Discover Shopping Warning!!

[Maab]

We were on Galaxy on 1/22, with Eric as the shopping guide. We found him very helpful. We bought John Hardy bracelets in Barbados, and per his recommendations, upgraded one in St. Kitts, (Diamonds International). in fact, Eric was able to get us a much better deal than we were getting when he showed up in the shop.

 

Sorry you had such a hard time, you should definately push for what you are owed, and if hubby wont take the lead, you should!

[PICKLEBALL WIDOW]

Sorry to hear our experience wasn't just a quirk in the system. We faxed Onboard Media all of the information they wanted so now we're playing the dreaded wait-n-see game.

 

If I sound like I'm more than a little peeved with Celebrity and Eric, it's because I am. I feel that all of this started because we took the advice of a Celebrity representative and it was at a Celebrity MUST SEE guaranteed store. If you read the shopping guide it says they give you a 30 day warranty. The guarantee for watches bought on board are for a year. Big deal and whoopee. Heck. Target guarantees things for 90 days. What does that tell you, aside from the fact that I'm a cheapskate and shop at stores that aren't exactly en vogue.

 

All I want is what I was promised. I BELIEVED Eric. I BELIEVED Celebrity. I even believed Colombian Emeralds. I'm angry that Celebrity hasn't returned my call. They obviously are not concerned about my little problem. SOMEONE from Celebrity should at least call and pretend to be sympathetic, pretend to care.

 

I'll keep all posted, and really hope the newbies out there read this and learn. Don't believe everything you're told by the shopping EXPERTS. Just go the shopping seminars, sit in front, and catch the freebies Eric and the rest of the "Experts" toss out. Take a crossword or reading book. ;)

[mutual]

"Also, it is not unusual to have to pay postage on an item being returned for service, that is pretty much a standard in many industries. The computer I am writing this on had to go back to one of the top manufacturers for warranty repair and I had to pay postage."

 

This is not my experience. I had a monitor go out during the warranty period. The manufacturer emailed me a prepaid shipping label and gave me instructions for sending it UPS. I didn't pay a dime for the repair or postage.

[Captain Cosmo]

It appears that many of the postings on this thread seem to embrace a "buyer beware" attitude towards purchases made from the "recommended" stores. Of course, its always wise to know what you're buying, but since most of us will never be certified jewel appraisers we often rely on a store's reputation (like Tiffany's) or the recommendation of a friend. In this case, the OP took advice from Celebrity, which is PAID to refer people to Diamonds International and these other stores. In fact, on our Mexican Riviera cruise our shore excursion actually made a stop at DI in Matzatlan.

 

The point of the OP's story that is significant is that she bought at this store based on Celebrity's recommendation and their marketing of how they would handle any problems. As it turns out, Celebrity did nothing to resolve the issue, and in fact, created the problem by basically partnering with the store to dupe their own passengers. Anyway you loyalists want to look at this, Celebrity is to blame for this situation. Would the OP have walked into a store in a foreign country and bought this merchandise WITHOUT Celebrity's endorsement? Probably not. As usual, Celebrity does what's best for Celebrity - at least in the short run...

[kitty9]

Weeble, after a lot of hassles, my sister got her emerald replaced. But it took a long time and a lot of calling.

 

BTW, don't ever give your rings to anyone on the islands to remount your stones. They have a very large problem with cheaters who will take your real gems and replace them with fakes. Never, ever just give your jewelry to anyone.

[dedlaw]

I'm one of the ones who said "buyer beware," and I'll stand by that. I certainly agree that Celebrity has acted in a manner which is at best indifferent to the well-being of its pax and at worst fraudulent. My point is that a buyer should ALWAYS beware, regardless of who is making the recommendation. Should Celebrity stand by its apparent "guarantee"? Of course. But we shouldn't do something which might otherwise be foolish just because the transaction is "insured" -- I have insurance, but it doesn't mean I drive recklessly.

