General Banter and Random Musings

LookInTheMirror said:

I could analyse and critique every single one of your posts if I must. I just hope that the readers of the forum see that you are not being ‘informative’ to aid their consumer rights. You have a personal vendetta and are clearly a nasty person

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Not really my argument to jump into, but on this front: Insider has been around these parts (on and off) for a long time and has never, on the forum at least, come off as being 'clearly a nasty person'.

Snarky, perhaps but that'd go double for many of us who aren't insiders .

While they are selective in what they share, regarding which channel, and which personalities, etc, so to that end personal applies, I couldn't frame it as a "vendetta". Wishful projection on your part, that is. I don't think they could take Simon's channel seriously enough (for the reasons they laid out) to be worth that effort of a 'vendetta'.

No, to me Insider's posts have had always had a bit of an 'eye-rolling at the inevitable outcome' vibe to them, rather than malice or a concerted effort to cause trouble/make it fail. Perhaps followed with a lick of schadenfreude given what they said would happen, did - but people generally do like being proved right.

If you think someone could know and work with all or some of these people and seemingly enjoy the failure and difficulties faced by friends and colleagues for all of these years. Yes I would say that is malicious.

It is vastly different to strangers gossiping and questioning what is going on than for someone who apparently knows at least one of these people personally -to be gaining knowledge, leaving out some parts and only giving others in order to fuel the discourse around the distrust of shopping TV and certain people, especially when in this situation, Alex is sharing what he can and updating when he can which is being undercut and criticised by this Insider.

Seems like it’s truly down the pan if things are getting nasty and the gloves are off. I can't say anyone here deserves to be called a 'nasty person' from what I have seen. Folk are sounding very bitter.

Alex Knowles might have been the excited kid in a sweetshop but perhaps should have kept away and refrained from posting on forums and drip feeding info about ‘a few technical issues’ , then maybe those alternate views on the seriousness of the situation would not have materialised.

It is not very professional and a very risky strategy.

I do genuinely hope anyone affected gets another job and is not left out of pocket.

SiRich said:

Seems like it’s truly down the pan if things are getting nasty and the gloves are off. I can't say anyone here deserves to be called a 'nasty person' from what I have seen. Folk are sounding very bitter.

Alex Knowles might have been the excited kid in a sweetshop but perhaps should have kept away and refrained from posting on forums and drip feeding info about ‘a few technical issues’ , then maybe those alternate views on the seriousness of the situation would not have materialised.

It is not very professional and a very risky strategy.

I do genuinely hope anyone affected gets another job and is not left out of pocket.

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Users have been asking for interaction from the Channels on the IW Thread for years, mainly about the watches, and then the Matress talk started.

I did not work there, I did however work with some of them previously and saw how the closing of Ideal affected people and am aware of the insane amount of hard work and dedication that has gone into this new channel.

I stand by calling someone nasty and malicious if they are abusing someone’s trust using it to gain favour with internet strangers instead of seeing what they can do to send support.

A lot of stuff which has been mentioned on here, the long term posters, as in us who have been posting for years, wouldn’t have touched on half of this

Just when I’m out…they pull me back right back in… - always wanted to use a Pacino quote!

I said I was off and good luck everyone etc but one last post if I may.

Let’s stop for a second and look at some positives (and negatives)

The regular members of these forums have had an insight and a roller coaster ride of this channel like all of us. I feel like everyone on this forum has been through the mill with us and it has given you an insight to what goes on at a shopping channel in terms of how things can go wrong and what it takes to put one on the air.
It’s the same with all the channels which are essentially a group of really hard working people getting products to air and every part of the cog having to work together otherwise you have a major problem. From the item on tv to customer services and delivery.

Shop on TV, QVC, TJC, IW and Seen on TV - all a family. Now of course from a business point of view everyone is a competitor - but we all know each other behind the scenes, all have worked together somewhere and it’s a close bit community.
None of us should want the other to fail (and I truly believe 99.9% don’t want this to happen) because it’s livelihoods and families etc. just like any business.

