scout
Markit wroteIs 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:
It is not a matter of whether Matsaleh can stand up for herself or not; I did not think your comment was "humour" Am I not "allowed" in your view, to make an opinion??
:icon_rolleyes::icon_rolleyes::icon_rolleyes:
chongpeiwen
[b]hotcake[/b]
Woooo... i didnt know my condemnation would lead to that much a hassel.
But i just want the highlight to visitor/visitors to the villa/hotel in Bali or even anywhere else in the world.
We are being such anticipated in this trip but it turns out to be sour (who wish)
The driver part, is part of the Villa arrangement on a ad-hoc basis.
Driver calls us "stupid fools" just because we said, "we have already paid upon arrival when their guy picked us up at the airport"
He just demanded another 150k from us (150k in Singapore dollars isn't a huge sum anyway) but why must they insult us by calling us "stupid fools"?
We did hire a driver with cost us about 500k/day chauffeuring myself and 6 other friends.
Our driver is sincere, we even tipped him at the end of our trip & even buy him lunch/dinner.
I've been to most part of the world, but i didn't have such a bad experience (maybe this Bali trip, is most unfortunate)
I'm in service line myself, what if i treat & cheat my clients in such manner?
I'm sure none will like it or i'll even loose my job.
Once again, thanks again for hearing me out guys.
Appreciate it
With love,
Chongpeiwen
spicyayam
Not getting a key to your villa sounds pretty strange? It sounds like the place doesn't have a reception desk or something. I am not sure how these villas operate. Maybe you needed to call someone? Hotels are required to report you to the police, which is why they take a copy of your passport or you fill in a registration form. If you wanted to make a police report for something stolen, I would imagine you need to report it yourself to the police. If you have insurance, you will need the police report. I don't think the hotel manager would be keen to make the report, as it is more than likely the hotel staff are involved.
Markit
I guess we're never going to know what exactly went down here but I can see a real business opportunity here for some budding entrepreneur.
Do you remember the murder mystery hotels of the 80s and 90s where you could book yourself in and be part of a Agatha Christie type find the murderer or was it "Major Peacock in the Library" whodunit.
Now we could do a Villa "did you get Legionnaires there" or "No money, no money". I reckon that would be a real goer, what do you think?
matsaleh
Sounds like a plan, Markit. You put up the money and I'll organise the venues. :icon_razz:
Fred2
Bad services, shocked received from Villa Damai, Bali.
Upon arrival on 12 May 2011, the driver picked us up from the airport and we checked in to the villa around 0030 hours.
Not a single staff from the management welcome us upon arrival.
Chongpeiwen & markit My apology's I have only booked in hotels in Bali for the last 35 years & always fill out the forms, Passport number, home address, credit card,etc & have never reported to the police, so I have learned something new.
The villa was dirty, oily, smelly and the most interesting was the electricity trips off when it's overloaded.
The power & water supplies went off for 6-7 times withing the next 1-2 hours.
Management claims that their generator isn't strong enough to support the overloading aircon, water, lights, fans & television power (that's the reason for the trip).
Chongpeiwen & Markit My apology's again, under generator power I was under the impression that it was emergency power & only supply a small amount of watts.
The floors to the hall, walkway, rooms were oily & dusty.
The kitchen cupboard has cobwebs all over, the water dispenser looks untouched for like months.
On 13 May 2011, we went out for dinner/clubbing at about 2300 and returning to the villa at about 0020.
Realizing our money were stolen/ransack from our rooms/bags.
We lost about S$800.00 in total but our belongings like laptops, cameras were still intact.
Complained to the management and ended up we being accused for not locking the villa & room doors.
Firstly, we do not have the keys to the villa.
Chongpeiwen & Markit My apology's again, as I cannot understand that the villa doesn't supply KEYS to there villa's. Me personally I would not stay some were I don't have a KEY to the room.
Secondly, there's a couple of security guards guarding at the door.
Thirdly, there's a safe box but we did not use it (there were not instructions given to operate the safe)
Chongpeiwen & Markit apology's again, I did have the same problem in Singapore, but I asked the staff how to use the safe & you wouldn't believe it I didn't loose any money
Management agreed to lodge a police report for our loses but ended up, they lodged a wrong report to the police.
Management accused us for not wanting to file the arrival particulars to the Bali police but fact is, we did not even see a soul from the management, how do we give our particulars to the police?
Instead of lodging the cash being stolen report, they went to lodge the arrival notice report to the police and they insisted that we are the ones who does not want to lodge the money stolen report.
Our advice to all who stays in the villa, no matter if there is or no security guards guarding, [U]do lock all room doors and keep your belongings & cash safe. [/U] NO SHIIIIIT Chongpeiwen thats good advice,
Chongpeiwen & Markit & all the Forum members I'm very very sorry for my earlier post, I do realize Bali has changed over the years & I have not kept up with the lattes trends. But I think Bali is Safer then Singapore.:icon_mrgreen:
Little strange that you are the only person to give a negitive report, but will look forward to many more post from you & welcome to the forum:icon_mrgreen:
chongpeiwen
spicyayam wroteNot getting a key to your villa sounds pretty strange? It sounds like the place doesn't have a reception desk or something. I am not sure how these villas operate. Maybe you needed to call someone? Hotels are required to report you to the police, which is why they take a copy of your passport or you fill in a registration form. If you wanted to make a police report for something stolen, I would imagine you need to report it yourself to the police. If you have insurance, you will need the police report. I don't think the hotel manager would be keen to make the report, as it is more than likely the hotel staff are involved.