[jezzdogg]

As for watches;..if you are ever in New York on 47th street there a very reputable merchants that have been in business for numerous years that sell Movado, Tags, Omega, etc (everything but Breithlings and Rolex..which are 20%). for 40-50 % off and with american guarantees. Bought my husbands Omega several years ago for 1100 vs 1600 in the carribbean (who cares if i had to pay tax at that point) only thing it has ever needed is a battery for 5 dollars/

However I agree if Celebrity guarantees a store things should hold up, but guarantees are only worth the paper they are written on apparently. They count on people giving up and the stores are too far away for it to matter

[PICKLEBALL WIDOW]

It appears that many of the postings on this thread seem to embrace a "buyer beware" attitude towards purchases made from the "recommended" stores. Of course, its always wise to know what you're buying, but since most of us will never be certified jewel appraisers we often rely on a store's reputation (like Tiffany's) or the recommendation of a friend. In this case, the OP took advice from Celebrity, which is PAID to refer people to Diamonds International and these other stores. In fact, on our Mexican Riviera cruise our shore excursion actually made a stop at DI in Matzatlan.

 

The point of the OP's story that is significant is that she bought at this store based on Celebrity's recommendation and their marketing of how they would handle any problems. As it turns out, Celebrity did nothing to resolve the issue, and in fact, created the problem by basically partnering with the store to dupe their own passengers. Anyway you loyalists want to look at this, Celebrity is to blame for this situation. Would the OP have walked into a store in a foreign country and bought this merchandise WITHOUT Celebrity's endorsement? Probably not. As usual, Celebrity does what's best for Celebrity - at least in the short run...

 

Thank you for summing up what I've been trying to say. This is exactly how I feel and exactly what happened. Still no news from Celebrity (how can they let Eric get away with lying to us and yes, it was a lie) and Onboard Media hasn't responded either. The watch was purchased at Colombian Emeralds in Aruba and, though we're returning to the island in May, needless to say we'll avoid them like the plague. I just wish there was a way to warn more people. I'm hoping newbies will read this thread because those shopping experts are SO persuasive and if you can't someone wearing a "CELEBRITY" name tag in a strange land, who can you trust?

 

BTW, (stupid question here) is there a place I can find out what all the initials mean on these boards? DW, OP? You'd think I'd know by now, but "Duh."

 

Thanks again Captain, for stating so eloquently what I had been trying to express.

[kruisecat]

?

 

BTW, (stupid question here) is there a place I can find out what all the initials mean on these boards? DW, OP? You'd think I'd know by now, but "Duh."

 

DW / DH - dear wife / dear husband

DS / DD - dear son / dear daughter

OP - original poster

OBC - on board credit

LOL - laugh out loud

 

Those are the big ones. It took me a while too :p but once I got 1 I was able to figure the rest out!

[bububr]

Just curious, when did this transaction occur? was it a week ago, two months ago, a year?

 

From my experience in dealing with Celebrity it takes a few weeks to go through the system, sometimes a few months.

 

Have you allowed at least a month to allow them to follow up?

 

As I said, Just curious.

 

Dave:eek:

[Budwheat]

I found that the deals at the shops on the Zenith were as good as those at the shops in the Ports of Call. I bought DW an Anne Klein watch , and she bought me a Lucien Pic., both at very reasonable prices, and I feel confident that they are genuine.

 

The "Caribbean Deal" game has truly been over for a number of years...why should these merchants discount beyond the duty free dollars? They used to, but now just put it in their pockets. Consider this, too: Go to Amsterdam for diamonds, go to Columbia for emeralds, go to Mexico or Australia for opal. Don't expect to get great sushi at an Italian restaurant.... What possible advantage could there be in buying a non-native stone in, say, Aruba?:confused:

[m steve]

This was a truly obnoxious person who when asked about specific places to shop only touted the cruise lines partners and was of no help. When questioned why he wasn't willing to tell about other shops said that they don't pay the line and why should he help them. He really expressed the new X philosophy of bottom line first, passengers last!

[greeneg]

Caveat Emptor, folks. None of this should be much of a surprise; anytime you buy anything, you assume a certain risk, no one is holding a gun on you insisting that you buy.

 

Of course Celebrity and all of the other cruise lines are paid for touting various shops and stores, why is this a surprise?

 

I think that you should always assume that if something is too much of a bargin, then there should be a reason for that and you need to figure out what that reason is before you whip out the card. If I pay, then ultimately, I am responsible for the buying decisions that I make.

 

The greatest sucker bait is something for nothing with a guarentee; if you get taken, then the best thing that you can do is to learn from the experience and not repeat it.

 

Remember " I'll respect you in the morning...", " I'm from the IRS and I'm here to help you..."? Well, I think that "it's guarenteed" is right there with the rest of them."

 

Better to buy from the cruise line itself, IMHO, you can hold them readilly accountable. Third parties may well be another matter.

