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  • Snake oil products that customers want to buy.

    Lets share stories about people who buy snake oil products.

    Today I was helping in sporting goods when a lady and her adult daughter came to the counter. The mother asked if we sold any bracelets for motion sickness. My co-worker and I both had a confused look on our faces. My co-worker asked if they where looking for Dramamine or Ginger pills? The daughter said that they where looking for those bracelets that you wear and they eliminate motion sickness. They where going on a long trip and her mom gets motion sickness very easy. The daughter want on to tell how wonderfull the bracelets worked and she didn't want to waste money on drugs.

    Just a note, the "Insert product name" bracelets are all bunk and only work on the "Placebo effect". Anyone who buys these are wasting their money.

    Anyway, both of us said that the bracelets are bunk and don't work, for such a long trip we both said that they should look into getting some Dramamine or Ginger pills. They insisted and as luck would have it our HBA/OTC guy was walking past. We snaged him and the mother/daughter explained what they wanted. HBA/OTC guy said the same thing we did, that they didn't work and you would be better off using pills. We also found that we didn't sell them anyway. Mother/daughter would have none of this so I told them that they could go to crafts and buy some elastic and sew together a bracelets. It would work just as well as the "real thing". They then left in a huff.

    Seriously, I feel sorry for that woman. She is probably going to find one of those things and wear it on their trip and wonder why it isn't working as she is puking her guts out.

    Anyway, lets hear your stories about customers who buy snake oil products
    "Magic sometimes sounds like tape." - The Amazing Johnathan

  • #2
    There's so many of those things that have come and gone I've lost count.

    There was the magnetic bracelets that was supposed to cure all sorts of things.

    MetaboLife. Some sort of diet herbal supplement that we couldn't keep on the shelf a few years ago. I think it caused a bunch of health problems.

    Some sort of shock belt thing that used small jolts of electricity to stimulate the muscles. It was supposed to be just as good as a workout but allowed the person using it to just sit on their ass and do nothing. Very popular, even my sister bought one.

    Billy Banks Tae Bo. Some sort of kickboxing workout thing. It caused a lot of injuries from what I've heard, for being a lousy workout that results in a lot of strains and from getting their asses kicked for thinking that this crap counted as martial arts training.

    I'm sure there's a ton more that I haven't thought of.
    "I don't have an anger problem I have an idiot problem!" - Hank Hill

    When in deadly danger, when beset by doubt, run around in little circles, wave your arms and shout!

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    • #3
      In the health food industry, we have phases of different faddy products to deal with.

      Omega-rich foods? Sure, we came up with our own pre-packs of omega seeds.

      Pomegranate juice being the best thing since sliced sex for your immune system? Yup. We bought in shedloads and people bought it.

      Right now, it's Goji berries. They contain a high level of anti-oxidants - they help combat cancer etc. What people don't realise is that pomegranate juice also contains anti-oxidants as their main selling point, and both were introduced to the herds as being the latest miracle food.

      In short, both products do the same job. What they also don't realise is that if you go down any hedgerow in the UK at this time of year, you'll find shedloads of blackberries, which have the interesting property of having a high portion of anti-oxidants in them - nearly as much as pomegranate juice and Goji berries. They're also more palatable as well, not to mention free.

      Rapscallion

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      • #4
        Pomegranate juice being the best thing since sliced sex for your immune system? Yup.
        Does it still work if you mix it with Pimms?
        People who don't like cats were probably mice in an earlier life.
        My DeviantArt.

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        • #5
          Quoth Ringtail Z28
          Some sort of shock belt thing that used small jolts of electricity to stimulate the muscles. It was supposed to be just as good as a workout but allowed the person using it to just sit on their ass and do nothing. Very popular, even my sister bought one.
          Oh that one works...sort of.

          What that gizmo is supposed to be is a TENS unit. And yes, they can build up a muscle without actually using it. My wife and I were both on the TENS units for different reasons. Hers to help with the recovery of a shattered knee, and me for an atrophied muscle that was causing my cyatica.

          In both cases it worked to bring the muscles up enough that Physical Therapy could do the rest.

          That machine could indeed work to improve tone in the muscle, but it won't build the muscle up any more than it already is. You can improve your abs so situps and crunches aren't as hard to do, but it won't turn the flab into ripped 6-pack abs.

          So that one works, but not the way it's advertised.

          Mongo
          I never lost my faith in humanity. Can't lose what you never had right?

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          • #6
            Quoth Ringtail Z28
            Billy Banks Tae Bo. Some sort of kickboxing workout thing. It caused a lot of injuries from what I've heard, for being a lousy workout that results in a lot of strains and from getting their asses kicked for thinking that this crap counted as martial arts training.
            Billy Blanks Tae Bo rocks! My mum got that set years ago but she never used it cos the moves were too hard/confusing, like you said. But I've done a few years of tae kwon do, so I know what I'm doing, and I can honestly say that the tapes are good fun.

