wow well where to begin (I apologise if this post is a bit all over the place but lots to tell)
I was given a Freeview box from a neighbour because they didn't watch anything on it back in 2002 or 2003 and I was channel hopping seeing what exciting things were on it and I came across QVC so started watching quite a lot of that and enjoyed Christmas in July, the technology programmes and the crafting etc
Another day I was having a browse and came across price-drop.tv and they were selling the larger of the gemstone globes and being a collector of such stones I wanted 1 instantly and always enjoyed those presentations, from that moment on I was pretty much hooked as the next item was the latest of the Vivitar cameras not only with a case, not only with a 256mb SD card, not only with the larger of the software bundles but to my shock and amazement the price dropped to £1 and a explosion went off saying MEGADROP, It flew out both before and after the price hit £1 so people must have worked it out it was going to be a MEGADROP as I did myself in the coming years. I sat and watched plenty more of them and I could see certain people coming straight in for them, We tried to get a few by phoning up and got I'm sorry all the items in this drop have sold - get in early next time to avoid missing out and my dad was convinced it was a con and nobody got them. We did get some clothes as the first MEGADROP and I quickly realised the way to get them was to be on the website poised over the confirm to buy button
First ever purchase was an Oriano contrast stitch handbag with buckle detail
And a matching purse in black for £20 + £6.99 P&P but when it came there was something wrong with it, I forget what as your talking back in 2004 and it was sent back.
next purchases were a 9pc set of ty beanies, the latest of the wireless digisenders so we could get it on the tv downstairs too, 2pk of embroidered tops not only with the butterflies, not only with the sequins not only was this sent back, 12 dvd's of the longer of the railway journeys around Europe, more clothes and another of the Oriano bags which once again was sent back.
next was the Russell Hobbs digital steam glide iron with automatic shut off which was sent back for being faulty, I can't remember exactly what happened with it but it blew up, then Allesandro Ferrera patch bag leather shopper with matching purse and makeup bag in black...this was kept.
1:6 porsche 911 radio control car opening doors and hood, 3 speed option, side scoops - guess who that was for?....Prima bread maker, Egyptian cotton towels in the richer of the blues and a 12ft inflatable pool - we still have this today and I was in it last summer.
first ever megadrop was a bagpuss pj set and very good quality it was too & the first ever £1 auction on bid.tv was a 3pk of mens icon tops - I still have them ha ha
in 2007 we got a Jessica ladies blue dial silver tone plated watch and bracelet set featuring beaded detail….but what came was an empty box - needless to say this was sent back for a refund. also the smaller of the 150mm turquoise coloured gemstone globe with a brass 4 legged stand came with a big dent in it like someone had punched it - that was sent back and not only did they refund it they sent out a free replacement - this was back in the day when they management cared about their customers.
Also at some stage we had a portable tv with built in freeview that 1 night started smoking heavily - the manufacturer did replace it though.
What I loved and made these channels unique was 1 minute they would be selling the larger of the gemstone globes then a few mins later the more absorbent and softer of the Egyptian cotton towels then a few mins later they had the RSPCA pyjama sets and then a watch, some clothes, pans and then a toothbrush, I loved the randomness of it and unlike QVC who spent sometimes hours on 1 or 2 products it was exciting to see up to 12 items an hour and the price continued to drop until it sold out at first by £1 a time and then by pence when that was introduced.
You see they used to have a set schedule where they would do x number of items in an hour and in order, if only 1 item remained in that hour and they were due a megadrop you knew what was going to happen and it was also pretty obvious a lot of the time by the much smaller quantity what was going to go
Another time they used to put the megadrop product listings on the site the day before they went on air and then the schedulers would fill in the rest of the products around them so again if you wondered why people were buying at full price that is in part how some of them knew and came straight in to get it.