Seen on TV - we have had our issues as you know and it hasn’t worked out. I’m gutted as are many people.
Did the cameras fail? Yes, did it struggle with finances and contracts? Yes. Were somethings done right? Yes, did some things go wrong? Yes.
100% concern is making sure now everyone gets any orders that they have made. If you have paid for an item, you should be receiving it. Kitty had an issue so she was called and it was sorted. (And it was nice to speak to you and have a chat!)
Insider - I’m sorry if you think I misled people, I have tried not too - the cameras broke. Not the only reason for some of our struggles, but it didn’t help losing them and gave us technical difficulties.

This forum. - there have been a load of new comments and people coming in and putting forward there point of view and insight. Some positive, some negative. But when the dust settles this is a forum for the regulars like Duke, Herring, Cheeky, Jazzy, etc who have been on here for years.
One thing we all have learnt for the last 2 weeks for each other. Those watching SellyTelly enjoy it and are passionate about it. Those working on it are the same.
Some of us that work on it have thought in the past that the comments on here by members have been nasty or angry etc.
Some of you that watch have thought we have been misleading / shysters etc.
But reading Herrings post above - you aren’t angry and bitter and nasty - you are airing your opinions, saying what you like and don’t like and making friendships and an online community.
Duke posted about me a couple of days ago and I loved it. I will repost it under here. About me being a WW1 captain sent into the trenches. It was sarcastic and funny and good banter.

So let’s just cool everything on here as there’s a lot of passion flying around. For the people who joined (like me) and it didn’t work or are finding alternative work, we will. Because you are all too talented not to. Im sad this didn’t work out for all of us.


For me - I had the opportunity to be apart of something new and I LOVE shopping TV. I don’t want to go anywhere else or do anything else. That might be a bit sad but I love my pillows and mattresses and the people I work with are fantastic. So I have the best job. I don’t want to be a main presenter (not that I have had the chance) but to see some of my friends get there opportunities to step up and do that job, a job that they have wanted to do for years - awesome. And it’s such a buzz to see them succeed.
I have great friends at IW/TJC at Shop on TV and at QVC. I’m sure the people at Gems are lovely too but I’d be rubbish with gemstones so don’t know anyone there .
One day - I might even make it to QVC and complete the set!!

The point is though - let’s focus on what’s really important here. Any customers waiting on orders, let’s get them there orders, People who are looking for roles, let’s help get them roles.

It’s been probably the toughest couple of weeks I have ever had and for a sleep ‘expert’ I need to get some soon otherwise I’m going to look rubbish on TV telling people about the importance of sleep whilst having bags under my eyes.

I started my first post on here about 3 weeks ago from the pub having a pint. I’m putting the last one on this matter, from the same pub, but this time having 2 pints!! Don’t worry - I’m not driving .
Thanks for the support, positive comments, critiques and discussion. As long as we don’t get personal because there is no need for that on all sides.
Cheers
Alex

Duke of Cheese said:

Alex is the shopping television equivalent of the sort of earnest and enthusiastic young officer the crusty old General, hidden deep inside the trenches of WW1, with a flask of brandy for later, and Camp Coffee in the morning, sends a message to via Irish Terrier to lead his company of young and terrified Pals from the Sunken Road to face what lies above, only for all of them to meet their end from relentless German machine gun fire. Only in this case, it is General Gluinze-Iles, hidden deep inside an industrial unit in Nottingham with a Klarna application for finance gone into to refer, an on loan Labrador called Josh, a cupboard full of air fryers and six half drunk bottles of Pomagne from Brigadier Simons…Sending poor Captain Knowles into the shopping abyss to face the verbal shelling about probably the biggest cock-up of shopping wars campaigns since the last biggest cock-up. Bottoms up to cocks up.

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This! After a long day - made me laugh.
Bottoms up to the cock ups Duke! Hopefully the snipers haven’t completely finished me off as I was wearing a bullet proof pillow under my jacket. Take care guys.

Alex Knowles said:

Just when I’m out…they pull me back right back in… - always wanted to use a Pacino quote!

