Monday, May 30, 2005

I Hope SHOPNBC Goes Bankrupt

I've spent thousands at ShopNBC. At one point I was extremely addicted and bought tons of jewelry I'll never wear. Diamonds, rubies, sapphires, you name it, I bought it. All designer stuff, too. For years I wanted a pair of diamond hoops. I bought one pair, designer, but they're too big for the office. So I continued to shop for another smaller pair. I finally found them - and I found a coupon for $50 off at ShopNBC BUT it was only for new customers. So I of course created a new account and bought the earrings, with the $50 off coupon (wouldn't anyone!). ShopNBC used to have good quality merchandise when it was ValueVision. But after it became ShopNBC and fired all the good hosts and designers, and started selling vacuum cleaners and other department store crap, the quality deteriorated to a really visible degree. The workmanship sucks, to put it mildly. Anyway I received these $500 earrings and hated them. The diamonds had visible black carbon bits in them and had zero sparkle, the earrings didn't close properly, and instead of looking like 18k white gold, they looked like tarnished silver. Really bad junk. So I boxed them up and sent them back with a note saying "No Thanks." I also insured the package, of course, for $500.

Well a month goes by and I see they've continued taking payments out of my checking account. So I called up and asked what was going on? Can you believe this, but some woman gets on the phone and starts yelling at me that I had purposely sent them one earring and that I should pay in full for both earrings! I said wait, I returned the earrings, I don't even like them! She continued to yell at me for my "poor ass attitude" and stated again that I would pay full price, and if I wanted my money back, to go see the post office. Unbelievable!!

It was too late for the post office to help me. They only consider insurance liability within 30 days. This was more like 45 days and I was out of luck. So I called ShopNBC back again and asked them if they found the other earring yet? I got yelled at again, called a liar and cheat, and they hung up on me. Mind you I am a very mild mannered woman. I was appalled.

Another month went by and they deducted more money. There was no way to stop them because the purchase was attached to my debit Visa, not a regular credit card. I didn't know what to do. I definitely put both of those awful earrings into the box, I know I did because they didn't snap shut properly and I really struggled with them.

So as far as I'm concerned, this was a scam on the part of ShopNBC, to take money from someone who returned an item. So now they have the earrings AND my $500 and I have nothing but fury and disgust for them.

I would like to warn everyone about ShopNBC. The quality is terrible and the customer service deserves to be jailed. They sell crap. I wish I'd kept one earring so I could take a photo and show it to everyone who is reading this blog entry. Those diamonds were AWFUL!! No sparkle. I would have been embarassed to wear them. And now I've been accused of being a thief!!

If you ever tune into that channel on your TV set, or if god forbid you ever look at their web site, I want you to remember to look very closely at the diamonds. You will see that they are opaque (you can't see through them because they are so included and cloudy), and they have carbon bits in them (junk diamonds). Do NOT buy anything from these people in case you ever have to return something. Because they will steal the item and blame you for the bad return and MAKE YOU PAY FOR THE ITEM YOU RETURNED. Remember this. They are bad people and they do bad business! Completely unethical!

My goodness am I ever cured from buying anything on TV ever again. I'm done with that. And I sincerely hope ShopNBC and all their affiliates go bankrupt and their "bad ass" name-calling people go down with the ship.

11 comments:

katiedid said...

That has to be one of the worst customer service stories I've ever heard - she swore at you?! I'm just gobsmacked by their entire treatement of you.

I'm not sure what bank you go through for your Visa debit, but for my husband and I's credit union account, we have had a service rep refund our charges because of fraudulent behaviour. The ShopNBC will probably dispute the refund, and there's a whole paperwork process you'll have to go through to get your money back. But do call a service rep at your bank, and see what they can do for you. Sorry, I know this is unsolicited advice, but that is too much money to not try. (Of course, we didn't dispute anything quite that expensive, and it was a car part not earrings, but I would imagine that the same principle applies.)

God, Lucea, I am so sorry. That is appalling.

Patti said...

I've never heard anything worse than this in TV shopping. I've watched ShopNBC for years, but all I ever bought from them (two gold rings, and a Croton watch) were okay.
I hope you get this resolved. I would call them again and dog them until you get the right person who will truly assist you.

Lucia said...

I guess I'm not the fighter type. But it IS a lot of money and it HAS been bothering me for a long time. This happened at the end of January and every month they took another $115 out of my checking account I just got madder and madder. They said I kept one earring and only sent back one earring. Who would do that??? I certainly didn't. But how do I prove it? I feel so stumped over this, didn't know what to do. And nobody over there is helpful, they're all pretty nasty about it. My track record shows I've purchased thousands of dollars worth of stuff - a LOT. They lost me as a customer, but you're right, that isn't enough. I need to do SOMETHING. Thanks to both of you for your suggestions. Keep thinking. I really feel so stupid and helpless over this. Thank you.

Tania said...

What a load of bastards. $500 isn't chump change. I hope you get some kind of justice. I'll never order anything from them. Thanks for the warning.

Anonymous said...

