Mental Health Break with Jeanne Bice

With all the terrible news coming out today, I thought we could all use a little pick-me-up courtesy of Jeanne Bice ...

Throw a Duck a Bone

Quack! Quack!

In celebration of Jeanne's well-deserved award from "The Soup," here's one of my favorite quacker moments ... those darling duckies are a naughty, naughty bunch, aren't they?




"They look like a bunch of little hard-ons!"


Be sure to catch Jeanne on "The Soup" tonight!

Tales from a Couple of Home Shopping Boobs

No Soup For You!!!

So I just found out that last year HSN invited--yes, invited!--Joel McHale from E!'s The Soup to come and play on their set on live TV for a while. And by play on their set I really mean harass the hosts and vendors with inappropriate jokes about urine and cocaine. For some strange reason, they never invited him back again! I can't imagine why not.

I hold out hope that one day the Q will let him come on with Jeanne Bice. Oh, to dream the impossible dream! That would be a Tale from Home Shopping if there ever was one. Quack! Quack! :-)

QVC Denies Tova Foul Play

Mike George, QVC President and CEO, (and reigning QVC King) finally addressed Tova-gate in the most recent online chat. Apparently he has heard our cries of Tova foul play and swears that the fragrance has been fixed.

In a nutshell, last year the formula was changed. No one thought the changes would affect the fragrance. It did. Customers felt hoodwinked and Tova-gate was born.

QVC went back to the original formulation and tried to make amends with the Tova loyalists by sending out a free bottle of the new stuff (with the old formula).

However, not all the Tova customers were convinced that the scent was the same as the original. So,Tova-gate continues. Is the scent really different or is this simply a case of too little, too late???

BTW, just for funsies, check out Tova on The Soup’s Tales from Home Shopping here.

From the June 13th online chat transcript:

Vicki: Can you address what has happened with the Tova Signature fragrance. Many, many customers feel it is a different product than the original and are very vocal about wanting a chance to purchase the product they loved for years.

Mike: Thanks for your question Vicki. We know there are many loyal Tova fans who are very disappointed with the fragrance. Let me give you the background on what happened and what we are doing about it: Last year, the manufacturer of the Tova fragrance made a very slight change in the formulation. They did not think at the time that that change would have any impact on the scent. However, we heard from many customers that they felt the scent had changed. So we and Tova went back and took apart the formulation and concluded that, indeed, we had made a mistake and had inadvertently changed the scent.

We believe this affected her signature product starting around May 2007. We believe we completely corrected the formulation in fall 2007, and at that time notified all the affected customers that they could get a new version of the corrected product on our nickel. Since then, we have continued to receive complaints from customers who feel that the product is not back to its original standard.

We continue to monitor the Tova threads, as we do all threads. There is talk on the forums of a Tova-gate, and underhanded attempts on our part to trick our customers. All I can do is tell you the truth, which is we believe that we have been able to restore the formulation to its original version. This was never done in an attempt to lower the cost. In fact, the cost to make the product has not decreased at all.

We are at somewhat of a loss to understand why some customers feel it has changed. I believe they are totally sincere in their beliefs; we just cant find anything to indicate the product is not back to its original standard, In fact, the majority of customers are satisfied with it. I have had several discussions with Tova over the last year, and I can report to you how upset and disappointed she has been because she loves her customers and is so proud of her 25 year history with this fragrance. So please continue to give us information if you feel the product has changed. We will continue to monitor the situation. But again, all I can tell you is that we are totally committed to the original Tova fragrance and to the best abilities of Tova and the manufacturer, we believe the current fragrance is the same as the original formulation.

Tales from Home Shopping: Tova Takes One for the Team

E!'s The Soup set their sites on poor Tova this week. Of course, her long-time fans believe she deserves this and so much more since letting QVC cheapen and destroy her fragrances.

After buying and sending back bottles of the "new" formula and being assured that nothing has changed (when clearly it was a different fragrance), loyal customers have been left scrambling for bottles of the original on eBay.

[high horse] Quit trying to trick your customers. It never works! If you want to sell a cheaper version, then sell a cheaper version as a different scent (Tova II or something), but keep the original intact! Brand loyalty--like any reputation--is hard to grow and easy to lose. [/high horse]