They became wise to this eventually and stopped doing it, They also started to pull items forward from other hours to try and trick people during the we guarantee 1 megadrop an hour times and stopped following the scheduled order but I could still guess the vast majoirty of what was going to go although I admit at times I got it wrong and said they won't do that then :O they did. they made the more expensive items obvious too as they had round quantities of 25 or 50 in the good old days.
After this they changed tactics again and didn't put the megadrop items on the site until it suddenly appeared on TV from nowhere with no prior warning to it coming up so again people came straight in knowing this was the item going for £1.
Another tactic they then did was to basically tell everyone what was coming up but by now the quality of items had reduced to clothes, figurines and such with a few high end items spread across the weekend. The final thing they tried was simply not letting the items go live on the website so people were forced to call up.
We did get a lot of megadrops (and so did many others) but also many many, many, many, many, many, many full priced items and 1 year they even sent a Christmas card signed by Peter Simon, Andy Hodgson and a few others thanking us for our custom which was a nice touch, it was also the thicker of the cards so no expense spared and yes we have kept it.
They did however under new management put in place a 1 megadrop a week rule and as a result we were barred multiple times. initially got around this by getting new accounts and then once blacklisted with a big flashing computer says no and siren we asked family and close friend neighbours if we could use their address.
I can tell you on 1 occasion my mum spoke to a senior manager to try and get us unbarred on a deal of only getting full priced items but they were having none of it. so in the end it was their loss of 1 of their best customers.
not only the bags, whether they be the Tommy & Kate's, the Allesandro Ferrera's the Lucie K ranges, the latest of the lucia Benito's, Not only the ty beanies, not only the digisiders, not only the clothes for mums and dads, grandmas, aunties, cousins, for the sons and the daughters, for the friends and other family from the pj's to the tops, the bottoms, the Pierre Cardin boxer shorts, the scarves, the jackets, not only in the cotton, the viscose, the flock, the lurex and the polyesters, the softer of the fleece linings, not only the duck feather & down duvets, not only the memory foam toppers, pillows, slippers and neck supports to the foxie & cliche sunglasses with the softer of the cloth and harder of the cases, not only the New Zealand lambs wool rugs in the mocha and the cushions not only in the gold, not only in that mayfair blue with the flock detailing and doorstops.
The ranges of dvd's from the railways to the fishing to the royal family, to the coronation streets, natures, Postman Pats & the Bob the Builder, Looking back in time to the wars, cars, the haunted to the most, the Worzel of the Gummidge's down under, aviation, the arts and the crafts, how to paint and the carry ons
not only to the irons and the kettles and the bread makers, not only to the vacuums from the largest brands in the world the Vax and the Gener8 and the shavers from the shave tek range and of course the prolectrix, the paper shredders, the larger, mediums and smaller of the candles not only with the scents of the lavendar's the gingers, the flower and peony, not only the ice cream makers.
not only to the Porche & the exclusive cars the 1:6 f150 radio control vehicle with speaker system in load bay which play hip hop music and the longer of the Eddie Stobart trucks compete with opening doors, the smaller of the remote controlled mini's and the bmw's
fragrances- not only the diesels, the Jaguar's and the Samourai's, the latest of the range of Beckham fragrances that were all man at ome, the Police, fendi fantasia, cabaret, not only elizabeth arden splendor and the beauty and the most delicious of the sunflowers, the rarer of the Giorgio Wings and the richer and most delicious Diamonds and Emeralds & Rubbies and Saphires from the lady who knows her fragrances its the one and only pet errr Elizabeth Taylor our Liz. Yves Saint Laurent with the larger of the opiums & the jazz, from the fragrance house of Ck our Calvin with the Contradictions.
wines- not only the el pastor mendoza red, not only old muddy white wine, El pastor tempranillo & chardonnay & the frencher of the Vin De Pays Mixed drys.
mutiple sets of the 100% Egyptian cotton towels with the larger of the bath sheets in multiple colours including the richer of the blues, the sky of the blues, the denim's & the richest of the buttercreams, hot pinks, terracotta, deeper of the darkest of the reds, not only the satin, not only the cotton, not only in single, the double and the kingsize bedding, not only the Queen of the size of the airbeds with built in electric air pump not only does it inflate in 220 seconds, not only the larger and softer of the fleece throws, not only the fully lined jacquard curtains, the inflatable of the inflatable England football constume balls not only complete with the floppier of the hats.
