Paul Turner - Senior Marketing Manager at QVC UK

[Graham]

Just had an email from LinkedIn to say who had been viewing my profile in the last few days .... made very interesting reading.

Mr Turner maybe you could see you way to explaining to us why QVCUK has banned ShoppingTelly.com from all affiliate programme's, and furthermore why you refused to let a company continue to carry QVCUK at all unless ShoppingTelly.com was banned and finally is the loss of the money that this site generated for you, over £600,000 being taken well by shareholders of your parent company? Hopefully this is limited to just ShoppingTelly.com, if more widespread could it mean price increases for your customers in 2013?

I look forward to your reply, however I feel the ignorance will continue and I will hear nothing.

 

[Weathergirl]

How do I put this. He is doing research. Checking if you are someone worth doing business with, or suing, as the case may be. I don't know Linkedin or the info on it, but if it has a list of your other business links it may be useful info for him. I've said it before and I will say it again. Get specialist legal advice, listen to it and take it from there.

 

[Flamenco]

How do I put this. He is doing research. Checking if you are someone worth doing business with, or suing, as the case may be. I don't know Linkedin or the info on it, but if it has a list of your other business links it may be useful info for him. I've said it before and I will say it again. Get specialist legal advice, listen to it and take it from there.

Weathergirl, I know you're a lawyer like me and we both know that specialist advice costs £££££££. And even more if you instruct solicitors to actually do some work for you. I think the problem for Graham is that he cannot afford it, nor the cost of any litigation. No-win-no-fee arrangements tend not to exist in the world of company commercial/competition law. Civil legal aid is virtually non-existent and corporate lawyers just don't do this type of work as the cheapest hourly rate is about 7-8 times the measly fixed fee legal aid rate. So taking on a juggernaut like QVC is financially impossible for the small people like Graham. And don't QVC know it.

 

[Tiddlywinks]

I would recommend being very careful in the views you express about QVC, its employees and your business in general on any publicly accessible arena.

I really appreciate how anxious you are to open a dialogue with the company but can't help feeling that this is not the best way for you to reach an agreement.

In any dispute, to achieve a positive and longstanding resolution, there needs to be a middle ground and a way for both parties to come out of it without losing face.

Both parties need to appreciate how their actions have appeared to the 'other side' in order to gain a shared perspective...

I think the only way you are going to reach any kind of satisfactory understanding of 'why' and end this dispute is to seek legal representation. Having the disagreement in public will not help your cause, it will only serve to make them manoeuvre to protect their image.

Please seek legal advice.

 

[Graham]

As Flamenco said there is no way I can afford legal advice and yes QVC know it.

I have been very careful what I have posted and it is 100% totally factual. I have even been thinking over the past couple of days about taking down the "Cheaper than QVC" section, because the bottom line is I am a Shopping Telly fan and discussion about better deals etc goes on in the general threads anyway.

As for "middle ground and a way for both parties to come out of it without losing face" I am quite happy to lose as much face as they want me to lose, rather that than the other option that will face me in 2013.

 

[Flying Pigs]

You do whatever needs doing Graham. You know you have our support.

 

[Tiddlywinks]

Graham - do you know the 'why' behind their decision?

How did they inform you of the decision? Did they intimate that there was movement possible on that decision e.g. you do something and then they will reconsider?

No need to discuss it here where Google will capture it but you need a 'plan b' if they no longer want to do business with you... that's the reality... don't want to sound harsh but QVC is a global brand and they, as an entity, won't be acting emotionally... the decision will have been made in the best interests of their business - that's why the 'why' is so important to understand as it is the driver for their decisions and a clue to whether it's flogging a dead horse.

 

[BurlyBeaR]

I'm going to say what I am sure many FM's are thinking Graham. You're probably not going to like it, I'm sorry.

I think you blew any chance of this being handled in a business-like way when the tweets and self harm pics were posted. This "from the heart" approach was no doubt reflective of your feelings, but I reckon it has zero'd out any chance of them engaging with you. I'm not saying they won't change the decision and I hope they do. Maybe the financials will do it. But I wouldn't want to be the QVC employee who gets into a discussion with you by e-mail or any other medium only to find that they were the last person to speak to you. Know what I mean?

If the legal route is out of the question then I think you're going to have to come up with other ideas as to how to get them back on-side. Yes, maybe take the thread down thats blatantly negative about QVC, we can all moan and gripe elsewhere on the board. Maybe a "QVC Fans" sticky thread which is for positive comments, sharing info, and questions about products only - and is moderated to keep it so. Wouldnt it be fab to get a QVC rep joining in to answer questions and stuff, like on the FB site? Have you ever suggested or offered that to QVC. How about an e-petition that all your members can sign to say they support both you and QVC and want to see the relationship continue. You have everyone's e-mail, you have the means to call us all to action, people want to help. You could do all of these things, and promote the fact that you've done them with Q, even if they don't reply they'll see what you're doing. It requires effort, yes. It may not work, sure. Do you have any other options?