They did give the keys to the main gate but we have keys to our room/toilet
Indeed, none welcome us when we were there. When we are in need, we called the incharge, none responded till the next day morning then came storming in.
They agreed to make report for us for our loses, but the ended up saying "we did not want to report our loses"
I do not know what's up the are up to but hence, it's over.
I hope my message to all travelers, do keep your money/belongings intact.
Peace~
okta
Pheww...
A letter of advice..
Next time, Do your Homework first before you reserve a room in any hotel/villa/resort/Appt ..
What a pitty that Villa Damai had gave you a hard time..take this as your first bad luck experience and learn to be more carefull next time.. find a well-known hotels/villas/etc.. or at least good comments from tripadvisors, lonely planet, etc.. you still can find a cheap places but good reccomendation in Bali..
Be more carefull with the not-known places, they are usually managed by unresponsible rude staffs..
Dont let anyone make fool of you, especially when they said that you are stupid, be angry please!
Tiggy
JohnnyCool wrote
I'm not sure who wrote what where but:
Well...I thought that "VILLA DAMAI in Seminyak" was clearly stated in this forum on the first post.
When the post first was up there was no mention of the name of the villa (either admin removed it, or the OP forgot it) and it was edited in many hours later.
JohnnyCool
I've had a fair to middling day, so far...apart from this morning.
My 16 year-old Casio watch needed a new battery (or so I thought).
The watch battery guys on the top floor of Sanur Hardy's tried all the batteries they had, with no success. Then I got the prognosis - "the watch engine is broken".
I thanked them all profusely as well as the guy who asked me where I'm from. I joked about "from my mother and father" stuff., but finally admitted I grew up in Australia. He then laid on me a "G'day mate". It was hot upstairs and I tried to quote him something from George Bernard Shaw (I think): "It's not where you're from but where you're at" that's important.
OK - he pushed it a bit more so I gave him things like "Ow's yer muver's eggs?" which took a bit of explaining. "Yer been to Kurrabubbula, mate?" Meanwhile, two very tall foreign tourists were looking to buy a bottle opener/corkscrew thing. Not sure which nationality and even I was having trouble understanding them.
"How_big__ this?" (I think the gentle giant was asking how much it was). The "seller" wanted Rp 118,000 which was totally ridiculous. The giant people tried to walk away. Usual stuff - "Mr mr Pak - how much you want?". They thought Rp 50,000 was more than enough. The "seller" agreed, but at that price, he needed a bit extra for his own profit. In the end, there was no sale. (The thing was worth maybe Rp 40,000, tops.)
I gave up with my watch and said I'll probably buy a new one "besok" (which in Bali can mean tomorrow, the day after, next week, next year, or never). The watch diagnostician dude wanted to try and fix the engine. I'd had enough and really didn't have time, energy or spare cash on me to hang around for another hour or so. "Mungkin besok...mate".
I'd just spent what little I had in my wallet downstairs in the supermarket part of Hardy's. Things like a super-jumbo Baygon hand sprayer, a pair of gardening gloves for my wife (she asked for them), some spaghetti and a bottle of severely overpriced dill pickles.
The next couple of hours I spent in a Sanur bar, drinking beer and whiskey, and overhearing various expats complaining about how slow Telkom Speedy has been lately. And also about who won the AFL game last night. The owner was also complaining about the bar's internet speed and I tried to help him without baffling him too much with cyber science stuff.
"When you just rang Telkom Sepeda, did they ask you the brand of your modem, blah blah, and tell you to turn everything off, wait ten minutes and try again?"
He was surprised that a Bule Aga whacko like me knows about these things. I asked him what computer operating system he uses - no idea. "Komang, over there, deals with that." Komang is a very nice fellow but has very limited computer knowledge. Three or four weeks back, when I had my laptop on the bar, he asked me about how to download movies off the internet. I set it up for him (forget which movie exactly he wanted to download), and everything was good. Whenever I go back there, I ask him how many more movies has he downloaded? Only one, so far, and he doesn't have the time to watch it.
Yes - I know I've digressed here somewhat, but I did have a purpose. Reading this current thread, (which confused me big time), I figured I ought to respond somehow. Trouble is, I don't know what the problem is.
Chongpiewen, who has travelled extensively around the planet, should, in my mind, stop complaining when things go wrong.
I'm not sure who wrote what where but:
[QUOTE]...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.[/QUOTE]Well...I thought that "VILLA DAMAI in Seminyak" was clearly stated in this forum on the first post.
And call me black or white, or whatever, as the saga continues...
[B]admin[/B] asks "Did you make a police report?"
What the hell for, unless somebody's going to need it for an insurance claim?
