Friday, September 4, 2009

I think Irving Berlin would have been disappointed too

About a month ago, I sent the letter below.


August 7, 2009


Mr. Pierre Perusset
General Manager, The Ritz-Carlton
JL. Lingkar Mega Kuningan Kav. E.1.1 NO.1
Jakarta 12950, Indonesia



Mr. Perusset: I received a disturbing phone call from my wife this afternoon. She called to tell me that there was a fire in the Ritz-Carlton and that they were evacuating from our apartment in the Airlangga Apartments as a precaution. (My wife injured her foot badly the night before and wanted to get down via elevator before conditions might have prohibited doing so.) Given the events of recent weeks, I was troubled to hear this news – not sure if it was mere bad luck or more dubious acts in play. The series of phone calls that followed were relieving in some senses but even more disturbing in others.


It turned out that the Ritz-Carlton tested the alarm in the Airlangga Apartments – with no announcement, notification, details, or communications to Airlangga Apartment management. Amid normal circumstances, this would probably be a mere inconvenience, exacerbated by my wife’s injury. However, following our experiences on July 17, this was a particularly disturbing episode. My oldest daughter is just old enough to understand the events three weeks ago were a bomb and a big problem, but not old enough to differentiate the alarms as something separate and, in this case, without real danger. Therefore, she remained scared throughout the afternoon.

Certainly I can appreciate that these have been difficult times for the Ritz-Carlton, your staff, and yourself. However, I hope that you and your staff can also appreciate that these experiences have been traumatic for the tenants of the building. I presume there is a review of security procedures being done at the Ritz-Carlton, but disappointingly we have not been informed if indeed this is the case, nor any status or results from such review that might ongoing.


Today’s events can seemingly only be explained by insensitivity, foolishness, or ineptitude – none of which are particularly reassuring explanations about the personnel in charge of emergency response. When I came from work tonight, I went to the Ritz-Cartlon lobby to try to find out more about what had happened and why (with the hope that perhaps there was a more sensible explanation to be found).

I asked to speak to the Duty Manager. I explained the situation to her. Shockingly, she knew nothing of the situation, an unnerving indication about communications and de-briefing procedures. After a few phone calls, she was able to confirm that the Ritz-Cartlon had done unannounced tests of the alarms in the Airlangga Apartments, and she apologized and claimed there would be an internal review.

Given the circumstances though, I wanted to write to you about this experience, particularly because I have credible reason to believe that you might not even be aware of the situation, if I can extrapolate from my experience in discussion with your staff earlier. I hope you can understand the basis of my concerns.

Sincerely,


Scott Hanna
Airlangga Apartments 47-B



A couple weeks later I received the following letters. (By the way, these were the first formal communications to even state there was an incident - only five weeks afterward.)













I would have welcomed an opportunity for a few points of clarification, but no one from the Ritz bothered to answer my first letter so I won't hold out hope for any different outcome for a second letter.

Mr. Berlin wrote a hell of a nice song about the place and that Dutch fellow Taco was born in Jakarta and, so on their behalf and mine, I feel compelled to pose a few questions even if no one from the Ritz ever bothers to read them – let alone answer.

-- Mr. Perusset, it took a mere three times over the course of nearly three weeks to get to the bottom of this alarm ringing mystery? And the source of your concern was learning “how aggravating the situation was”? Were you expecting the residents to respond differently to bogus emergency alarms? And now all emergency alarms will be announced in writing? Does this mean the alarm bell will be replaced by the alarm memo? Will these memos also take five weeks to come out? If so, will it be printed on loudly colored paper at least? Lastly, do the two loops of your signature cover both your first and last name?


-- Ms. Wati, about the “no effect” to building structure, does this include the side of the building that dislodged and moved to the pavement in front of it? With respect to the process of structural inspection to ensure safety considering that residents were allowed to move back in within 24 hours, can you provide me the name of that engineering firm because they work extraordinarily quickly? “To anticipate the unwanted incident”? When is it scheduled for? Is this driver and maid registry the major security enhancement to address the network of them instrumental in the last “unwanted incident”?