzydrury]

I do think questioning him on products is fair game. But personal stuff to somebody who has tried to engage with us, and in his own name, wrecks it, essentially. Hope he comes back.

I agree we’ve asked for years about Channels being more open, and Alex has been.

The majority of us would never have asked anything personal, These threads have always been fun, I begun this thread to be simular

 

[Jazzydrury]

Maybe this

They really haven't, though — unless some things have been deleted or edited since I've logged on and caught up?

If anything, people seem to have been very polite and encouraging, especially to Alex, and with hoping Seen On TV can catch breath, get back on its feet, and help bring good value products to people, sold accurately without lies or mistruths, and give us Selly Telly swots some entertaining shows!

If you're referring to the fact it was brought up that the bladeless fan company's "history" ought to be mentioned in the past-tense given it's long-divorced from the products the company who bought the brand name now sell... That's no different to the criticisms many of us level against Swan & Edgar, Gamages, et al — we've never been called "brutal" for highlighting that!

If you're referring to the fact it was inferred Alex saying "…well the website says it's their history, so I just parroted it, so it's fine" is a bit of a low-effort excuse... Again, hardly "brutal" - it is low effort. I accept I may I have higher standards in taking companies at face-value since I'm a (technology) journalist for a living, but given people are being asked to part with their cash on the basis of that information… I don't think it's unfair to point out it's a bit meh.

If you're referring to Insider laying out the truth on the current situation as "brutal" then you are over-reacting. The facts aren't made-up, they're not emotive, they're not half-truths or misrepresentations. Insider hasn't, as they themselves say, been gleeful in sharing it - a little snarky, perhaps, but if you were someone with experience in shopping TV, and you saw Simon's hubris in thinking he could muscle in and rival established players quickly, you'd arguably feel a bit of "…I could've told you so" too.

Am I overreacting no

These threads are made for a bit of fun if anything, we are a group where Many of us have health issues, and a bit too much time on hands.

Not by you but today we’ve had comments on Alex being ignorant. Comments about his kids, His punctuation being bought up

Majority of us, just wanted answers about products, and not being personal

 

[Duke of Cheese]

His grammar essentially. Interestingly, that's been done before to one of our members who is dyslexic, upsetting them.

 

[Alex Knowles]

Hi everyone,

First of all - I am 100% a rubbish speller so there isn’t much I can do about that one . Hopefully spell check will pick up most of the mistakes!
I said at the start of the thread a week ago that I wanted to engage on here and do it openly as myself and some things I write you will disagree with, some we will agree on and some bits I will learn from.

For me personally - 1 year ago the old IW wrapped up and left me in a bit of a hole as I didn’t get paid for the last month working.
Some brilliant people helped me. Shop on TV gave me work and an opportunity, so did GX pillow, Ideal World (new) and Simon Iles. I’m grateful to all of them and is why I have nothing bad to say as I have friends here who also struggled and these channels and people helped us. Some of the channels and individuals many of you may not like. I’m grateful because if they hadn’t stepped in I would have had to leave this industry and find new employment. And I wanted to stay here doing this.
Simon gave me an opportunity to help him set up a new channel and a group of us have put everything into it. I will forever be grateful for that opportunity and the friendship shown to me by him and everyone else that helped me and others cover our bills.

But - the point I want to come back to is on the products we are selling and Herrings point above. I disagree to an extent with you because I think the website information on a product is enough information on the brand and the history. I don’t think I have time to fact check every fact that I’m given from a company’s website to make sure they are also upto date. For me - it’s a fan. You are buying a fan with a 2 year warranty, bells and whistles and £10 cheaper than anywhere else that you could find the same fan for.
I don’t think the majority of customers (who want a fan because they are hot) will decide no on the purchase because they researched in depth the history of the company beyond what the company website says.

Now if it’s a watch or a much higher ticketed item, I get why you need to know beyond in depth knowledge of your product.
With bedding and mattresses for me - I need to be talking to the manufacturers, visiting the factories, chatting to the owners etc because this is my field and as you rightly said - I can’t be Meh about it.
Now I may be wrong and if the majority of people on here disagree with me, then I will make sure in the future I do a little more prep on future items than just read and learn the website about the history of a company.
I just think what the fan actually does, the speeds, modes, wattage, how much is it going to cost you to run etc is more important that if I got the history wrong because I didn’t double check the information that the company website gave me .