A tip and final word for [B]Chongpiewen[/B]. Singapore's a great place for a fleeting visit, but most people wouldn't want to live there. Bali is certainly a turd-world island (even the Bali governor agrees).
Get over it...
:icon_biggrin:
ronb
Pheww...
A letter of advice..
...............
What a pitty that Villa Damai had gave you a hard time..take this as your first bad luck experience and learn to be more carefull next time.. find a well-known hotels/villas/etc.. or at least good comments from tripadvisors, lonely planet, etc.. you still can find a cheap places but good reccomendation in Bali..
Be more carefull with the not-known places, they are usually managed by unresponsible rude staffs..
Dont let anyone make fool of you, especially when they said that you are stupid, be angry please!
Okta, you seem to be bad-mouthing the staff at Villa Damai, but take a look at the other 2 reviews at
Villa Damai (Seminyak, Indonesia) - Hotel Reviews - TripAdvisor
both seemingly written by seasoned travellers, and both commenting favourably on the staff. Maybe there are 2 sides to this story.
JohnnyCool, thanks for your account of upstairs and downstairs at Hardy's - I enjoyed it.
matsaleh
zoyra wrote... Rudeness, yes it does happen. The other day I gave the rafting guide a tip of 20,000 which i do feel sufficient (maybe i'm wrong) - he never thank me and just turned away -
Sad to hear, but it doesn't only happen in Bali. On my last trip to Sydney, one night I ate in a small cafe with a friend. We only had a couple of drinks and some snacks. The bill came to $18 so we left $20 on the table.
As we reached the door, the waitress came running after us to give us back the $2. Her comment, "for that amount, I think you need this more than I do".
I nearly slapped her! :icon_evil:
zoyra
chongpeiwen wroteI'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.
Hi Chongpeiwen, so sorry to hear about your bad experience. One question, how did you come to book this particular villa? Was it just through the internet or did someone recommend it to you. Have you given your feedback to the person/company where you've booked this accommodation?
As for tripadvisor - very often there is one negative feedback among several positive ones, but it doesn't mean that this is not true, because there is very seldom a guarantee for good service. Could be a change in management or whatsoever.
Rudeness, yes it does happen. The other day I gave the rafting guide a tip of 20,000 which i do feel sufficient (maybe i'm wrong) - he never thank me and just turned away -
zoyra
matsaleh wroteSad to hear, but it doesn't only happen in Bali. On my last trip to Sydney, one night I ate in a small cafe with a friend. We only had a couple of drinks and some snacks. The bill came to $18 so we left $20 on the table.
As we reached the door, the waitress came running after us to give us back the $2. Her comment, "for that amount, I think you need this more than I do".
I nearly slapped her! :icon_evil:
Yes, you're absolutely correct - one does experience rudeness everywhere - and for the waitress, I think in a situation like that, I wished I would have had the guts to slap her. Usually I think, people like that must be totally unhappy and frustrated :) - this is just to calm down myself.
arsinibali
[b]Bali...[/b]
Bali is a great island....hopefull you still love Bali island even you have a bad experiences. If one has it, it is not mean all is terrible...Keep smile and be happy to welcome you back to the island...Good luck!
How should i trust the island again? :icon_e_sad:[/QUOTE]
okta
RonB, Im sure theres always two sides of the story, Im just a little bit pissed off with the facts that these staff mentioned them as a stupid guests (in front of them), and im sure many villas elsewhere also had a bad and good stories. If my comments sounds like im bad mouthing Villa Damai, then i should be careful next time.
hermit
[b]police(again)[/b]
Ricbali wrote
It did occur to me that there are police and then there are tourist police. The later I assume are trained (hehehe) in dealing with foreigners. Why wouldn't villas have a little placard or something at the front desk area letting their guest know about tourist police and how to contact them in case of an incident in or out of the accommodation? Or am I just being naive?
it is a very useful suggestion.The fact that it is not yet done might have to do with the severe distrust in any kind of policeman that most balinese and indonesians have.
Ricbali
Hmm should I jump on the top of this pile?
Oh what the heck!
Markit - love your sense of humor.
I am always sorry to hear someone has had a bad experience in Bali and hope they will realize that it could very well be an isolated indecent. I do hope you will give Bali another chance, the majority of people here in Bali are humble and trustworthy. Every city has it's bad characters.
I too have had the desire to trash businesses for poor service all over the web, but realize there is more than one side to every story and in the end it is just easier to chalk it up to a life experience and move on. Behind every bad experience there is a lesson!
It did occur to me that there are police and then there are tourist police. The later I assume are trained (hehehe) in dealing with foreigners. Why wouldn't villas have a little placard or something at the front desk area letting their guest know about tourist police and how to contact them in case of an incident in or out of the accommodation? Or am I just being naive?
Jeniekrag
[b]Villas are good[/b]
Villas are truly good and comfortable accommodation for a long vacation. I don't think that villa rental are not reliable. On my tour to Italy, we have rented Tuscany villas and the accommodation was really good.
And as well Bali has many villa rentals that offer good services. Hope you get the best.
