Problems with O's merchandise.

[Pandora1958]

Just back from O's Nordic Treasures. Oceania Cruises. My all time favorite but....is anyone else out there having trouble with them standing by a product purchased on one of their ships? I bought a Russian Matryoshka doll (stacking wooden dolls) only to find all 15 were not there. Missing two tops. So disappointed. Really getting the run around. Please message me....lcoppoletta at mac dot com.

[LAexNY]

Have you contacted O or your travel agent?

[ronrick1943]

That really should be a easy fix for "O", they should just have another set send to you asap. However I always check everything I buy before I take it, then I'm sure of what I have/or not have. Rick

[tropicalkerry2002]

I remember those dolls in the boutique on our Baltic Cruise. That were stunning, and certainly far from inexpensive. I hope they make this right for you ASAP!

[Pandora1958]

Thanks tropicalkerry2002. Didn't want to say that. Gladys, at customer service at O said the headquarters for the store, which is Harding in London, would be in touch with me two weeks ago. O is denying all responsibility.....

 

I would just recommend - along with checking your purchase on their ships - you DO NOT purchase anything not necessary while on board......Oh, and no, I didn't call my agent. She's terrific and bears no responsibility. But, I will let her know.

 

Such a shame....

 

Lynne

Edited September 10, 2015 by Pandora1958
forgot my agent

[canuck.qc]

Just back from O's Nordic Treasures. Oceania Cruises. My all time favorite but....is anyone else out there having trouble with them standing by a product purchased on one of their ships? I bought a Russian Matryoshka doll (stacking wooden dolls) only to find all 15 were not there. Missing two tops. So disappointed. Really getting the run around. Please message me....lcoppoletta at mac dot com.

Certain type CreditCards have a 'purchase protection program'. If you purchased this item with a CC you may be covered.

[LHT28]

Thanks tropicalkerry2002. Didn't want to say that. Gladys, at customer service at O said the headquarters for the store, which is Harding in London, would be in touch with me two weeks ago. O is denying all responsibility.....

 

I would just recommend - along with checking your purchase on their ships - you DO NOT purchase anything not necessary while on board......Oh, and no, I didn't call my agent. She's terrific and bears no responsibility. But, I will let her know.

 

Such a shame....

 

Lynne

 

Sometimes your TA can expedite matters like your complaint getting to the right people

Hope it will be resolved soon for you

 

 

I use my OBC in the shops so far no problems

[SellaVee]

Lynne, have you been back in touch with Gladys to report that the supplier hasn't been in touch?

 

It may be the case that Oceania have no more of these dolls to send you and that's why they are referring you the headquarters in London.

 

Certainly in the UK it's the responsibility of the seller to replace faulty goods. From the title of your post I thought you were talking about O's branded goods like T shirts, totes etc. I don't know how 3rd party goods work - whether Oceania or Harding was the seller, but either way, someone from O needs to be helping you sort this out.

[ronrick1943]

Lynne, have you been back in touch with Gladys to report that the supplier hasn't been in touch?

 

It may be the case that Oceania have no more of these dolls to send you and that's why they are referring you the headquarters in London.

 

Certainly in the UK it's the responsibility of the seller to replace faulty goods. From the title of your post I thought you were talking about O's branded goods like T shirts, totes etc. I don't know how 3rd party goods work - whether Oceania or Harding was the seller, but either way, someone from O needs to be helping you sort this out.

 

I don't think so, you purchased it from "O", they need to correct it and deal with their supplier. When buy something from a department store or Costco you don't go back to the supplier---the store takes care of the problem (after all they made a profit from the sale).

[Iamthesea]

Although I did not purchase my doll (Santa Clause) on the ship (purchased in Russia) I am going to count my dolls. Never occurred to me to check that they are all there. :eek:

 

BTW- When we returned to the ship, I saw the same "authentic" and signed doll in the gift shop that I had purchased in a small shop in Russia. LOL The only saving grace was that the doll on the ship was selling for almost twice as much! :rolleyes:

[RetiredFL]

Although I agree the cruise line should try and help resolve the issue if you read the Ticket Contract in your Vacation Guide it states under item 10, 11 etc with the title Third Party Providers that Oceania is not responsible for actions of third party concessionaires such as the gift shop, spa, casino, etc.

