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Original poster

To think sodding Sell-You-Stuff parties are a work of the Devil ...

266 replies

Fecklessdizzy · 30/11/2011 22:25

Rant Alert ...

Seething (and stinking of garlic). Just got back from Stupidly-Overpriced-Cookware demo that I wasn't going to go to on account of having a foul cold and not being interested in podding out fifty quid for a casserole dish.

The friend who was hosting the thing was panicking about no-one turning up and guilt-tripped me into coming along to make up the numbers so I sat through the demo ( think shopping channel but much, much duller ) When the demonstrator handed round the stuff she'd cooked at the end I had a nibble or two then made my excuses and started to slink off when she says " Not buying anything, then?" My mate says " Oh, Feckless isn't feeling well, I made her come " and the bloody demonstrator whips back with " Shame, lucky it didn't affect your appitite, though! "

Snarl ... BlushBlushAngry

OP posts:
sassyTHEFIRST · 01/12/2011 17:07

Your pricey stoneware;
Your twee expensive candles
Get right on my wick.

recall · 01/12/2011 17:09

What a bitch Shock

recall · 01/12/2011 17:09

What a bitch Shock

grumpyoldbookworm · 01/12/2011 17:44

Even worse are the ones where you get pressured to become one of the salesperson's team and 'encouraged' to set up a sub team yourself- all in a slightly manic cult sort of way due to the pyramid selling scum at the top charging people to go to motivational conferences to learn how to do this stuff! Awful and excruciatingly embarrassing!

nannyn · 01/12/2011 18:09

Ok so please don't shoot me down in flames. I'm a Jamie at Home consultant [ducks for cover] just for the record our stuff starts at £3 so it's not OTT. I would never make a guest feel bad for not buying, the OP should complain to the area manager. I don't do raffles unless it's a fundraiser (then I donate a prize) on average the charity goes away with a min £50 at the end of the night.
Alot of it depends on the person doing the party & if they're trying to get promoted/chasing bonuses. The balance is hard to get but I've not lost any friends doing it & often get asked by friends to do parties.
Just thought the otherside should pipe up Smile

chickydoo · 01/12/2011 18:29

A "friend" is a Neals yard Rep, she hounded me for months to host a party, I really didn't want to but caved in eventually. I then had to ask my other friends if they would come, had to remind them on the day as I felt I should try to get a handful of people. Purchased nice wine and soft drinks, lots of nibbles (cost a fortune) Had to re-arrange my furniture and take an afternoon off work to give the house a good clean.
Neals yard Rep shows up, sets her stuff up, she had only done 2 other parties so had no idea about any of the products. 12 of my friends turned up, Rep showed them a few products"this is a cleanser, this is a hand cream"
handed out order forms and said if they didn't order I wouldn't get a discount. I was mortified, I am allergic to most of the products anyway, I didn't want a discount. 4 people brought something, It was really hard work, embarrasing cost me money and then my "friend" the rep moaned for weeks about wasting her time!!!!!
Never ever ever ever ever again

oldenglishspangles · 01/12/2011 19:23

Selling parties are the sponsorship forms of the eighties.... I always think thats another 90 mintues I am never goinig to get back again.

smackapacca · 01/12/2011 19:27

I wish it was just 90 minutes. And that's another thing - the time to 'spend' only to come away with one product that you didn't want is crazy.

If I had 90 mins of child free time to shop, it'd be for much more than a ceramic bowl.

bakewelladdiction · 01/12/2011 19:29

My neighbour sells Arbonne, she has been totally brainwashed. I did buy the gold bag from her in a moment of bad skin madness costing over £100... I now avoid her as I just feel sick about it Shock

LittleMissHumbuggery · 01/12/2011 19:43

I was at a picnic with some friends from a mum's group over the summer. One of the people there got out a folder and started trying to tell people about some random arsed scheme she and her husband had got involved in. Time and a place! I avoid the parties (though wish tupperware sold online as I want some retro cereal bowls!) as I don't like the products, to be targeted over some snacks and light hayfever pain was just utterly depressing:(

pamelat · 01/12/2011 20:12

I went to a body shop party and was the only person who turned up!! that was embarassing and I then spent more than I would have done otherwise. Worse, I then committed to hosting one (no freebies, just a favour for that friend) but no one wants to come!!

I went to a Jamie Oliver one last year, and Pampered Chef last week. PC very over priced I thought.