Whatever you do, you really should stop it with the "you ruined my life" negative stuff about you, and about QVC in public. It's doing you, the forum and the relationship with QVC no good, and probably a great deal of harm.

I hope you take this in the way it's intended.

 

[Graham]

Graham - do you know the 'why' behind their decision?

How did they inform you of the decision? Did they intimate that there was movement possible on that decision e.g. you do something and then they will reconsider?

No need to discuss it here where Google will capture it but you need a 'plan b' if they no longer want to do business with you... that's the reality... don't want to sound harsh but QVC is a global brand and they, as an entity, won't be acting emotionally... the decision will have been made in the best interests of their business - that's why the 'why' is so important to understand as it is the driver for their decisions and a clue to whether it's flogging a dead horse.

No that is the issue, no contact at all, just the affiliate company found that QVCUK had been switched off and the only way they would get them back is if I was not put back onto the programme.

I agree totally 100% I am sure I am flogging a dead horse, I just had hope that they might show a) compassion and b) not want to lose the generated income and finally c) just reply and tell me why. This site does quite well on Google so happy for them to capture it, I can't do much but I can make as many people aware as possible as to what QVCUK have done, BTW this is just QVCUK. As I say everything I have posted is 100% true.

 

[Graham]

I'm going to say what I am sure many FM's are thinking Graham. You're probably not going to like it, I'm sorry.

I think you blew any chance of this being handled in a business-like way when the tweets and self harm pics were posted. This "from the heart" approach was no doubt reflective of your feelings, but I reckon it has zero'd out any chance of them engaging with you. I'm not saying they won't change the decision and I hope they do. Maybe the financials will do it. But I wouldn't want to be the QVC employee who gets into a discussion with you by e-mail or any other medium only to find that they were the last person to speak to you. Know what I mean?

If the legal route is out of the question then I think you're going to have to come up with other ideas as to how to get them back on-side. Yes, maybe take the thread down thats blatantly negative about QVC, we can all moan and gripe elsewhere on the board. Maybe a "QVC Fans" sticky thread which is for positive comments, sharing info, and questions about products only - and is moderated to keep it so. Wouldnt it be fab to get a QVC rep joining in to answer questions and stuff, like on the FB site? Have you ever suggested or offered that to QVC. How about an e-petition that all your members can sign to say they support both you and QVC and want to see the relationship continue. You have everyone's e-mail, you have the means to call us all to action, people want to help. You could do all of these things, and promote the fact that you've done them with Q, even if they don't reply they'll see what you're doing. It requires effort, yes. It may not work, sure. Do you have any other options?

Whatever you do, you really should stop it with the "you ruined my life" negative stuff about you, and about QVC in public. It's doing you, the forum and the relationship with QVC no good, and probably a great deal of harm.

I hope you take this in the way it's intended.

LOL, no need for sorry everyone is allowed an opinion.

As for the "But I wouldn't want to the QVC employee who gets into a discussion with you by e-mail or any other medium only to find that they were the last person to speak to you. Know what I mean?" yes totally know what you mean, but without even talking to me that blame would have to go to Paul Turner - Senior Marketing Manager at QVC UK and QVCUK has totally ruined my life, that may make me sad for having not much in my life but it also makes it a fact, however sad that sounds.

I will remove the Cheaper than QVC section, but as for anything else I truly feel that to bottle it all up would do ME more harm than good.

 

[BurlyBeaR]

LOL, no need for sorry everyone is allowed an opinion.

As for the "But I wouldn't want to the QVC employee who gets into a discussion with you by e-mail or any other medium only to find that they were the last person to speak to you. Know what I mean?" yes totally know what you mean, but without even talking to me that blame would have to go to Paul Turner - Senior Marketing Manager at QVC UK and QVCUK has totally ruined my life, that may make me sad for having not much in my life but it also makes it a fact, however sad that sounds.

I will remove the Cheaper than QVC section, but as for anything else I truly feel that to bottle it all up would do ME more harm than good.

You are approaching this in entirely the wrong way Graham. Theres no more I can say about it.

 

[Weathergirl]

Weathergirl, I know you're a lawyer like me and we both know that specialist advice costs £££££££. And even more if you instruct solicitors to actually do some work for you. I think the problem for Graham is that he cannot afford it, nor the cost of any litigation. No-win-no-fee arrangements tend not to exist in the world of company commercial/competition law. Civil legal aid is virtually non-existent and corporate lawyers just don't do this type of work as the cheapest hourly rate is about 7-8 times the measly fixed fee legal aid rate. So taking on a juggernaut like QVC is financially impossible for the small people like Graham. And don't QVC know it.

Flamenco, of course I know all this. Of course it is expensive, and I am making no assumptions at all about whether Graham can afford it or not. Tactically Graham would be well- served hiding the reality of his finances from Q. I am not assuming that Graham is loaded, but perhaps Q should assume that Graham has loads of cash and he is a wolf in sheeps clothing IYKWIM. Maybe the horse has bolted on that one.

All I wanted Graham to do was to get the legal advice on merit so he knows where he stands. It is Graham's choice if he does this or not.

