What's been your biggest waste of money from QVC?

[maymorganlondon]

I can't speak for all charity shops but I volunteer in one that has a lot of good quality items and if the workers want something they pay the same as the public even if it hasn't reached the rails. Also, most of the volunteers are in their 80's and certainly not selling on ebay! Hope that might give you a crumb of comfort. As for your statement, well that is really annoying, but again, some people are incredibly generous and if they feel that an item is undervalued they will put an extra donation in the collection box. I would much rather give clothes direct to a shop than put them in a general collection bag that just gets peanuts for scrap.

Yes - I always bag up and stagger to the charity shop. I wouldn't ever put them in a bag outside the door for collection. They are all limited companies when you get down to the small print, so I don't feel confident that the charity will benefit 100%, even if it isn't some kind of scam... plus if the items are lying outside in the damp or rain, chances are they will be stinking and fit only for the bin when they get anywhere. I take the trouble to ensure any donations are clean, and I won't undo the effort by not then following through by putting the bags in the charity shop.

And thank you for the reassuring note on staff in charity shops :mysmilie_59: I'd rather think well of the staff who give their time in the shops.

 

[Bea Frugal]

In my shop when someone registers for gift aid they are given a barcode and all their donations should have the barcode on the price ticket. When an item is sold the cashier should scan the barcode and that's how they know how much each gift aider has raised. As I said, a lot of volunteers are elderly and I expect the barcodes don't always get scanned so some items slip through the gift aid net but still raise money for the charity.

 

[London]

I recently spent £170 ish (can remember exactly how much it was and can't be bothered to get up and check the receipt haha) on one of those cordless Dyson hand-held vacs.

The power is next to useless. :sad:

It does seem to work ok picking up a few dog hairs but when I tried to use it to vac up a cobweb it didn't have the power to do so, couldn't believe it and I just missed the return date too.

Its really annoying as I had been considering buying this vac for ages and nearly bought the more expensive one (which I know would have been better) but it was over £100 more and I'm afraid I succumbed to the effective selling spiel!!!!

 

[Pick-a-Lily]

The BHF use a bar coded sticker to identify the donor of the item, and reclaim gift aid on the price obtained at sale. I assume this is pretty much how all charity shops do it.
I have personal knowledge of a woman who volunteered in an age concern shop (as it was then known). She often used to take first pick of donated items and was told by the manageress to make whatever donation she could afford. Now, I know this woman well enough to know that she was a hard up, single parent with a disability of her own to manage, and a practising Christian to boot, so I know that she would have tipped up what she could afford. I can only hope that all volunteers are that honest. I agree with maymorganlondon, if we worry about it too much, we'll just end up keeping it all!

 

[Mazza]

I recently spent £170 ish (can remember exactly how much it was and can't be bothered to get up and check the receipt haha) on one of those cordless Dyson hand-held vacs.

The power is next to useless. :sad:

It does seem to work ok picking up a few dog hairs but when I tried to use it to vac up a cobweb it didn't have the power to do so, couldn't believe it and I just missed the return date too.

Its really annoying as I had been considering buying this vac for ages and nearly bought the more expensive one (which I know would have been better) but it was over £100 more and I'm afraid I succumbed to the effective selling spiel!!!!

I think most cordless handhelds are next to useless because the power is so weak. Possibly good enough for using in the car where there is no plug (an you don't fancy a valet service) but not for serious cleaning. HOWEVER some places sell corded handhelds (Argos, JLP) and whilst there might be one choice compared to 20 cordless ones they are well worth it. I clean a rug almost daily as it shows all dust etc and the "suck" on this handheld is almost as good as some of the big cleaners.

 

[CallMeQ]

probably a set of plastic bags that were meant to pro-long the life of food i bought years ago and recently threw out after years of sitting on top of the cupboards after using once or twice after purchasing and discovering they made no difference at all.

 

[Julius]

My Emu stinger Lo boots. I cannot walk in them. They slip and slide about and hurt my shins when I wore them. I use them as slippers when its freezing. After a few wears my big toes went through the sheepskin. An absolute waste of money

Well they were "stinger" boots! You can't have them for misdescription! loooool

 

[Julius]

Mine was definitely the Jack la Lanne juicer. Cost about £230, used about 6 times, a real faff to clean and sat on the worktop for years before OH nor I couldn't stand the sight of it any more so took it to the tip. If anyone has scrounged it from there, good luck to them. I couldn't charge anyone to have that amount of cleaning and still have bits in their juice, so a total waste of money and left too late to take advantage of the 30-day MBG.

Oh yes, wasn't he some guy that swam across an ocean or halfway round the world, or something like that? Oh well, don't worry, now you can but the Jason Vale juicer - only £300 minus a bit of change - every home should have one. Yeh, yeh, yeh, yeh, yeh! Jill Franks uses it.

 

[Julius]

probably a set of plastic bags that were meant to pro-long the life of food i bought years ago and recently threw out after years of sitting on top of the cupboards after using once or twice after purchasing and discovering they made no difference at all.

Oh, I remember those. I was curious to know how they worked but could never find out. There was sceptical old me thinking they were charging £20 for a few sandwich bags and a bit of clingfilm.

 

[CallMeQ]

Oh, I remember those. I was curious to know how they worked but could never find out. There was sceptical old me thinking they were charging £20 for a few sandwich bags and a bit of clingfilm.

to be perfectly honest, i think you were right!! made no difference to how long they lasted at all.

 

[candycane]

I bought a Dyson cordless but not from QVC - shame really as I could have returned it and got my money back as it just about useless. In fact it was OH who insisted we buy it - don't know why because he's never cleaned a damn thing in his entire existence. Well, maybe his teeth but that's about it.

