Sandals Customer Service, To Whom It May Concern, Hello, I’m writing you to tell you about the experience my wife and I had on our honeymoon, at the Sandals Halcyon resort in St. Lucia. This was our first stay at a Sandals resort and Im pretty sure it’s going to be our last, theres not a lot of good things I have to say about our stay. I can’t get over how many issues we had. We dealt with so many things that a couple should not have to deal with on their honeymoon. All I keep thinking about is the amount of money we spent to go away to this luxurious all-inclusive resort getaway and all the problems that we had with our room and service, it’s unbelievable. To start it off, we arrived on the 5th of November to start our honeymoon, upon reaching our room we found there was no honeymoon package that we signed up for. OK no problem there was some mix-up and they said it didn’t say anything about our honeymoon package in our paperwork, but they would take care of it. I have the online transcript from when I booked the trip where we set up the honeymoon package and also when we sent our wedding invitation to your company by email as requested so, I don’t know why the package wasn’t listed. But, they said they would take care of it. Well that was just the start. So, after unpacking and settling in we took a brief walk around and sat at the bistro for a few minutes to relax after the long day of travel. As we sat there watching the sun go down and the ocean a gentleman walking along the beach 15ft from us proceeded to scream and yell at us about something, whether he was trying to sell us something or he had a problem with us I couldn’t tell you he was obnoxious and sounded angry, it was quite unpleasent. He didn’t appear to friendly with his tone and continued to yell for about 10mins straight completely ruining the romantic mood. We were told these people who walk the beach are locals who are allowed by the resort on the beach to help their local economy. Ok find I get it it is their Island but they should have guidelines or just plain sales etiquette taught to them because we literately avoided the beach at the halcyon our entire stay because every time you were on the side walk or even looked towards the beach there were groups of locals standing there yelling to you with absolutely no respect or regard to your privacy, one guy made some comment about my wife after I told him no thanks while we were trying to take a romantic walk along the beach. But once again we didn’t make it out to the sand I can honestly say I did’t set one foot on the beach at the Halcyon, not one. Thats incredible to me because I love the beach and would have loved to relax in the beautiful sand and water. But, Im getting off topic after our “lovely” time at the bistro where we got yelled at. We went back to our room to shower before dinner. Unfortunately our shower was broken we enjoyed a shower that went from hot to cold to scalding all throughout our showers. I told the front desk about it the next morning where they sent a maintenance worker to fix it. I told him the mixing valve was bad and after 30mins he agreed removed it and came back with another one that looked used probably from another room and installed it. I find it hard to believe that a resort of your caliber doesn’t have parts like that for repairs that they used another used valve instead of solving the problem once and for all with a new one. I work in construction in NY and have worked for large apartment complexes and replacement parts like mixing valves are always on hand because they break from time to time and need to be replaced which is fine but it needs to be fixed correctly with the correct parts. Well we had one shower where it worked and then the rest of our trip was the same HOT, COLD, SCALDING cycle. It was absolutely ridiculous to me that we couldn’t take a hot shower the rest of our trip at such a luxurious resort. Then, after we got out of our shower we noticed that bugs were all over our walls, some type of ant or something I actually have video of the bugs marching across our walls and ceiling. Really this is not a good start. So, we called the front desk and informed them of this issue too. They sent some women down with a can of bug killer, and they told asked us to step outside so they could spray the room, and that we might want to wait a while before coming back so the smell subsides. I said absolutely not, all our clothes were out and hung our personal belongings were out and I really didn’t like the idea of sleeping on a bed that has a layer of bug spray on it. Would you like that on your first night of your honeymoon? I’m sorry but this was NOT what we were expecting when we booked our honeymoon at this luxurious all-inclusive resort. So like the broken shower we had all week we also had bugs staying with us all week. I know the Tuesday before we left they went around with the exterminators fogging the outsides of the buildings. The first night we went to Kelly's Dockside restaurant and felt the staff tried to trick us into ordering bottles of wine never telling us they cost extra just that we could bring them back to room if we didn’t finish them, luckily while we were ordering them we questioned if there was an extra charge that’s when the waiter reluctantly told us well of course. Im sorry I thought this was all inclusive this is my first trip to an all inclusive resort I was completely unaware but apparently I should of know this. So I told him I