Is villa safe staying in Bali?

matsaleh

Chongpiewen, I see you have posted this on Lonely Planet, Bali Travel Forum, Trip Advisor and now here. Are you perhaps, a competitor of this villa?

Markit

Which villa should they be competing with? All in Seminyuk! Since they don't mention one in this letter I assume they do in one of the other sources you mention? If not then I would answer them; By all means come back to the island it's a lovely place but forget Seminyuk and Kunta. :icon_wink: Would you go to Miami Beach if you wanted to experience Florida or Costa del Sol for Spain? If your answer is yes then you will always be able to go back again in the future and really visit if you go somewhere else.

matsaleh

Markit, yes, the poster mentioned the name of the villa on the other forums and I must say I didn't notice it wasn't named here. The wording has been copied/pasted verbatim, so I just wonder if there is a hidden agenda.

chongpeiwen

matsaleh wroteChongpiewen, I see you have posted this on Lonely Planet, Bali Travel Forum, Trip Advisor and now here. Are you perhaps, a competitor of this villa?

I'm utterly sad with their service. Thanks for seeing my post on all your mentioned forums. It's an ultimate experience for us indeed for our loses BTW, i'm not a competitor, i stayed in Villa Damai last Thursday 12 May 2011.

spicyayam

Did you make a police report? Why didn't you keep your valuables in the safety deposit box? Hotels are required to report foreign guests within 24 hours to the police. I can't imagine a hotel or villa asking you to report to the police yourself?

chongpeiwen

Apparently we just visited, VILLA DAMAI in Seminyak and we would like to go back to the beautiful island again BUT the experience we had in there was terrible. 1) none welcome us upon arrival (0030 hours) and they accused us for not waiting for them to register with the police (next day AFTERNOON) and is it a must to register with the police when we arrive in Bali? 2) dirty & dusty floors/toilet/kitchen, oily kitchen ware, cobwebs cupboard 3) power trips when the villa's overloaded, 4 bedroom aircondition/lighting, kitchen & hall lighting, 4 toilets water tap on for shower. 4) stolen cash, bags being ransacked and they accused us for blaming them (we did not even mention who stole the cash and ransack our bags) 5) no villa driver and ad-hoc driver collected twice the transportation fees from us and even called us stupid fools when we refused to tip him (150k/trip) How should i trust the island again? :icon_e_sad:

Fred2

My suggestion would be to stay in one of the large local hotels on your first visit to Bali. Tour the island check out places you would like to stay on your next visit & then pick some were you like that is in your comfit level. Its not only the driver that is calling you stupid fools, I can't believe you stayed some were that you need a driver??????

Dick Rector

I do fully agree with Markit on this. Bali is a heck of a lot safer (let alone cheaper) than London, New York or Berlin. A bad experience and bad service from a hotel or holiday-villa one can have ANYWHERE in the world. Luckily there is not so much crime here but there sure is. Staff, cleaners etc. in the hotels, also in the expensive places have a VERY low income as most working people do. Just don't give a change to get to your valuable stuff or money. The temptation can be too much.

matsaleh

Markit, you don't find it strange that someone "joins" a forum only to make a [B]first post[/B] to complain about a villa? Maybe I'm not a very trusting soul, but I've been here for a while. :icon_rolleyes:

chongpeiwen

spicyayam wroteDid you make a police report? Why didn't you keep your valuables in the safety deposit box? Hotels are required to report foreign guests within 24 hours to the police. I can't imagine a hotel or villa asking you to report to the police yourself?

They did initiate lodging the report for us, but ended up they lodge a different report from what we expected (the lost). They insist that we did not have the cash so they did not register us with the police (in our email, we stated we will pay before hand by credit but they say they can register us when we were there) but we see no sign on any management. They have a safe box, but there was no instructions on and noone was there to teach us or tell us the code. We went to the police, they insist that we were "bullshitting". Nevertheless, it's a heart wrenching stay with them :icon_sad:

Markit

[b]Shocking treatment!![/b]

Fred2 wroteMy suggestion would be to stay in one of the large local hotels on your first visit to Bali. Tour the island check out places you would like to stay on your next visit & then pick some were you like that is in your comfit level. Its not only the driver that is calling you stupid fools, I can't believe you stayed some were that you need a driver??????

This thread contains some of the most offensive and devious bullshit I've read on this forum, and that is saying something! First chongpeiwen let me extend an apology for the forum treatment you have received so far, can't do anything about the villa or police action but such is life. It would seem that you have had a very bad handling by quite a lot of people. And I would probably spread the shite around too if I was in your place. Fred 2, what ever happened to Fred 1? Died of brain fever or something like that - you are usually quite reasoned in your arguments but in this case I reckon you've been in the arak again - frankly, your advice is crap! I think that one of the nicest parts of visiting Bali is just that; being able to afford to have a friendly, knowledgeable driver to show you all around the island for less than $50 a day! Taken a taxi in London, New York or Berlin lately? $50 will get you about a half hour of miserable complaining foreign gibberish and you won't get where you want to go. And to call someone a stupid fool for doing this warrants an apology in my books! Would also like to know what's wrong with a new tourist to Bali staying in a villa to start off with? Staying in a villa, particularly with a large group, is by far more economical and generally lots more comfortable than similar hotel accommodations. The rest of the world isn't trying to live on a shoe-string just because many of us are! chongpeiwen, again sorry:icon_biggrin:

