Caribbean Warehouse - Customer Service

Legacy_user

Having using Caribbean Warehouse a couple of times without any issues, had a problem whilst on holiday which we had to write a formal complaint about when we got back. The problem had been a fairly serious one involving several guests, police interviews, security issues, harrassment etc.

However got told by Kevin the Sales Manager that "this complaint was no different to having a missing ice bucket in a guests room" and we were given no assistance whatsoever in ensuring we got a proper resolution via this company.

Might be good service when things are fine, but if this is the level of aftercare I will never use this company ever again - even if they happen to be competitive.

trinidadone

Summer01 wrote: »

Having using Caribbean Warehouse a couple of times without any issues, had a problem whilst on holiday which we had to write a formal complaint about when we got back. The problem had been a fairly serious one involving several guests, police interviews, security issues, harrassment etc.

However got told by Kevin the Sales Manager that "this complaint was no different to having a missing ice bucket in a guests room" and we were given no assistance whatsoever in ensuring we got a proper resolution via this company.

Might be good service when things are fine, but if this is the level of aftercare I will never use this company ever again - even if they happen to be competitive.

so the point of this thread is to warn fellow other money savers not to use Carribean Warehouse or to have a general rant? btw, who or what is carribean warehouse???

maninthestreet

Summer01 wrote: »

Having using Caribbean Warehouse a couple of times without any issues, had a problem whilst on holiday which we had to write a formal complaint about when we got back. The problem had been a fairly serious one involving several guests, police interviews, security issues, harrassment etc.

However got told by Kevin the Sales Manager that "this complaint was no different to having a missing ice bucket in a guests room" and we were given no assistance whatsoever in ensuring we got a proper resolution via this company.

Might be good service when things are fine, but if this is the level of aftercare I will never use this company ever again - even if they happen to be competitive.

Without knowing more details about your complaint and the 'problems' you encountered to led you to make a complaint, it's impossible to tell whether CW have let you down or not.

trumpton

Seems pretty clear to me. The OP was happy previously because he hadn't had any problems whilst on holiday. As soon as he did have a significant issue, Caribbean Warehouse didn't want to know. To have a problem that ended up involving the police dismissed as 'being the same as not having an ice bucket in your room' sounds pretty poor. The benchmark of good customer service is how they behave when there is a problem - whether you are back home or still on holiday.

OP - I found a posting on a forum which suggests that Caribbean Warehouse is part of Blue Bay travel Ltd, director Stuart Wilson.

http://www.bluebaytravel.co.uk/contact/

I would try writing directly to him and see if that gets a response. We don't know the full details, so it could be that your problem was something that was beyond the travel company's control - however, they should still treat customer complaints with respect and take them seriously.

yvonne13_2

What is Caribbean warehouse and what do they do?

System

trumpton wrote: »

Seems pretty clear to me. The OP was happy previously because he hadn't had any problems whilst on holiday. As soon as he did have a significant issue, Caribbean Warehouse didn't want to know. To have a problem that ended up involving the police dismissed as 'being the same as not having an ice bucket in your room' sounds pretty poor. The benchmark of good customer service is how they behave when there is a problem - whether you are back home or still on holiday.

OP - I found a posting on a forum which suggests that Caribbean Warehouse is part of Blue Bay travel Ltd, director Stuart Wilson.

http://www.bluebaytravel.co.uk/contact/

I would try writing directly to him and see if that gets a response. We don't know the full details, so it could be that your problem was something that was beyond the travel company's control - however, they should still treat customer complaints with respect and take them seriously.

You've summed it up trumpton. The problem was something that was in the travel company's control but they just weren't very helpful at all. The director Stuart was away and Kevin was of no help whatsoever.

It was a situation that ruined a good holiday for several people but I always think reputation can be restored based on how companies deal with awful holidays and in this case Caribbean Warehouse were terrible.

