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I have two friends who write and speak Mom for their mothers. Born and bred British the both of them.
I'm a Brummie, Mom is used quite a lot in Birmingham & the Black Country & this lady's from Walsall. Another person commenting on the amount of stuff she's got to clear from an empty house has also given details of the area where it is & where she lives, it wouldn't take much to find the actual locations.
 
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Just had a look at this post and it makes difficult reading as my mum when she had to retire it was literally the death of her, she had few friends and though she tried joining loads of things, she had mental health issues and 'cause a lot of the people in the groups she joined were older and often died, that would make her anxiety worse. I noticed that she had started ordering "crap" from various sources, not online but phoning in, stuff in magazines. As a younger woman she was pretty careful with her money, only buying stuff when she needed to, and being very discerning too..always quality over quantity. I first became worried when she ordered some really dodgy jewellery off the back of a magazine..proper cheap and nasty stuff that I knew she'd never wear, a hideous plate with a cat on it, a doll. I did actually say to her...ooh this isn't really your thing is it? and she agreed and offered me the jewellery....I pretended that I'm sure I'd make use of it so as not to upset her too much. It didn't go on for too long as her health detoriated quite quickly and she eventually had to go into nursing care. After she died, thankfully the house wasn't left with too much crap but I can see how this can happen..but I'm at a loss as to what the shopping channels can do. They can't stand there and say on air...look lonely folk, we're not your friends, don't just buy stuff for the sake of it. I think it's up to family and friends to try and curb this..but they can't be watched all the time...it's all very very sad indeed.
 
My late father kept every known distance (and local) seller of crap in the lap of luxury as he must have singlehandedly paid for their mortgages and children’s education!

It was like this all my life, but when my mother died and there was no one to curtail him he had free reign he just never stopped. A lot was cheap tat but he used to buy those “special” edition coins signing up for whole worthless collections. It took me months of writing to get them stopped.

Clearing his house made me so ill with stress because we lived a distance away and every weekend for months was spent clearing junk and confidential papers going back to 1963.
 
I have to hold my hand up here and say when I married Mr V and sold my house to move into his, I was horrified at the amount of stuff I had in my house. I`d lived there for over 30 years and there were things in my loft dating back donkeys years and even some stuff belonging to my late Father. When my first husband passed away it took me several months to give away his clothes, fishing tackle and other belongings but I forgot about the loft and found all kinds of things which were his, not to mention a zillion books I`d kept and a lots of bedding left over from when 5 of us lived in house, a cupboard full of curtains and towels, old suitcases containing the boys school reports and items they`d made etc and so many bottles of shampoo, bodywash, body lotion etc I could have opened a shop !
 
That is so sad when elderly people fall pray to these scams.I have seen on TV those who have bought coins that are worth a fraction of their purchase price, and someone thought they were investing in Diamonds that didn’t exist.I have to say that I am the most suspicious person on the planet, and may that continue.I had a friend that when we were on holiday could be stopped by sellers in the street and get into conversation with them.Meanwhile I was moving on saying No thanks! He used to get very cross with me but I hated to think someone was selling trash with smooth talk!I have also outdone kitchen planners, you know spend hours planning & giving the sales patter.Then the price can be substantially reduced if you sign up there & then.They left eventually when I said I would only think about it.Of course you have a cooling off period, but I didn’t get as far as that.The more I am given the hard sell the more I back off.
 
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I stand corrected on the mom bit
If a Brit, regardless of accent, uses this word I always hear it pronounced mum & therefore imagine it written that way. Mom looks & sounds American to me but as I wrote I know many who spell it with an o. Maybe we should be all like Claire Sutton & say Mommie. Bizarrely, I'm called mam by my daughters after they spent years in Welsh universities.
 
One woman's crap is another's treasure. We all know that the Q puts profits first, it would do it's a business. However, it's not in the same league as those who scam. The woman posting that her mother's in a care home but still spending money should realise that it's her mother's money & she can do what she wants with it; if she's so concerned she should consider power of attorney & take control of the purse strings.
 