 

My$0.02.

[sasset]

Better to buy from the cruise line itself, IMHO, you can hold them readilly accountable. Third parties may well be another matter.

 

My$0.02.

 

But when are you actually buying from the cruiseline? Many of the shops and services onboard are third party run.

 

Regards

[Sky Sweet]

I found that the deals at the shops on the Zenith were as good as those at the shops in the Ports of Call. I bought DW an Anne Klein watch , and she bought me a Lucien Pic., both at very reasonable prices, and I feel confident that they are genuine.

 

The "Caribbean Deal" game has truly been over for a number of years...why should these merchants discount beyond the duty free dollars? They used to, but now just put it in their pockets. Consider this, too: Go to Amsterdam for diamonds, go to Columbia for emeralds, go to Mexico or Australia for opal. Don't expect to get great sushi at an Italian restaurant.... What possible advantage could there be in buying a non-native stone in, say, Aruba?:confused:

 

Hi Budwheat :)

 

I agree with you. Part of the fun of shopping during a cruise is to buy a memento from a port that is special to that area such as nesting dolls in Russia, quartz in gold jewelry in Alaska, delft tiles in the Netherland Antilles, etc.

[greeneg]

They may well be leased, but I think that you are in a much stronger position if you buy something on the ship itself ( from the ship??) rather from a merchant in a foreign country....

 

This is not to say that Celebrity, or any of the cruise lines, should not stand behind their "recommendations", it's just that common sense tells you not to believe everything that you are told.

 

The World just isn't the place that it should be......

[Susan-M]

My$0.02.

 

 

A good post .... and I think worth much more than $.02 :)

[geoherb]

It's a shame that the port lecturers are now just shills for the sponsored shops. Almost 20 years ago, when we took our first cruise, the lecturer gave out lots of good info about the port--history, culture, things to see and do. She also had a list of recommended stores, but that wasn't the emphasis of the talk. We ended up running into her at a museum she recommended and having a drink with her in the bar.

 

Since then, I've seen that the trend is for more and more shopping and less other info. Our most recent cruise (on a Princess ship) was particularly bad in that the shopping expert was brand new to the ship. She was obviously reading a script when talking about the different ports. (We did not go to the presentations, but they were played on one of the TV channels.)

[PICKLEBALL WIDOW]

Just curious, when did this transaction occur? was it a week ago, two months ago, a year?

 

From my experience in dealing with Celebrity it takes a few weeks to go through the system, sometimes a few months.

 

Have you allowed at least a month to allow them to follow up?

 

As I said, Just curious.

 

Dave:eek:

 

I think it was just over three weeks ago that we bought the watch and reported it immediately to Eric on the Galaxy. It has now been almost two weeks since DH :D sent the info to Onboard Media. He sent a follow up message to make sure they received his first message and all the receipts, etc they needed, which is still being ignored. Celebrity Cruise, apparently, could care less. They STILL haven't returned my call with my complaint. I had much better service from Carnival's on board shops. We wanted to make sure to make it clear that the watch stopped working 12 hours after it was purchased. Geez. Whatever happened to Customer Service? Thanks for your question.

[Marytutor]

Weeble,

 

Do not give up.

 

 

Our purchase:

 

March 5, 2006

March 6, 2006 Patrick notified them of incorrect description on sales slip And asked for a written accurate description of item.

March 7, Notified of the magnets that were not working.

March 13 -17 various emails to Onboard galaxy and office in Miami

Written letter to Onboard. No response from Florida.

 

March 28 Item sent back to stoe in Florida for repair after being told to do so.

 

Mar-May Several phone calls to Florida and Jamaica. One excuse after another. "Tried to call you, no answer" Caller ID did not show that there had been any calls from those areas.

 

May 23, letter to Celebrity, Mr Hanarhan, Letter from them dated June 24, and received a month Later, to the effect that we want our customers to be treated as well as on the ship. Forwarding my letter to Onboard Media and requested them to contact me immediately. Took over a month and only after my second letter to Celebrity.

 

Late July the necklace was returned, new stone, not the same quality, and non working magnets. Wrote letter to store and received no response.

 

July-September Various calls and emails to Onboard Media. No response.

 

September Took necklace to local jeweler who had to work with 4 other jewelers to get it fixed. Magnets hard to locate and took a long time to dig the others out without damaging necklace. They tried to make magnets but coluld not.