 

We always check our purchases before the end of the cruise.

[jakes47]

I bought some nesting dolls on our last cruise but not on board. Unfortunately the smallest doll is missing and I went on line to see if I could replace it. I came across this below on http://matryoshkastore.com site in the FAQ section. I know various ones we looked at appeared to have parts missing and it was impossible to see that they were really jammed up into each other until the sales person managed to retrieve them.

 

Top half of one of the dolls is missing.

This is highly unlikely, because all the dolls are checked before being listed in the store. Have a look inside the upper half of the bigger doll, the missing half is likely to be there. Just move it gently and it’ll come off.

[Pandora1958]

Thanks you all.

---As we were unable to get off the ship and I wanted another doll, we had no choice. IF I ever get to Russia again I'll make sure to get them OFF the ship.

 

---We never did read the entire contract, but thank you. I wonder how many of us cruisers do.

 

--- I've made no calls to London to Harding but I think now is the time.

 

---Bev, I check and they're not.....

 

 

Lynne

Edited September 11, 2015 by Pandora1958

[dorisis]

If you don't get satisfaction, write to Del Rio and let him know the situation and what you expect Oceania to do about it.

[jakes47]

So sorry - I hope you end up getting satisfaction through Oceania. It is very easy for them to pass a little thing on and hope it goes away - but in the end it leaves a negative vibe to your holiday if you don't get satisfaction.

The question has to be asked - Does Oceania stand by any of the products sold on board?

 

I blame myself for not unlocking all dolls down to the tiny one but we looked at so many of them until we bought the one we missed. :(

[hondorner]

...The question has to be asked - Does Oceania stand by any of the products sold on board?...

Essentially, no. The boutiques are operated by third party companies. They are not part of Oceania, and their staff are not employed by Oceania. They do pay a portion of their profits to Oceania, but think of it as rent. Think of a land-based business -- if there is a problem with merchandise, do you look to the landlord, like a mall owner? This problem is purely between the customer and the operator of the boutique. Since Oceania has no part in selecting merchandise, they have no part in the quality or completeness.

[jakes47]

Essentially, no. The boutiques are operated by third party companies. They are not part of Oceania, and their staff are not employed by Oceania. They do pay a portion of their profits to Oceania, but think of it as rent. Think of a land-based business -- if there is a problem with merchandise, do you look to the landlord, like a mall owner? This problem is purely between the customer and the operator of the boutique. Since Oceania has no part in selecting merchandise, they have no part in the quality or completeness.

 

Good to know and very logical but in this case confusion is generated when the Landlord bills you for purchases from the Tenants store - :confused:

[hondorner]

Good to know and very logical but in this case confusion is generated when the Landlord bills you for purchases from the Tenants store - :confused:

Do they? The store places the charge on your account; Oceania has no control over whether the store does so or not, and has only your signed copy of the receipt to know whether you made a purchase or not. The same thing is true with Spa services -- that's not an Oceania activity, also the casino. In these cases Oceania is not billing you; they are acting more or less as a bank, much like Visa or MasterCard is not billing you for your purchases when you receive your credit card statement. The fact that some credit card issuers will help you settle a dispute has nothing to do with the merchandise; it's simply a competitive incentive to get you to use that card.

 

I get you that it would be nice if cruise lines made the same policy to help settle disputes, but I don't think they have the same resources, and once you're on the ship there is no competition. Switching to a different cruise line won't help, as most have the same policy.

 

OP's primary plan of action should have been to call the operator of the boutique. Oceania aided her by supplying the name of the operator. According to OP's latest post, "--- I've made no calls to London to Harding but I think now is the time."

 

In OP's second post on this thread, she said, "Gladys, at customer service at O said the headquarters for the store, which is Harding in London, would be in touch with me two weeks ago. "

 

So, Gladys not only supplied Harding's name, she made contact with Harding for the OP. It's not Gladys's, or anyone else at Oceania, fault that Harding never followed up. Oceania can't make Harding call. Seems to me that Oceania did what it could, and doesn't deserve to be blamed for OP's failure to understand the situation and take action against the responsible party.

[Noxequifans]

Logical post by hondorner.