Wasted money on QVC? Let's see. A leg exerciser thingy that took up far too much room, couldn't be folded up and ended up in the loft. Paul McKenna's hypnotise yourself thin - what a load of carp that was. Jewellery that I never wear although it's all gold stuff so I could sell it. Centigrade jackets that didn't fit properly and are hanging up brand new in the cupboard and a coat as well come to that. I suppose I'm not that bad really compared to some.

CC

 

[miss molly]

I recently spent £170 ish (can remember exactly how much it was and can't be bothered to get up and check the receipt haha) on one of those cordless Dyson hand-held vacs.

The power is next to useless. :sad:

It does seem to work ok picking up a few dog hairs but when I tried to use it to vac up a cobweb it didn't have the power to do so, couldn't believe it and I just missed the return date too.

Its really annoying as I had been considering buying this vac for ages and nearly bought the more expensive one (which I know would have been better) but it was over £100 more and I'm afraid I succumbed to the effective selling spiel!!!!

Ring Q up and tell them its faulty and get your money back.

 

[Julius]

I was GOING to buy the Dyson cordless vac from QVC for my new car, but then I ended up buying a 6v rechargeable vac from Argos for £15 and it's fine! If it lasts a year it will have more than paid for itself. I hate those vacs at petrol stations where you put a pound coin in and you just have a useless old bit of hose with no suction power.

 

[stratobuddy]

Probably the worst thing I've ever bought was a freeview box that had channel 16 on it, thereby enabling me to watch QVC and waste £1000's

 

[historymystery]

We had a Dyson and got rid of it for nothing - ruddy thing was practically useless at picking up even a small thread of sewing cotton, let alone hairs from short-haired cat. A cheap vacuum bought as a stop-gap was 10 times better. Only good thing was we didn't pay for the Dyson - it was given to us (wonder why!) by someone retiring from their own electrical shop. Can't speak for all of their products, but never again....

I recently spent £170 ish (can remember exactly how much it was and can't be bothered to get up and check the receipt haha) on one of those cordless Dyson hand-held vacs.

The power is next to useless. :sad:

It does seem to work ok picking up a few dog hairs but when I tried to use it to vac up a cobweb it didn't have the power to do so, couldn't believe it and I just missed the return date too.

Its really annoying as I had been considering buying this vac for ages and nearly bought the more expensive one (which I know would have been better) but it was over £100 more and I'm afraid I succumbed to the effective selling spiel!!!!

 

[Jackanory]

My biggest wastes of money from QVC have been all the hundreds of skincare kits and body products kits I have bought over the years, not even using probably half of the contents of them, giving away lots of them, throwing others in the bin just to get rid of them. Finally after about 15 years realising that anti-ageing products do not reverse the signs of ageing and that it is not necessary to spend £40-£50 on shower gels. Finally realising that a nice moisturiser that feels good on the skin and moisturises the skin is all that is required, and there are lots of suitable products that don't cost a lot of money, and that there are masses of nice bathing products, even organic and natural products, which can be purchased for a lot less than QVC prices and are just as lovely if not more so.

I do however still buy the make up kits. I am still finding them value for money, at the moment anyway. As soon as I think I am being ripped off I will stop buying them.

 

[countrymaid]

I just can't let myself think of the potential dishonesty of volunteers at the charity shops... if I did, the stuff would be cluttering up my home and my life. I would never put stuff on eBay - I might think about it, but I'd never get around to it, and be rather nervous of doing it anyway.

So I just grit my teeth and into the charity box it goes. If someone, somewhere puts it on eBay, it's on their conscience... sooner or later what comes around goes around.

When I was moving home I knew that I had to have a clear out. I took some things to a local charity shop where the lovely girl working there was delighted. Her comment was "Wonderful. We hardly ever get clothes for big women!" Poor thing realised what she'd said and was so embarrassed but I honestly found it really funny - not to mention true. Most of the stuff I took in was put in the window, which did make me cringe a bit. The statement I received was incredible - over £200. I went back with some more things and she said told me that because of the window display, they had received a lot of enquiries about plus sizes. Not only that but more people were donating larger sizes. I hate to say it but I think it's time to repeat the exercise because I'VE LOST WEIGHT!

 

[MrMarple]

A Paul McKenna 'Stop Smoking' set of DVD's. It wasn't cheap, but I can't really blame Q for it not working because I don't think I ever played the damn things. I've still got them knocking about somewhere. And yes, I still smoke! Ha

 

[iloveshopping]

A Paul McKenna 'Stop Smoking' set of DVD's. It wasn't cheap, but I can't really blame Q for it not working because I don't think I ever played the damn things. I've still got them knocking about somewhere. And yes, I still smoke! Ha

Try playing them! I gave up after playing the wrong side of a motivational cassette which was the side to play once you had given up! Never regretted stopping

 

[maymorganlondon]

When I was moving home I knew that I had to have a clear out. I took some things to a local charity shop where the lovely girl working there was delighted. Her comment was "Wonderful. We hardly ever get clothes for big women!" Poor thing realised what she'd said and was so embarrassed but I honestly found it really funny - not to mention true. Most of the stuff I took in was put in the window, which did make me cringe a bit. The statement I received was incredible - over £200. I went back with some more things and she said told me that because of the window display, they had received a lot of enquiries about plus sizes. Not only that but more people were donating larger sizes. I hate to say it but I think it's time to repeat the exercise because I'VE LOST WEIGHT!

Congratulations! Don't be sad to say it...:mysmilie_8:

I'm hoping I will be in a position to do the same in a few months' time.