To warn you about this scammy make up sales technique

[Ohnowattsthis]

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.

It would be good if the next time a mnetter comes across one of these stalls they alert the rest of us. Any local Mumsnetters can make a point of visiting the stall while in town and listening to the spiel, buying nothing and then making loud "this is cheap crap/a massive scam" noises. It will waste their time and potentially save others from being scammed.

Just say no thanks and keep walking, repeat with no thanks if they keep talking. If I want to buy something I can find it in a shop or sign up for it myself.

This is the shop

I hate theeesse guys! In bury millgate, manchester arndale whsmith nd in florida in Orlando outlets!

Also test on animals

Kedma keema cosmetics in Manchester and then we also saw in Orlando are bad too. 1 the product is a big Israel Palestine issue and 2 the one face mask sold as a exfoliant and told to be getting rid of dead skin is actually pva glue... So I paid £25 supposedly down from £65 for pva glueeee and put it on my face! Dead Sea salt my ass!

LeopardIsTheNewBlack " They are all Israeli companies and the workers are all Israeli. They have extremely aggressive sales techniques and claim their rubbishy products are worth hundreds if not thousands !!!

www.stuff.co.nz/national/5519017/WikiLeaks-delves-into-Dead-Sea-sales-scam
www.timesofisrael.com/dead-sea-product-hawkers-skirt-law-decency/

Sorry your mum was conned. I met them at a services once. Agree very pushy. I was desperate for the loo and said I would look on the way back. He remembered and targeted me on way out. I let him give his spiel as DH was getting something from a busy shop but then I said " No thank you." The guy was quite annoyed. He persisted I just kept walking. He followed at first.

These Israelis just got arrested - a whole huge group of them for doing similar, Dead Sea, Crap makeup, hair straighteners etc here in Alabama for double and sometimes five times charging folks without their knowledge.

I'm ashamed to say it happened to me at Christmas (police and bank said this was their biggest time to steal as people usually won't notice for awhile and many just move on). They are also heavily involved in human trafficking and were deported on many of those charges too.

I could tell so much about these companies as two of the girls rented a room from me when I was in college and they told me just about everything that went on and I even sat in on 'sales meetings'. It's sickening and this is a worldwide problem but especially in very polite cultures (they love the Deep South as they know most will be too polite and 'oh I'm from ISRAEL' etc). They target older people, people they think have low self esteem (from their words), and people who may be learning disabled or a bit slow.

Don't want to write a novel but next time you see one just ask to see their work visa to be legally in your country. That should shut them up.

Oh dear I bought this face scrub in Hawaii a few years back I think I paid about $50 USD for this amazing Dead Sea product of course it was shit and didn't work but I've just read on here just now it was PVA GLUE!!!!

It was on a little stall in a big shopping mall in Honolulu.

I got grabbed by Victoria Jackson cosmetics at Hammersmith station about 6 or 7 years ago. I had a small baby at the time and was hanging around waiting for my husband.

TBH I only spent £20 and I still use the travel make up brushes now and the eyeshadow was really good. I do however feel a bit ripped off as I wasn't intending spending £20 on unknown make up. I've never been caught out again, but it's really easy to get sucked in.

It's not a scam, it's just hard sell. I got sucked in a few months ago because I felt bad for the girl after she managed to hook me for a demo. Ended up buying a £50 equivalent eyecream which she assured me was normally close to £100 (to be fair, that is what came up when she scanned it in). Anyway, big selling point was how the company only uses organic products blah blah blah. Got it home and yeah, the two main ingredients were certified organic - aloe vera and the chamomile. I have organic aloe vera growing on the balcony which I was already using under my eyes and organic chamomile tea is cheap as chips. Never again :)

welcome to the world of sacharelle

There are a bunch of them just outside the toilets at the M6 tolls services, I have to make a dash to avoid them! Been there years as well.

mimi- I agree. It wasn't a scam.

It was a hard selling technique yes, but not a scam. And not illegal.
The British are particularly vulnerable to in your face selling. They want to be polite, not cause offence, are afraid to say no.
Anyone who has wandered through a town on Morocco, Tunisia or even Turkey will understand this- and touts are like this the world over.
Sellers find that sweet spot, the squirm factor place where politeness/rational though/ desire for a bargain create confusion in the buyer.
With practice we can still access our reasoning faculties even when put on the spot, and it becomes easier with practice.

Hard sellers will always exist where there are willing buyers afraid to say no.

These idiots are always blocking the entrance/exit to my W H Shits and if you want to use the Post Office you've got no choice but to run the gauntlet. I always put on my growliest 'Don't Fuck with Me' face and to their credit they don't but it really puts me off even stepping in the shop.

Wantheda- don't dash, walk calmly. Don't feel the need to be polite or engage. A simple no is enough.

Where I live there are always Talk Talk reps outside ASDA. They adopt similar tactics.

Don't let them phase you, it's good practice in being assertive.

It's one of the reasons I hardly ever visit the high street any longer. I don't like being hassled for stuff I don't want. I do generally steer clear of anything that's sold on a stall rather than in a shop, this thread reaffirms that.

camel, that's a shame you have to change your habits.
Don't get hassled, you don't even need to respond to these people. i can assure you they won't give a rat's behind if you ignore and keep walking.

Yes, they do try it in central London! I'd completely forgotten but I was with a friend leaving Blackfriars Underground station about five years ago and she was ripped off exactly like this - I didn't realise it was a scam at the time - I simply don't wear make up and have no interest in spending over £30 on the stuff, even as a gift - so I had a lucky escape.... I think she bought several items as gifts..... hope the recipients didn't come out in a rash when they used them.

I know what she's talking about! They tried it with me on a motorway station outside Leeds, three blokes handing out a bag of shitty make up I wouldn't want free and they say it's free and ask you to hold it (so you can't really go anywhere) whilst they sprout this crap spiel and the bronzer brush thing is practically glitter.

I'm sorry your mum got doped into buying it, I can see why they were quite pushy with me with two small kids.

I think these people occasionally try to stop me, but as a veteran Londoner I am usually walking very fast, and also very much enjoy trilling a cheery "absolutely not" when people ask if they can talk to me about whatever tat they are selling or charity they are Chugging for. I think it quite throws them, as I am terribly English and petite and probably look like a good target, but am absolutely comfortable with being very blunt with them.

I agree that it not a scam. A hard sell yes, but not a scam.
Why do people find it so hard to say no?

I'm sorry but to those insisting it was a scam- it wasn't.
The terms of the purchase were made clear before the OPs mother handed over her dosh.
Pushy sales tactics yes, but not a scam.

A scam is a fraud or a swindle, and is a criminal offence.

This wasn't.

Well, giving a free gift and then taking it back unless you buy something is a bit more than a hard sell - especially if you threaten the customer with the police if they take your free gift at face value and walk off with it.

I fell for it a couple of years ago. I'm autistic and didn't realise until it was far too late that the 'free gift' wasn't free at all.

I don't even wear make up.

Having said that I don't think it's illegal / a scam, just very unpleasant sales tactics. I'm also susceptible to chuggers but at least they phone you a couple of days later to find out if you meant it!

The OPs mother was "handed the gift and told it was free when you buy the product".

If the OPs mother though that tactic was underhand why did she then subsequently trust them enough to hand over £36?