 

[SiRich]

In my opinion it's been a fair and an extremely interesting insight from Insiders and others closer to matters, I don't think the comments are out of order and show there is definitely a bit of history.

I also think Alex is quite right if the history/heritage is on a website then imo is quite within his rights to share that history without having to critique. He is not reading the description on oath/onthe bible, it is sales related after all, and he is confident in the product.

It really does sound to have pretty grim for prospects for keeping this new gig going, who would throw good money after bad, part of me wonders if there is some sort of addiction with people who go into this industry, it is more than just a job to many, and more than a few large EGOs at play.

I have all but given up on Ideal World now and missed a bit of shopping tv in HD for things I had some interest in and thoughts to buy.

I understand from posts above from Alex that you grab/secure a channel to broadcast or you miss out for a significant period of time, this does seem to have forced a launch without the products to back things up.

 

[cheeky chappie]

As the second Insider has said, it seems Simon was totally blindsided into thinking they would make big sales from day 1 and goodness knows why when he witnessed the failure of Shop Extra and the declining sales at Ideal World. Why he thought his channel would be different and buck the trend is anyones guess and if he seriously thought there was a gap in the market, I'd love to know what gap. Air fryers, waterless wash and wax, overpriced watches, fans, mattresses, Piranha and toilet roll - it was all so original and fresh, not

This, exactly this.

 

[Hammy60]

Maybe this

Am I overreacting no

These threads are made for a bit of fun if anything, we are a group where Many of us have health issues, and a bit too much time on hands.

Not by you but today we’ve had comments on Alex being ignorant. Comments about his kids, His punctuation being bought up

Majority of us, just wanted answers about products, and not being personal

I wasn't having a go at him, was saying he should be with his kids and not worry about answering questions on here, he probably feels under pressure to answer folks on here when he really shouldn't be. He should just enjoy his time with his kids and leave replying to here until he's back at work, same as everybody else would do.

 

[Duke of Cheese]

I think if you are using as a selling point on a product, information that tells viewers a manufacturer has decades of tradition, and you make a direct connection to the products it made in the past to now, then that needs to be factual. You are saying this stuff as a positive, not a negative. People (particularly older people) often buy from long established retailers or makers because they believe that means better service, reliability or both. If the truth is the traditional name you promote has absolutely no connection with the current maker, then you are misleading potential buyers by either accident or design. Yes, in this particular example, it’s a fan with a long warranty and at a good price. Fine. Leave it that. Don’t add in the bit about the manufacturer longevity - unless you are sure of your facts and that goes beyond what is said on its own website. It took me about 30 seconds to check externally that Rediffusion is just a brand name brought back from the dead by someone else. And about another 30 seconds to check the address given on the website at Companies House. A minute or two to be sure.

 

[marky mark]

Totally agree some of these posts have been brutal,and it’s not me saying it as a channel fan

agreed

 

[Hammy60]

I think if you are using as a selling point on a product, information that tells viewers a manufacturer has decades of tradition, and you make a direct connection to the products it made in the past to now, then that needs to be factual. You are saying this stuff as a positive, not a negative. People (particularly older people) often buy from long established retailers or makers because they believe that means better service, reliability or both. If the truth is the traditional name you promote has absolutely no connection with the current maker, then you are misleading potential buyers by either accident or design. Yes, in this particular example, it’s a fan with a long warranty and at a good price. Fine. Leave it that. Don’t add in the bit about the manufacturer longevity - unless you are sure of your facts and that goes beyond what is said on its own website. It took me about 30 seconds to check externally that Rediffusion is just a brand name brought back from the dead by someone else. And about another 30 seconds to check the address given on the website at Companies House. A minute or two to be sure.

Used to get annoyed with Mason and Simon, they used to use Beldray's longevity as a major selling point, along the lines of if their products were good quality etc then they wouldn't have lasted 150+ years blah blah, except they didn't last 150 years, yeah the name was was saved and passed between a couple of owners before Ultimate Products PLC finally got hold of the name and decided to slap it on Chinese source products, the original Beldray company (originally called Bradley & Co Ltd) is dead and buried, shut it's doors in 2005.

