It seems though that the issue was settled out of court. I received this Facebook message:

I met with Ian Wilcox and John Meyer from QVC at the Midrand Protea Hotel. There were no lawyers and the meeting went extremely well. We all needed to come to an agreement that we could be happy with, and not leave feeling bitter. The agreement we drew up and signed (using a laptop and a portable printer) is the best we could manage, and I’m happy with it.

I have removed the articles and references from my blog, and the court cases are being suspended for 5 years. Provided I don’t write derogatory things about QVC in that time, the cases will be allowed to lapse, and no harm is done.

Bear in mind that my initial visit to QVC was 18 months ago, and much has changed during that time, including the way they do their marketing. Whether I agree with the way they do business or not is irrelevant: they changed in response to my complaints, and the complaints of others, and had I known that I would not have written further articles in August and September last year.

I think the blogger community has done a great job in highlighting this issue, and I thank everyone who participated. We have all learnt a great deal. I request that the current facebook group be closed in order to help me keep to my side of the agreement. I realise I can’t insist on this, but the group was there to provide support, and it has done so in a wonderful and effective way.

Thanks once again!

Donn Edwards

Good for you Donn. Good for QVC, I guess. Pity they didn’t do this from the word go then all the unpleasantness could have been avoided.

The Dictionary app not only gives you the Dictionary definition of the word, but it also has a Thesaurus section giving you related words. Here is what it returned for SCAM:

the scam involved a series of bogus investment deals fraud, swindle, fraudulent scheme, racket, trick; informal con, hustle, flimflam, bunco, grift, gyp, shakedown.

Aha! Trick! Lets see what the Dictionary app has to say about Trick:

a cunning or skillful act or scheme intended to deceive or outwit someone : he’s a double-dealer capable of any mean trick.

Hmmmmmmmmm…. Isn’t this exactly what happened? I mean, didn’t they “trick” Mr. Edwards in coming to their presentation by telling him he’s won a car, just to find out later that he’s been tricked and in fact didn’t win anything, but in fact lost precious time?

Bloggers being sued is not new. Hell, bloggers have been jailed for the things they’ve said! Still, they just won’t shut up. Viva La Revolucion!

Suing Donn Edwards might not have the most clever move. I mean, if one single blog post lost them about R300 000 of income, what is all this talk not going to do?! They should be losing millions by now. Here is some links to other sources:
Quality Vacation Club on Afrigator
Here is some posts and articles not on Afrigator:
Timeshares, annoying phone calls & lawsuits by Roxilla
Holiday Club is a SCAM by Make a good house a GREAT home
Is calling people and telling them they have won a prize a scam? by Guy McLaren
Timeshare ‘sales scam’ on IOL
Why I think the Quality Vacation Club is a Dubious Organisation by Dominic White
Quality Vacation Club Bullies Blogger also by Dominic White

…and I didn’t even spend a lot of time digging!

So here is my advice to Quality Vacation Club:

Instead of spending a bunch of money suing bloggers, rather invest in buying some Macbooks for you and your staff. Then next time you get accused of something, consult with the wonderful Dictionary application and see if maybe, just maybe, there isn’t validity in the claims. Could save you millions…