Designing Spaces review: Designing Spaces TV Show is a SCAM! 20

This is simple: The people who call are not producers. They are telemarketers who use crafty words to make you believe they are credible. They have sales meetings, not production meetings. They make up their stories based on YOUR competitive advantage. They ask questions so they can create a story using your own words. Try it and you will see. Talk to one of their "producers" and play along. There is NO approval process. If you have the money you will be on the show. Trust me. O2 pays Lifetime for the TV time (infomercial slots) and then they resell it to suckers for 20X the cost. Their excuse? "It costs 100k-200k in production costs. LOL! A 3-5 minute TOP QUALITY production would cost no more than $5000 WITH the air time. Wake up people. This is an infomercial (at best).

It's they way they approached me. Had they said from the beginning that they would like to do a segment on my brand and that there is cost involved at $49, 700 I would have instantly said thank you but my company is growing and that is a big line item in our budget. They didn't do this. I went through 2 screenings and then a 40 minute conversation where at the end they announced the fee. Then they said they needed and answer quickly. They should have people pitch their companies on their website listing the fee. They would save everyone a lot of time.

I was just contacted by them, 7/15/14, and had a long distant call with them because they couldn't wait. After I gave my pitch and spent too much time on the phone with them they hit me with the cost $49, 700! Seriously! I'm a children's brand of clothing, Blu Pony Vintage. A young and growing company. I even said that. They didn't care. Sad. And such a public know company.

I cannot believe how ignorant some off you people can be. Especially the ones who call themselves professional business people and business owners. Before you slander an organization on the Internet, you should be responsible enough to take the time and really think about what it is you are saying, in addition to having the proof to back it up. Would you want someone to say this about YOUR business? I don't think so. Did you ever step back for a second to think that your product or solution may be special to the consumer and would serve as a good means of education? Keep in mind I have no affiliation with this organization, but I know the show, my wife loves the show. Even if I was a part of it (which I most certainly am not) it would make no difference anyway, as facts are facts. Additionally, I have been in television production for the greater part of the last 20 years. Do any of you have any idea how much is costs to produce a segment on national television, not to mention all of the media and promotional elements surrounding it? Easily 200-350k...yes in dollars. In my opinion, if this company is asking you for 30-50k for a national TV segment, to me it sounds more like a commitment fee to make sure the program continues to run properly. Many production companies require this commitment to ensure their participants meet the time lines and schedules of the show. I think you would more likely to cooperate with the show's agenda, if you have some dollars invested on your side..right? These amounts are nothing compared to the actual cost of production and media. Listen, if you don't have the money for this type of opportunity, or it is not a fit for what you are looking to do..so be it. But to slander an organization and badmouth them for something you know nothing about is at the very least unprofessional, in addition to plain ignorant. The fact of the matter is Designing Spaces is a NATIONAL TV program, aired on the LIFETIME Network, which is the number one woman's network on cable today. Even if you choose to disregard all of what is noted here..you just have to very simply turn on the TV to Lifetime on a Wed, Thursday or Friday at 7:30 AM and you can view the show for yourself. Or you can go to the Lifetime.com website and even further you can reach out the some of the most brilliant marketing minds out there (like Disney, Microsoft, Intel, Lowes, Etc, Etc, Etc) as I have seen segments with ALL of these companies on..multiple times. Still not convinced? Well you can also research the "Telly Awards" to see that the show has won over 60 national programming awards. The general person, I could see this from, but it aggravates me to no end when I read these post from PROFESSIONALS doing this. Someone needs to have a voice in support of legitimate business and if I have to be the voice of reason in the forum, , so be it. Think about what you post people.

The prices I'm reading on here are WAY too high!
I own Skytone Media (Chicago)...and will produce your 3-5 min commercial or business promo/spotlight for $1000/minute. So a 3-5 minute spot will run you $3K - $5K...complete and ready to air. Here's a link to some of our work on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2LVf9B5_EXGUqvLCQaIqsA?feature=watch

My question is: if this is truly "news" that is presented for entertainment/edification/education, then why would the interviewed person/company be charged a fee? They provide a service -- they are the ones who should be charging. Does 60 Minutes charge their subjects? If the show wants to provide the "best" information, they would choose the best source, period; not the best source that will pay the fee.