 

[Duke of Cheese]

Agreed. However you argue the ‘insignificance’ of the brand name enhancement selling pitches, if not accurate, they mislead. Beldray is yet another example. It’s not good enough just to check the in-house website blurb. You must go beyond if being candid and transparent is part of your ethos as a shopping television channel retailer.

 

[cheeky chappie]

Brand provenance. Selly telly know what it means and its value, without a doubt they know. Whenever they can they exploit it to the full ... even when the 'brand' now has diddly squat to do with the original

Hammy uses the example of Beldray and how they'll refer to its longevity. This is basically lying, not slight misinformation but lying. Why? Cause as Hammy also pointed out, the present day brand has nowt to do with the brand that folded x years back.

Smoke & mirrors my friends, smoke & mirrors ...

 

[Duke of Cheese]

If a high street shop sold goods they boldly advertised as ‘British Heritage Brand Since 1905” and it was in fact “Chinese Made Old British Name Since 2020,” it would only be a matter of time until the local trading standards were made aware and got involved. What’s the difference between that and what shopping channels do?

 

[Worldie04]

The studio is based in an industrial unit near Nottingham (I don't want to identify it but it's near the IKEA). The actual studio space is only about 5x10m so very small as studios go but they use the whole space and IMO have made decent use of it, it looks a lot bigger when you watch. There is additional space upstairs for a 'green room', desk space, small segregated gallery space and filming area where some of the TikTok videos have been made.

 

[Duke of Cheese]

Do you think it will survive?

 

[Marco_polo]

Almost zero chance it will survive. The lack of interest in IW being bought is an indicator of the market. No track record as a company with no sales history. Very sad to say but won’t be around for long.

 

[Dr Quincy MkII]

I’m confused
I find myself agreeing and also disagreeing in equal measure.
As and elderly person “I think being 74 qualifies me to use that term” I do sit on my sofa and watch TV but I also stream a lot too.
I don’t now have sky but I did previously however after many years and being a female who isn’t into watching sport I found it ridiculously expensive as It wasn’t really any better than watching normal TV cos it’s full of repeats of repeats of repeats.

I do web searches automatically for anything I buy and find I’m personally buying less and less from Amazon as it’s becoming less and less the best place to buy price wise I personally think they have become overconfident that they are the one place everyone goes. I don’t trust their reviews either so also look elsewhere online before making a decision on what to buy and where to buy it.
I’m not on TikTok. no longer on Twitter since it became X rarely use face book except for a few private secret groups (I also have a my space account out ther somewhere) that don’t come up on a Facebook search
Where, how, we buy, what we buy tomorrow is something I havent a scobby about, what’s the latest in way could change tomorrow and something new will appear.
I’ve given up on keeping up.
Re watching any shopping channel on TV. I watch them online while sitting here on my sofa trying to keep up with what your all saying and while watching something that’s entirely different on my TV. I use WhatsApp to keep in touch with friends, family and social groups but only trust that about as far as I can’t throw it.
Maybe it’s time I got my coat

you're close to my dad's age (he's 75) and he does do streaming and youtube, now he and my mum look after my sisters young kids so it helps with that I guess, but both parents are in their 70s and are very active. They prefer to go into the shops. However, not stupid enough to know bargains can be had online. They come to me for that as I have an Amazon account. But they have NEVER bought anything off shopping TV. In fact I don't think they trust it

 

[Dr Quincy MkII]

I've been dipping in and out and enjoyed the demos. I'm a fan of the wash and wax stuff. It is like Ideal World of old but with a fresh look. Watching Dennnnnnnnnn (never remember how many 'n's is enough) for the first time on here. It's how the new Ideal World COULD be but isn't

 

[Duke of Cheese]

I don’t think you can take this path and hope to survive. I mean…how can you? Dropping live broadcasting after a few days and resorting to a few shows with a very limited product range on a loop. What do they have to present to potential investors other than an aspiration, or more impolitely, a fantasy of what can be achieved. Would you give them a couple of hundred thousand pounds of your money?