would like to just have what was included so he took our drink order and that was the last we saw of him. No drinks were brought to us. about 10 mins later a different waiter approached and asked us what we would like to drink??? Apparently if we weren’t spending extra money on alcohol he didn’t want to be bothered with us, so our drink order was never put in. Well that was the first time we were made to feel uncomfortable on our paradise getaway. Not to mention the quality of the food was not what we expected to be honest our salad was shredded lettuce and the steak seem like a cheap frozen steak. It wasn’t a great first meal. So at this point no honeymoon welcome package or outstanding romantic dinner. Now we go back to our room after dinner and are getting ready for bed still with no honeymoon package on our first night of our honeymoon and find there is so much dirt ground into our carpet that I literally had to sit on the side of the bed and scrape the dirt off my feet before getting into it. I mean if thats not romantic I don’t know what is, right? I’m sorry but that is disgusting I’ve stayed at $89 a night hotels back at home that were cleaner then this. Not to mention the beautiful water stains that were all over our wall where our air conditioner drips down now that was classy. Im sorry I’m trying not to be sarcastic but we tried and tried to make the best of our stay on our honeymoon, and look past this stuff. But after the trip was over it just made me angry that why should I have to try and make the best of our honeymoon after paying over 4 thousand dollars to stay in such a luxurious all inclusive resort.????? I should be able to take a hot shower, I shouldn’t have to clean my feet off before climbing into my bed at night I shouldn’t have bugs crawling all over my room. I shouldn’t have to look at big ugly water stains on my almost $600. a night resort hotel room. Should I??? But that’s exactly what we did. But wait theres more. The next day we had mentioned again at the front desk that we didn’t get our honeymoon package. Well, later that day it arrived in the form of a gentleman who knocked on our door and asked us for our ice bucket and scooped ice out of a little blue cooler into our ice bucket on our doorstep and handed it back to us with a bottle of champagne. Again I ask you isn’t that the most romantic honeymoon package you can imagine? That was it!!! So again we let it go and tied to make the best of it cause we didn't want to be mad and upset on my honeymoon. Our second night we were going to Mario’s for dinner, we got showered up in that wonderful shower and headed over. We walked into the restaurant and stood there for a couple of minutes by the podium waiting to be seated. We observed 3 waitresses standing on the other side of the room just talking and looking over at us. I was wondering why nobody was coming to seat us. Eventually, one of the ladies came over to seat us and after asking us our room number which was room 304 just in case you want to verify any of our issues. She then proceeds to tell me I’m not appropriately dressed to dine at Mario's. She tells me a collard shirt is required. I explained to her in the dress attire guidelines in our daily newspaper it stated collar or no collar for Mario's restaurant. She said sorry but we cannot serve you unless you go change. Let me tell you how embarrassing it is to be rejected like that at the restaurant in-front of other tables dining right next to us watching as we were asked to leave. I was made to feel like I was a piece of garbage in-front of my wife and other guests at “your” resort. I say “your” resort because I found it funny how they said welcome home when we arrived but didn’t make us feel very welcome. This was the straw that broke the camels back. I was done with trying to make the best of my honeymoon something I should of never tried to do. I immediately went to the front desk to speak to a manager about all the issues we were having. We waited in the lobby and two managers came to talk to us I let them know about the shower issue, the bugs, our honeymoon package and how it was presented to us a day late. How dirty our rug was and how it carries into our bed from our feet. How un-welcomed we felt at Mario’s. We were told that yes you do need a collar for Mario’s where I grabbed a paper right off the lobby counter and opened it up and read where it says collar or no collar. I was wearing nice jeans, dress shoes, and a solid black v-neck shirt. I felt pretty dressy for a hot humid tropical environment. I wasn’t wearing shorts or swim trunks or logo t-shirts nothing like that. But, the manager did say he would make an accommodation for us and have someone serve us at a table outside the restaurant. I declined. He said he would get someone to clean the room right away and change our bed sheets. We went back to the room all stressed out when a maid shows up at our door she acted as if she had no idea as to why she was there. We informed her that our bed needed to be changed. And asked her if she had a vacuum that the floor was filthy and needed to be cleaned also. We left the room and caught the first bus out of the halcyon we saw to La Toc. Still in the mood for Italian dinner we went to Armando's Italian Restaurant. We arrived at Armando’s and to our surprise this place was beautiful, very nice, classy a lot nicer of an establishment then Mario’s and your not going to believe this. At this restaurant which was a lot nicer and