 

October. Local store gave me an estimate and I forwarded the information to Onboard Media. Had to call several tiimes before they contacted the store. Got the okay in December.

 

Late January received neckace/. Store paid ifor the repair.

 

I had tried to have them take back the necklace in January but I recieved a reply that I was unfair to them and that they had never told me that it was a convertible necklace. That was a lie as he had helped me put it on correctly that way. They also would not do anything about the Karet misrepresentation.

Mary

[mococay]

Did some price comparrison before we left - Best we could do on the internet was 20% except one guy offering 33% Hmmmm smelt funny so we passed.

 

First port San Juan - went to a couple of the ship recommended shops - 20%

Second Port - St Maarten - 20%

 

Shopping guy said TAG has the best deals in Aruba - 20% and on the ship it was also 20%.

 

The guy at Gandlemans in Aruba had a HUGE selection though and the watch I wanted was in his other store - says come back in 2 hrs - sure enough it was there and still 20%. He did say don't ever take it to your local jeweler for even a battery replacement. Send to ProTime in NJ - they will service and replace gasket if the open the watch and Guarantee for another year.

 

Still have not seen more than 20% but I saw the watch I bought on our last cruise - price jumped almost $400 in the three years I bought it - so I am a happy camper.

 

When it comes to watches is really easy. Prices and discounts are set by the manufacturer so it will be the same at any authorized dealer. There are exceptions (places like Jamaica) where they are doing maybe 5% more but it's rare.

You do know for a fact that you're paying less and you can easily check back home. When it comes to Omega that is $700 less in NY it makes me wonder. That retailer has to pay duty (unless that retailer is mafia) the buyer pays sales tax and all that on an item that should be priced by the manufacturer.

Sounds too good to be true.

I know that some people had bad experiences but to go from there to "I'll never buy anything at those stores" is a little too much. There is a reason why in any port in the Caribbean there are tons of jewelery stores.

[curiouscat]

As for watches;..if you are ever in New York on 47th street there a very reputable merchants that have been in business for numerous years that sell Movado, Tags, Omega, etc (everything but Breithlings and Rolex..which are 20%). for 40-50 % off and with american guarantees. Bought my husbands Omega several years ago for 1100 vs 1600 in the carribbean (who cares if i had to pay tax at that point) only thing it has ever needed is a battery for 5 dollars/

However I agree if Celebrity guarantees a store things should hold up, but guarantees are only worth the paper they are written on apparently. They count on people giving up and the stores are too far away for it to matter

 

 

I don't know about that!!! I'm origianlly from NY and if they see Mr and Mrs Ohio or Oklahoma in their store... beware of rip off city. :eek:

 

And Pleaase....Not all those stores on 47th are reputableat all and it takes some NY or Jersey smarts to negotiate and navigate those stores.... plus ya still pay the tax.

 

NY is major buyer beware in that district....

 

CuriousCat

[greeneg]

I'm still curious as to what the brand of watch was?

[PICKLEBALL WIDOW]

Sorry, the watch was a Citizen. I know...contact them directly, right?

 

This whole mess started because I was told by a Celebrity representative that (1) the product was fully guaranteed, and (2) the problem would be taken care of at no expense to me.

 

Celebrity STILL hasn't bothered to contact me (i.e. THEY DON'T CARE). I'm sure that, by now, SOMEONE from Celebrity has read this thread because I know they keep up on this stuff. But I guess they're glowing in the GOOD stuff people have to say.

 

I'm sure there are good stories and bad stories. I am just telling my fellow cruise critters what I've been through, and trying to help them avoid the same issue.

 

It's just hard to believe that we're not getting any help from anyone. This will affect my buying habits for a long time, and since this was my 31st cruise it will be hard to get used to not shopping at the "MUST SEE", "RECOMMENDED", "GUARANTEED" stores. I'll find a way. :(

[greeneg]

Just for what it is worth, Citizen is a very high quality ( by and large) watch and actually has very good customer service. I would certainly contact them and see what happens; I would not be at all surprised if they replaced the watch directly to you.

 

This is not to negate the poor experience that you've had with both the store and the cruise line, but I would sure try to see what Citizen will do. You should also have the alternative of taking the watch to a dealer ( there are a lot of them) in your locale, and seeing what happens. Take all of your paperwork with you and see what happens.

 

Hope this is helpful.