Diamonds International Onboard Shopper.

[CarolynU]

I debarked the WBPC in March and a lady I met through an online forum group bought a ring in Cabo San Lucas after this store was recommended by the DCL onboard personal shopper.This lady was in the Diamonds International shop and witnessed this store allegedly telling her all sorts about their exchange/refund policy which my friend now claims is false. She purchased a ring for $1500 but by the time she got home it was already missing diamonds as they’d fallen out.
She has had the value of the ring appraised locally to her and it’s worth less than half of what she paid and it cannot be resized as they told her it could be.
This company will not refund only give a credit. I have researched on her behalf and every cruise line seems to allow these shoppers who are not Disney employees but third parties have access to their ships to promote this firm.
Has anyone had positive experiences with them as my new found friend is beside herself and feels very foolish for purchasing such an expensive item on the spur of the moment and now has buyers remorse.

 

[algae]

Sorry for your friend's experience. You _can_ get good deals from DI if you know what you want and can tell the difference between what they have versus what you can get elsewhere. Otherwise, don't buy stuff from them (same thing applies to buying at home.) Once you realize that the same stores are magically in every port whether US, Bahamas, Caribbean, Mexico, etc you should be very skeptical. Further, the shopping people always tell you they don't work for the cruise line, but are 3rd party sales people (including some of the people selling stuff in the onboard shops!) We bought one piece from DI and another from the 3rd party onboard sales people on one of our sailings and we are happy with them. No, I did not have them appraised because I think I paid a fair price at the time and that's all I need to enjoy the pieces. No need for proof that I was a sucker Much safer to buy name brand stuff like watches since you can look up prices from your phone to compare.

 

[CarolynU]

Thank you for this information. I’ve sent it on to my friend. It seems to me as if the terms are quite explicitly stated on this.
Exchange or repair. No refund.
This lady who I’d never met pre cruise was also sharing a stateroom with someone who she had never met but was part of this online group and I think that perhaps she might have taken all the information that was placed in the stateroom pre port arrival or maybe she saw it but didn’t read it as she wasn’t expecting to buy anything and this was just an impulse purchase. It’s turned out to be a very expensive mistake.

 

[starvenger]

Yeah unfortunate lesson learned there.

I basically go into DI because they generally have some sort of free drinks in there. I think we saw one or two items we liked once but the price they quoted us was too high to even start bargaining.

 

[CarolynU]

I’m not sure she even got a free drink ha ha! Although if she did that’s cost her $1500.
I was absolutely astonished when she showed it to me once back on board. She bought it as a surprise gift for her daughters 18th birthday which is in July and apparently they told her in the shop that it could be re-sized from a 7 to a 4 but once home she found out that it can’t without effecting the integrity of the ring and as I said diamonds had already fallen out. She is mortified. DI are standing firm by their no refund for any reason policy.

 

[lorimay]

Wow! Thats awful, I'm sorry for her.

 

[starvenger]

So I guess the question now is how much she paid to get the ring fixed up properly?

As for the shopping experts I don't really have a problem with them specifically. They're doing the job they were hired for and I've no problem with that.

I do, however, find fault with the cruise lines for not letting people know that the experts are glorified shills for the shops they represent.

 

[CarolynU]

It’s hard to witness really because she is a lovely person but isn’t wealthy at all and she messages me a lot sometimes in tears about it. It’s a hard lesson learnt for sure and she says that she genuinely had no idea that the shopping guide didn’t work for Disney so trusted them. I’m afraid she isn’t an experienced cruiser and has just been naive about the whole situation and fell for the hard sell.

 

[CarolynU]

So I guess the question now is how much she paid to get the ring fixed up properly?

As for the shopping experts I don't really have a problem with them specifically. They're doing the job they were hired for and I've no problem with that.

I do, however, find fault with the cruise lines for not letting people know that the experts are glorified shills for the shops they represent.

Yes I agree. I see that it’s clearly stated in that written guide but the lady who she shared a stateroom with who as I said she didn’t know pre cruise tended to take everything that was placed in the room so perhaps my friend didn’t ever see anything at all and just saw the cruise guide with a Disney name badge standing outside the shop and was persuaded to go inside. Then once inside she fell for the selling technique which more experienced cruisers wouldn’t.

 

[Rob1872]

(A) When a shopper comes in from a cruise referral, the referring agent is going to get a commission.
(B) The store is going to have to raise the cost of what they were going to charge you in order to keep the same profit after paying the commission.
(C) Anyone who believes that the stores are going to provide special discounts to the cruise customers to recognize their loyal patronage is validating the concept of, "There is a sucker born every minute".

Having said that, it would be nice if DCL would skip this particular revenue stream to not let these vultures prey upon their customers; however, the fact that they still do it would imply to me that there is still a demand from the sheep that want to be fleeced.

 

[CarolynU]

I think DI have offered to replace the diamonds but she must pay a hefty insurance fee to return it so she will be out more money and according to some reviews losing stones is fairly frequent with DI so she is then worried that the same thing will keep happening again and again.