I said I was off and good luck everyone etc but one last post if I may.

Let’s stop for a second and look at some positives (and negatives)

The regular members of these forums have had an insight and a roller coaster ride of this channel like all of us. I feel like everyone on this forum has been through the mill with us and it has given you an insight to what goes on at a shopping channel in terms of how things can go wrong and what it takes to put one on the air.
It’s the same with all the channels which are essentially a group of really hard working people getting products to air and every part of the cog having to work together otherwise you have a major problem. From the item on tv to customer services and delivery.

Shop on TV, QVC, TJC, IW and Seen on TV - all a family. Now of course from a business point of view everyone is a competitor - but we all know each other behind the scenes, all have worked together somewhere and it’s a close bit community.
None of us should want the other to fail (and I truly believe 99.9% don’t want this to happen) because it’s livelihoods and families etc. just like any business.

Seen on TV - we have had our issues as you know and it hasn’t worked out. I’m gutted as are many people.
Did the cameras fail? Yes, did it struggle with finances and contracts? Yes. Were somethings done right? Yes, did some things go wrong? Yes.
100% concern is making sure now everyone gets any orders that they have made. If you have paid for an item, you should be receiving it. Kitty had an issue so she was called and it was sorted. (And it was nice to speak to you and have a chat!)
Insider - I’m sorry if you think I misled people, I have tried not too - the cameras broke. Not the only reason for some of our struggles, but it didn’t help losing them and gave us technical difficulties.

This forum. - there have been a load of new comments and people coming in and putting forward there point of view and insight. Some positive, some negative. But when the dust settles this is a forum for the regulars like Duke, Herring, Cheeky, Jazzy, etc who have been on here for years.
One thing we all have learnt for the last 2 weeks for each other. Those watching SellyTelly enjoy it and are passionate about it. Those working on it are the same.
Some of us that work on it have thought in the past that the comments on here by members have been nasty or angry etc.
Some of you that watch have thought we have been misleading / shysters etc.
But reading Herrings post above - you aren’t angry and bitter and nasty - you are airing your opinions, saying what you like and don’t like and making friendships and an online community.
Duke posted about me a couple of days ago and I loved it. I will repost it under here. About me being a WW1 captain sent into the trenches. It was sarcastic and funny and good banter.

So let’s just cool everything on here as there’s a lot of passion flying around. For the people who joined (like me) and it didn’t work or are finding alternative work, we will. Because you are all too talented not to. Im sad this didn’t work out for all of us.


For me - I had the opportunity to be apart of something new and I LOVE shopping TV. I don’t want to go anywhere else or do anything else. That might be a bit sad but I love my pillows and mattresses and the people I work with are fantastic. So I have the best job. I don’t want to be a main presenter (not that I have had the chance) but to see some of my friends get there opportunities to step up and do that job, a job that they have wanted to do for years - awesome. And it’s such a buzz to see them succeed.
I have great friends at IW/TJC at Shop on TV and at QVC. I’m sure the people at Gems are lovely too but I’d be rubbish with gemstones so don’t know anyone there .
One day - I might even make it to QVC and complete the set!!

The point is though - let’s focus on what’s really important here. Any customers waiting on orders, let’s get them there orders, People who are looking for roles, let’s help get them roles.

It’s been probably the toughest couple of weeks I have ever had and for a sleep ‘expert’ I need to get some soon otherwise I’m going to look rubbish on TV telling people about the importance of sleep whilst having bags under my eyes.

I started my first post on here about 3 weeks ago from the pub having a pint. I’m putting the last one on this matter, from the same pub, but this time having 2 pints!! Don’t worry - I’m not driving .
Thanks for the support, positive comments, critiques and discussion. As long as we don’t get personal because there is no need for that on all sides.
Cheers
Alex

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Nice talking to you too

Blimey, just to let you know Alex, refund received yesterday and cleared, many thanks

It's all very well "staff" coming on this forum and saying how hard they tried and hoping this gives an insight into how it is all supposed to work but a company should follow certain rules and regulations when shutting down.

