I've read several positive reviews about phone rentals through Sharon but boy, my experience hasn't been good this week with the person she's got working there. Two trips from Orient to there and I still don't have a working phone, and I really need to make some calls bad. I guess I'll go rent elsewhere tomorrow and just suck up the wasted money. The person working there was rude and condescending, telling me I just don't know how to use my phone that I've used internationally all over for three years, Trying to solve my problem, i rented a phone through them, and it doesn't work either (bad charger or battery).
I'll never go there again.
Disappointed in Orient.

We have always had good luck with her phones but the person that works there is a real piece of work. We did have a phone problem once but it was quickly replaced. Staying close by did make a difference for getting it rectified.

Have you tried contacting Sharon via email? Her employee does sometimes have an attitude that's hard to get past, but Sharon would be upset that you've not gotten the help you need with your phone.

I would agree on all fronts. The employee is not the nicest but Sharon is very responsive

I agree!
Please email Sharon, she will be happy to solve your problem.
queenofsxm2000@yahoo.com

We always rent our phone from Craig at Packlite. Never a problem and he always deals with you personally.

David please send me your phone number or the number for where you are staying so I can get in touch with you. I have to assume that it was you Doris called me about Wednesday about renting you a phone without a Sim. I am sorry if you feel she was rude because I never get anything but compliments about Doris the other posters are referring to a different person. Please let me know what we can do to help you because I try my best to never have someone leave unhappy. We charge all of our phones before they leave our store & we check the charge when we give the phone to the customer but unfortunately we can never tell when a battery will just go bad. Also my phones have original Nokia batteries which will shut down if they get overcharged so please stop charging the phone & wait about 30 minutes or so & then try to turn the phone on.

We will do whatever we can to resolve your problems but I need you to please contact me either here on PM or by email to:
Queenofsxm2000@yahoo.com

Again I am sorry for the problems & I hope you give us a chance to resolve them.

Sharon

As I said, always responsive! See you tomorrow!

I have rented from Sharon for many years and been in her office when others arrived to pick up or drop off phones. All our experiences and all the interactions I witnessed with others and her staff were always pleasant. I would strongly recommend her to anyone traveling to SXM and needing a phone rental.

I like Craig very much but phones are just a side business for him & like him when I had only a few phones I always dealt with everyone personally but the business grew & it became impossible for me to do everything so I had to hire people which always leaves you vulnerable when dealing with the public. I have, however, always tried to make everyone happy even if sometimes employees don't deal with a customer in the best way I do my best to resolve/fix the situation.

Sharon's the best!! Always there to help whether on or off island!! I find the original post suspect and based on another post they have issues with "locals" enjoying holiday on the beaches. (At least that's how I took their comment). Sharon - keep up the good work!!

As others have said, Sharon herself is always a pleasure to deal with, and quite truthfully, any dealings we've had with Doris have always been positive and pleasant, too, once we came to understand her island persona.

It's a hard thing but sadly true, that when we have a business and we hire employees, we always hope they will do and portray the same company image that we, as owners, hope to put forth. Sadly, it doesn't always work that way but the Queen dealt with that, too.

What we need to remember is that sometimes, when we're personally feeling frustrated we can give off a very unintentional aura that someone else might misinterpret and take personal umbrage to. I'm not saying this was the case here but having met and dealt with Doris over several years and many trips, I just can't imagine her being rude to a customer and I know Sharon wouldn't tolerate it. Abrupt or perhaps stand-offish until she knows you, but never, never rude. And for sure, very knowledgable about the product she's working with.

I hope the OP sees all these messages and is able to resolve the problems and issues with their phone problems. Sharon really is the best and will always go the distance for her clients. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Sorry to hear about your phone issues but I have to agree with everyone that Sharon is the best and will help as soon as she is made aware of the problem.

I wouldn't hesitate to rent from her or recommend her business.

Just my opinion, but this is a situation in which you should have called Sharon with any problem/complaint and talked directly with her, before posting this on a public site. Not to say you did not have a bad experience, but go to the business owner and give them a chance. Just to say, we have never had any negative issue of any kind with any of Sharon's employees and certainly not with Sharon herself. Just our anecdotal experience, she is very responsive (at least when on island) and helped me out big time last year on something which had nothing to do with her phone rental.

Long live The Queen!!

I think it's funny that people are saying "You should have contacted Sharon!"

There is another thread on lousy service from JetBlue but the answer isn't "You should have called Customer Service from the TSA line when you found out there was no Pre Check at your airport."

OP is just trying to get a working phone. He shouldn't have to go track down the owner in order to do a normal transaction with the business.

It's great that Sharon responds here and pledges to help but if the pat answer is "Yeah, I know that employee is bad but please contact me if you run into issues", something is broken.

I have rented phones from that business several times and it's never been a pleasant experience for me. I've had no problems per se but it just feels like I'm being terribly inconvenient to them by actually conducting business with them. The only reason I continue is because it's conveniently on my way and I haven't expended the energy to find an alternative - shame on me.

I get that it's courteous to contact the owner of a small business with a complaint before going public with it and I did that after my first time. If it continues to be an issue though, as it clearly does, at some point it's fair game to talk about it IMHO.

I also have similar feelings about the abruptness of the employee. I had once left my $20. bal ? cash and ran to catch our plane home, I did not wait for a receipt..I received an email that I owed 20.00, I explained to Sharon I had left the $ and she did not pursue it, but still I felt like I was not believed. I will continue to rent even though we all have smart phones, I like working with Sharon.

You know that this is a very silly comparison at best - why post it?

Again, my experience can only be described as anecdotal, but my experience is that Sharon is very easy to reach by phone.

I have made my share of negative, usually sarcastic in my own obnoxious way, remarks about various airlines and other businesses online - but I do not post online about a small owner managed business on the basis of one bad experience unless I first try to talk about it with the owner. If you still feel that a negative review is appropriate after doing that, then fine.

It might be difficult for the OP to call the business owner without a working phone.

I rarely post but felt I should in this instance. I have been dealing with Sharon for years and have always had excellent service from her and her office staff. Sharon's office person is not especially talkative but she is quick and efficient. My plastic container is always ready for me upon my arrival. I STILL rent from Sharon even though I sometimes have Vonage where I stay on island. I want to support her small business. She is very customer-oriented.

This thread should be put out of it's misery now that we have competing posts arguing about whether or not the small business owner should be contacted about each, less than stellar, initial interaction. Killing this thread will end my misery.

Tim I did not say that employee is bad I said exactly the opposite. I never get complaints about Doris it is the person who was doing weekends that is not the fastest to put a smile on her face.

For clarification there were not two trips made from Orient because of bad phones from us he came the first time to buy a Sim. He came the second time because he said it was not working in his phone on which the front screen was broken so he asked Doris if he could rent a phone minus the Sim & use his own Sim. She called me & I said okay so actually this is the first issue he has with my equipment She set the Sim up for him & checked everything before he left so I still am not sure what the issue for him with Doris was. After Doris called me I was left on the phone listening to much of his visit & I never heard Doris speak rudely to him.

Also, unlike Jet Blue I am almost always immediately personally reachable & can make the ultimate decision on my own without going through a myriad of channels.

All I can do is try to fix problems in anyway I can & try to change people's way of dealing with customers. Sometimes I am successful in that & sometimes I am not but I never stop trying.. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Sharon--as the owner of a couple of small businesses myself, I know it is very difficult to please everyone all the time, but I know that you try extremely hard to do that in every case. I think we will end this one here.