 

[Autumn]

If qvc are not gonna back down then i dont see why the cheaper than qvc thread should be removed , instead this qvc thread is the one that should be removed as we are giving them free advertising by talking about them and there products

 

[Weathergirl]

By the way, I used to work gor the LSC, have spent years in private practice before going to the public sector. I don't like or respect the financial aspects if my profession and am glad the work I do relies more on what Local Authorities should spend rather than how much I can bill a client.

 

[Tiddlywinks]

Graham - you are wearing your heart on your sleeve.

QVC will want trading partners that support their business model and that they can trust to be stable and easy to work with. They will steer away from emotional decision making and erratic partners unless there is absolutely no alternative.

QVC has NOT ruined your life - it may feel that way BUT all they did was make a cold hard business decision which made sense to them. They can trade or not trade with whomever they wish... a bit like we can choose which paper to buy or which supermarket to use.

I don't want to sound heartless, I know how much of your life is invested in this from your posts but... please... I have spent the last 25 years working with businesses and I know that the best decisions are the cold ones - that's reality.

BurlyBear is right - you have many options available - you have a loyal following for the site and BB had some great ideas about moving forward... especially the invite to QVC to have a rep on here to answer questions. This is something that MSE has started to do with energy and telecoms companies - it provides them with an opportunity to counter negativity and another source of PR.

Also, with your business head on, you need to really look hard at how negative some of the QVC threads are getting - there are more critical ones than there are positive ones. If you were the CEO of QVC would you want to fund (even partially) a site that allowed that much negativity of your brand? Yes, you can value free speech but you perhaps need to be tougher on the moderating... or maybe allow those threads in the Drop rather than on the main QVC site.

You've created something fabulous here and you can build on that... you just need to stick your business head on and tuck your heart away for business stuff.

You need a plan B... canvas opinion for that... you can do it!

 

[SparklyBarbs]

Weathergirl, I know you're a lawyer like me and we both know that specialist advice costs £££££££. And even more if you instruct solicitors to actually do some work for you. I think the problem for Graham is that he cannot afford it, nor the cost of any litigation. No-win-no-fee arrangements tend not to exist in the world of company commercial/competition law. Civil legal aid is virtually non-existent and corporate lawyers just don't do this type of work as the cheapest hourly rate is about 7-8 times the measly fixed fee legal aid rate. So taking on a juggernaut like QVC is financially impossible for the small people like Graham. And don't QVC know it.

I totally agree Flamenco. I can't see any way out of this and how Graham is keeping the site going i don't know. Tough times i'd say

 

[Tiddlywinks]

If qvc are not gonna back down then i dont see why the cheaper than qvc thread should be removed , instead this qvc thread is the one that should be removed as we are giving them free advertising by talking about them and there products

It depends on whether Graham wants to repair the trading relationship... if he does, and that is likely to be a long road, then the business (this site) needs to be as appealing to QVC as possible.

Why would they want to trade with a site that actively promoted shopping elsewhere?

 

[Autumn]

Why was the cheaper than QVC thread put up in the first place then? I was one one the main people that did alot of the price comparisons, it took along time i kinda feel angry i even bothered as hardly any body bothered reading it or posting on it and now its just been deleted with no warning.

 

[Tiddlywinks]

Why was the cheaper than QVC thread put up in the first place then? I was one one the main people that did alot of the price comparisons, it took along time i kinda feel angry i even bothered as hardly any body bothered reading it or posting on it and now its just been deleted with no warning.

It's about striking a balance between what is interesting to forum members whilst not offending sponsors - as I said, Graham needs to decide whether he still wishes to try to re-establish the trading relationship. I would suggest the 'cheaper' thread would not meet with QVC's approval as it is undermining their business by pointing potential customers to other places to buy (thus lowering their sales).

He who pays the piper...

 

[Flamenco]

If I wanted a forum that heavily moderated comments with a bias towards QVC, I'd go and join the sycophants on the QVC Facebook page. It's one thing being commercially aware and looking at ways to foster a better business relationship with QVC (although I suspect if QVC were amenable to building bridges they would have responded to Graham ages ago - I suspect the reconciliation ship never even set sail) and its quite another selling out completely and creeping up QVC's a*se to desperately retain an income stream.

I like some of Burly Bear's suggestion esp about someone from QVC being able to respond to queries (although to a greater extent they do this on the QVC FB page and most of the time they provide a bit of a flip flop response which causes further frustration).

I suspect much of QVC UK's financial and marketing strategies are dictated by the QVC US mothership so am not sure how much sway the UK operation has anyway.

The other alternative is to give QVC the big finger and look at other income options for the site. I'm not really up on this sort of thing, but I notice there are plenty of non-QVC ads on this site - maybe threads could expanded to include these online retailers, expanding from perhaps television shopping to include online retailers. This would increase traffic, and advertising etc from other non-QVC sources.

Personally I think the whole QVC affair is dead in the water. Graham hasn't heard a dickie bird from QVC and I doubt he will. Time to move on to Plan B.


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