We seem to have had the confirmation from "Alex" that seen on tv is finished but if so why is the website carrying no closure notices or warnings and worse, still taking online orders?

If the company is insolvent is shouldn't be trading at all.

No excuses.

Glen_C said:

First they have said. Whatever happens me and the team will make something work.

The above statement gives me vibes of Simon and Seen on TV looking to rise like a Phoenix.

They have then said this. If we are guilty of one thing, it was being incredibly naive in thinking we could do something differently and independently without a larger backer. There are people with more resources behind them, which we are still trying to fend off.

What can we infer from the last sentence?

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do they mean other TV channels? Like Ideal World or Shop On TV? But then weren't they all his chums?

PhaedrusR said:

It's the retail nirvana: customer brand loyalty.

P.S. is this forum 'social media'?

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Personally I don't think a forum is social media but it's pretty damn close

Glen_C said:

When it first stopped broadcasting, I mentioned that it would have been better to just start off streaming on Youtube and Tiktok to test the waters without spending a significant amount of money. I don't see a lot of sales coming through that route either. However, I would like to be shown to be incorrect.

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When the technical 'hitch' happened, that is the time for damage control, for Simon the 'face' of the channel to record something and put it out there on his tik toks or wherever. Even if they couldn't do anything about an Arqiva fault (I used to deal with reporting these things as part of a previous job and the 'box falling down' line was actually a real thing). So it does happen. I'm not an engineer but I know there are back ups that kick in for the main broadcasters, wherever the feed is played out from, but even if that wasn't organised you can still upload a video to YouTube and link it from your main site with a message updating people. If you don't know, you don't know but transparency is key. All the ducking and diving was highly suspicious

LookInTheMirror said:

Unfortunately, you are giving limited information. Not for me or you to discuss on a forum.

‘Those who left secure jobs to work for Seen on TV may say they were lied to, or misled by Simon and Co about the financial stability of the company as one poster on here has attested to. But look, as long as the top honchos tried their hardest and everyone enjoyed the wedding, let's just forget about all those freelancers who are now without work.’ I didn’t mention a wedding, that was someone else. No one was lied to and everyone there knew what the work was. There is ALWAYS a risk for startups.
You can’t be that concerned for ‘freelancers’ because you’d know that most of them will have multiple contacts and various sources of income as that is what a freelancer is. They work for themselves. If a the full-time employed that I think you should mean.

You said the channel was only set up by 1 producer and 2 guests. Clearly blind to the knowledge and expertise that was hired to assist with the set-up and over saw the technical issues when they arose.

You also stated on a previous post that you’re being fair and balanced but if you look back on your own previous comments, you clearly have ill-intent towards Simon, Kevin and Seen on TV in general as well as IW/TJC, but seem defensive of your facts on Shop on TV.

If you’re so ‘involved’ in the channel. Name every single person that was there on the launch day (first names, no need to publicly name people who may wish to stay private) and tell me what the staff was doing behind the scenes?

I could analyse and critique every single one of your posts if I must. I just hope that the readers of the forum see that you are not being ‘informative’ to aid their consumer rights. You have a personal vendetta and are clearly a nasty person

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Do elaborate on "limited information", what have I missed out that would be pertinent to the discussion?

Of course there is always a risk for startups but are you honestly saying that those who were enticed to leave other jobs should have been thinking in the back of their mind that Simon might only have sufficient cash flow to run the channel for a week before having to send sending everyone home? With all the boasting he had been doing about how much money he was making on TikTok, I certainly believe people were misled into believing he had a much healthier bank balance than he obviously did.

I'm fully aware that other individuals consulted on the launch of the channel but did any of them have experience in anything other than broadcast? As I previously posted, I wasn't sure that the same people who helped setup Shop Extra were the best choice for setting up this new channel. Another point proven?

And do educate me on the expertise of those hired to oversee the technical issues as it clearly wasn't the right people. You may or may not be aware that the main reason for their repeated delay in launching was down to encoding and transmission issues. If you honestly believe that they are still off air now because of technical issues, then even you should be questioning their expertise, or lack of.

