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Local Items: Bonaire Superstore Warning
Bonaire Talk: Local Items: Archives: Archives 2007: Archives - 2007-01-01 to 2007-06-30: Bonaire Superstore Warning
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Patricia Anderson (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #5) on Wednesday, June 20, 2007 - 10:59 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hello Everyone
We'd like to tell our story in the hopes that it will save someone else from going through the same type of situation. We have an apartment on Bonaire & we live in the US. While we were in Bonaire in March we purchased a lot of things for the apartment from the Superstore, including a refrigerator and a dishwasher. We explained to the owner, Lalit, that we needed to have electric & plumbing done for the appliances & asked if he could hold off delivering until the work was done. He assured us that it was no problem, just email him when we want the items delivered. We have been trying to get delivery now for 2 weeks, still no appliances. After not responding to our emails, we started calling him. When he DID give an excuse we gave him the benefit of the doubt, we didn't give him the delivery address, just the resort name (maybe he doesn't get out much & doesn't know know where the resort is), we didn't give him the resort phone number (perhaps he's misplaced his phonebook), delivery trucks do break down and employees do miss work, etc, etc. It was when he told us that his truck was at the resort that manages our apartment for 1 1/2 hours and there was no one there, we began to suspect that he may have been feeding us a line all along. At this point we feel our intelligence is being questioned, BUT we email the manager who confirms what we already knew, they were there from 8AM until 11PM and the contractor was working in our apartment all day long. Being thousands of miles away, we feel so helpless, it's totally frustrating. This could start costing us money, how can we rent our apartment without the appliances?!
Moral of story: If you're going to buy from the Superstore, take it with you as the delivery service is lousy!!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Vince DePietro (Bellevue Condos # 9) (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #968) on Wednesday, June 20, 2007 - 11:20 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Reminds me of the novel "Don't stop the carnival".
Really, my sympathies..There's no excuse for this.
You may want to hire someone down there to act as your intermediary. Good luck.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ann Phelan - www.bonairecaribbean.com (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #2758) on Wednesday, June 20, 2007 - 4:51 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Make sure the store offers warranties.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Patricia Anderson (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #6) on Wednesday, June 20, 2007 - 5:11 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Vince, our muscle went down there today, our real estate agent, big Bob. He left with a promise of delivery by 6PM today. We'll see how intimidation works!

Ann, at this point even if there were warranties, I'm not sure it would do us any good as this man has not proven to be a very honorable person at all. We'll just have to hope that the appliances last!

Thank you both for your comments, will keep you posted.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Susan Davis, InfoBonaire, Bon. Insider (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #143) on Thursday, June 21, 2007 - 8:39 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

I don't have a lot of experience with the Superstore myself, but for future appliance purchases, I highly recommend Cash at Omni in Kralendijk.

I purchased a frig from him last year. At 11:00 AM on the Saturday before Christmas Eve, and the two Christmas Holidays, I noted it was warming up. Knowing I wouldn't get anyone out before Wednesday, I paniced and called Cash. He had a technician out within 20 minutes and all the food was saved.

This is the kind of exemplary service one does not often find on Bonaire, so I heartily recommend Cash at Omni.

Susan

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Patricia Anderson (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #7) on Thursday, June 21, 2007 - 11:00 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thank you Susan, I will keep Cash in mind for any future purchases.

Update: Bob is my hero, my appliances were delivered shortly after his visit to the Superstore :-)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Patricia Anderson (BonaireTalker - Post #14) on Thursday, June 28, 2007 - 10:47 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

The saga continues....they delivered the wrong frige & the dishwasher was missing parts & the wrong MH. We were assured the the dishwasher was ready to be installed & 50MH. So, we're waiting for the frige to be switched and have to buy a hose, cord, and transformer for the dishwasher (just too beat down to fight about it) :-( Please let this post save someone else from this nightmare so mine is not in vain!!!!!!!!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Patricia Anderson (BonaireTalker - Post #27) on Wednesday, September 19, 2007 - 12:10 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Well folks...the saga continues. We've had the fridge in the apartment for less than 2 months & it has quit working. Our manager's were told they needed the receipt, when they showed up with the receipt they were told there was nothing that could be done. The person who spoke with my managers was rude to them, can you imagine that, what have they done to be treated like that? The receipt says there's a 3 month warranty, why is there nothing that can be done to help? Does anyone know a good lawyer on Bonaire? It's time someone stops this guy from ripping people off. We can't afford to buy a refrigerator every few months. We have a refrigerator that's 17 years old, one we bought used that's over 25 years old, and my parents have one in their cottage from the 50's! Appliances are made to last a heck of a lot longer than 2 months, expecially when you pay a good price for them. Of course, he didn't deliver the one we actually bought, so we really have no idea what we actually got! Will keep everyone updated and I'm serious about that lawyer, I'm looking for recommendations.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Patricia Anderson (BonaireTalker - Post #29) on Friday, October 5, 2007 - 1:01 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Update on refrigerator. After a second fax reminder from my managers, the Super Store has exchanged the broken refrigerator for a new one. The replacement is actually 220v, which is what we bought in the first place. Hoping & praying the new fridge continues to work.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By YucatanPat (BonaireTalker - Post #40) on Saturday, October 6, 2007 - 12:42 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Patricia, as a Bt'er that will be in need soon on Bonaire, Thank You for the continued updates.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Vince DePietro (Bellevue Condos ) (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1090) on Saturday, October 6, 2007 - 6:43 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Patricia..Out of curiosity was an electrical converter/transformer used with the American made fridge before connecting it?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Patricia Anderson (BonaireTalker - Post #30) on Saturday, October 6, 2007 - 8:02 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Vince...The refrigerator we bought was a 220v, so we paid to have a line ran. Then they delivered a 110v refrigerator! So we paid for a transformer. Now, we have a 220v refrigerator & I supposed an extra transformer. That was one of the things that made us so angry, we specifically paid to have a 220 line ran for the unit we bought & then they deliver a 110! Now we're back to where we should have been at the beginning. We also had to buy the electrical cord & one of the hoses for the dishwasher, which Lalit told us was all ready to hook up & use. Since this has happened to us & I've been posting on here, I've gotten several emails from others that have had similar experiences or know of someone who has. This has been a very expensive & stressful experience for us, not to mention a huge inconvenience to our managers. By posting my story on this site I hope to save others from going through the same nightmare.

 


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