probably one of the most disappointing sunterra experiences i've had, that meaning i've had more than one bad experience. i could go on and on about the inconsistencies, lack of quality and deception that sunterramarketnever fails to offer.
in the year 2010 they advertised their infamous yogurt cups as having fresh fruit, despite the fact that they were and are currently using frozen fruit in all yogurt cups. the trick? the fruit dethaws by the time an unaware customer decides to purchase it. this is straight up propaganda at its finest.
every single thing you buy in the deli is made days in advance. if you think that $10.00 precooked bbq chicken breast is going to taste delicious and fresh, then you have no idea what delicious and fresh is.
so what is fresh at sunterra? technically everything, they just don't serve everything to you fresh that day. it's a marketing ploy that many are unaware of and unfortunately when employed by sunterramarketin 2009, i was subject to many situations where clientele questioned the freshness of sunterra's product and i was basically told to flat out lie. for example when a woman approaches the deli and asks if it was fresh made today, i was informed to always tell her yes (even if the product i'd be selling her was made 4 days ago). so what's the catch? they make everything fresh daily but they serve it at a later date. so although everything in the deli was being made fresh daily, the product being sold was not the fresh product made on that day. following me?
anyways let's talk about my disatisfying experience i encountered today after buying a few groceries and eating in themarketbar upstairs (which was nothing spectacular... i had the turkey dinner tonight and parts of my turkey were pink). i thought it would be nice to treat myself to something from the bakery. i saw a lovely looking dessert with a cream of some sort (possibly a mousse) sitting behind the glass in a chocolate cup. i asked the girl working what was inside the chocolate cup, and she said it was whip cream. i mean clearly it was not whip cream, it was a coffee color and there's no way a bakery would use perfectly good chocolate cups and fill it with only whipping cream. i was a little taken back. and then a gentlemen beside me asked the same woman "i'm trying to lose weight is there anything in here that would be good for me to have?" and she said "you can have anything in here, it's all ok" and he replied "no way all these are ok, you're lying to me" and then walked away with his wife. 2 sales lost in 1 minute of her time.
a couple minutes later i was able to find the manager, or supervisor (i'm unsure of his rank) however he was a short bald man (wearing more business attire ie: white collar shirt and tie) who when asked to speak with a supervisor, took it upon himself to help. i never got his name so i can only assume he was a superior.
when i explained what had happened, he basically acted like he didn't care. i'm telling him about how his staff behind the bakery are unknowledgeable and he tells me "well they aren't trained in knowing weight loss products" and i said "they clearly aren't trained in any of the products you have for sale". either way, i pointed out the dessert to him and he told me it was a tiramisu mousse, further proving the fact that his staff lacks knowledge in product, and he just still didn't care.
first of all, if i am running an establishment that deals with food, i'm going to want my staff to know about what they are selling, and if not, i'd hope there would be tools available for these employees to know what they are selling (a sign for example in the front of the case distinguishing what dessert it was would've been perfect). if staff are really lying to customers about what's in a product it could result in serious problems. for example, let's say i bought the chocolate cup with what she told me was whip cream, took it home and ate it and died from an allergic reaction all because i thought it was just whip cream when in fact is was a tiramisu mousse the whole time?
but let's face it, the real icing on the cake is the fact that the manager of keynote sunterra straight up didn't care at all about the lack of knowledge his staff has, he wasn't apologetic for the treatment i received, and above all his lack of care for serious potential liabilities is outrageous. he is putting sunterramarketat a serious risk by not hiring thorough and competent staff, but overall it reflects more about him and his lack of care for his career.