I've just checked back through my posts and can't see any reason you'd have to claim that I have ill-intent towards IW/TJC or where I have defended SOTV. I was accused by a paranoid Evey of being Jamie Martin, I am not.

I've never claimed to be "so involved" in Seen on TV and I'm not sure why it would matter, or what it would prove if I could name everyone who was there on the launch day but to name a few: Bernie, Petra, Evey, Shona, Alex, Jimmy, Tim, Petra, Laura, Dennice, Mark, Victoria, Tim, Taz, Nathan, Mollie, Jake, Millie and of course Simon and Mandy.

LookInTheMirror said:

I stand by calling someone nasty and malicious if they are abusing someone’s trust using it to gain favour with internet strangers instead of seeing what they can do to send support.

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I can assure you that I've not abused anyones trust. As someone who claims to have not worked at Seen on TV, you have proven that everyone in this business talks to each other so information soon spreads and for what it's worth, some of my information has come about from me having first hand experience with the channel.

As I've said before, if I was gleeful about their demise, I would have been straight on here to announce that the plug had been pulled on live broadcasting (which was much quicker than anyone predicted) when it happened, not several hours later. I would never have posted the news had someone not queried why they were broadcasting repeats.

As for seeing what I could have done to send support, what did you do to send support? Did you send them a cheque or purchase a pineapple corer?

I messaged Mollie after her post, as I felt bad especially after making the thread.

But as she Said they aren’t just gonna sit back, and listen to the comments

Alex Knowles said:

Hi everyone,
Just to confirm I called knitty and got everything sorted for her.
i have said it during the is thread and will again - I am sorry that the channel hasn’t made it as I had hoped it would have been sucessful and given us another channel in the industry and given new employment opportunities to friends and colleagues who also love what we do and live tv.
For me, I’m glad I have been able to comment on here and interact with many of you. I have had the opportunity to polish up what I am saying and make sure that I’m not misleading customers and that has been pointed out to me. I won’t always get it right and I will be picked up for it when I don’t. But I have listened and It will help me improve and be more aware going further.
I’ll be sticking to bedding / interiors and hope to be guesting these products again soon when the opportunity for me to do so arises.
I won’t be on any channels every day so I won’t be on here everyday. So if you think I’m being quiet - I’m not, I just haven’t read a message.
Take care - I’m sorry this channel didn’t work out and if any one else like Knitty has any ordering issues please message me on here and I will aim to get it resolved for you. Alex.

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Not sure if you'll read this but again I thank you for being a decent person and engaging with us all on here. When I saw you covering as a 'fan' expert it shows that you don't leave people in the lurch. Helping people with their orders was above and beyond what many others would do. As much as I may criticise I also like to think I'm fair and praise people when they deserve it. I hope you get compensated for your time and wish you well for the future.

Glen_C said:

The Insider is unknown to me. I would like to ask you to carefully consider this. How did they obtain the rehearsal - not for broadcast pictures that were posted on this forum before Seen on TV even aired? That tells me they know someone who was working there and maybe still is.

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Only a small point, but at least some of that 'Rehearsal - Not For Broadcast' footage *was* actually broadcast on the satellite where anyone could (and did) see it, before the channel officially launched in the EPG. Depending on the timing, it might not necessarily have come from an internal source.

If the purported figure that Arqiva were asking for the Freeview carriage is correct, then I'm not sure how it would be considered an unexpected increase, though. That sum of money is pretty much the standard for third-party Freeview capacity and has been that way for many years. (It might not be what is paid by some shopping channels of exceptionally long standing, who signed their first terrestrial capacity contracts decades ago and who may today still be in long-term agreements at fabulously reduced rates.) But £1m a month is absolutely what anyone would expect to pay, walking straight in off the lot. It's why small channels very rarely launch on Freeview straight out of the blue before they're sure that they have a big enough audience, and enough cash in the bank.

A shame that it hasn't gone well for this channel but perhaps it'll be back in a more cost-effective manner, perhaps just on satellite to start with - which is a very, very much cheaper and more affordable way to get started while still reaching millions of households.

