Camera PV 2007 » Digital Camera » Robbery at St. Lucia's Windjammer-Landing: Anyone else had trouble?
Robbery at St. Lucia's Windjammer-Landing: Anyone else had trouble?
Question:
Hello, My girlfriend returned from a week long vacation at the Windjammer Landing in St. Lucia (http://www.windjammer-landing.com/) with some bad news. Within just a couple of hours of arriving there, someone had broken into her room and stole a very expensive camera I bought her for Christmas last year (Canon Digital Rebel) along with some jewelry. She had left it in a bag while she went down to the lobby to get something to eat and when she returned she found a footprint that was left on a towel that was on the floor of her balcony. She realized that her camera was gone at that time. I am told the police where involved and that the resorts insurance will cover the camera and give her a reimbursement. Has anyone else had an experience like this? How did the resort handle it? Thanks, Tony
Response:
Good luck with getting reimbursed. A lot of hotels wouldn’t cover that sort of thing. Thanks for posting the story. I’ve stayed at many hotels on various islands in the Caribbean and haven’t had a problem yet. They say that things are often stolen out of rental cars too. Be careful about that.
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Hello, > My girlfriend returned from a week long vacation at the Windjammer > Landing in St. Lucia (http://www.windjammer-landing.com/) with some > bad news. Within just a couple of hours of arriving there, someone had > broken into her room and stole a very expensive camera I bought her > for Christmas last year (Canon Digital Rebel) along with some jewelry. > She had left it in a bag while she went down to the lobby to get > something to eat and when she returned she found a footprint that was > left on a towel that was on the floor of her balcony. She realized > that her camera was gone at that time. I am told the police where > involved and that the resorts insurance will cover the camera and give > her a reimbursement. Has anyone else had an experience like this? How > did the resort handle it? > Thanks, > Tony
Response:
>Good luck with getting reimbursed. A lot of hotels wouldn’t cover that sort >of thing. Thanks for posting the story.
Hi, thanks for your reply. The hotel said they would reimburse but I must admit, I am skeptical this will pan out in our favor, which is why I am posting this message here.
Response:
FYI for anyone who has an interest in how this dilema of ours pans out: At the moment we are waiting for a police report with a Seal on it. Once that happens, we will get a faxed copy and an original will be mailed to us. According to what the acting manager told my girlfriend, once they have the official police report, the Windjammer Landing can file a claim with their insurance company and we can get reimbursed for the items that where stolen from her Villa. Hopefully we will get that police report by the end of the week.
Response:
> FYI for anyone who has an interest in how this dilema of ours pans > out: > At the moment we are waiting for a police report with a Seal on it. > Once that happens, we will get a faxed copy and an original will be > mailed to us. According to what the acting manager told my girlfriend, > once they have the official police report, the Windjammer Landing can > file a claim with their insurance company and we can get reimbursed > for the items that where stolen from her Villa. > Hopefully we will get that police report by the end of the week.
Oh! I see. You have to deal with petty beauracrats that are probably related to the thieves. Good luck.
Response:
The website indicates the rooms had safes. In that case usually ther is some kind of waiver involved. I always use the safe and if whatever valuables I have that doesn’t fit in the safe, I lug around.A few safes nowdays are big enough to fit a laptop and thensome. Dumb not to use them.
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Hello, > My girlfriend returned from a week long vacation at the Windjammer > Landing in St. Lucia (http://www.windjammer-landing.com/) with some > bad news. Within just a couple of hours of arriving there, someone had > broken into her room and stole a very expensive camera I bought her > for Christmas last year (Canon Digital Rebel) along with some jewelry. > She had left it in a bag while she went down to the lobby to get > something to eat and when she returned she found a footprint that was > left on a towel that was on the floor of her balcony. She realized > that her camera was gone at that time. I am told the police where > involved and that the resorts insurance will cover the camera and give > her a reimbursement. Has anyone else had an experience like this? How > did the resort handle it? > Thanks, > Tony
Response:
> Oh! I see. > You have to deal with petty beauracrats that are > probably related to the thieves. > Good luck.
The thought has crossed my mind unfortunatley. I really don’t see why a nation, a 1000 miles away would be willing to "play ball" with some American who got ripped off in their country. On the other hand, I have never been to the caribbean so I have no experience when it comes to the integrity of these people. Tony
Response:
> I always use the safe and if whatever valuables I have that doesn’t fit in > the safe, I lug around.A few safes nowdays are big enough to fit a laptop > and thensome. Dumb not to use them.
She put all she could in the safe, including the telephoto lens she had but could not fit the camera unfortunatley.
Response:
Have you checked with your Home Owners ins. to see if they cover it? I know mine will. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > We’ve been having a hard time getting a hold of folks down there. We > got the run-around from the police. A very rude person told us to call > the police commisioner after several attempts of getting a hold of a > live person. It’s like they where ignoring the call then finally > decided to pick it up. Very strange. The Windjammer Landing has not > contacted us as of yet either and we’ve only been able to get > voicemail for those whom we need to speak with. I have a feeling this > is going to be a long, drawn out process which isn’t going get us > anywhere. I’m probably better off to start saving my money and buying > her another camera and just accept the fact that some low-life > criminal who works/worked at the Windjammer-Landing on St. Lucia made > off with a very nice camera among some other things that I paid for. > It’s sickening.
