I voted “no” as I have never bought anything from a TV infomercial.
I do find them interesting.
Today, there were quite a few but was amazed to see (thanks to DVR pause) that the shipping and handling are often MORE than the product itself!
“Only $9.99” is the come on, but Shipping and Handling were $15.99!!
I think I will create my own infomercial:
“Laptop Computer - only $29.99!” (Shipping and Handling $999.00)
Wonder how many drunks I can get to call in with their credit card numbers?
My favorite story is a friend who, uh, drinks a bit. He was watching the HSN and saw this HUGE diamond ring for only 10 payments of $29.99. At least that TV close up on the ring made it seem huge.
The idiot called and bought it.
He actually kept it as a reminder not to drink and order crap off TV.
The diamond on the ring was about the size of 1/3 piece of dandruff.
No. I called QVC once to ask a question about something they were selling, but I didn’t buy it. I needed to know if the product was fragrance-free, and it wasn’t. I would have bought it if it was. I think it was some kind of cleaning product.
I bought a Shark vacuum cleaner, partly because my current vacuum was no longer doing a good job and partly they were running a special where you also got a free steam cleaner. I was amazed at how well the vacuum worked (the carpet was noticeably cleaner the first time I used it) and the steamer did a better job than my Swiffer did.
My wife has. She’s ordered knives, the shamwow thing, that vegetable chopper thing, that other vegetable chopper thing, a third vegetable chopping thing, the vacuum shark, jewelry, a pillow and of course the snuggy. Jesus, that’s pathetic.
I bought a Ronco food dehydrator about 20 years ago. We still have it, although I haven’t had time to use it in the past few years. It makes awesome jerky as well as dried fruit. We bought it directly from Ronco based on a commercial we saw one Labor Day weekend.
We have also bought several things at the store based entirely on the infomercial. The two that come to mind are OxyClean and the George Foreman Grill. I have a short story about each.
My daughter had a marking pen leak all over her gym shirt. She tried hairspray, laundry spray (Wisk or Shout), and washed the shirt in Tide, but the shirt was still stained. She finally asked if we could try OxyClean and we went to the store to get some. Amazingly, it took the stains out so well that she said we needed to write a letter to Billy Mays apologizing for laughing at him.
We bought the two-burger version of the George Foreman Grill when it became available in stores, but I hated it. The problem was that the grilling plates were impossible to clean. The grilling plates could not be removed from the covers, and yet, you weren’t able to immerse it in water. I loathed using it because the clean-up was miserable.
However, we now have the New! Improved! George Foreman Grill with the detachable grills which can be washed in the dishwasher. Much, much better. We use it at least once a week.
So, we have only bought one item directly from TV by calling the toll-free number while operators were standing by, but were also explicitly motivated to buy stuff by watching the infomercials.
I was inexplicably tempted to buy something from a TV ad yesterday, some kind of stuffed animal that was a tug rope toy for dogs. I said to myself, “Wow, I should get that. Also, I should get a dog.”
Does QVC count? If so, my answer changes from “Yes, once” to “Yes, many times” since I used to collect crystal figurines as a teenager and bought many from them.
I love watching infomercials. I really love the Magic Bullet one–the original, not the “on the Go” one or the Bullet Express one . Years ago there was one for a paint stripping product that you put on and then could scrape off. I would actually search late at night to see if that infomercial was on because I so enjoyed watching.