We planned on having a post summer getaway with my in laws a month ago and we agreed on having it on June 18 to 19, 2011 so we could celebrate Father's Day too. It was also a long weekend so we took the opportunity, at least with this, we would have an extra day to prepare for another work week.
BIL decided that we have it at Club Manila East (CME), Taytay. I knew it was a public place since we went there 2004. But since he said that the place was already renovated and that there were already hotel rooms available for overnight stay, we were confident that our stay would be fun, especially for the kids.
Little did we know that our worst nightmare will happen in that place - Hubby's camera bag that includes Canon 550D, a zoom lens, 50MM lens, flash, and all his rechargeable batteries was stolen!! Not only that, they also stole my IPHONE which was given by my Dad.
And, where were these items stolen? Inside CME's hotel room which was LOCKED. Yes, I double checked it TWICE and it was really LOCKED.
SATURDAY, June 18, 2011 - We arrived at the CME resort exactly 12 noon. We weren't in a hurry since we knew that the checked in time was at 2PM. We met up with BIL since he had our tickets. We then went to the resort's only restuarant and had our lunch there.
After lunch, I let the kids swam while Hubby brought our stuff to ROOM 533. He had 2 trips since he brought my hand bag, the baby bag and the camera bag first. And then went back to bring our overnight luggages. He changed into swimming attire and then attended the kids while it was my turn to change. I checked the windows and saw that the curtains were closed because after all, I'm changing and I don't want anyone to see me. It took me just a few minutes to change, put sunblock and check my phone for WIFI. I got excited since I saw there was a WIFI connection which was named CRUZCOMM. I told myself that I'm going to surf the internet after we get back from swimming. I placed my phone in my handbag along with my watch, bracelet and wallet. Because who in the world would bring a cellphone at the pool, RIGHT?
I left the room and to tell you honestly the last thing I checked was Hubby's camera bag beside my handbag. I was confident that it would be SAFE. I checked the locks and found out that even if the door was open, it was still locked, I still can't turned the handle. So I closed the door, and even pushed it just to check if it was completely closed. I went to the kiddie pool were Hubby and my kids were.
We tried the wave pool with the kids and then after an hour and 30 minutes, I came back to the room to give Baby A a bath. When I went inside the room, I IMMEDIATELY noticed that the CAMERA BAG WAS MISSING! I immediately checked my handbag, I CAN'T FIND MY IPHONE! During this time, someone was knocking from the adjoining room, it was BIL and told me that SOMEONE WAS IN OUR ROOM! I told him about the camera bag missing and asked if he call Hubby right that moment. He and Ate A were still at the wave pool. He came after a few minutes and confirmed that it was really missing!
Apparently, my nephew saw SOMEONE going inside the room and BIL confirmed that when the person went out of our room, he asked him what he was doing inside. He reasoned out that his friend brought him there, etc, etc...Since he noticed that the guy doesn't have anything, he let him go and started contacting Hubby. That was the time when Andie and I arrived.
Hubby immediately went to security and called the manager's attention. The resort did something yes, they called the police and monitored the people going out of the resort. But of course, it was too late. With all those people going in and out of the resort, they wouldn't be able to check including all their stuff!
The rest of the family had no choice but to check every person who would go out of the resort.
Is this the way to spend a NICE weekend? They ruined our supposedly getaway because their resort lacks security! Hubby decided to leave immediately, but I didn't agree since I wanted to get something before we leave. A proof that it happened. I wanted to be present during the investigation and I wanted to prove to them that what happenened WAS NOT OK. So we stayed for the night and waited for the resort's immediate response.
SUNDAY, June 19, 2011 - We woke up early and ordered breakfast and had it delivered to our room (533). I told myself it's my turn to face the MANAGEMENT. We were supposed to check out that day and I had to do something. While the police was in our room for further investigation, I went to the lobby to talk to the MANAGER. I had to ask THRICE just for someone to TALK TO ME. This girl said nobody was available to talk to me.
WHAT?
But after a few minutes and after insisting that I needed to talk to SOMEONE, Donny, the supervisor, finally came out. I was asking for the OPERATIONS MANAGER, because the SALES MANAGER who attended to us the other day, was on a day off. I told Donny what I needed. THEY HAD TO PAY US! But he said that they have a process that we had to wait for the Police's report which will be forwarded to the LEGAL DEPARTMENT who will decide if they will pay us or NOT.
So we waited for the police report which finally came at 3PM. We were so disappointed because it lacked all the details like the driver being another witness and the amount of the camera was completely WRONG. We wanted the Police to change it but when we went to the police station (take note, we were with the kids), the Police who was assigned to the case was already on a day off. If you were in my place, would you go home bringing an incomplete report? Would you settle for that?
NO! So we insisted on staying until they give us their investigation report. We stayed for another night. Finally, the next day, the OPERATIONS MANAGER, MR. SOBERANO, finally met us. He finally had the nerve to face us. He assured us that we will get the report before lunch and that this will be forwarded to the legal department and then they will decide. We also wrote our own incident report and had it signed by the SALES MANAGER, Louie Ramirez.
That's when we finally checked out of the resort having with us a police report, the resort's investigation report and our report signed by the sales manager. We also got hold of the numbers to be contacted.
Seeing them how they handled the situation, I really hope that they DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! The HASSLE that they brought US and the value of the stolen items was something that we wouldn't be able to produce AGAIN! We worked hard for it and it would only end up STOLEN IN A HOTEL ROOM? A place where we always thought is SAFE?
CLUB MANILA EAST's SECURITY sucks BIG, BIG TIME! If I were you, beware of this RESORT from now on!
