Bloggers complain on social media after losing $1k, villa manager bites back

Bali is known for its white sandy beaches and pristine waters, and is basically an island synonymous with paradise.

After all, it’s Bali. What could possibly go wrong?

Everything, it seems like.

According to three Singaporean bloggers, Tricia Ong, Jayne Tham, and Lian Mei Ting, they lost a total of about/ more than $1,000 in Malaysian Ringgit, Indonesian Rupiah, and Singapore dollars while holidaying in Bali’s Jimbaran Sea View Villa.

As bloggers, they naturally took to Facebook to complain warn others of their bad experience.

Here is Tricia Ong’s account of the incident:

TL;DR: She claimed that about $1,000 worth of currencies were stolen from three different rooms. When reported, the villa’s manager Ari Wartini “blindly sided her staff” and told them “she’s “good friends” with the police” and “may not be able to leave this country” if the matter was blown up. The bloggers tried filing a police report at three different stations but the police seemed “pre-informed” about rejecting their case through the villa’s driver.

Lian Meiting also posted a similar account:

The next day, Jayne Tham also shared about her experience on Facebook:

Tham added that Ari Wartini “seemed suspiciously happy” to send them off.

Villa Manager speaks up

Later, the villa’s Manager Arie Wartini told her side of the story on Facebook.

In her post, she said that she did not threaten the bloggers and even persuaded them to make a police report, which the bloggers declined. She added that the villa’s driver drove the bloggers to the police station, and the police offered to investigate in the villa, which the bloggers also refused.

Wartini’s post has since been removed.

Screen Shot 2015-09-27 at 7.53.05 pmSource: Stomp

Snippets of the conversation between the bloggers and a villa staff named Yuni was circulated.

Screen Shot 2015-09-27 at 7.53.24 pmSource: StompScreen Shot 2015-09-27 at 7.55.20 pmSource: Stomp

Since Wartini’s Facebook post, Ong followed up with another post:

Dear all, we had initially decided to release the post so that our friends, and followers will know about this case, and…

Posted by Tricia Ong on Friday, September 25, 2015

This is what Ong said:

  1. She threatened Yuni (see above screenshots) because she was “scared, anxious and angry” and apologised for her actions.
  2. Wartini, whom she had never met before, showed up at the villa that day with no police present.
  3. Yuda, the villa’s driver responsible for driving them to the police station said he was merely a freelancer and not a part of the villa’s team.
  4. However, she has proof that Yuda is part of the team.
  5. Yuda sent them to a faraway police station, and the “police have no jurisdiction at cases that happen in Jimbaran”.
  6. He eventually drove them to a police station near the villa, and the police said that since the bloggers had packed up, the evidence was gone and a report could not be filed.

The other two bloggers did not post any further updates about the incident since the screenshots surfaced. Lian, however, posted this on Dayre:

Screen Shot 2015-09-27 at 8.25.04 pmSource

No explanation needed.

Meanwhile, here are some reviews about the villa posted on Agoda:

Screen Shot 2015-09-27 at 6.34.28 pmSource

And another two on TripAdvisor:

Screen Shot 2015-09-27 at 6.38.41 pmSource
Screen Shot 2015-09-27 at 6.38.52 pmSource

Of course, these reviews are barely representative of the every guest’s experience in the villa, so we’ll leave it up to you to draw your own conclusions.

something-smells-fishy-and-it-certainly-isnt-fishSource

Like this post and MustShareNews’ Facebook page to keep up with our posts!

Talk to us! Send in your story suggestions or comments to hello@mustsharenews.com

Featured image via Tricia Ong’s Facebook/ Lian Meiting’s Twitter/ Jayne Tham’s Instagram
With reference to STOMP, Tricia Ong’s Facebook, Lian Meiting’s Facebook, Jayne Tham’s Facebook

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR