Q Talk

[TCMits]

I’ve noticed over the past year a constant decline in the quality of Valerie’s offerings. I’m a widower who has looked to her for “guidance” in terms of my home now. It used to be her products got strong positive affirmations from friends and family in my home. The past 12 months, right out of the box, I’m doing a lot of reboxing and returns. The quality has significant gone downhill and continues doing so. I opened new lamps today and even worse. They only accept one bulb which puts out almost no light and every piece rattles after any touch. The packaging is unfriendly to the environment and cannot even be put out for recycling as the stuff from China has no concern for that. I noticed Valerie has a lot of items final priced due to returns etc. that seldom occurred before. My good will is used up after this latest purchase. I hope the Q eventually has a heart to heart with her and either insists on improvements or brings in someone else who has her now lost commitment to quality.

[RetRN]

I am sorry to hear that. I haven't purchased anything from her recently so can't comment on the quality.

[frenchie]

I read somewhere that Kim Gravel will be coming out with her own line of home decor. Maybe bad reviews of Valerie's products decided that. I never bought her things so I know nothing about the quality. I did buy some of her real flame candles years ago. 

[Kachina624]

I think retailers everywhere of all kinds of merchandise are struggle to keep price points as low as possible while costs rise.

How to do this?  By decreasing quality; cheaper materials, faster more amateurish labor, less expensive packaging, etc., etc.  In addition, transportation costs have gone sky-high. 

We see this everywhere, in clothing and all manufactured products including Valerie's  knick nacks.  Americans want quality  but don't want to pay for it.  As soon as they see a price increase, there's  a cry of protest.

So what's  it going to be, quality or cheap?

[Janey2]

@Kachina624  Exactly. Whenever anyone complains about poor quality I always think.....you get what you pay for. Unfortunately we are in a time where if you want quality ( most of the time) you have to pay for it. Add to that high shipping costs and things cost much more than they did just a few years ago. Pay what you can, but accept the fact that things might not be the quality you are used to having. I, for one,

would rather have less but better quality. 

[J Town Girl]

I think Valerie's decor items have been going down in quality for a few years now.  

Just about everything she brings to QVC is heavily coated in glitter.  It goes everywhere and just makes the item look cheap.  

The last item I bought which was a few years ago was a set of two birds.  One bird only had one eye.  Poor thing looked like his eye was shot out.  I couldn't get them wrapped up and returned to QVC fast enough.  

That was my final purchase.  When she first came to QVC her items were unique and most of them were decent quality.  With each year the quality began to decline and then many of those items became available elsewhere such as Hobby Lobby or Michael's.

I also got rid of many of my decor items because I wanted a more simplified look in my home.  I'm far from being a minimalist but I don't like to have a lot of items to dust everyday.  

[on the bay]

I think where the discouragment comes is that the prices are higher here than most stores with the same and sometimes better quality. So the QVC high prices are NOT always you get what you pay for but less than they should be for what was paid for.

There is no defense of why QVC's prices across the board are usually higher than so many other businesses with similar clothes, decor etc etc. Businesses that are up against the same transportation costs, materials, packaging and on and on have managed to have same or better quality for more attractive and lower prices, sales and shipping.

That doesn't mean QVC never has anything good, just not always. Though some are very loyal to QVC and also used to and comfortable just ordering mostly from here. But you've got to have the $ for it too. And some just enjoy a lot of shopping here. A lot.

[TheMemphisVette]

better and more $$ here:

https://www.ballarddesigns.com/?qq=ft 

https://www.frontgate.com/?qq=ft 

https://www.garnethill.com/?qq=ft 

https://www.grandinroad.com/?qq=ft 

[on the bay]

So many of these are made at the same factories.

You can find really nice things that look the same as "high end" places at major department stores, even drug stores, Michaels, etc.

Except the higher prices are hoping you will believe that that you are paying for something better, something with more quality.

Sometimes you are and sometimes you are not.

[Effie54]

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@J Town Girl wrote:

I think Valerie's decor items have been going down in quality for a few years now.  

Just about everything she brings to QVC is heavily coated in glitter.  It goes everywhere and just makes the item look cheap.  

The last item I bought which was a few years ago was a set of two birds.  One bird only had one eye.  Poor thing looked like his eye was shot out.  I couldn't get them wrapped up and returned to QVC fast enough.  

That was my final purchase.  When she first came to QVC her items were unique and most of them were decent quality.  With each year the quality began to decline and then many of those items became available elsewhere such as Hobby Lobby or Michael's.

I also got rid of many of my decor items because I wanted a more simplified look in my home.  I'm far from being a minimalist but I don't like to have a lot of items to dust everyday.  

@J Town Girl I absolutely agree! The last few items I purchased from here were coated with falling glitter, plastic, and on par with Home Goods (but with a higher price). It's because QVC is the middleman vs. buying from Home Goods. When she first came to the Q, she had very pretty, unique and interesting items. I don't mind paying higher prices for better quality goods and even more for made in the USA items. 

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