            I see what you mean, and I can only conclude that the tapes should be clearly marked as "not for beginners."
            Michael: Maybe you'll be inspired by the boat party tonight and start a career as a pirate.
            Tobias: I haven't packed for that.
            <3 Arrested Development

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            • #7
              OH! OH! The Game Boy Micro!

              Seriousley, this thing has to be one of the silliest ideas Nintendo came up with. The old model GBA screens were tough enough to see, so what does nintendo do? "let's make the screen about a third of the size!"

              I have told people that the things were meant to be a fashin accessory before a game system (Nintendo's words, not mine) and steered them over to the GBA or DS.

              Now they're discontinued and we're selling them for 70 bucks and I have to get them out the door.
              I AM the evil bastard!
              A+ Certified IT Technician

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              • #8
                Oh, I could fill an entire forum with tales of my grandmother. She orders everything under the sun from those cheap "medical" trinket catalogs (can't recall any names off-paw). She's needed a hearing aid for years, but thinks the cheap $10 "magic ear" sound amplifiers will suffice (um, no, it don't work that way). Also thinks that Mentholatum (anyone remember that stuff?) will cure all ills...

                Tried to get me into the magnetic bracelet thing...she just will not believe mom and I when we tell her why product X won't work for the arthritis and bad hip she should have gotten treatment for ten years ago. Kind of sad really, but also funny at the same time (what manner of stuff will she buy this week?).

                Her latest kick is herbal supplements that she thinks will negate any and all need for the medication she needs to take.

                Luckily for my mom, she is legally off the hook (as in she cannot be held responsible for anything that happens to my grandmother as a result of her snake-oil dependencies).

                I thought those muscle stimulators were found to be dangerous, and hence outlawed/banned.
                "I am quite confident that I do exist."
                "Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor

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                • #9
                  I got one of those friends who bought one of those gas mileage "miracle cures" from some place. Some vial of liquid you add to a full tank of gas to increase your miles per gallon twofold, or so it claims. Of course, it does absolutely bupkus.

                  And I remember when pomegranates were "in" as the miracle food guaranteed to improve your health. You had all the health nuts going ape over the fruit and the juice (which was quite expensive, even at our grocery store). Now they just trot them out around Rosh Hashanah, as is the custom.
                  Desk-On: Apply directly to the forehead.
                  Desk-On: Apply directly to the forehead.
                  Desk-On: Apply directly to the forehead.

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                  • #10
                    THe placebo effect on the seabands can work! One of my kids get really carsick and it worked for him a few times. Of course, dramamine is more effective because it knocks him out

                    A long time ago, my DH had insomnia and ordered the VCR remote you can talk to.... how lazy can you be?!?!?

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                    • #11
                      Quoth cpux
                      I got one of those friends who bought one of those gas mileage "miracle cures" from some place. Some vial of liquid you add to a full tank of gas to increase your miles per gallon twofold, or so it claims. Of course, it does absolutely bupkus.
                      I wouldn't be surprised if that stuff was really fuel injector cleaner, or repackaged STP...marked up 50-100% of course
                      Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines. --Enzo Ferrari

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                      • #12
                        Copper braclets that supposedly stop arthritis pain, and "Airborne" a vitamin mish-mash that advertizes it can prevent colds, people ask the pharmacist if it works, we tell them "no, there's no way it can deliver what it's promising" and they buy it anyway......
                        - They say nothing good happens at 2AM, they're right, I happen at 2AM.

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                        • #13
                          Quoth beercashier
                          THe placebo effect on the seabands can work! One of my kids get really carsick and it worked for him a few times.
                          Acupressure, I think is the concept behind those.

                          Airborne works for my family. Maybe it has different levels of effectiveness on different people, I dunno. The woman my mom works for swears by it and has my mom buy her 12-14 boxes at a time I'm of the theory that overuse causes resistance and therefore reduced effectiveness, but hey, it's not my mom's money that gets wasted on the stuff, so...
                          Last edited by Dreamstalker; 07-22-2006, 04:29 PM.
                          "I am quite confident that I do exist."
                          "Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor

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                          • #14
                            Quoth cpux
                            I got one of those friends who bought one of those gas mileage "miracle cures" from some place. Some vial of liquid you add to a full tank of gas to increase your miles per gallon twofold, or so it claims. Of course, it does absolutely bupkus.
                            I remember something along those lines called the Tornado. A spinning metal thing that went on the intake manifold and was supposed to increase gas mileage and performance because of the way the air would spin into the combustion chamber. It was proven to do nothing except screw with the sensors on some cars.
                            "I don't have an anger problem I have an idiot problem!" - Hank Hill

                            When in deadly danger, when beset by doubt, run around in little circles, wave your arms and shout!

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                            • #15
                              Someone on one of the car sites I go to bought one as a joke and actualy tracked his mileage and found that it improved by somthing like .02% over the week he didn't use the thing, and rightfuly dismissed such numbers as margin of error in data collection.

                              The realy funny part of the discussion were the 2 or so people who posted insisting this was proof that it worked.....
                              - They say nothing good happens at 2AM, they're right, I happen at 2AM.

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