had the same dress code as Mario’s there were people who were wearing logo - t-shirts, cargo shorts and sneakers even v-neck t-shirts and they were being treated with respect and served with class. They were not made to feel embarrassed or unwelcome. It was how someone should be treated after spending all this money to vacation somewhere. Not to mention the food at the Grand and La Toc are a night and day difference to the food that is served at the halcyon. I feel like the halcyon is an older resort that Sandals doesn’t put much money into, I found it funny that you would have to wait at the biggest bar in the halcyon resort for drinks because they only had one blender. Your telling me the rates you charge a night and you can’t get more the one blender at a bar? It’s obvious that the food suppliers and or chefs are of a different caliber at the Grand and La Toc. I challenge you to go to dinner or lunch at the halcyon and then go to The Grand or La Toc and compare the meals it’s a night and day difference of service and quality. So after dinner at La Toc’s Armando’s Restaurant we caught the shuttle back to the Halcyon. We arrived at our room to see they changed our sheets and placed rose petals on the bed for our honeymoon package. As we were getting ready to get into bed we noticed with the first step on the carpet that it was still filthy. OK we will let that go AGAIN and try to enjoy our second night. As we pulled the covers down to get into bed there was dirt all over the sheets in our bed DIRT!! Again how romantic and to top it off. There was a huge stain on the comforter that I’m not even going to try to guess what it was. And again I have pictures of all of these things if you’d like to see them. At this point again we called the front desk and asked them to send a manager to our room to show them these issues. The two managers we spoke with earlier came along with another gentlemen who said he was the night manager. He was very nice and he agreed with us that our complaints were valid as I showed him the bugs as they still were crawling all over our walls. I told him about our shower, I even showed them how dirty my feet were just from walking on the carpet in our room for a matter of minutes before they got there my feet were discolored from dirt and actually had dirt stuck all over them. Now I’m expected to get into my bed with that, I have to scrape the dirt off my feet every night before getting into bed. They never vacuum they just sweep around the rug and that’s it. I told him how our champagne was delivered and now we just got rose petals on a dirty bed. Also, another thing was we paid to get wifi in the room so we could make calls to our 8 year old daughter back home while we were away. We had to make several calls to tech support because we couldn’t get our phones to connect to wifi it would take about 30 mins every time we wanted to use it to connect and we were paying extra for this service. Not to mention knowing that starting dec 1st it was going to be offered free to all guests not just the higher class guests and it was less then a month away but we had to pay for it? And it didn’t work most of the time. But, back to the dirty bed the manager said he would have someone come down and change our bed sheets again right away. This was at 10:30 we sat there and waited until 11:30 before someone arrived to change our sheets. Needless to say this wasn’t a very romantic night either. But, to top it off the gentlemen that arrived to change our sheets an hour later pulled our old ones off put on a new fitted sheet and proceeded to put the quilt comforter on-top of the fitted sheet with no top sheet or blanket that we had previously. We had asked him if there was another sheet to put on before the quilt and he acted as if he didn’t understand what we were saying, as if he didn’t speak english? We asked him if he knew how to make a bed and to be clear it was not in a sarcastic or disrespectful way either. We asked if he normally does this type of work here and he kind of shook his head and said No, I guess thats the only person they had on site to send to our room. We actually felt bad for him cause he seemed to feel uncomfortable, which I can’t blame him because two people are sitting there staring at him exhausted waiting to get in bed. Ultimately we just took the sheets that he brought and made the bed ourselves. We actually made our own bed at 11:30 at night on our honeymoon at your luxurious resort. I feel like we paid over 4 thousand dollars to come and work for your resort for free… Can you believe after all this 11:30 at night your guests were making their own bed. I guess they mean it when they say welcome home. Another issue we had was we were given a $300 red lane spa credit when we originally booked our trip and when we arrived we wanted to schedule that so we went to the front desk and they booked it for us and we asked if they could make sure of our credit, they called and confirmed there was a $300 credit. So we went to our appointment which was at1pm we arrived at 12:30 to utilize the sauna before our massages and they told us we were late that our appointment was for 12 but we had our reservation slip from Halcyon where they booked it, that confirmed it wasn’t our mistake it was their mistake, even though we were made to feel like we messed up at the desk at red lane, which was a real nice way to make your customers feel, I guess the customer is always right doesn’t apply in St. Lucia. So