Letters
by Eddie Paul C

(The following is a letter of complaint against Teluk Dalam Resort sent to the management by a Singaporean of his unhappy experiences but who has not received any reply after three weeks.)

Subject: RE: TELUK DALAM RESORT
Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:44:06 +0000

We had the opportumity to stay at your resort from 17-20 Nov 2008. We had booked our stay via telephone from Singapore for the Cempaka Bungalow through your staff Ms Fadzilla who did a good job to convince me to give a try to stay at your resort. We normally would stay at the Pangkor Island Beach Resort. Sadly to say that our stay at your resort was a horrible experience. We regretted very badly but it was an experience anyway.

Please let me enlighten you with our bad experiences during our stay as follow:

1. At the Check-In reception on our arrival on 17 Nov we were advised to take an additional bed at RM40.00 per night. We consented to it.

2. We were then allocated bungalow No: 343. I would compliment the ambience, the setting and the beautiful bungalow. However, on approaching the premises we noticed a dirty looking mattress with some used towels placed on the railing probably left by the previous guests. We just passsed them by. We proceeded to look underneath the beds (which we normally did – just in case) in both rooms. To our horror the floor was atrocious – dusty, littered with cigarette butts, bits of papers, etc. However, outside the bungalow at the rear door there was heavy litterings with items such as cigarette butts and wrappers, chewing gum wrappers, used condoms, etc. This is really disgusting. Your house-keepers MUST be complimented for her failure.

3. As we were tired after a long drive we decided to take a stroll along the beach. To our horror the approach to the beach was littered with styrofoam, papers, etc and the undergrowth was overgrown and left unattended for ages.

4. We later proceeded to the swimming pool, and to our horror many tiles both around the pool and inside the pool were damaged. There was no evidence to show that rectification work was ever carried out. I infact had a minor (fortunately) cut under my foot. We also noticed that algae was growing in all the joints (tiles) in both pools – we can see them at the bottom of the pool and on the walls waiting to be cleaned and removed. Your staff did nothing to clean the pool of these harmful algae growth. Infact I suffered ulcers on my lips after my swim which I showed to your staff Ms Pang at check-out. Algae growth has been proven to be be harmful. My grand-daughter had to consult our family doctor in Singapore for similar mouth ulcers. I can send you receipt to show you proof. Please DO something about this.

5. After our swim on our return to the bungalow the ‘extra bed’ has still not arrived or made up. We later proceeded for our dinner at your restaurant. When we returned to the bungalow after our dinner at obout 8.30 pm we noticed that the dirty looking mattress was still left on the railing with a new bedsheet and a blanket just added. We did not make a fuss as the beds were sufficient for my wife, my maid, my 2 young grand-children (8 and 10 years old) and myself.

6. The next morning I noticed that the dirty mattress, bedsheet and blanket were still on the railing. I took photographs of them, and proceeded to your reception counter to lodge my unhappiness to your staff Baizura. I also told her that I don’t need the ‘extra’ bed for the obvious reasons as we were expected to use the filthy mattress, we had to make it ourselves (DIY) and apparently one of us had to sleep on the floor as it came with a 2-inch mattress only. On our return after breakfast the items were promptyly removed.

7. On 19 Nov while we were swimming in the pool in the late afternoon all of a sudden one of your staff brought a ‘floater rope’ to tie it across the pool, and a group of staff I believe from the Health Ministry (I noticed ‘Kesihatan’) came and told us to leave. We left but did not make a fuss as we are ‘guests’ in Malaysia as your civil service staff are known and can create problems for us during our stay if we ever did. I truly felt your staff and that of the Health Ministry were unethical, and acted like ‘gangsters’ to guests of the resort. Had this happened in my country I would have marched to the reception and the Health Ministry to lodge my strongest complaint. Yes, they have numbers but we also have equal rights to use the pool as we also paid for our lodging, if not more.

8. We had dinner at your restaurant and was surprised that the 3 main courses were all with ‘chillies’ – chilly crabs, rendang and one other chilly item. Personally, I think your resort must also change the mind-set, and also consider the plight of non-Malay children.

9. When we checked out on 20 Nov I spoke to your staff I believe Ms YS Pang and Ms Fadzilla regarding our unhappiness and showed them the photos I had taken. We have been to many resorts throughout Malaysia – Port Dickson, Penang, Langkawi, Pangkor, Kelantan, Tioman, etc I think this is one very bad experience we ever had. If Teluk Dalam Resort ever wants to woo more tourists it has to work tremendously hard to improve your service quality. Most of your staff has this attitude which we use it very commonly in Singapore – a ‘boh chap’ attitude.

10. By the way, on arrival at the Jetty we were the only family to board the Teluk Dalam Resort bus whilst the rest (about 30-40 people) boarded the other bus to the PIBR. After our stay we knew the reason why – and it is very obvious.

I hope you will investigate my feedback to you in order for you to improve on the service quality of your resort, and perhaps we may return one day!