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Jewelry justice? Case solved in Santorini
Rogavopolous says my article led to a "conspiracy attempt" by Onboard Media to destroy his business. He says he has proof that Onboard Media printed the story from msnbc.com and sent it to all its retail partners on Santorini. He says his competitors then showed the article to cruise tourists in an effort to steer them away from his shop.
The strange story got even stranger last September, when, according to Rogavopolous, Onboard Media's executive director of sales and marketing, Rod Musum, came to Alexandros Jewellers to discuss business and to persuade the store to come back into Onboard Media's shopping program. According to Rogavopolous, when he confronted Musum with his accusations about printing the article and distributing it to his competitors, Musum replied it was "business" and they were trying to "protect" their customers. Rogavopolous says he then offered to throw Musum "off a cliff."
Are Rogavopolous' accusations for real or is it all sour grapes? I contacted Onboard Media for its side of the story. Turns out this Greek is telling no myths.
Onboard Media speaks
I spoke with Sarah Beth Reno, vice president of operations for Onboard Media, who said the company was happy to hear that Thompson finally received a full price adjustment from Alexandros Jewellers.
When I inquired about the circumstances of the store's leaving Onboard Media's shopping program, she said, "At the end of the 2005 Europe season, we had outstanding customer service claims that Alexandros Jewellers refused to close according to our customer service guidelines. This was the primary reason we decided not to include Alexandros Jewellers in the program for the 2006 season. We cannot comment as to whether or not Mr. Rogavopolous would have decided to participate, providing we would have allowed him." As for the commissions paid to Onboard Media to be in their shopping program she said, "We cannot comment on the dollar amounts paid for advertising due to confidentiality."
Reno confirmed that the msnbc.com article was sent to certain retailers in the Onboard Media program "as a cautionary measure." She added, "We cannot comment as to whom may have been showing the article to tourists in Santorini. We do know that many guests came onboard the vessels with this particular article to show to our shopping guides."
As for the confrontation in Rogavopolous' store, Reno would not confirm the identity of the agent, saying only that, "Our sales representative for Greece did enter Alexandros Jewellers in September 2007 to see if he could convince Mr. Rogavopolous to offer Mr. Courtney Thompson a refund. During that meeting Alexandros did inform our sales associate that the refund had been sent to Mr. Thompson."
Rogavopolous vehemently denies that Musum — or whoever it was — came in to discuss Thompson. "He never mentioned him," says Rogavopolous. "He came in to get me back in the program. They miss the commissions from my store." Oddly, in this instance, Rogavopolous has an ally in Thompson. "Onboard Media did nothing to help me when I asked them," Thompson says. "Then they say they sent someone all the way to Greece on my behalf. It's crazy."
In the end, Reno opines that if Alexandros Jewellers had done the right thing from the beginning, the entire situation could have been avoided. "We believe your article was the catalyst in convincing Mr. Rogavopolous to offer the refund," says Reno. Courtney Thompson concurs with that assessment.
As for Rogavopolous, he's just happy his side of the story has been told.
Sound off! Do you have a comment, an idea, a complaint or a problem for Anita to solve? Send her an e-mail and you might find yourself in her next column. And check out her blog, ExpertCruiser.com.
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