# Kempinski Hotel - Mall of Emirates - illegal adverts



## pkmember (Aug 1, 2010)

The manager of the KGrill at the Kempinski refused to accept the entertainer voucher of buy one - get one free. He said "its nothing to do with the Kempinski". This must be illegal advertising? How can they promote themselves in the entertainer book and then just ignore the vouchers.

I've tweeted this injustice in the hope Kempinski management respond.


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## samir kumar ghosh (Dec 8, 2011)

always share your views & experience. its helpful to others.


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Did you read all the small print?
If yes.. dont bother with the hotel in question go straight to the top


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## md000 (Dec 16, 2008)

Contact The Entertainer, as this is their promotion - NOT the Kempinski's. Tell them the date of service, what you tried to do, and what the outcome was. They will resolve it - as they have pretty good customer service. They resolved an issue for me previously.

-md000/Mike


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## indoMLA (Feb 6, 2011)

opcorn: 





will like to know what happened to resolve this...


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## LONGGOOD BYE (Dec 26, 2011)

A few years ago Subway Subs just stopped taking them out of the blue and that was it ,I wrote the entertainment publisher and she did get back to me, but there was nothing they could do.I have used the entertainment book for years and that is the one and only time I had a problem,but I don't think there is much the entertainment publishers can do[in the UAE] if a restaurant decided to stop taking the coupons out of the blue.


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## ibkiss (Feb 1, 2012)

LONGGOOD BYE said:


> A few years ago Subway Subs just stopped taking them out of the blue and that was it ,I wrote the entertainment publisher and she did get back to me, but there was nothing they could do.I have used the entertainment book for years and that is the one and only time I had a problem,but I don't think there is much the entertainment publishers can do[in the UAE] if a restaurant decided to stop taking the coupons out of the blue.


They cannot just stop taking your coupons ..... approach the Economic Department & complain ! :yell:

Any which ways , did anything positive come out of Kempinski matter !


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## pkmember (Aug 1, 2010)

Thanks for all your comments. Some of you want to know the outcome! It's this, nothing! I'll not be pursuing this further.

The staff at the KGrill Kempinski really frustrated me at the time with their attitude. The management don't care about their online profile or what's said about them on forums and tweets. 

At the time, I warned management that I would expose this wrongdoing by posting on this forum, twitter and facebook. So, that's what I did - posting this small injustice I experienced at the hands of the KGrill mid management. They didn't care.

However, i wont be doing anything other than rant online. I'm back in the UK now. Life's too short to get hung up on this stuff!

I'm surprised no one from Kempinski hasn't been on touch, but the sad truth is only the companies that actively engage online find these complaints. At least this will sit here as a permanent reminder to anyone reading. The KGrill has poor management who don't give a damn about fairness.

Cheers!


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## ccr (Jun 20, 2010)

pkmember,

Don't feel that you have achieved nothing. Previously, I have had plans to go to KGrill over the Christmas break, but ran out of time so never did.

Now, I will never spend a dime there and will pass the story along... It might not hurt them a great deal, but every little bit counts and eventually it will!


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## pkmember (Aug 1, 2010)

Great Stuff! Your comment has made my day, The KGrill management will eventually regret ignoring the power of the Internet. 

It's the permanent memory of complaints that makes this so effective. If I'd simply moaned to friends afterward, it would be forgotten within a few days. Now, people will find this for as long as the ExpatForum exists. Companies who respect their brand image, but choose to ignore online complaints will eventually regret it!

Spread the word!

Cool!


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## md000 (Dec 16, 2008)

This is what happens to those that post about their bad experiences in a public forum:

gulfnews : Kuwait blogger sued for posting dinner experience

-md000/Mike


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## Canuck_Sens (Nov 16, 2010)

md000 said:


> This is what happens to those that post about their bad experiences in a public forum:
> 
> gulfnews : Kuwait blogger sued for posting dinner experience
> 
> -md000/Mike


 I think the owners could have used a different approach rather than suing. 

However, I do agree with some of the comments of the resto. The blogger should not refer to the other restos if he had not tried either and that is not clear. It makes sense because all the other two resto can suck as much LOL 

How many of us decided going or not going after reading reviews. I frankly dinned like that many times. I preferably avoid reading reviews from bloggers, I prefer going after reviews from anonymous persons from a score based system with comments where the reviewer remains anonymous.


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## md000 (Dec 16, 2008)

The point isn't whether or not you would go to a restaurant based upon a web-based forum/blog/etc.

The point is that the legal environment here allows and encourages business owners to sue individuals for commenting (whether true or not) on their establishment.

-md000/Mike




Canuck_Sens said:


> I think the owners could have used a different approach rather than suing.
> 
> However, I do agree with some of the comments of the resto. The blogger should not refer to the other restos if he had not tried either and that is not clear. It makes sense because all the other two resto can suck as much LOL
> 
> How many of us decided going or not going after reading reviews. I frankly dinned like that many times. I preferably avoid reading reviews from bloggers, I prefer going after reviews from anonymous persons from a score based system with comments where the reviewer remains anonymous.


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## pkmember (Aug 1, 2010)

http://blog.chron.com/newswatch/2011/10/woman-sues-walmart-over-2-cents-and-wins/ 

Some law firms are trying to make a name for themselves by suing bloggers for big name companies. Unfortunately, this seems a trend. At least there is good news out there for the average person in the street winning law suits over big brand companies (see link above). 

I'll be keeping up to date with this case. If the blogger loses, I'll be tempted to issue a public apology to cover myself. Thanks for sharing!


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## md000 (Dec 16, 2008)

I don't think you understand.

That article is from the American context - where...there are a bunch of money grubbing law firms out there.

Here - it is ILLEGAL. Like, no joke illegal. This is true in all GCC countries (correct me if I'm wrong). You can end up with up to 20,000 AED in fines and 2 years in prison. 

Defamation laws keep the aggrieved quiet - The National

Think before you speak in this region. While it may be "ok" in your home country, naming and shaming an international hotel owned by a local firm may get you in more trouble than you want.

-md000/Mike




pkmember said:


> Woman sues Walmart over 2 cents – and wins | Newswatch | a Chron.com blog
> 
> Some law firms are trying to make a name for themselves by suing bloggers for big name companies. Unfortunately, this seems a trend. At least there is good news out there for the average person in the street winning law suits over big brand companies (see link above).
> 
> I'll be keeping up to date with this case. If the blogger loses, I'll be tempted to issue a public apology to cover myself. Thanks for sharing!


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## pkmember (Aug 1, 2010)

Thanks md000 - your comments are very timely. This is relevant because Twitter is in the news this week for censorship. 

This is what I understand of the argument. Twitter has agreed to censor tweets if a Government or company claim its illegal in their home country. However, twitter will keep the post for the rest of the world to see. The good news is that it'll be clear to everyone which countries are censoring. 

As for me, I'm posting this as a British national living in the UK for the time being having visited Dubai for 2 months. It's not illegal for me to share my views on bad customer service here.

In any event, thanks for taking an interest in my post and advising me about local custom. I'll be more careful in future. 

Finally, I do think companies have an opportunity to engage with their customers through twitter, Facebook and forums like this rather than simply wielding a stick about. KFC recently apologised to a consumer through Twitter after finding a tweet complaining. This is the best way forward for companies who want to retain a client focused image.


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## ibkiss (Feb 1, 2012)

A public apology would encourage the resto in its bad customer service .


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