Dear Queenie,
We recently spent six weeks in St. Maarten. Unfortunately, our experience of “The Friendly Island” was not a good one. We found the attitude of the majority of so-called professional people rude, arrogant and holding either a grudge or a massive chip on their shoulder.
We appreciate we are foreigners, but we were tourists and what would St Maarten do without our revenue? We weren’t there to take their jobs and we certainly treated them with the respect they deserve, but we were not afforded such courtesies.
Our biggest complaint is the attitude of the staff in (name given) a jewellery store in Marigot. My husband bought me an Omega watch and on Christmas Day when I opened my gift, the sun reflected a scratch on the watch strap. We therefore returned it to the shop expecting to be offered a replacement.
Wrong! The manager there insinuated I did the damage myself and when that didn’t work had the audacity to shout at my husband and accuse him of buying a watch I didn’t like and wanting the money back. How could I not like a watch I had been wanting for years?
At no time was a replacement offered, or a refund, and the only concession was the watch was taken to their repair shop and the scratch supposedly taken out. This was done twice and the scratch is still there. Admittedly, it can only be seen in sunlight and not in artificial light, but they didn’t even have the courtesy to go outside the shop with us to verify our claim.
The point is, the watch was faulty when purchased and there should have been no argument about a replacement.
After the event, we were told that the French side of the island has the reputation of being less than helpful and that the jewellers on the island are used as “dumping grounds” for faulty merchandise to sell as perfect to unsuspecting tourists.
The staff at (this jewellers) should be warned that we will definitely be taking up these rumours with Omega and hopefully we will never have to deal with such rude, obnoxious people again.
Queenie, if you do not agree that this letter should be published, at least I have let off steam and hopefully the matter will shortly be put to rest.—Unhappy tourist
Dear Unhappy tourist,
I most certainly agree that this letter should be published and here it is.
I also hope all shop owners and staffs, and everyone who has anything to do with tourists, will learn a lesson from what you have said.
