SuperClubs Resort, San Soucis Resort, Ocho Rios, Jamaica - bellman damaged sculpture during loading - haven't received compensation from resort

# 22 for September 25, 2003

Complaints.com received the following on September 24, 2003:

From:

RE: SuperClubs Resort, San Soucis Resort, Ocho Rios, Jamaica - bellman damaged sculpture during loading - haven't received compensation from resort

Howard, I traveled to Ocho Rios, Jamaica with my partner in March staying at the San Soucis Resort owned at the time by SuperClubs Resorts based in Pompano Beach. On the first day of the trip I commissioned a craving with the "resident" carver at San Soucis to carve a Narwhal carving. The Narwhal is essentially a large Arctic whale that has what appears to be a horn sticking out the front of the animal. The carver "Charlie" within 3 days had located a piece of wood large enough for the carving, carved the sculpture and varnished to complete the project. I was satisfied with the carving and Charlie boxed the carving for my trip home. The carving was boxed with cardboard and tape covering the "horn" with notes advising the bellmen to "handle with care". When loading the item in the van for transportation back to the airport, the bellman lifted the carving by the horn, threw the item on top of the other luggage and slammed the door hitting the horn. I heard something "crack" and knew that the horn had broken off. I said something at the resort to the bellman, but the driver (who I believe was friends with the bellman) was rushing everyone to leave for the airport for our flights. Upon reaching the airport, I immediately unwrapped the item to inspect so that the resort would not later try to blame the airline for the damage. Sure enough, the horn had splintered and had broken off. So essentially I was left with a big fish carving that no longer resembled a "Narwhal". I went into the airport and immediately contacted the resort and spoke with the front desk who advised that I would need to speak with Marguerite the front desk manager. The front desk remembered me from checking out and said that Marguerite would contact me the following day. They advised me to take the carving with me and there was no need to return the carving to the resort with the driver. The following day I tried to contact Marguerite after not receiving the phone call from her office. Marguerite said that she would speak with the bell staff and investigate the matter. After not receiving a call back from Marguerite, I contacted her a few days later. Marguerite said that she had spoken with the bell staff and they denied breaking the item. She said that there was nothing that she could do. I was not happy with this response and the fact that she was simply taking the word of the bell staff. I then looked up the name of the owner of SuperClubs, John Issa. I explained the whole matter to Mr. Issa's assistant who said that she would have Mr. Issa to call me back. Mr. Issa did call back within a day and advised me to contact Pierre Bagleteli the General Manager of the resort. Mr. Issa said that he had spoken with Mr. Bagleteli and that they would replace the carving and ship me the new one. Mr. Issa said everything had been

arranged and that Mr. Bagleteli would take care of the matter. He also said to contact him should there be any further problems. I immediately called Mr. Bagleteli who advised that he was aware of the situation. Mr. Bagleteli was not aware of what a Narwhal was so he asked me to email him a picture so that Charlie would know the carving. I looked up photos of a Narwhal on the internet and emailed them to Mr. Bagleteli. He said through email that he would pass the photos on to Charlie and have him to begin work on the carving. In a later email a few days later he said that Charlie remembered the carving as it was the only Narwhal that he had ever done. Mr. Bagleteli said to allow Charlie about a week to complete the carving. After about two week of not hearing back from Mr. Bagleteli, I again called the resort. He advised that Charlie was having trouble locating another piece of wood for such a large carving. I found this surprising considering Charlie located a piece of wood and completed the carving within 3 days when I was there with $180.00 cash for him. I sent several more email and called several timed trying to follow up on the matter. I was finally told that Charlie would be completing the carving that week and that the item would be shipped out to me. I have since emailed several times and phoned with no response. After not receiving another response, I again contacted SuperClubs President John Issa. Mr. Issa advised that the SuperClubs no longer owned the resort and that I would need to contact the resort directly as they no longer had any responsibility for the resort. All of my emails and phone calls to the resort

have not been responded to.

I am asking your help in resolving this matter! I would like a refund of $180.00 for the carving that I paid for. I feel that SuperClubs should be responsible as they did own the resort at the time that I vacationed there. I had a

very enjoyable trip but this whole matter has made me not want to deal with SuperClubs again. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Best regards, Scott Horner P.S. I do have copies of the last few emails from Mr. Bagleteli stating that the carving was being completed and would be shipped.