Watches - from the biggest brands from the jane Shiltons to the Chevy's, Amadeus and the Marco Ceroni's to the futuristic of the zeon tech's, the enternities to the time designs
and the Vintage Chic, Philip Mercier, Ralph Klein, Gianni ricci, Lucie K, Elle, Slazengers, not only the Hamnett range, loaded, Tungstens and the Ingersolls, Gianni Sabatini, Diamond & Co, Jacob Thomas, not only the Adorn, Jewel time, Avi8, Gul, Fitness moment, Watch company, Charmed, Essence, creations, Van Heusen, Misuzu, Decorer's .
cd box sets from the classical to the never ending songs, to the Christmas collections the legends of country and western not only those everlasting hits and the emerald isle magic of Ireland
internatonal traveller luggage sets with the expandable gussets- our bet has 1 of those hey ho, not only the solar lights with the bamboo style, the longer of the fibre optic lights that just twinkle and sparkle in the garden, the cheaper of the plastic black solar lights with the frosted plastic look.
The cutlery from the steel works of Viners, the larger of the dinner service sets, the lead crystal glasses, not only the knives and pans from AWT, not only the kettles and the toasters, the roasting trays, the Linda barker scales and colander set or the larger of the barker Cafetiere with not only 4 coordinating coffee cups not only in the most attractive of the daisy designs, the longer of the George Foreman grills, not only the bum warmer, not only with the non stick plates, not only with the floating hinge To the posher of the Royal Doulton pans with the hand painted periwinkles oh it didn't have those but it has a look of it just like a bag we sold that looked like the more expensive of the mulberries,
The multifunctional of the bins not only with the recycling part, not only with the normal part, not only with the automatic lid, not only with the liftable bin compartments with the sturdier of the handles. classic cuisine food processor complete with not only the detachable blender jug and mixing bowl.
The clocks from the Tweety pie, to the lead crystal to the smaller of the clocks set in a diamond shaped paperweight stone and the LED motion clocks with the customisable messages, Elvis talking wall clock featuring not only pictures of Elvis and not only 23 different phrases.
Not only the Walther glass including fruit plate, plate and fruit bowl, the lead crystal vase, the Chinese new year vase complete with the 3d dragon in richer of the blues and the shiner of the golds.
Steven Gayford not only cheek to cheek, not only the arctic apparition, not only the puzzled & thirsty travellers but side by side by the wildlife artist of all time.
not only the statues of Elvis, not only the figurines of the bears, the tigers, the cats, the dogs, the elephants, and of course the Smaller of the limited edition 10th anniversary celebration Peter Simon figurines that I will cherish forever, not only the heavier of the paperweights in the diamonds, the swirls and the spirals, the bubbles, the crystal of the bears, the swans, the owls, not only the cats and the smaller of the dogs, the birds and the fish, the smaller & larger of the latest of the Piggin figurines. Treasured secrets panda, elephant and the Christmassyiest of the stockings.
not only the larger of the shiller pedestal fans with the gunmetal finish, not only the steam cleaners with the larger and smaller capacities by Elitech, not only the tens pain relief machines, the warmer of the electric blankets and the inspirations infrared foot spa & pedicure set with portable pedicure system. the halogen heaters, the Russell Hobbs tower heaters, the halogen ovens complete with the extender ring, the stronger of the blowing hairdryers not only to the babyliss of the thermaglass striteners ( deliberate spelling) The shiner of the larger of the most stunning chocolate fountains by Signature with the 3 tiers to just dip those strawberries, those biscuits, not only ones finger or face and our bet likes a good finger full.
