Posted on December 4, 2008 - by Justin Hartman
A small matter of R461,500 – the Quality Vacation Club farce
I’ve been following the Quality Vacation Club’s (QVC) attempt to sue local blogger Donn Edwards very closely after Donn himself left a comment on my blog.
Now I, along with many others I suspect, have been lured to a marketing sales pitch for time share by QVC under the guise that I’ve won a massive prize. In the last five years alone I have had at least five separate attempts from QVC and guys like QVC to try and get me to go and listen to their pitch. On all occasions, except the first of course, I had declined to go.
I recall our last incident when I received a call from a QVC-type company to inform me that I’d won a 42″ flat screen TV and that I should come and collect it from their office. I told them to get lost and they then phoned my wife to tell her that I said they should make arrangements with her to come and collect the TV.
In my mind this form of sales is the lowest common denominator. You trick people into believing they’ve actually won something and then you steal there money on timeshare that most simply don’t need. Then, when someone like Donn calls your bluff you sue him. Come on guys.
You can cut this any which way you like but what QVC are doing is simply a scam. This might well get me a lawsuit as well but to be honest I don’t care. It’s about time we all started to speak up about this because these guys are persistent buggers that refuse to give up.
In the UK there is a thing called the Do Not Call list which marketers have to adhere to. This is a great initiative with a high penalty for those who ignore the list and recently a similar DNC list has appeared in SA.
My name is on that list although I’m not sure if marketers in SA actually adhere to the local DNC list. That said, every one of you should add your name so that we can prevent crap like this happening over and over again.
To Donn, all I can say is that I’m truly sorry you’re going through this. QVC need to get a grip and let off the small guys. They must know that their efforts are tricky and if not then they’re really out of touch with reality.
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December 4, 2008
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Great post! I’m enjoying watching the SA blogging community mobilise against QVC. This can’t go on. I think it started with the whole Hellkom debacle and, quite frankly, I think it’s ridiculous that we can’t air our views on companies — good or bad.
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December 5, 2008
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I am still not comfortable with putting my name on a new list just to get it of the old list. The details you have to give them in order to put you on the do-not-call list are probably more than what they might have on you in the first place. And the fact that anyone can buy the National Consumer Database list from an American company is just pushing it too far.
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December 5, 2008
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I agree, Norio.
I’ll post about this soon so this QVC bullshit can get also get out in die open in the Afrikaans blogosphere.
I love crowdsourcing. Lets crowdsource a collective action against these motherfarkers
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December 5, 2008
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They made a big mistake. They could of avoided this entire thing by just saying sorry, but no they have to sue the poor guy.
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December 5, 2008
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I think that the blogging community plays a valuable role in playing the consumer watchdog. There’s no doubt in my mind, that companies are more wary about the way they treat Joe Soap, because it may get viral and explode on them.
Timeshare outfits seem to employ controversial methods…I’m starting to wonder to what extent I should allow them to advertise on my website.
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December 6, 2008
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The DMA’s list is a shambles, but it’s better than nothing. I’ve been on the list for ages and I still get unsolicited SMS messages, mainly because all the dubious marketers never join the DMA and so their code of conduct doesn’t apply.
Perhaps we need to pressure the Department of Trade and Industry to make the DMA code of conduct mandatory for everyone who ISN’T a DMA member.