Infomercials

[blas87]

....in a destination of looking for the truth versus the scams.

I'm not in a buying mood or anything. I'm just your typical night shifter who happens to be wide awake at ungodly hours of the night on my nights off (Sunday nights especially), and am pretty familiar with the most popular ones nowadays.

I also have the computer going at the same time, and I look up reviews for a lot of products.

I've actually only bought one thing off TV from an infomercial, and part of it was a scam, but the product itself was alright. It was Sheer Cover, which is kind of a ripoff of Bare Minerals if you will. It was the second biggest mineral makeup to be sold off infomercials. My problem with it was when you called to order, not only was it auto delivery (you couldn't really just try it once, they automatically set you up to get a new package every so many months unless you cancel), but they were pushing magazine subscriptions. Back then, I was more naive and didn't realize I could say no, but I'm sure if I'd stood my ground, they'd find something else to push.

Upon reading a lot of reviews, I find that a lot of these infomercial products come with strings attached that they don't mention in the commercial or even the fine print.

Now, Bare Minerals has been available in stores for a long time, I found a local salon I could buy it at, no need for auto-ship or anything. If you just want it once, and just the mineral makeup, that's fine. And this is probably one of the best makeups out there, and has been for many years. I think it's probably wiser to find a Sephora (if you have one near you) or a spa/salon to buy from, since it's easier to just buy one product at a time and no pushing.

Does anyone else ever watch infomercials? I don't put a lot of faith in most products, especially the workouts and weight loss ones, but I'm curious to what everyone else watches. I see the one for Wen hair products almost every night I'm off work, along with Luminesse airbrush makeup and the new Billy Blanks workout. And don't forget Pro-Active!

[insertNameHere]

BUT WAIT THERE IS MORE!!!! If you call in the next 30minutes we will double your order FOR FREE!!!!, just pay seperate processing and handling.... and they never mention what those fees are.

I saw a good infomercial last night, not only did they double your $15 product they included a $20 TV brands gift card..... So wait, I give you $15 and you give me $20. wonder what fees associated with that delivery. I am always wary of anything that says EASY PAYMENTS OF X!!! Usually when you add them up you kind of realize it expensive

[Rapscallion]

The scary thing about those tactics, the truly scary thing, is that they do it because it works. "Buy now or miss out!"

Very, very worrying that it allows them to sell more.

Rapscallion

[BlaqueKatt]

I have the Ron Popeil "showtime" knife set, my mom got it as a wedding gift for me, the knives are great, and not that pricey, the cost came from the specially labeled knife block to store them in(cost almost triple what the knives cost mostly in shipping). Ron popeil's stuff is normally quite good, reasonably priced and comes with lifetime guarantees, its the add-ons you get slammed with.

[fireheart17]

Funnily enough, Zumba seemed to take off quite well. That was originally an infomercial I remember watching on Guthy-Renker. (home shopping crap)

My former workplace sold Sham-Wow and hawked those crappy knife sets. -.-

[blas87]

The informercial that got me sold on making this thread was some homeopathic smoking cessation potion. ONLY $130 but if you call within the next 5 minutes, we'll add one free bottle of lung cleanser, just pay seperate s&h.

[insertNameHere]

OK!!! I just got some first hand experience with telebrands. The vague version till I get it resolved is the gf wanted to buy a product that looked amazing and she never ordered anything off the TV before it took like 30 min of hoops to get to the ordering system and it kept trying to add things, so I think she gave up and the call was "dropped" for lack of a better term. Week later she now has SIX of the product sitting on her door step. Best I can figure 3 normal units. 3 bonus units with shipping charges and what not.

Now if she didn't complete the order I don't see how they can charge her for one let alone six, which I why I tend to avoid those things I called in they offered $15 if I would keep it all. Apparently the max is $20. SO on 6 units originally costing almost $90, they are willing cut it to $70. What you want to bet it costs less than $5 to make and ship each one. so that is still $40 profit which they apparently count on people not wanting to jump hoops to get around it. I did manage to get an RMA # and free return shipping. I guess mentioning you have already looked into multiple complaints with the state attorney general makes them decide to not fight you. Of course, it really isn't over until the RMA label arrives AND she gets full credit. However, my lack of faith also landed a heads up to her banks fraud department.

[fireheart17]

For some time as well, one of the major shopping centres here actually HAWKED some of those crappy home-shopping gadgets in some store space.

Now that place is a clothing outlet.

Some of the smaller stuff I've seen in shops nowadays include the Ped-Egg, that nu-bra (the sticky bra that goes on the front...I'm WAY too big for those ), pro-active (they actually had/have a kiosk set up in the above mentioned shopping centre), Some Slicer thing, a Zumba set (it's around $100 for 4 DVDs plus weighted toning sticks....>.>) and a couple of other things.

[tropicsgoddess]

The WEN hair stuff is expensive and it sucks that it can't be bought in stores but it works wonders on my hair (and smells nice)! My hair is a pain in the ass to take care of and I have to be discerning about what I use on it otherwise my hair will end up making Diana Ross' a run for her money. Most of the stuff on the infomercials seem cheesy and gimmicky but the WEN was the exception for me. Though my MIL was the one that saw the infomercial and got me the stuff.

[blas87]

Give it some time, I'm sure WEN will be at Sephora or spas/salons eventually.

[CaptainJaneway]

I was wondering about that Wen stuff too. I wanted to try it. Though if you can find one of those as seen on tv stores you can pick up most of the stuff you see on the infomericals there.

[blas87]

I'm definetly more than tempted to call and try that stuff, but I'm worried about the fact that most of that beauty stuff, you have to have it set to auto-deliver every so many months, and then there's always whatever else they try to push on you.

It sounds like a good product. As it is right now, I can't afford all natural shampoo anymore, so I use vinegar after I shampoo and before I condition to get rid of build up and irritation that my shampoo has been causing since I've had to switch back to store brand products.

[tropicsgoddess]

I'm definetly more than tempted to call and try that stuff, but I'm worried about the fact that most of that beauty stuff, you have to have it set to auto-deliver every so many months, and then there's always whatever else they try to push on you.

It sounds like a good product. As it is right now, I can't afford all natural shampoo anymore, so I use vinegar after I shampoo and before I condition to get rid of build up and irritation that my shampoo has been causing since I've had to switch back to store brand products.

The auto deliver thing is annoying but I was able to have them cancel it without too much effort so that I can order it when I need it. The mall in my area doesn't have an as seen on tv store (it's a small mall).