A friend of mine has been scammed out of £10k. Her Mum passed away and my friend has an adult brother who has learning difficulties and mental health problems. He couldn`t live alone after Mum died so my friend had him move in with her. She sold Mum`s house and with the money from it they had plans drawn to have an extension built with a self contained area for her brother on the ground floor consisting of a bedroom, small sitting room and a bathroom.
A builder came, started the work, was paid £10K as part payment and then was never seen again. The house was ripped apart and nothing was completed or even half done, he`d gone off the radar.
She`s had months of trying to track him down, spent a fortune with solicitors, court fees and sheriff fees, he was finally found but according to the sheriff he has no assets and she`s had to pay other people to finish off all the jobs he started but never completed. When the solicitor looked into his background it seems the same guy has had several previous businesses and either gone bankrupt or closed them down.
 
One woman's crap is another's treasure. We all know that the Q puts profits first, it would do it's a business. However, it's not in the same league as those who scam. The woman posting that her mother's in a care home but still spending money should realise that it's her mother's money & she can do what she wants with it; if she's so concerned she should consider power of attorney & take control of the purse strings.

Yes I saw that and thought surely the family should be able to help control that, especially since she's in a care home..I'd have thought that care home staff would pick up on such things as well..maybe they did in this case, they didn't say. The woman who originated the post is obviously at the end of her tether, obvs don't know anything about her or her family...like did she see her mum regularly, did they live miles apart, where there other family members who noticed this worrying trend? She did suggest that unusual buying patterns should be flagged and investigated and that shopping channels should be aware of this sort of thing taking place and try and do something to prevent it...and I think she's got a point..but I don't know how they'd go about it. Def think they need regulating. Of course people can spend their money online elsewhere, or through catalogues etc etc, but it does seem to be "a thing" that elderly and vulnerable people are trusting the word of these presenters like they would a good friend and this results in crazy spending, spending on boxes stuff that sometimes don't even get opened, or stuff gets piled up, not used, not worn....just to get a momentary buzz and someone coming to the door with a parcel!
 
I remember reading a number of times on the QVC US form a post by someone saying their mum had passed away and they went in to clear out the house. Then finding unopened boxes of QVC products brand new in cupboards and wardrobes. I do remember one woman trying to get the unopened stuff returned but it turned out it went back many years and QVC would not take it back.
 
A friend of mine has been scammed out of £10k. Her Mum passed away and my friend has an adult brother who has learning difficulties and mental health problems. He couldn`t live alone after Mum died so my friend had him move in with her. She sold Mum`s house and with the money from it they had plans drawn to have an extension built with a self contained area for her brother on the ground floor consisting of a bedroom, small sitting room and a bathroom.
A builder came, started the work, was paid £10K as part payment and then was never seen again. The house was ripped apart and nothing was completed or even half done, he`d gone off the radar.
She`s had months of trying to track him down, spent a fortune with solicitors, court fees and sheriff fees, he was finally found but according to the sheriff he has no assets and she`s had to pay other people to finish off all the jobs he started but never completed. When the solicitor looked into his background it seems the same guy has had several previous businesses and either gone bankrupt or closed them down.
This has been going on for decades & successive governments don't do a thing about it, makes my blood boil.
 
'...just to get a momentary buzz and someone coming to the door with a parcel!'
I get that buzz & when my three eBay parcels arrived today I couldn't wait to open them. I watched all the series of Your Money or Your Life with Alvin Hall & can remember the discussion about our dopamine levels rising in anticipation of an event rather than the experience which explains why some people get a feeling of happiness just thinking about a shopping trip. I've known my Mr T for 45 years & he's never had this feeling!
 
Now here is another.

You won't do anything about it- all you are bothered about is your profits. The house and, it's a BIG house, was clocked to the gunnels with QVC boxes - some never opened. My sister tried to address this without any reponse from you - WHY would someone want three of some things? I've seen your channel and you even "promote" next day delivery at £6.95 - every single parcel she had, she paid this for stuff never looked at. You NEED to identify someone ordering so often - some days there were 5 or 6 items being delivered - her bank statements read like a QVC accounts department
 
Now here is another.

You won't do anything about it- all you are bothered about is your profits. The house and, it's a BIG house, was clocked to the gunnels with QVC boxes - some never opened. My sister tried to address this without any reponse from you - WHY would someone want three of some things? I've seen your channel and you even "promote" next day delivery at £6.95 - every single parcel she had, she paid this for stuff never looked at. You NEED to identify someone ordering so often - some days there were 5 or 6 items being delivered - her bank statements read like a QVC accounts department
I'm sure the Q offered a next day delivery service some years ago but hasn't done this for some time.
 

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