If I buy advertising, I want my customers and prospects to know it is advertising and decide on that basis. If we are receiving attention based purely on merit; "earned media" -- then I want the viewers/readers to understand that (!) But I absolutely DON'T want to be involved in anything that tries to masquerade paid advertising as earned media. Sometimes, we receive earned media in a Product Index or New Product section that is largely due to our advertising/support of a publication, but we generally won't participate in that if we are asked to pay extra or if our suppliers are asked to pay something. I don't want to falsely accuse Designing Spaces, but it seems to be a paid advertising opp to me. (Plus, I've received calls - always from Florida - for years now, pitching these kinds of shows. Seems like another one of those, but with a bit more credibility, built around the Lifetime channel -- but with a pretty small reach/high price.)

Am I wrong?

(Also, spelt is a wheat, not the word for spelled. May want to fix that spell checker response.)

Thank you for posting this! I got a call offering the same deal, a 3-5min spot on Designing Spaces or The Balancing Act for $48, 500! I hope the people who watch these shows know that all the products on these shoes have paid to be featured! No thank you! We can get our own legitimate PR and reviews. If we wanted to do an infomercial we would produce it ourselves for under $10K.

It's a media buy that makes sense. Stop being so bitter because you can't afford to do it! You cant get the airtime, the production, the right to use it, or anything else they offer, for remotely that low an expense. Spend as much time promoting your company as you do bashing those who can help you, and maybe the next time a show calls you'll be able to afford it!

How could this show be a scam if it does indeed come on a national cable network every week, and has been for years.

How is it a scam if people watch the show and buy the products shown on it? Its a good show. I watch it every morning...If companies have to pay to get on it...seems worth it to me.

I dont understand

I like Designing spaces. I especially like the Sponge Bob makeover they did . Its been on for years. What are you people talking about?

Jonathan Arnold - contacted us and really made us feel special withthe sales pitch. It had all of the typical warning signs... "there's something special about your company", "we need to act quickly", and he made sure to balance that "special feeling" he gave us with DOUBT, in that "he can't guarantee that we'd be on the show, but it looked good and he liked us". When one of our people in the meeting said that we "watched the show and were big fans" (she may have been confused with Trading Spaces), Jonathan was caught off guard and didn't know how to respond (probably because it is pretty rare to find big fans of infomercials). He wouldn't say how he heard of us and any questions directed back to him tended to trip up his "pitch". I watch TLC religiously and am a huge fan of "Home Shows" and I have never heard of or have seen the 'Designing Spaces" program before. So I knew enough to check the web and luckily I found all of this good information on what essentially is a show that is misrepresenting itself as being viewed by 80, 000, 000 viewers.

This scam has been running for the past 11 years (as far as I know) by the same companies and people all out of Florida. First they call and say you have been chosen to be at our show because our resarch team recommnded your product/company among many others like yours, we just need to make sure you qualify. They make you tell them about your product and praise you constantly and eventually give you the good news that you must be on the show and you are better than all other competitors that have similar products. Then comes the bomb shell. It only cost 30K to 50K (depending on which company is calling you) just to cover the production costs! Then comes the hard sell to make you commit.

We are so used to this scam that when we get a call like this we ask if there is any fee to be at the show. They always say there are no fees and it is all free in order to schedule the call with the so called producer who is a smooth talking scammer. He/She will not tell you there is a cost before you spend 45 minutes to an hour explaining about the features and benefits of your product and for them to stroke your ego . At the end if you fall for their scam you will have a 5 min show that costs no more than $1000 and is not shown anywhere becuase they have no rugualr showings like they say. This is a great scam for them and a big loss for anyone stupid enough to fall for it. I can't belive that FTC has not stopped them. They belon in jail next to Maddoff

the main promise i was given by a woman named maureen nicholas from quorum productions was that the show "designing spaces" airs on both TLC and WE channels. in looking thoroughly through both sites and talking to a scheduling associate at TLC there is NO SUCH SHOW ON TLC! do your research! people who take money from innocent people are mean and will get what they deserve.