not only the mobile phones from the Samsung's and the Nokia's, the Sony's and the Ericson's to the Motorola's not only the home phones from the BT''s the Binatone's, Not only the larger and smaller of the digital cameras from the Lumicron's, to the Vivitar's, to the Samsung's, not only the mp3 players from Phillips, Ikasu & Vizion and not only the smaller of 8 in 1 remote controls with the touch screens and the larger of the novelty oversized ones from Zennox, The labelling machines from Brother, the printers from the HP's the Samsung's, trust slim line wireless keyboard & mouse sets, not only the extremer of the extreme life batteries and the sonic plakaway toothbrush with not only 30,000 strokes per min not only to remove plaque more effectively. Maxim & Seal hi fi systems, ikasu & Akura dvd players, TV's with built in freeview, silver oscillating air cooler with not only 3 adjustable air and fan speed not only with the smaller of the remote controls. luminox binocular kit not only with the metalic compass not only with the larger of the pouches, not only with the brightest of the torches in the metal finish.
large navy gemstone globe mounted in a 4 legged pewter stand cost £115 or £124.99 with p&p I loved these at ome, not only the mediums of the blue lace agate, the purples & the malachites, and the navy's, not only the smaller of the lilacs and the pale lilacs , malachite, the mother of pearls, the beige, purple quartz, not only the reds, turquoise and the amber and who could forget the heaviest of the lot the 150mm grey etched marble globe complete with wooden stand.
laser leveling kits, the drills the longer of the cougar electric screwdrivers not only in the blow moulded case, not only with the 119 piece accessory sets, garage parking sensor, the latest of the all in one hammer drills, ladders not only the mult function ones as seen with Charlie falling through it, not only the retractable ones that just fit in the boot of a car or in the cupboard under the stairs, not only the standard A shape with the rubberised feet for maximum grip and safety. emergency car jump starter with air compressor & built in emergency work light. Cougar 600w power planer, Nutool 149 piece accessory tool kit for your drill ideal for wood and masonry work.
christmas decorations from the baubles, not only the snowflakes with the European crystal stones, not only the glass teardrops in the monochrome colours of the whites and the blacks
Finally something they sold a hell of a lot of in the later days and that is the jewellery not only the diamonesque, the gold, the silvers the platinums, the gold tone, gold plated, gold finish, stainless steel. not only the Diamonds, Emeralds, Rubies and the Sapphires, not only the Tanzanites - there was a time when I though this mine would be exhausted before Bid was gone how wrong I was, Not only the semi precious stones from the Perido's and the Amethysts. Not only the rings, not only the bracelets in the style of Padua, not only the earrings whether they be the smaller of the studs, the hoops or the larger of the hoops and the hangerdowners. not only the necklaces with the thickest of the gold chains to the slim and most elegant of the stainless steel chains and of course where do you put all that? in the larger of the handmade Mele jewellery boxes of course.
YOU ARE NOW HYPNOTISED AND WILL FOEVER TALK LIKE PETER IN YOUR HEAD WHEN YOU SEE ANYTHING FOR SALE
If you did read it all well done you deserve a star and 1 final thing this will come as a shock to some of you but I am actually Peter Simon and I've loved talking the mick out of you taking the mick out of me. not really I'm actually not in the 70's or the 60's not only in the 50's or the 40's and not even in the 30's....I'm actually 25. I'm glad some of you have laughed at some of my posts over the years its good to know. There was a time when this part of the forum was almost dead but a few of us started posting regularly and 1 by 1 you all joined in and grew a little family again. I might not reply to all your posts but I do read through them all on a daily basis ironically usually on a night whilst watching bid and in the earlier days price-drop. tonight there is a void thats usually filled by the great man himself, it must be odd for him to have nothing to do on a friday night for the first time in years and Peter please get computer literate so you can come and join in the chat on here
My highlight of my time on here came last night when Lisa Brash who has had 2 bits of bad news in a week and just 12 hours after been made redundant from a 9 year job she came on here and not only read my post but was touched enough to reply.
