ShopNBC Review

     I have shopped with ShopNBC for a number of years, both online and through watching their shopping channel on TV.  They have some very good jewelry lines (Offerings Jewelry, Generations 1912, and others) and the shopping channel is technically of very high quality and is quite entertaining (much more so than QVC and the other shopping channels).

     I have experienced two particular problems with ShopNBC.  First, they provide a "retail value" for each item (saying what they believe the item would be worth elsewhere).  Of course, their own price is always much lower than the retail value.  However, I have found a lot of the retail values to be grossly overinflated.  I received a stained-glass accent lamp set bought from them as a gift; their "sale" price was $39.99 (they said their "regular" price was $59.99) and they said it had a comparable retail value of $150.  However, after I received the set I checked online to try to locate other sets just to compare prices - I found the identical (not similar - identical) set advertised on four different online retailers' sites - and every one of them had a regular price of $39.99.  Therefore, ShopNBC's "sale" price was actually the full retail value, and their so-called "regular price" of $59.99 and "retail value" of $150.00 were obviously inflated to make the buyer think he was getting a great deal when he is actually paying full price.  I have seen quite a few items with similarly overinflated regular prices and retail values.

     Additionally, their customer service is very poor.  Whenever I purchase something from the website I always locate an internet coupon which can be used for a discount.  Two or three times in the past when I used the coupon it only gave me half the discount I was supposed to have received (the coupons were determined to be valid and my purchase qualified - it was simply a computer "glitch").  The last time I had to make five separate phone calls to customer service and one e-mail before they would correct the problem (they owed me a measly $15.00).  Every time I would call they would assure me that I would receive a refund; however, when the refund wasn't credited and I would call back the new rep would insist I wasn't due a refund at all.  Took weeks to sort it out and loads of frustration....and all over a $15.00 refund.

     Also, whenever I've had to return defective merchandise to them they do not automatically credit me back with the shipping fees I originally paid.  You have to make a separate phone call to customer service to get those reimbursed.