Broadcast1 said:

Only a small point, but at least some of that 'Rehearsal - Not For Broadcast' footage *was* actually broadcast on the satellite where anyone could (and did) see it, before the channel officially launched in the EPG. Depending on the timing, it might not necessarily have come from an internal source.

If the purported figure that Arqiva were asking for the Freeview carriage is correct, then I'm not sure how it would be considered an unexpected increase, though. That sum of money is pretty much the standard for third-party Freeview capacity and has been that way for many years. (It might not be what is paid by some shopping channels of exceptionally long standing, who signed their first terrestrial capacity contracts decades ago and who may today still be in long-term agreements at fabulously reduced rates.) But £1m a month is absolutely what anyone would expect to pay, walking straight in off the lot. It's why small channels very rarely launch on Freeview straight out of the blue before they're sure that they have a big enough audience, and enough cash in the bank.

A shame that it hasn't gone well for this channel but perhaps it'll be back in a more cost-effective manner, perhaps just on satellite to start with - which is a very, very much cheaper and more affordable way to get started while still reaching millions of households.

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I was wondering if they could have launched on Sky, YouTube, Facebook and TikTok.

Would Sky have been cheaper

Broadcast1 said:

Only a small point, but at least some of that 'Rehearsal - Not For Broadcast' footage *was* actually broadcast on the satellite where anyone could (and did) see it, before the channel officially launched in the EPG. Depending on the timing, it might not necessarily have come from an internal source.

If the purported figure that Arqiva were asking for the Freeview carriage is correct, then I'm not sure how it would be considered an unexpected increase, though. That sum of money is pretty much the standard for third-party Freeview capacity and has been that way for many years. (It might not be what is paid by some shopping channels of exceptionally long standing, who signed their first terrestrial capacity contracts decades ago and who may today still be in long-term agreements at fabulously reduced rates.) But £1m a month is absolutely what anyone would expect to pay, walking straight in off the lot. It's why small channels very rarely launch on Freeview straight out of the blue before they're sure that they have a big enough audience, and enough cash in the bank.

A shame that it hasn't gone well for this channel but perhaps it'll be back in a more cost-effective manner, perhaps just on satellite to start with - which is a very, very much cheaper and more affordable way to get started while still reaching millions of households.

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What date was it broadcast on satellite for everyone to see? I can then check that against the date of the uploaded screenshots.

Lord Helpus said:

It's all very well "staff" coming on this forum and saying how hard they tried and hoping this gives an insight into how it is all supposed to work but a company should follow certain rules and regulations when shutting down.

We seem to have had the confirmation from "Alex" that seen on tv is finished but if so why is the website carrying no closure notices or warnings and worse, still taking online orders?

If the company is insolvent is shouldn't be trading at all.

No excuses.

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I’m assuming it isn’t insolvent. I think continuing to trade whilst insolvent is a criminal offence…
It seems to me like insolvency would’ve been the inevitable outcome if they’d carried on. So, to avoid that, they pulled their biggest expense in order to stay solvent as a company.
That’s my guess, anyway….

Is it just me getting confused about the facts, what the truth might be, who's inside, who's outside, who said what about who, who hates who, who is naughty, who is nice?

Care to clarify:

- the cameras &/or broadcast kit failed in first week

- the Freeview broadcast 'fees' were unaccounted for, or suddenly increased?

- SeenonTV.co.uk is still trading legally, not insolvent and customers who purchased in first week and since and even now will get their orders?

- some Insiders know their truth, Alex is a good guy telling it honestly from his viewpoint, the SoTV crew working on it all worked hard, had good people working on it, ried their best and are working hard to rectify or move on?

- and this forum matters not one jot in the scheme of things beyond being a place where people can discuss shopping TV, air their opinions, listen, learn and criticise, be corrected and support channels and people.

P.S. Alex, It's their: their contract, their jobs, their products (surely useful if you are dealing with suppliers and in business!!!)
Pedant P.