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My 88 year old mother has burned through tens-of-thousands of dollars on QVC over the past decade buying multiples of useless things. She lives alone, is in the advance stages of Congestive Heart Failure and consequently is unable to do much in the physical activities; she's out of breath just walking to her mailbox.
In her basement are mountains of QVC shipping boxes and packing materials.
She actually has 3 weed whackers that are still shrink wrapped.
I have answered her phone while visting and it was actually aperson from QVC trying to sell her something.
She has started to give the things she buys away to the UPS man, the mailman, the lawn care people.

She does not have dementia.

Any suggestions on how to deal with this situation? Can one stop QVC from selling her things?

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I have bought a few things from both QVC and HSN so I know how the story goes. You're sitting alone at home surfing through the channels, and there IT is, the most beautiful (fill in the blank) that you've ever seen. Or the best deal on (whatever) that you've heard of. Pick up the phone woman!! It's a slippery slope gotta tell ya. I believe the only time someone from the shopping shows will call a person is, when something was sold out previously and the customer has asked to be informed when it comes back in. So don't go crazy quite yet, at least about that. They key here seems to me, that your mother is sitting by herself alone and is falling into the impulse buying trap. Time to have a big garage sale, and take away the credit card she's using. Also, my cable service lets me block out certain channels if I wanted, with the parental control option. Maybe out of sight out of mind would help her go thru withdrawals that will no doubt be inevitable.
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Wow, the parental control option suggestion is genius! Will try this. Thanks so much for this suggestion.
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I watch QVC and buy from them about 3-4 times a year, things for myself and gifts for others. I don't see where they target the elderly. They have never called me. My experience with QVC is that they are not predatory but then I do all my business with them via the internet. I get offers through email for upcoming shows they think I might be interested in. It sounds like your mother is a shopaholic probably due to loneliness. Do you have POA regarding your mother's financial? If you have POA you could probably use that by talking with QVC's customer service (fax a copy to them) telling them they are not to sell her anything. Have them red flag her credit card numbers. Or you could have mother's attorney send them a letter. I am sure there is a way you can stop it if you have POA. Without the POA, I am not sure what you can do if your mother is unreasonable about it. Does your mother have any mental illness issues that might be causing her to spend so much money? Take her to her dr. for a complete work up and medication evaluation and make an appointment with an elder law attorney to find out if there is anything you can do to stop QVC from doing business with her.
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QVC... love them and hate them. I too find they are the most delightful thing on TV some times, what with all the bad/sad news and horror flick and reality! So, I too buy too much. I mean $100 for retinol? Am I kidding myself? So the package arrives and I ... tape it back up and drop it back in the mail. I've paid a lot for shipping but $6 is better than $100. I find they do take things back that are over 30 days old. I also ship back all the vitamins my mom buys, because the supposedly healthy radio programs are just pitching vitamin pills to her. We do A LOT of "returning"!! Go through her stuff and try to return anything that is just a few months old. I also love the garage sale idea, but for me that's overwhelming and on an ongoing basis, when things arrive, if the packing is still there... just try to put it back in the mail and send it back. Also, I do love the idea of blocking the channel, but they are so delightful to watch... but seriously, who needs to pay for special hangers?? Really??
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QVC and catalogs are a bad financial problem with seniors, especially some with dementia. I don't think QVC targets the elderly, but I do believe the elderly fall victim easily. They have too much time bored and alone, and often the financial judgment is impaired. They often don't realized that they already spent their entire SS check on things.

I do think the catalog companies target the elderly. And if an elderly person orders things, they will start getting 100 catalogs a month! My father was horrible to shop in catalogs. It was a very difficult situation. He rarely spent less than $500 and often spent his entire check plus ordering perfectly useless things from catalogs. He would order the useless things in threes -- one for himself, one for my mother, and one for me. None of these things were ever wanted or used.