Fred2

Markit wroteThis thread contains some of the most offensive and devious bullshit I've read on this forum, and that is saying something! First chongpeiwen let me extend an apology for the forum treatment you have received so far, can't do anything about the villa or police action but such is life. It would seem that you have had a very bad handling by quite a lot of people. And I would probably spread the shite around too if I was in your place. Fred 2, what ever happened to Fred 1? Died of brain fever or something like that - you are usually quite reasoned in your arguments but in this case I reckon you've been in the arak again - frankly, your advice is crap! I think that one of the nicest parts of visiting Bali is just that; being able to afford to have a friendly, knowledgeable driver to show you all around the island for less than $50 a day! Taken a taxi in London, New York or Berlin lately? $50 will get you about a half hour of miserable complaining foreign gibberish and you won't get where you want to go. And to call someone a stupid fool for doing this warrants an apology in my books! Would also like to know what's wrong with a new tourist to Bali staying in a villa to start off with? Staying in a villa, particularly with a large group, is by far more economical and generally lots more comfortable than similar hotel accommodations. The rest of the world isn't trying to live on a shoe-string just because many of us are! chongpeiwen, again sorry:icon_biggrin:

Markit This idiot has complained on every forum that has the word Bali in it. I will reply when I have time & give you time to get off the !!!!!!!!!!

scout

[b]In reply[/b] "Matsaleh you are turning into a bitter and twisted woman - you need a boyfriend or a holiday (better yet a holiday boyfriend" Markit, I thought your comments regarding this post were interesting, but please why do you need to make these type of personal comments. not kosher!!! This lady is not bitter nor twisted, and has an extremely handsome partner....lucky girl :icon_lol:

bintangboy

I must say I have only had good experiences in Bali.... sorry to hear about yours Chongpeiwen

spicyayam

[QUOTE]Markit, you don't find it strange that someone "joins" a forum only to make a [B]first post[/B] to complain about a villa? Maybe I'm not a very trusting soul, but I've been here for a while.[/QUOTE] I think there must be more to this story. It is getting common for people to demand this and that and if they don't get what they want, threaten management with leaving a bad review on Tripadvisor. I would have thought if you went to the police reporting stolen money from a villa, they would investigate it. If the villa has a security guard that controls people coming in and out of the villa, there can only be a few suspects. Nevertheless, leaving cash out in the open, is not a good idea anywhere in the world. You could have at least locked it in your suitcase. No hotel or villa wants police coming to their place and investigating stolen property and I am sure most managers/owners would take the issue very seriously. The same if you had any complaints about cleanliness or problems with the villa's power.

Markit

Um this issue has turned into a bit of a moving target - suddenly the missing name of "the hotel from hell" has appeared where it wasn't earlier. This is really easy to settle too I think if OH Great Webmaster Spicyayam were to check the IP of our first time complainant - if it comes from Indonesia then I am willing to agree there may be grounds for suspicion. But if it doesn't then I think the benefit of the doubt could be given, don't you? As I said at the beginning (before the name of the villa was added! :icon_rolleyes:) I think it strange for someone wishing to trash a villa out of competitive reasons to forget to put the name of the villa up. And to thrash the poor guy for staying in a villa and needing a driver too is rubbing salt in the wounds I think. But what do I know? Webmaster what about that IP? Don't list it we will trust your word (mostly:icon_razz:) Matsaleh you are turning into a bitter and twisted woman - you need a boyfriend or a holiday (better yet a holiday boyfriend). Ha just checked on Tripadvisor and our friend has trashed them there too! Hahaha whoever said "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" hasn't put our friend up for the night. Ho, ho ho

bp-admin

I can only say I was suspicious of this post from the very beginning and initially I decided to remove the name of villa. I don't think it is fair to trash the name of a business here without any evidence. Since the review has been posted on several forums, I have let it stand for now. If the OP just joined the forum, how can I know if they are legit or just a competitor? I can say however, they posted their message from a Singaporean IP.

Markit

Scout of course you have the right of an opinion but just like our Singaporean friend's opinion it will be tested for honesty, veracity and intelligence. If it is found to be wanting then expect to be burned where you stand - but nicely, of course:icon_biggrin:

matsaleh

Thanks for defending me Scout, but as Markit said, there's no need. I agree the personal attack was unwarranted and hey Markit, sometimes you DO go too far. The point I was making before all this crap, and as Admin pointed out, this was a first post by someone who only wanted to dump on a villa. When I checked the other reviews on TripAdvisor, they were all glowing reports, so of course, I was also suspicious.

Markit

scout wrote Markit, I thought your comments regarding this post were interesting, but please why do you need to make these type of personal comments. not kosher!!! This lady is not bitter nor twisted, and has an extremely handsome partner....lucky girl :icon_lol:

Is it really necessary to explain humor to half the people on this forum? Are there really so many people out there that think we all share the mental capacity of an 8 year old? Do you really think that if I was attacking anybody here that they wouldn't know it immediately Scout? Finally, do you also really think that Matsaleh can't stand up for herself or do you suspect she falls back on the chaise-lounge in a lady-like faint when someone disagrees with her? If you have answered "yes" to any of these questions then go stand by the chalk board until recess. Oh and by the way I will accept apologies on behalf of our martyred Singaporean you nasty, suspicious lot! :icon_mrgreen: