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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To warn you about this scammy make up sales technique

125 replies

Ohnowattsthis · 21/06/2016 07:19

I feel terrible. My mum came back from a trip away with a present for me. A gift bag with a couple of pallets of make up in it.
I think she got it in Norwich or a motorway welcome break type place.

From what she has said and looking up the company I feel the sales pitch was most unfair.
The company is called make up essentials and I have put a pic up of their product with a logo. They are nicely packaged but pound land quality.
It seems that my mum was handed a 'free' gift bag that they then said was free when you brought a little brush. ( a mean trick)
They told her that they were about to move into the department stores and that the gift was to give to your family so they could try the products ( this is how they got her! She would never spend the money on herself but was pleased she could treat me) but they are not - I found this link talking about their scam sales here www.beautiful-solutions.co.uk/2013/10/brand-rant-avoid-this-brand-makeover.html?m=1
From looking up online I can see she mush have paid £35 for a shimmer dust brush and then got the 'free gift bag' the quality is so bad the whole set together can't cost more than a £10.
To show how rediculous they price everything to make you think the gift bag is worth £200 there is a 'make up tips' book ( about 8 pages and laughable) that they say they change 10£ for!!!!
I'm so gutted they got my mum. She is late seventies and very kind, she wouldn't have got it for herself or even spent £35 on a make up box for me usually she just thought they were being kind!
I haven't told her, but I feel sick with these cheap nasty scam products in my house.
If they approach you can I ask that you pull them up on their sales technique. No- the bag is not a free gift. No- they are not a high end make up company.

To warn you about this scammy make up sales technique

OP posts:

PurpleDaisies · 21/06/2016 07:23

I'm sorry you feel like you've been ripped off, but isn't giving away a "free gift" with a purchase a fairly standard sales technique? All the big make up counters do it.

If the quality is poor I'd pursue that with their customer services department.

Original poster

Ohnowattsthis · 21/06/2016 07:28

It wasn't sold like that though,
You are handed the bag as a free gift, then told it is a free gift with a purchase.

OP posts:

HooseRice · 21/06/2016 07:28

I've been stopped by these lot and listened to the spiel.

They name 101 high end make up products they are better than and lie that they're going into the dept stores (still not done it 5 years later).

I can see why anyone with more cash on them weaker than me could fall for it.

I did a few years previously with a bronzer, so I didn't go rushing to the cash machine.

InAClothesRut · 21/06/2016 07:33

This company have had the same approach for years. Their sales assistants have a very aggressive approach and will say anything to get the sale. They are often found at the train stations hassling college students and older people. I'm sorry your poor mum got drawn in by them. A friend of mine's dd has Learning difficulties, these vultures told her that if she really loved her mum she would buy the shimmer brush for her, so that she would keep looking after her. This would have been 2008 or there abouts. We complained and got nowhere.

ErNope · 21/06/2016 07:38

Sounds disgraceful. While freebies with purchases aren't really fucking free is a standard sales technique which if stated upfront, I can't get too worked up about, the situation you described is disgraceful. anyone reading if anyone does this to you, just hand the products back and say ''no thank you''.
Not quite the same but a good friend of mine was handed a newspaper thrust it at her actually friend assumed it was free, they then asked for 1.80 for it! Nowhere near as bad but shows it happens alot and in the UK too... Bad sales technique and surely against some kind of rule/law?

HenDogismylife · 21/06/2016 07:44

They got me once. They put the bag in my hand and basically did everything they could not to take it back. I was having a really bad day and had a thousand other things I needed to be doing so I ended up paying £20 and then throwing the bag in the nearest bin. I told the security guards in the shopping centre that it was a scam but they couldn't do anything about it.

scaryteacher · 21/06/2016 07:47

They tried it with me at a service station. They did the spiel, the girl told me the cost, and I said no. She said she wasn't used to people saying no to her...I told her there was a first time for everything!

throwingpebbles · 21/06/2016 07:47

This sounds like something trading standards need to be aware of. Awful behaviour!

KanyePest · 21/06/2016 07:51

That's terrible, OP. Your poor mom!