My father died six months ago. I have tried canceling the catalogs. The number is down, but some keep sending. The catalog list people are despicable. They are as bad as those telephone solicitors that are now calling late at night.
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And, yes, I tried tackling the catalog issue numerous times when Dad was alive. The companies would write him to let him know what had been done! I tried to get rid of them. I would throw them in the bushes when I brought the mail inside. My father was always stationed by the window, looking, so he could see the mail. He lived for the mail. The catalog problem was an uphill battle and I now have a strong dislike for certain companies that created such financial havoc for us. Oriental Trading Company still sends multiple catalogs per month, even though they've received notices that the recipient is dead. They drive me crazy.
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Spoozi-Save your money on the Retinol products! LOL. I buy generic Retin A (Tretinoin) for less than half the price you are paying to QVC. It does work miracles (almost). Ask your Dr. or Dermatologist.
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I don't have a question or an answer as to the "QVC Predatory with Seniors" topic. But I do have a brief story regarding my mother-in-law. My mother-in-law worked hard her whole life. She lost her husband when they both retired at the age of 65. When she was 68 she moved to Nebraska to be closer to her daugher and grand daughter. Thus, when she sold her home to move, she netted close to $200,000, was bringing in a decent monthly amount of Social Security and her new, small home was paid for. We all thought she was in a pretty decent financial situation regarding all of the above. A paid for house, a nice amount in her savings account, and a decent amount of Social Security coming in monthly. That is, until she discovered QVC. We discovered that in just 7 years, she spent her entire $200,000 on QVC items, in addition to running up three separate credit cards totalling around $14,000 with QVC and now there are debt collectors after her. All of this money and credit spent on QVC!! I am not saying that QVC is a predator or not a predator ... I just wanted this story out there, so hopefully, others can stop this from happening to their elderly relatives. Its a sad, sad situation, unreversable situation.
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I took agree the temptation can be very strong. What people don't realize is how dishonest these people are, that they don't care about those they harm and that they really are a PREDITOR COMPANY. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND REMOVING THESE CHANNELS FROM YOUR CABLE PROGRAMMING. You can do this by going to the channel and checking it to not be included in the line up of channels. You might also seek help from your cable provider and even block outgoing calls to this company from your phone. It's time our state and federal attorney generals got involved. As is stands, you can't tell what they credit you, whether its accurate and when your did get the return of shipping charges associated with damaged or misrepresented items. I'm sure I have been ripped off in a number of ways and so I'm going to try to help others.
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It's very simple. Turn the channel. Blaming QVC for Shopaholics is like blaming a barley farmer for drunks. Poor impulse control is not the problem of manufacturers and distributors.
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This happened with my Mother in Law. When the family found out, my sister in law stepped in and packaged up all the recent purchases and returned them for refund. Then she took my MIL's credit card away. It ended there.When she passed away her credit card debt was sky high and she had no assets so they ended up taking the hit. QVC on the other hand did quite well for themselves before my MIL was shut off.
QVC is doing what business does, taking full advantage of willing consumers but I think it's not a bad idea for there to be more public awareness around this issue.
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The fact that these elders are watching so much TV, such as QVC, tells me they have too much time on their hands. Get them out to the senior centers so they can socialize with people of their own age group.
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I have a sister who is brain damaged an off shot of this is a hoarding/shopping addicition.
On three seperate occassions I have contacted HSN &QVC asking that they stop doing business with my sister. I have sent letters discribing her disabilty and the financial damage she is doing to herself by shopping with these firms. Along with my Power of Attorney documents. Every time I write the close down the accounts I reference in my letter and within weeks open new accounts for my sister. Both companies told me they would not stop doing business with her nor would they flag her accounts for no further business. They even had the audicity to tell me my sister has the "right " to shop and they will continue to do business with her. They do prey on people who are lonely. My sister is on a first name basis with the firms sales people and spends hours on the phone with them. She calls to purchase a dress and by the time she's off the phone they have convinced her to buy the matching shoes, jacket, jewelry, hand bag, etc. I have blocked their cable stations and she manages to find a way to get them unblocked every time I do so. The Better Business Bureau won't even rate these firms. There has got to be a way to stop them from taking advantage of people. DC HIKE
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Unhappysister2, I hear you loud and clear.

One always knows they’re dealing with an exploiter when they hear things from them like someone "has the right to shop.”

Yes, my mother "has the right to shop” for endless cakes and confections from QVC, but as a result, she now has full blown Diabetes Type 2 and will eventually become a burden on the tax payers when she spends the last of her money with you and has to go on Medicaid.

Such a state of affairs.
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What is next? Stop all the advertisements on television? One can just as easily shop via TV ads and toll free telephone numbers. Stop advertisements in magazines or newspapers? Look at all the ads on the internet, you can't get away from them.

It's not the TV show's fault or the advertisers fault that a person has no control when it comes to shopping. It's a medical addiction that needs help, similar to that of gambling. People gamble and lose their life savings, shall all the casinos close up? Stop the lotteries?
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