A few days ago I was in my local Wal Mart and lo and behold...the Sold Only on TV product SNUGGIE was sitting on shelves near the checkout counter. You remember those. They are the monk-looking blankets with the goofy commercials we all saw last year. Gotta admit, I laughed my ass off over these things. They looked like something to be worn for some dark, evil ceremony involving skulls, daggers, and lots of dirge-like chanting. Several friends agreed with me that these are the dumbest looking things EVER. Yet I also know a friend who bought one and just fell in love with how warm it was.I don't watch a whole lot of tv but admittedly when these goofy commercials come on, I watch them. The late Billy Mays, of course, screamed so loudly that you couldn't help but get a jolt and turn to watch.
Guess I'm wondering
how many of you have succumbed to these 'tv only' pitches. I'll confess I picked up the Smooth Away, a product that painlessly removes hair from your legs. Felt dumb ordering it and basically believed I might be throwing my money away but, dang it, the thing worked. At least for me. Other friends also tried this product with no success so I tend to think it depends on the texture of the hair you need to remove. I'm a blonde with fine hair so the product worked beautifully for me.I've learned that when the pitchman advises a product is only sold on tv, it's not really true. Give it some time and these items will show up somewhere. So far, I've bought the Smooth Away (from TV) and picked up the Pedi Egg and a Sham Wow at Wal Mart. The Pedi Egg is a great product but the Sham Wow was disappointing. I wasn't overwhelmed with it's absorbency and my husband used it to dry his car after a bath and said it was okay but his old towels worked just as well.
I took a little on line poll a few days ago. It asked about the purchase of tv-only products. I clicked 'yes' be
cause I HAD bought the Smooth Away from tv. Turns out I was in a minority on this one. Most polled weren't convinced by the crazy tv commercials. How about you? Have you ever been moved by the tv ads and the 'miracle products' they advertise?
16 comments:
I haven't bought any of them. Some times I plan on doing it just to try them out but never get around to it. lol.
I buy all that stuff at WalMart. LOL! Why pay $19.99 plus $4.95 SH when you can get it at WM for $9.99?
Um...yeah, Fran, you're right!!! Dummy ME, bought the smooth away from tv and a few weeks later I found it at Wal Mart! I'll NEVER do that again. Dumb.
There's a hair straightener/curler I've been watching infomercials for and I'm dying for it to hit the stores.
Kell, Bed, Bath and Beyond, Walgreens and Wal Mart carries lots of that stuff.
I bought a weight-loss program from the tv and well, I ended up getting sucked into all these supposedly free trial offers. As part of my "purchase" I was freely enrolled in about sixteen programs and that was in addition to the fifty or so they asked me about before the entire process was finished. Needless to say, that these "free" programs were only free for a couple of weeks. It took me three months to wrangle with these companies and get refunded nearly 400 dollars worth of enrollment fees, etc.. I got the refunds because I proved that they failed to notify when they charged my card. I will never buy anything over the tv again. Which is unfortunate because the weight-loss program did work.
Oh WOW. That's AWFUL! Guess it's true about the whole 'buyer beware' thing. What a mess!
Come to think of it, I did the ProActive thing years ago for one of my kids and what a surprise to find they kept sending the stuff every few months when I didn't need it. Pain in the ass! I had to call several times to tell them I didn't want to be 'enrolled' in anything, just wanted to order when needed.
I bought the Smooth Away and it didn't work. Plus, DANG it hurt!
My mom has bought the snuggie and loves it. A long time ago I bought the Gazelle and loved it - for about 8 weeks. Once I lost the weight I gave it to my mom who now hangs clothes from it! lol
We bought the Magic Bullet from tv (kinda...we went to their website and ordered it). Works fine, but I forget we have it! lol
I have a friend who bought the smooth away. She is a bit....hmm...twitchy? She fidgits and plays with things. She ended up getting basically carpet burn, from rubbing her legs so much! She had no hair, but she didn't have any skin either!! lol
As for the Pedi Egg? That's the thing that shaves your feet right? *shudder* On the commercial, when they dump the foot skin shavings out of the holding container, I have to fight the gags!
that stuff from the pedi egg *IS gross but damn does that thing ever work! I love it.
Now the smooth away worked great for me but you cant rub very hard. I think I have such fine hair that I have my legs done in less than a minute or two. I love it BUT you have to remember to use lotion afterwards.
Damn...that's funny about the Gazelle. I've seen that one and wondered if it worked. I have some exercise equipment in my garage and mainly I dust it. snicker.
Oh... I bought! LOL. I was up late a lot and this commercial used to play all the time. Anyone ever heard of the ronco showtime rotisserie??? I have 4 kids, they drive me up a wall when I'm cooking, and that thing looked so tempting. Besides that, we can't grill outside so a lot of things we can't cook. Prime rib in the oven... just doesn't work out for me. LOL. So I bought one. OMG!!! I LOVE it. It changed my life! LOL. I use it about 2-3 times a week. Tri tip, prime rib, pork loin, whole chickens, small turkeys... bring it! LOL. I season the meat, stick it on the spit thing that turns sideways, and check the cooking time. Set it and forget it (you can't really because the wonderful smells of cooking food is not something I can ignore). It dings when it's done, we let it set for a few more minutes, and then the hubby carves it up with the electric knife we bought on TV. YUM. You can find them now at Big Lots. If that thing ever breaks I'm buying another one the same day. LOL. (I'll shut up now...LOL... Can you tell I love this invention from late night TV commercials???)
I've seen this stuff at my local Alco store and I'm in a small town. I also have a thing about ignoring people who scream at me...the mute button on my remote is almost worn out!
I'm with Paris. The louder the pitchman, the more I tune out.
I did buy the Turbie Twist when it hit my local CVS stores...and I LOVE it! Bought about 3 packs of 'em and handed them out to all my friends with long hair. And kept a couple of replacements for myself. Which turned out to be a good thing; I've not seen them since!
Same for the dryer balls. I was skeptical when I saw the ad, but when they showed up at WM, I bought them and love 'em! But now I'm down to one (I think there's 2 or 3 hiding under my dryer, lol!) so I'm back to using dryer sheets...I may try out the new Bounce thingy.
And a friend bought the power auger and the watering bulbs...waste of money, she said!
My sis is a as seen on tv nut! An items I have actually made use of is the laptop tray. Purchased the bra clips - those only work for less endowed women. And have purchased the nail machine for the cats claws, it works very well. And the plastic bags for fruit really do work, Everything else has been a bust, fyi Regina, my sis has the InStyler on order : /
Oh, I do like the bra clips, though the clear ones broke pretty easy.
Anxious to hear how the InStyler works! It makes sense...
Not usually, but a few times I've bought like hair products, which turned out to be crap. LOL
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