I hate hearing about these companies ripping off vulnerable people. We had a group here called Dead Sea, for a while there was one in every shopping mall and they were SUPER aggressive. They sold pretty average skincare stuff. They took advantage of vulnerable people, often conning them into spending thousands of dollars. They made the news and received huge backlash when they tricked a man with Asperger's syndrome into spending over $6000 on their shite. They're all gone now, thank goodness.

pearlylum · 21/06/2016 07:53

caveat emptor.

Solobo · 21/06/2016 07:53

I would also complain to the service station manager, reflects badly on them. Makes the experience of going to their services worse. I've started swerving the one on the m6 toll because of this lot.

Grilledaubergines · 21/06/2016 07:56

Bit more to it than that though pearly.

SpinyCrevice · 21/06/2016 07:57

Trading standards are waste of time utterly IMO. I have alerted them to something extremely dangerous and they are not interested.

JC23 · 21/06/2016 07:57

Yes I was conned by this lot a few years ago at Brighton rail station. Spent more than I could really afford on a load of rubbish. The girl's sales patter really was impressive and I was in the market for new make up but I shouldn't have fallen for it.

treaclesoda · 21/06/2016 07:59

They've come door to door where I live, with the same technique. You open the door and they say they're doing a promotion in the area, amazing make up, going to be sold in the big dept stores from next month etc and tell you they are giving out free gifts. At that point I was cynical enough to say 'what's the catch?'. But they were standing hassling other neighbours for ages who obviously weren't as forceful when they said no.

tibbawyrots · 21/06/2016 08:00

If someone forces something into my hand I now just let it drop to the floor. If I wanted to hold it I would have taken it.

Saying that, it is a sales technique. Once you hold something then your mind starts to claim ownership of it and the salesperson is part of the way there to get you to part with money. Once you realise that, you can train yourself to not automatically take things you're given.

It's not easy at first but it gets second nature

Mov1ngOn · 21/06/2016 08:01

I was approached by these on a department store so assumed they were part of the store.

The whole "were expanding into stores thing."

It starts with, "Would you like a free make up bag..." I remember taking it thinking it was a Freeby sample and then trying to escape the spiel and it turns out it's not free. I handed it back but it is hard to do once engaged in conversation.

Mov1ngOn · 21/06/2016 08:01

This must have been 6ish years ago.

treaclesoda · 21/06/2016 08:05

The day they came to my door I did wonder what would have happened if I had just taken the bag, said thanks for freebies and shut the door. After all, she had specifically said it was free...

Emochild · 21/06/2016 08:08

They put a bag in my hand and I walked off with it -well they said it was a free gift

I let them follow me from one end of the shopping centre to the other before handing it back

They are quite often in our local WH Smith and my 12 year old has been warned to steer clear

They were pouncing in some very young teens without adults just after Christmas

SlipperyLizard · 21/06/2016 08:09

I've also come across these on the m6 toll services, they stand near the loos so lots of people walk past in quite a narrow space.

One guy said to me "everyone's got one, have you got one?" While trying to force the bag onto me. Thankfully he didn't succeed.

I later saw him hassling a young woman with Down's syndrome.

I hadn't thought to complain to the services but maybe if enough people did and said they wouldn't use them again they would no longer sell these people floor space.

Fluffycloudland77 · 21/06/2016 08:14

I am surprised more of you don't just walk by.

Why would you stop? It's mis-placed politeness. We need to be more assertive.

Original poster

Ohnowattsthis · 21/06/2016 08:16

emochild

It's strange but being scammed gives you weird feelings of shame.

I think I will complain to the service station, that is a good idea.

It sounds like they have been around a while and honed their sales pitch.

Hopefully someone will read this thread and be more 'armed' when they are approached.

OP posts:

Trills · 21/06/2016 08:18

Once something is in your hand, you value it much more than you would if it were on a shelf. There's all kinds of clever psychology going on here.

(clever != ethical)

CauliflowerBalti · 21/06/2016 08:20

These people have tried to get me at service stations. They are very aggressive and difficult to shake off when you are young and cynical, so an old, naive person would stand no chance. Vile. I'm so sorry. I'd feel wretched too.

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