I never order anything from them. I prefer to shop myself in stores, malls. Escpecially when it comes to expensive things like jewelry. Besides, they went back on their word about "curfew" on fur stuff... I don't trust them

Anonymous said...

i just want to add another experience about shop nbc.

recently, i purchased a computer, printer, router bundle and an additional dvd camcorder from shopnbc. that day, the deals were flying... 100.00 off the computer bundle, 50.00 for being a new customer and 30.00 off the camcorder and free shipping and handling.

wow what a deal, i thought,but the rebate system and the shipping and handling doesn't work.

you must use the computer to get the rebates...when that doesn't work, you call them and get misinformed about the rebates and they make you feel at ease that the rebates will come in the mail when that doesn't happen after 2 months and no rebate, you call them again to see what happen.

guess what happened...

the rebate expired after 30 days and now they can't do anything about it.
So sad about the lies and manipulation. i learned my lesson. do not shop nbc for any item. after all is said and done,it costs less to shop at your local down the street store.

what a rip off shopnbc is.

oh and they told me that i must have misunderstood the way the rebate works. excuse me...
I am going to let 180.00 dollars fly by?

the shop nbc staff must be trained to keep the clock ticking with distractions, niceities and misinformation until the time is up for the rebates and shipping and handling.

if you shop nbc make sure you get all the information and names and numbers of people you talk to. And make sure that you ask that your conversation is taped or in the computer.

otherwise, inform your lawyer that you are going to shop nbc and you may need his/her services in the future. shopnbc will tell you whatever...so they get don't have to pay the rebate.

i am not a stupid person, but i felt like one for about a minute. i know i won't make the mistake again and i will try and help, hopefully one person along the way.

shopnbc is really not worth it and if they can get you to shop with them just once, they will get you on the first purchase or they will get you in the end.

spend locally shopnbc is a sham
thanks

Anonymous said...

my main problem was that i didn't get the id numbers and names of the people i talked to along the way and what exactly was discussed.
for this it cost me 180.00 plus shipping and handling 42.50

watch your back with shopnbc

thank you for the blog

fisherra said...

Based on the horrendous stories that I've heard about ShopNBC on this blog and e-pinions, I will never buy anything from them. I have yet to buy anything but was considering purchasing a laptop for my daughter for college. Staples or Best Buy will get my business because I know I'll have a local store to go to if I have problems. ShopNBC must be stupid if they think their atrocious customer service habits will not catch up with them. ShopNBC sounds like an independent sales company that peddles products that they appear to backup but in reality they don't have any responsibility to back them up. Sounds like once they have your bank account information, the sale is complete, and they hang up the phone, they forget about you. ShopNBC is a potential nightmare that I am fortunate to have avoided!

Anonymous said...

Hi

I work as a call center employee for ShopNBC... I will remain anonymous because for now i need my job... but... we are slowly all losing our jobs in the call center because SHOPNBC is contracting these jobs to go to employees in the Philippes so that they can save money. So if you think you are buying American when you buy from SHOPNBC you are not.. ShopNBC is replacing American jobs with cheaper foreign labor. The foreigners have been trained so that their speech patterns sound like Americans. I encourage everyone to let SHOPNBC know that you will be boycotting their channel as long as this goes on...

watchcollector said...

the reason these stories sound so UNBELIEVABLE is because they are just that. As a sorry ass adult these dumbasses cant take any consumer responsibility. What aboutthe insurance on the package? What about the coupons that are mailed to individulas and not "found?" And rebates all have an expiration date on them if the person can read it....again dumbass.

Anonymous said...

I too have had a very bad experience with Shopnbc's Customer Service Dept. They are the worst in the business.Their Customer Service people are very rude, indeed.I began purchasing from them back when they were Value Vision, and really enjoyed doing business with them. Once they became Shopnbc, things started going downhill FAST!! I primarily only purchased Isomers Skin Care from them. I had a situation about 7 months ago when a lot of credit/debit card numbers were breached through my banking facility. My bank automatically stopped any & all transactions on that card and notified ShopNBC that my card was cancelled due to "credit card fraud".This created a problem in that I had a few outstanding Value Pays that were pending on that card. When my bank notified me that my card had been cancelled and that they were sending out a replacement, I of course notified ShopNBC immediately.Their Credit Dept. refused to accept my side of the story,they said that they believed that I had committed credit card fraud, absolutely could not get them to understand that I was who I said I was, and that my bank had cancelled MY card due to the block of numbers of being breached, and that I was the one who was in jeopardy of having credit card fraud used against me and my previous card. They would not enter my new credit card information, called me a liar and a fraud and then turned me over to a collection agency for the balances of the Value Pays that were still outstanding on my account. I loathe Shopnbc now. I wish Manuela of Isomers would take her products elsewhere so that I could continue to order them.They have recently taken on competitors who I have heard make on air slurs about Isomers products when they are presenting their own.I am surprised that Isomers would put up that kind of crap off of Shopnbc.Shopnbc has basically become a joke these days. I too hope that they go bankrupt.I have never been spoken to like that or treated like that before in my life