It is unfortunate that you are all misinformed about our show, I do have a busy schedule and don't have time to respond to irresponsible slander against my show. However, when my name personally is mentioned, I feel compelled to stop and take time to educate you on this. I do understand that as smaller, newer companies you are not as informed and a bit naive when it comes to larger opportunities for you. I will point out for all of you that you do not see any of the mainstream larger companies who are guests on our show writing on this slanderous blog -(Procter & Gamble, HJ Heinz, The Internal Revenue Service, Church & Dwight, The Sears Corporation, SC Johnson, and the list goes on and on and on... Cackleberries has a great product that relates to internet safety for children, having a 5 year old son myself, I was glad to see something like this and thought this was a great product to tell my viewers about - as it is our mission as producers for the show to educate, empower & inform our viewers (busy moms, busy professionals) about products that will help them- in this case protect their children. We have had many guests come on our show for this important topic- Cisco, Computer Associates and John Walsh to name a few. I don't believe John Walsh would have worked with us on the show if any of the above things were true. He is usually the first to have a disgust for people or companies who are "scamming" other people, etc... This is why this tends to be a little comical for us if you would just stop to look at the bigger picture here. If everyone above, truly did their due diligence in researching our show and our relationship with Lifetime you would know that whoever initiated this poorly contrived attempt to slander our show is dishonest and because of this they have actually ultimately "robbed" you of priceless exposure for your companies, initiatives and/or products.

Best Regards

Obviously all of you are misinformed. I own a company that was invited to appear on this television series and accepted. If anyone knows anything about production and running commercials, it's FAR more than the simple production fee asked to be paid by all those who appear on the show. Most quality commercials and infomercials cost at least 100k to produce and run. This is a show thats been on for years now, everyone has watched it and if you ask me, it's well worth the exposure for my company and anyone else's for that matter. Couldn't ask for a more valuable source for a catalyst for my product!

Additionally, I just finished filming in their studios which are gorgeous and myself and my company were all treated so well!

Thank you Designing Spaces!

I run a great new children's company. We launched a press release for Cackleberries last week and I have been inundated with calls - mostly scams. Received one just now from Becky Dougherty's secretary to book an appointment in her busy schedule. Googling the phone number brought me here. Thank you. I will be much wiser when she calls me a 2:00 today.

I read this post just before receiving a call from Kyle Glasgow, a claimed producer of the show. The call was setup by Alan Scott, who did not inform me of his title. I took the call with an open mind, only to find out that what Kahmed posted above is absolutely true! However, I don't think this is a scam. It seems legitimate, it's just outrageous! If the person buying the spot is not smart enough to look into this further and just accepts the deal, that's their own fault.

I was asked to pay $38, 500 for a 3-5 minute spot in their show. They told me the show would air twenty times, including being aired once on TLC and once on WE. Needless to say, this is ridiculously expensive. I can run hundreds of commercials myself for that kind of money!

I would recommend going along with what this company says just to see for yourself that what we are saying is the truth.

Good Luck!

I totally agree with the previous reporter. I am small business owner and the inventor of the RainbowBrush products. One day I got a call from a girl name Christine Flint who is the personal assistant of the TV producer of Scott Moss, saying that our Rainbow Brush has passed their initial reviews and would like to crate a children show by showing the benefits of the artistic creativity of the RainbowBrush.

Well, I was excited and took my time to do what was next needed to be done. But at the end of our telephone conversation, Mr. Moss told me that I will need to pay him $38, 000 to show children the creativity of our RainbowBrush art and artistic talents.

From my conversation with Mr. Moss, my gut feeling is he is and his company www.designingspaces.tv from Quorum Productions Inc. is a thieve, scammer, and unprofessional how he conducted his manners with me over the phone and he even did not know what was http://www.rainbowbrush.com.

My advice to you folks, if you would like to do business with this company or any other company, always check with Better Business Bureau or some other government organizations and don’t give money upfront to anyone because they say who they are or they will give you the moon on your hand.

Please spread the goods words for the good people and same for the scammers. Thank you.