we had our massage everything was great, but then we had to go back to the front desk the afternoon before we left because we got our bill and guess what they billed us for our spa treatment, so again we had to go and deal with yet another issue that we had already dealt with they had to call again and verify that we had the credit which we did. I just can’t understand why this is so hard, why is there so many issues. Part of me wonders if this is done to see how many people don’t catch it and just pay the tab at the end. I don’t know I hope that’s not the case. Im sorry, I apologize for being sarcastic, but I just can’t get over the fact that I feel like we booked a trip at one of your luxurious all-inclusive resorts and we had so many issues. I can’t get over it. In all fairness a manager by the name of Kurt Weeks contacted us the next day to follow up with our problems. He was very polite and understanding he agreed and sympathized with us and told us this is not how our trip should be going. He said he would comp our internet because the connection was so bad, which was nice of him, it was the least he could do. But we still had poor internet connection the rest of the week, but at least our hassle of connecting to the wifi was free. At this point I would like to tell you how the rest of our week went. We woke up took our hot, cold, scalding shower got dressed and waited for the bus to take us to the Grand hung out at the Grand during the day then took a bus back to they Halcyon did the shower thing again and went and waited for the bus to go to La Toc for dinner. Now I must say it was nice to have the option to go and visit the other resorts if we wanted to but it would of been nice to have felt like our resort was equally as nice to stay at but unfortunately going to the other resorts felt more like a necessity then an option to us. We felt like we were always rushing to catch a shuttle, not what we had in mind for our honeymoon rushing was not on our list of things to do when we booked this trip. We are so disappointed with our memories of our one and only honeymoon. I do have to say that the third or fourth night we finally got our honeymoon package and I know you probably think I’m just a complainer but I will give credit where credit is due and I’m pretty sure Kurt Weeks had something to do with it. We arrived home from the Grand and we were rushing to get showered and changed to get to the shuttle out of the halcyon and over to La Toc when we walked in our room there were rose petals everywhere they had candles burning everywhere music was playing there was a bubble bath drawn with more rose petals and candles. And I have to say it was very romantic and over the top and appreciated. And I personally thanked Kurt for that the next day., But it didn’t change the fact that we got that over-the-top honeymoon package because of all the other short comings of our trip. Also while Im giving compliments I would like to point out a woman that worked for the housekeeping department, I believe her name was Jean Marie I’m not sure if I’m spelling it right but I told Kurt and Ill tell you she had come up to me one day when we were waiting for the shuttle to go to the Grand or La Toc and I had only met her once or twice in passing and she remembered me and came to ask me how things were going that she heard we had some issues, and she was truly genuine and concerned for us and our stay which is how our treatment should be and although at that point the damage had been done it was truly appreciated she was very kind and genuine and should be commended for that. And trust me I was very grateful for that one night because it’s the only time the whole trip that it actually felt like our honeymoon. Other then that we were so disappointed with Sandals and don’t think we will ever stay at another sandals resort again. Now for the rest of our lives together this experience is our memory of our honeymoon pretty pathetic especially when we paid so much for it, you spend that kind of money you almost think its full proof guaranteed great time we were wrong. We feel like we stayed at one of St. Lucia's older forgotten Sandals resorts that Sandals really doesn’t care about any more. We joked that the Halcyon was the resort where if a worker got in trouble at one of the other resorts they would get sent to the Halcyon for punishment. Im truly sorry our life as husband and wife started out like this. On the bright side it can only get better from here on out. Also we found it funny on our shuttle back to the airport to fly home another couple we were talking to had mentioned that they had some minor issue when they first got there and the resort had credited them back several hundred dollars for their trouble and all we got was comped internet. Unbelievable. We should have gotten a full refund for our trip if it wasn’t our honeymoon and I wasn’t trying to make the best of it I would have taken a taxi back to the airport and flew home early. It felt like our honeymoon was work, we had to deal with so many things that was your staffs job not ours. I feel like we got ripped off.Wasn’t worth the price of admission at all. No beach cause locals harassed you if you went near it, No pest free room No properly working shower No Honeymoon Package to start off our trip on the right foot. No Respect given to the customer at the Halcyon Restaurants No Good Wifi Connection No vacuum cleaners to clean the rugs No Respectable looking room that