[Pandora1958]

Well you all, how do you like this? People complain so O refunds their money on a fully paid cruise and tells them they are not welcome on O OR NCL..

 

Guess I'll have to eat it.

 

We used to be the biggest fans of Oceania in the only 4 years or so we've been cruising we went on three Oceania cruises. Sadly I believe they aren't good at admitting mistakes and feel they are to go to do so. We went on a cruise from Barcelona to RIO and it was beautiful. We decided to buy a couple pieces of Art on the cruise. Not cheap pieces and not horribly expensive. It had been a few months since we heard anything about the art we bought so we contacted Oceania and they said there was some delays and it should be coming soon. We waited another few months and called again. Oceania said they located the art and it was on it's way. We did finally receive the art and loved it. We then realized what we purchased was not authentic and had no certificates to prove it. Oceania gave us a run around about the art. We told them we just wanted them to return the items as the policy stated we could. They would not return the items as they said our time ran out. We contacted them the day it arrived. Oceania after a few months of frustration said they would return our money. We shipped the items back and they refunded the money. During the time we waited we did some research into the problems with the Art. Oceania before we even got the art filed a lawsuit against the art dealer though used onboard. The actually sent their clients fake art completely knowing they did so. Then they tried to act like they had no idea. Oceania didn't apologize or anything but what they did do was cancel our next cruise which was already booked and paid for. They said we don't want you on Oceania or NCL cruises. I'm appalled that this is how Oceania treats people and we wrote a letter to Frank Del Rio and he said he agreed with the decision. He's now the CEO of NCL also. This is really the way they do business? I hope there's not people out there that got art off either of these lines and it's a fake. Not a first class line anymore.

 

Any comments Don???

[StanandJim]

What you don't seem to realize, or perhaps you do but pretend not to, is that there are unscrupulous persons out there who will abuse, ney rape every possible loophole in order to gain a monetary advantage over certain businesses. To the common reader these people go to very extreme, almost unbelievable measures, and then prey on the naiveté and sympathy of the general public when making their "case".

 

As an example, we recently had a situation, here on Cruise Critic, where a Passenger was making multiple (read MANY MANY dozens) of duplicate reservations in order to have "bargaining chips" when he negotiated for the lowest fares on those Cruises on which he did intend to sail.

 

The actions of this gentleman resulted directly in the increased Deposit Policy (particularly for the big Suites) and the implementation of the Deposit Cancellation Penalties. Unfortunately for those of us who would love to thank him in person, he is now persona non grata on any Line affiliated with Oceania.

 

In short, it is ludicrous to believe that the anonymous art collector in your story was banned simply because he disagreed with the Art return policy, even if he was vociferous in his complaints.

There has to be something more.....and much more unpleasant, in his dealings with the Line. The threshold is simply not that low.

 

Edited September 16, 2015 by StanandJim

[LHT28]

Well you all, how do you like this? People complain so O refunds their money on a fully paid cruise and tells them they are not welcome on O OR NCL..

 

Guess I'll have to eat it.

 

 

Why were you banned ?

or are you just copying posts for other people?

Not sure what you agenda is here :rolleyes:

[hondorner]

...Any comments Don???

You bet. I don't believe a word of it. Oceania does not sell the art, choose the art nor is responsible for shipping it.

 

For anyone who buys art on board a ship and expects it to be "real", I have a really great bridge for sale -- your choice, Brooklyn or Golden Gate.

[cbb]

Mr. H-

 

glad to see you back safely from your road trip!

 

btw....i always like to use the example of "London Bridge" which was sold by the City of London in the 60s and rebuilt in Lake Havasu, Arizona!!!

 

Dude who bought it actually had a "river" built under it so the bridge had a job! (ok....history lesson of weird stuff over!!!) c

[Paulchili]

Mr. H-

 

glad to see you back safely from your road trip!

 

btw....i always like to use the example of "London Bridge" which was sold by the City of London in the 60s and rebuilt in Lake Havasu, Arizona!!!

 

Dude who bought it actually had a "river" built under it so the bridge had a job! (ok....history lesson of weird stuff over!!!) c

 

I think Don is referring to Mr. Parker :D

 

http://mikethehistoryguy.blogspot.com/2013/04/and-if-you-believe-that-i-have-bridge.html