To answer the question of other ops Caribbean Wareouse is a travel company.

pmduk

If it was within the travel company's control and they failed to deal with it, I'd refer the matter to ABTA

maninthestreet

Summer01 wrote: »

You've summed it up trumpton. The problem was something that was in the travel company's control but they just weren't very helpful at all. The director Stuart was away and Kevin was of no help whatsoever.

It was a situation that ruined a good holiday for several people but I always think reputation can be restored based on how companies deal with awful holidays and in this case Caribbean Warehouse were terrible.

To answer the question of other ops Caribbean Wareouse is a travel company.

So tell us exactly what the problem was (you've mentioned police, harassment, security issues and ice buckets), and why you feel CW should have handled your complaint differently.

System

I booked a holiday through CW. Onsite we (and other guests) had (serious) problems. Tried to contact the CW Rep and left plenty of messages etc. They never got back to us. Tried to call them again over the next few days at which point they said they’d send a rep. The rep didn’t turn up at the agreed time and we waited ages. Then we were told they would drop off forms for us to complete. This didn’t happen.

Finally filled forms in several days later once we’d got them. By this time too late to resolve issues whilst there. On return from holiday got told by the holiday company our complaints weren’t valid because the forms weren’t completed straight away (not our fault as they were not given to us to complete. Had to explain the issue re getting hold of rep.) Tried hard to get a response to our complaint which was then 5 or 6 weeks later despite their claim to respond within 28 days. This continued on and on, and in the end were told by Kevin the Sales Manager that "this complaint was no different to having a missing ice bucket in a guests room" and we were given no assistance whatsoever in ensuring we got a proper resolution via this company.

On holiday we spent hours each day being interviewed by police and security etc which was time we lost, and also upsetting. We also spent time waiting for a CW Rep that didn’t turn up and forms that weren’t delivered until days later.

Incidentally the hotel in question where we experienced the problems were much more professional and admitted that the incidents that had taken place shouldn’t have, and they were more than willing to compensate us. If we’d booked directly through the hotel they were willing to offer us a free week back at the resort. However CW were dismissive, unsympathetic and unhelpful unfortunately.

Techhead_2

To me it seems that the problem is that you consider this problem to be serious, however the company considers it to be less serious.

So I suppose what you are asking is how to resolve the disagreement. The first thing to do is to make it clear what you expect of the company.

(It would help people to advise you if you can give details of the mystery problem, although I guess this is something you are not comfortable discussing - which is fair enough)

flipflop_man

Firstly, sorry to hear that the OP had problems on their holiday

However, all I can say is that I am rather surprised by this thread as over the past 4-5 years we have used Caribbean Warehouse many, many times and have always found them very knowledgeable, efficient, professional and competitive. We have another 6 weeks of trips booked with them this year as they are just so good at what they do

They have been able to do multi-resort trips which the other leading holiday providers such as Thomson, Thomas Cook, etc have found too difficult to do - to CW it is just business as normal

Three years ago when we were in Mexico and my wife's father died unexpectedly they were able to get a message to me within a few hours and deliver it in a manner which allowed me to have the information without her becoming aware first off - I found that to be excellent customer service in a very difficult time for us 1000's of miles away. They also made a point of keeping in contact with us to see if they could be of further assistance

I have also had dealings with them during the swine flu fiasco and last year with the volcanic dust and again their customer service was outstanding which is more than I can say for many other companies. From my dealings on Trip Advisor and Facebook I know that I am not alone in highly rating this company

I have always found the any complaints at resorts which do unfortunately happen from time to time are better dealt with personally, face to face at the resort rather than 3rd hand through a booking agent. I am more surprised by the increasing number of people who take no action whilst on holiday but leave it until they are back home before they start to have a pop at the resort on various forums and review sites

Over the years I have chatted to lot of their staff, including Kevin and have found them all to be very professional. I am sure if the OP contacts Stuart if any action still needs to be taken it will be