 

[CarolynU]

(A) When a shopper comes in from a cruise referral, the referring agent is going to get a commission.
(B) The store is going to have to raise the cost of what they were going to charge you in order to keep the same profit after paying the commission.
(C) Anyone who believes that the stores are going to provide special discounts to the cruise customers to recognize their loyal patronage is validating the concept of, "There is a sucker born every minute".

Having said that, it would be nice if DCL would skip this particular revenue stream to not let these vultures prey upon their customers; however, the fact that they still do it would imply to me that there is still a demand from the sheep that want to be fleeced.

I know that and you know that but sadly this lady is what I would term a very inexperienced traveller anywhere and doesn’t even live in a big city so I would classify her as gullible rather than a sucker. Or maybe those terms mean the same thing?

 

[CarolynU]

I too wish that Disney stopped this revenue stream.
DI have pretty bad reviews on multiple sites and the Better Business Bureau have a red warning about them so I don’t think that DCL should endorse them really even if only one of their guests get fleeced! That’s one too many, but of course the old phrase buyer beware holds true!

 

[Rob1872]

I know that and you know that but sadly this lady is what I would term a very inexperienced traveller anywhere and doesn’t even live in a big city so I would classify her as gullible rather than a sucker. Or maybe those terms mean the same thing?

Agreed that gullible (or trusting) would be an appropriate term; I just was quoting something attributed to PT Barnum

 

[starvenger]

I’m afraid she isn’t an experienced cruiser and has just been naive about the whole situation and fell for the hard sell.

In fairness I almost got sucked into a pyramid scheme once because I thought some people I met were actually trying to help improve my life (i.e. get a better job than the dead end one I had at the time). There are definitely times where you just want to believe in people.

 

[FigmentSpark]

I got stung by DI and the shopper a few years ago. The red flag I should have noticed was when she asked why I was going to claim it at customs and not just pretend I'd bought it years ago. Anyone telling you to break the law should have been a red flag. I was so blinded by my first cruise and the sucking up hard sell they do.

The item I got was worth in Canadian what I'd paid in American and considering the exchange rate was at an all time low then, that's quite a rip off. I had to get it appraised because I wanted to insure it. Now, I rarely wear it, because it's not my style, but I'm stuck with it, although it is a nice piece, just not what I paid for it.

 

[CarolynU]

In fairness I almost got sucked into a pyramid scheme once because I thought some people I met were actually trying to help improve my life (i.e. get a better job than the dead end one I had at the time). There are definitely times where you just want to believe in people.

Yes there’s a fine line between being foolish and trusting. I didn’t and still don’t know this lady well but from what I have learned about her in our messages since the cruise she has a heart of gold. She is a nurse so does a very stresssful job and has so much compassion for the people and the families that she comes in contact with, but in her personal life is easily manipulated. She was easy prey.

 

[CarolynU]

I got stung by DI and the shopper a few years ago. The red flag I should have noticed was when she asked why I was going to claim it at customs and not just pretend I'd bought it years ago. Anyone telling you to break the law should have been a red flag. I was so blinded by my first cruise and the sucking up hard sell they do.

The item I got was worth in Canadian what I'd paid in American and considering the exchange rate was at an all time low then, that's quite a rip off. I had to get it appraised because I wanted to insure it. Now, I rarely wear it, because it's not my style, but I'm stuck with it, although it is a nice piece, just not what I paid for it.

I think that’s exactly what happened in this case. According to her they told her all sorts of stuff verbally all of which has turned out to be untrue, and like you she ignored the red flags that should have been picked up. The more I read about this company in hindsight although I’ve never dealt with them personally their ethics seem low! I am actually surprised that Disney turns a blind eye in the name of additional revenue streaming even though numerous other cruise lines endorse them too. Somehow also naively you think that Disney would be above this. My friend has contacted Disney but they aren’t interested.

 

[starvenger]

DCL and the other cruise lines stay above this by not directly endorsing any of the shopping sites - it all comes through the shopping expert. Doesn't seem like much but it provides plausible deniability.

As for the stores themselves, I'd assume there's a local level of business ethics that they subscribe to, and it's not up to the level that we are used to.

 

[CarolynU]

DCL and the other cruise lines stay above this by not directly endorsing any of the shopping sites - it all comes through the shopping expert. Doesn't seem like much but it provides plausible deniability.

As for the stores themselves, I'd assume there's a local level of business ethics that they subscribe to, and it's not up to the level that we are used to.

Yes absolutely DCL can simply say that these shoppers aren’t affiliated in any way to Disney and are completely independent, but of course that is probably known by the majority but there are a few guests who take no notice or don’t read the information and then the Disney ID that they wear overrules everything.
Disney are protected of course, but it’s a shame that given the reputation of DI in particular on various sites which has been brought to Disney’s attention multiple times you would hope that they took a stand even though other cruise lines don’t.
Disney leads the field in so many areas. Not in this area though.
I also agree that the fact that they are mostly concentrated outside the USA seems to highlight a different set of moral standards. However, DI’s head office is in NY and they have recently opened a store with a slightly different name but still owned by DI in Disney Springs. I wonder if their standards will be higher?