I Am An Infomercial Sucker

L

Lon

Well-known Member
Location
Central California
I am always intrigued with those damn commercials. Buy One and get One FREE.

In the past couple of months I have made two disappointing purchases from the TV Infomercials.

"MY PILLOW" was the first. After all, I had not been sleeping well and my stiff morning neck was due I am sure, to the inferior pillow I was using and I was sure this NEW "MY PILLOW" would make all the difference. Did It? No it did not and it was a $50 poor purchase. When will you learn Lon?

The second Infomercial purchase was the "One Second Food Slicer which I hauled out one hour ago to chop some onion and cheese for my home made chili con carne that I wanted for lunch. I found it quicker and simpler to use a regular kitchen knife for the job.

That's it-------No more infomercial purchases.;)
 

Most of these Infomercials, and As Seen on TV products are positive proof that P.T. Barnum was correct....when he said, many years ago, "There is a Sucker born every minute".
 
Yeah, I know what you mean Lon. They make it look so easy, but when you get it home it's a different story.

And, If you act RIGHT AWAY, you can get another one FREE !

Also, If you wait a bit, you can usually find the same stuff @ Walgreens stores......("As seen on TV").
 
While my working days before cell phones & personal computers I was on swing shift. I had nothing better to do with my time during the winter months than watch TV. My weakness was Home Shopping Network, yep, porcelain dolls and other can't live with outs. I was hooked and couldn't put the phone down. I bought dolls for the wife & stupid items that sold later at yard sales for pennies on the dollar. I had that brown UPS truck making daily stops. I finally reached my saturation point after about 90 days and more than a $1,000 dollars, (that's what I'll own up to). I started watching CMT instead, after a few depressing months listening to country music my wife suggested I shut it off entirely, get a hobby, that's when I decided to do woodworking. While limited profitability it was better than buying garbage. As Seen On TV, is a marketing gimmick that works. I diagnosed myself as a suffering from ICD (Impulse Control Disorder).
 
I bought My Pillow from Bed, Bath and Beyond, after seeing the infomercial. I don't care for it at all, you put your head on it, and the sides billow up alongside your cheeks. When I use it, I'm constantly punching it into shape for that particular position, or flipping it over because the other side is caved in. I do switch back and forth between that and my regular shaped memory foam pillow, but use the memory more.

Another thing I bought from a TV infomerical years back were those glass plant watering bulbs. The ones that you fill with water and stick them in the soil to slowly water your plants if you're on vacation. Well those are somewhere buried in my garage, completely useless, the water just ran into the plants quickly, nothing like they said, no matter what position I placed them in.

As seen on TV exercise equipment like the EZ Crunch and Ab Roller ended up in the trash too. I have bought two of those hoses that shrink up and do not kink. I bought the first green one at Bed, Bath and Beyond, and although it is cheaply made, with plastic fixtures, I really liked the way it didn't kink and was lightweight and easy to use. I've used it lightly and it's been just fine.

Recently, I bought another one at Target, a black heavier duty one with metal ends, happy with that one too, it's longer and I use it in my back yard. I bought hubby some colored special teflon type tape years ago, don't even remember what it was called, but that worked well too.
 
"$19.95 plus handling and processing, but if you act now, we'll double your order...just pay the processing and handling" That $19.95 quickly becomes over $30...for something that is probably not worth $5. The item is probably made in China for $2, and the TV air time consumes half of the price. My favorite is Flex Seal....that stuff is nothing but automobile undercoating...at twice the store price.
 
Don M. said:
"$19.95 plus handling and processing, but if you act now, we'll double your order...just pay the processing and handling" That $19.95 quickly becomes over $30...for something that is probably not worth $5. The item is probably made in China for $2, and the TV air time consumes half of the price. My favorite is Flex Seal....that stuff is nothing but automobile undercoating...at twice the store price.
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If the products are as good as stated on TV, they would be in the retail stores..IMHO..Their money is made on the shipping and handling..
 
I am absolutely immune to infomercials because I won't watch them.
I even hate the normal commercials and spend most of my time on ABC TV and radio.
If I am on a commercial channel I zone out as soon as a commercial begins,
I can be enticed to watch if they use puppies or a cattle dog.
 
"But wait, if you call right now, we will double the offer!" Yup, and when I got two neither one of them was worth a damn...:mad:
 
I fell for one one time... and that was for Hydralyze... a supposedly miracle cream for eye wrinkles and dark circles. After I gave them my credit card info, I found out that I had signed up to receive a jar of this stuff EVERY MONTH...... for eternity! The only way to cancel the deal was to accept the first shipment and then return it. Which I did. I have sworn off buying stuff seen on TV.. It's always a scam..
 
Ken N Tx said:
If the products are as good as stated on TV, they would be in the retail stores..IMHO..Their money is made on the shipping and handling..
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Quite often, many of these "As Seen on TV" products Do show up in a display at some of the stores. A cursory examination of these things on the shelf quickly shows that they are mostly overpriced Junk.
 
My husband was a sucker for info commercials. There are things here and I don't know what they are for. I found a pressure steamer it is suppose to clean your grill, your counter tops etc. I know you won't be surprised to know it was a complete failure. I found at an auction, a pillow. I had a level 2 whip lash from a car accident that still causes me untold grief. Anyway the pillow is partially filled with flax seed. I can shape it to support my neck, hollow out a place for my head and pack it on either side of my head to keep my head from moving in my sleep. I also use a cpap machine. I have been using this pillow for 10 years. It does discolour pillow slips so use at least two to cover the pillow. Flax seed can be purchased from any bulk food store. It really works and that's no infomercial.
 
"Addiction" may be the correct word in some cases. The producers of these ads understand human motivation very well and know precisely how to make their appeal. Years ago, I worked in an office where one of the ladies was very perturbed because her husband couldn't resist these commercials. It may be that some people are much more receptive to the ads than others.
 
I've been using My Pillow more now Lon. I put a smaller pillow case on it, one that tightened up the foam stuffing inside, and it makes it much nicer to use. There's no extra room around the pillow case, once the pillow is inside. I think part of the problem was the stuffing spreading out too thin.
 
First clue "TV SPECIAL, Not available in stores!! Translation: No stores would buy it to put on their shelves, kinda like self published books......
 
No, never bought anything that way, from TV . I like to see what I am buying, but if you can't get out, for any reason, I suppose it could be good.
 
I never do, as I don't watch TV, but an older friend bought tons of cheap jewelry on the Joan Rivers shopping show. Addicted maybe.
 
Hey, they gotta fill those 500 channels with something!

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I don't buy from TV but I do look through the "As seen on TV" at Wal-mart, Target and CVS. A couple years ago I bought a battery operated ear wax removal plastic hand held vacuum. It was the biggest waste of money ever! A couple months ago while cleaning out my dressers and closet I came across that and decided I better toss it before I died and my kids were wondering what in the world mom used that thing for.
 
I wonder how many men and women have things in their drawers, night stands, etc that would embarrass hell outta them if they were discovered. I read a story where a dog brought out an "adult toy" from a woman's bedroom and flopped in on the carpet hoping some of the visiting company would toss it for him.
 

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