Response:
Tony, you might give a heads-up to your travel agent about this incident. They might not be able to do anything about it but they can stop referring clients to it. You might also contact the Ombudsmen at National Geographic Traveler, Conde Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure Magazine, and/or Epicurious. They may be able to help, although they get plenty of complaints from people every month. It couldn’t hurt, though. Good luck.
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> We’ve been having a hard time getting a hold of folks down there. We > got the run-around from the police. A very rude person told us to call > the police commisioner after several attempts of getting a hold of a > live person. It’s like they where ignoring the call then finally > decided to pick it up. Very strange. The Windjammer Landing has not > contacted us as of yet either and we’ve only been able to get > voicemail for those whom we need to speak with. I have a feeling this > is going to be a long, drawn out process which isn’t going get us > anywhere. I’m probably better off to start saving my money and buying > her another camera and just accept the fact that some low-life > criminal who works/worked at the Windjammer-Landing on St. Lucia made > off with a very nice camera among some other things that I paid for. > It’s sickening.
Response:
> Have you checked with your Home Owners ins. to see if they cover it? I > know mine will.
Hi, thanks for your reply. We looked into that but our homeowners insurance does not cover it. There is some type of travelers supplement we would have had to purchase and even then, the deductible would have been $1000.00 which is as much as the camera cost minus the 512 Meg CF card it had in it. My girlfriend managed to get a hold of the police commissioners office down there and they said they had no record of it but promised to follow up on the ordeal. She also managed to talk to a couple folks at the Windjammer Landing, one of which was aware of the situation and assured her that the issue was being worked. That was a good sign and I was glad to hear that. Will post more as we learn more. Thanks for your interest, Tony
Response:
I went to this web page just now: http://www.windjammer-landing.com/1-800-WLV-RESORT/contact/form.php And posted the following in the "additional comments" section: I thought you might like to know that right now, many people on the internet are reading about an experience that one of your guests had a week or two ago. I am including a message that was posted to the internet recently by them. If you care about your reputation I suggest you assist these people by helping them achieve a satisfactory solution. The experiences that these people have with your property will be readable by potential guests for years to come if they do a search for the WindJammer St. Lucia. Here is a link to their posting: http://tinyurl.com/5gmv2 "My girlfriend returned from a week long vacation at the Windjammer Landing in St. Lucia http://www.windjammer-landing.com/) with some bad news. Within just a couple of hours of arriving there, someone had broken into her room and stole a very expensive camera I bought her for Christmas last year (Canon Digital Rebel) along with some jewelry. She had left it in a bag while she went down to the lobby to get something to eat and when she returned she found a footprint that was left on a towel that was on the floor of her balcony. She realized that her camera was gone at that time. I am told the police where involved and that the resorts insurance will cover the camera and give her a reimbursement. Has anyone else had an experience like this? How did the resort handle it?"
Response:
> And posted the following in the "additional comments" section:
Thanks for doing that for us friend. We’re hoping to hear from the Windjammer Landing sometime this week to find out if they have recieved the official police report yet and where to go from there.
Response:
Keep us updated, Tony–thanks!
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Just an update for those interested: > My girlfriend called and spoke to someone named "Lillian" at the > Windjammer Landing and was told that their security office was still > working on it. That is all we know at this point. > We’ll be sending a certified letter soon after which we’ll try and > contact some of the travel editors mentioned earlier in the thread. > Tony
Response:
> Keep us updated, Tony–thanks!
We sent the following letter as certified mail to the Windjammer Landing a few weeks ago and have not heard anything at all back from the hotel: October 1, 2004 Hotel Manager and/ or Owner Windjammer Landing Villa Beach Resort Labrelotte Bay P.O. Box 1504, Castries St. Lucia, West Indies To The Hotel Manager and/ or Owner: I recently vacationed at the Windjammer Landing Villa Beach Resort and had a wonderful time. The resort is beautiful and all of the staff was remarkably friendly and helpful. Unfortunately, one aspect of my stay at your hotel was not satisfactory. Some of my personal belongings were stolen from your property. I am writing this letter requesting your assistance in this matter which took place during my stay. The first night of my stay, my villa was broken into and personal items were stolen from my room. These items include one digital camera and all its effects, one pair of Oakley sunglasses, one pair of Nike pants, and one necklace. It was immediately brought to the attention of hotel staff and management and a police report was filed. Daily updates were provided to me regarding the progress of the investigation, and on day four I was told a suspect had been arrested. This suspect was a hotel employee. To solve this problem, I was told due to staff involvement your insurance company would reimburse me for the full amount. I am patiently waiting for a copy of the police report as well as the proper forms to be filed with your insurance company. I am looking forward to your reply and a swift resolution of this problem. Please do not hesitate to call me if there are any questions regarding this matter. I can be reached directly at xxx-xxx-xxxx or xxx-xxx-xxxx. Respectfully, Deborah xxxxxxx xxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxx Melbourne, Florida xxxxx xxx-xxx-xxxx