Tuesday, February 25, 2014

st maarten is one of the busiest most popular shopping destinations in the caribbean photo judith roumou


St Maarten is one of the most popular destinations when it comes to shopping for liquor, cheese, jewelry and more. You can shop in Dutch Sint Maarten or French St Martin. Many people believe that the quality bought in French St Martin is better, but I believe that all depends. You must remember that the Dutch Side uses American and the St Maarten guilder. French St Martin uses the Euro. So depending on how you convert your money, you can either gain or lose. The Dutch side with all its ports and tourist initiatives certainly is the more popular destination, but French St Martin is beautiful, and shopping in French St Martin can provide you with a variety that you can find in St Maarten. It's almost preferable that French St Martin remains, the quiet almost 'untouched' side with its historic homes and traditional Old French Ambience. The problem with Dutch St Maarten right now is problems with over development, without even a second glance at the environment. How will we continue to attract millions of tourist, when our attraction is gone?
This is something that we will target Theo Heyliger and Maurice Lake about this election year. As usual Theo is running, and Maurice is hiding.
sigh.......

Sunday, February 2, 2014

I guess Boolchands is Bull- Chance.You're taking a chance with bull quality and sketchy customer service..........................


Okay, I know when I am comparison shopping for electronic and tech goods I can be a bit harsh. But I'm realizing now that many of these Tech stores are so geared towards kissing the tourist butt, that they rarely have time to bother with the local shopper. Even the local shopper who post reviews of their stores to millions. I had to get another a Tablet, tried Boolchands......tried Klass. Honestly Boolchands won because they had better pricing, and a somewhat friendlier staff. Then I had to buy a new Laptop. Boolchands promised me they had what I was looking for, not to expensive at $500. So I went to the bank and stood in line (RBT) got the cash, and came back. Only to be told to wait again, and then to be to be told that they were out of stock. So some might say I have an attitude, but I don't I'm a realist when it comes to Customer Service. I truly believe in good customer service, I guess because I learned Customer Service in the USA first as a bi-lingual telemarketer (horrible job which required you to cold call homes and sell whatever). Then I upgraded to Tele Service, where I didn't have to sell anything just provide quality customer service via the telephone to pre-existing clients. Because there is so much competition in the United States, great customer service is a must. I learned quickly that in sales, the better I was at my job, the more money I made. Even as a server/waitress I could make great money at the so called 'second rate' restaurants. Because I did not rely on commission, I relied on tips. I worked at a Steak and Shake and saved closed to $3000 dollars in two months. And let me explain to those who don't know, Steak and Shake franchises are what are considered to be "dollar restaurants". It's not high end, you receive low tips, but you serve a lot of customers. It didn't matter where I worked, if their was commissions or tips involved, I worked my butt off and provided the BEST customer service. I'm not sure whether the sales people in St Maarten rely on commissions or tips, I truly doubt it, and that would mostly be the fault of cheap owners. When you pay commissions to your staff, you give them incentive to work harder, you get more business, and more money.
I guess it would be smart for me to do an informal survey to find out whether the St Maarten sales people get commissions, I have already found out that many servers DO NOT get tips, management KEEPS their tips, so don't be surprised at the customer service you get at certain restaurants. I have to buy two new cameras. I'm hedging on Sony because when it comes to Carnival and other wild photo sessions in St Maarten, my Sony has shown that it can do some pretty good work.
I will ofcourse share my shopping experiences in search of two new, not expensive cameras that I need to cover the Carnivals and the Regattas.
I do have a VERY expensive Nikon that I got at Boolchands, and I will never do that again. Nikon might be great quality, but if I buy another one it will not be at Bull-Chance, it will be somewhere where there is actual customer service!