didn’t have water stains running down the wall No Credits unless you ask for confirmation over and over and over No Clean Sheets I could go on but Im getting upset re-living our experience….. Again Sorry to be a complainer not what I wanted to do, I wish I could of written you a letter telling how you guys showed us an amazing time. Treated us like valued guests, provided us with top of the line service we paid for but unfortunately I can’t. Thank you for hearing me out. If you would like the photos feel free to ask I will gladly send them to you. I know this is a customer service email, I would like it if you could provide me with a corporate email contact so i could express my concerns with them too please. Thank you again for your time. Have a great day.. And I can't get any type of corporate contact all I can deal with is the customer service reps that could care less heres their response letter to be fair where they just justify the issues make it sound like we had a blast because I thanked someone for doing what they should have done in the first place halfway through our stay unbelievable but here it is read for yourself and you can decide for yourself if you want to take this gamble. We acknowledge receipt of your correspondence dated November 17, giving us feedback from your recent honeymoon at Sandals Halcyon. It is regretful that we were not informed prior to your arrival that you were honeymooners; this resulted in the honeymoon package not being in your room on the day of your arrival. However when this was brought to our attention, an escapade was done in the room on November 7th. We do regret any inconvenience you may have experienced as a result of the persistency of the local vendors. Even though these vendors are generally friendly and are not a threat to our guests’ safety, we must concede that they do interfere with their sense of privacy and peacefulness at times. All beaches in St. Lucia re public, therefore we have no legal jurisdiction over their free movement on our shores, however, every effort is made on our part to provide maximum security for our guests and to restrict their daily activities on the property. We have also posted Security personnel at strategic points along the beach and throughout the resort and Patrol Security are also on duty on a 24-hour basis, which we do hope will allay any fear our guests may have during their stay. Although we have a preventative maintenance program in place, sometimes malfunction with toilets, showers, taps etc. may occur, at which point our maintenance department makes every effort to rectify the problem. If the problem cannot be rectified in timely manner, the clients are offered a room change. We can assure you that situations such as this one, is not typical of the high quality of service offered at Sandals and wishes to apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Insects are indigenous to the Caribbean and the tropical climate makes us susceptible to their intrusion. One of the greatest challenges we face with maintaining an open-air resort is keeping insects at bay. With rooms opening into gardens, there will be insects in our tropical setting that find their way inside. Every effort is made to minimize their presence on property through a continuous pest control program. In certain Restaurants, we do have a moderate dress code observed in order to preserve the ambiance of fine dining. This dress code is well documented and to avoid offence, all guests are encouraged to adhere to the dress code. For those guests preferring a more informal and relaxed dress code, our outdoor Restaurants adopt such a policy. We have noted your comment as it relates to the wine waiter and beverage service. These points have been addressed with the Beverage Manager. Clients must be notified before offering the Managers Wine List that the managers wine list is not part of the all inclusive package We were surprised to receive your letter of complaint as you had expressed your concerns to Kurt Weekes whilst you were on property at which time you brought to his attention all the issues you mentioned in your letter. Mr. Weekes apologised to you and he reassured you that he would take care of your concerns. As a goodwill gesture he extended to you complimentary internet service. On the evening of Monday 10th November 2014, Mr. Weekes was summoned to the front desk by one of the front office attendants who explained that you requested to speak to him. Mr. Weekes met you in the lobby where you expressed your gratitude for all that had been done. You informed Mr. Weekes that after you spoke with him everything, going forward, went smoothly; your room was cleaner, your honeymoon package was delivered, and the room was set up like a true honeymooners accommodation. You also expressed your thanks to the housekeeper Anne Marie who had done a fantastic job and given you exceptional service. Mr. Weekes thanked you for sharing your review and reminded you that he was there to assist further till your departure. Mr. Weekes saw you again on the morning of your departure where you reassured me that everything was going good. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience you may have experienced during your stay with us, we hope you will give us another opportunity to host you again at this or any other Sandals or Beaches resort. Thank you for choosing Sandals Halcyon as your honeymoon destination. Yours sincerely, _______________ Lennox Dupal General Manager