I feel obliged to buy at least one thing, which always means £10ish. It depends, £10 isnt a bad cost for a glass of 2 of wine Smile

orienteerer · 01/12/2011 20:31

I hate them and avoid at all costs.

stressheaderic · 01/12/2011 20:36

Mate of mine's sister does Ann Summers for a bit of spare cash. I was persuaded to go to one of her parties - omg, how cheap and nasty is the underwear. Absolutely dreadful. And the sex toy demo games were just embarrassing. Needless to say, I didn't buy anything.

I hate hate hate sell-you-stuff parties. People only buy out of guilt - fact.

rightlymoaningminnie · 01/12/2011 20:47

A few posters have mentioned cults and brainwashing, although I think this is more in the multi-level marketing schemes, than bottom level body-shop parties. There is a, 'cultish' atmosphere at their motivational conferences, bordering on religious mania.

At the parties themselves, is the act of buying something expensive likely to buy status or favour for that person? Does it encourage others to buy things that they do not really need? Do people buy more at parties than they would in a shop because they have been drinking?

Does the quality of the refreshments affect what people spend?

ReshapeWhileDamp · 01/12/2011 20:56

Alliwantisaroomsomewhere - I used to sell those books and beautiful toys too! Grin The crying shame of it is that they're very parent-friendly - and the children couldn't give a toss. We recently went to their new flagship bookshop in Oxford and I was practically begging DS1 to choose a book rather than a very expensive puppet and nothing took his fancy.

Anyway, I was shite as a direct seller, and yes, you really do have to make a massive effort to get anything like a decent return trickling back. Wasn't worth it. I now have three large boxes of beautiful, multicultural books in the garage to be given as gifts that children don't want to read.

The only people who make any decent money from direct selling are the ones who are so appalling and pushy that you buy something to get away. Who'd want to be like that?

HalfSpamHalfBrisket · 01/12/2011 21:02

I went to a partylite one, ordered a couple of boxes of tealights as they were on offer (and I was pretty skint), and paid on my card. I then got larger sizes delivered with a note - 'sorry the offer was not available' and she'd taken nearly double the £ from my credit card! (Which I think is probably illegal without my consent, but, as it was a friend's party, I didn't kick up a stink about it.)
Never, ever again.

latrucha · 01/12/2011 21:04

I am fed up to the back teeth of being invited to Pampered Chef parties. Having been forewarned by a friend, I never intend to go to one. It has become a trend amongst SAHMs where I am, as they don't have much money. I am a SAHM, and consequently don't have much money. I am sick of, say, someone I once knew, someone I've just met, someone who is supposed to be my friend thinking it's ok to regard me as a way of building up a little Christmas fund. It's not ok. It's horrid.

Sorry. This has been on my mind for a while. The dam burst.

SantasENormaSnob · 01/12/2011 21:11

Partylite are robbing fuckers.

£55 quid I paid for a few candles that smell of fuck all Angry

Acanthus · 01/12/2011 21:20

Love the haiku!

MabelLucyAttwell · 01/12/2011 21:32

Apart from the Tupperware and Pippa Dee parties I went to, I also attended a Sarah Coventry tat jewellery party. I only went to raise the number of people going and in advance told my friend, the hostess, that I would not buy anything. Once I saw the stuff, it just reinforced my decision.

alemci · 01/12/2011 21:36

I was a Tupperware rep when my kids were young. I did quite a few parties and was never pushy. People did tend to order stuff as although the outlay was a little pricey, the product is very good and I still use all my stuff and it still looks good. the only thing is the teenagers taking it to school and losing lids grrrr

I didn't really like booking parties though as I felt really pushy and it is not really me so I would never do any sort of party plan again.

i don't really mind partylite and pampered chef is okay but overpriced. Mind you the pizza stone has been used alot.

whomovedmychocolate · 01/12/2011 21:49

I believe the only way to have a fun 'shopping' evening with friends is to invite both the Ann Summers rep and the candle rep and let them fight it out.

Grin
smartyparts · 01/12/2011 21:57

Jamie at Home - so over priced.

Ditto - Arbonne.

PS we don't want to play games, thanks. It's bad enough that we're having to buy the stuff.

Strawbezza · 01/12/2011 21:59

My neighbour holds Pampered Chef parties about twice a year. I always go - the demo is usually pretty good and we guests get to eat what's been cooked. Also she's a generous hostess so I usually drink 2-3 glasses of her wine (thirsty work watching a cookery demo). I've bought a few things and have been pleased with them, also when one of my baking dishes broke, I phoned up PC head office and they replaced it (I had to send a piece of the broken one off to them first though).

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