38°c Onsen Spa JB Mount Austin — Attraction in Johor

I’m writing this as a caution to people that are going to patronise this place and to express my deep disappointment over the management’s insincerity to their customers.

My partner brought me to this place and initially it was a very pleasant experience. We enjoyed the massage and the ear candling. However after the ear candling, I experienced extreme vertigo and ear pain as well as dizziness, unable to balance and walk straight.

I went to see a doctor immediately once I returned to Sg and he told me that it was because of the ear candling that caused me to have an ear infection that resulted in these symptoms.

My partner then contacted 38 Onsen spa and was told to wait while they get back after consulting the management (Sep 6). We waited for a whole month before my partner wrote a one star review on google on Oct 7 due to the lack of a response.

They then conveniently replied immediately through a third party who told us that the delay was because the management went on a ‘company trip’ and only coincidentally returned the day before, hence the delay. The management replied through a third party because apparently their English was not good enough to reply to us when we have been conversing with them in Chinese on WhatsApp previously.

They then offered to reimburse my medical bill (which wasn’t a lot, only $60) only on the condition that I go see the doctor again and get a memo that states specifically that my condition was due to the ear candling. They inconvenienced me and also refused to reimburse me for the additional trip down to get the doctor’s memo. Stating it is ‘company policy’ and I have got to stand in the company’s perspective.

As a customer I am not obliged to stand in the business’s POV and I refused to inconvenience myself to go and get an additional memo from the doctor. I understand that the company has a SOP but I believe my case should be handled with more compassion.

Terrible customer service and handling of the problem. I did not even ask them to refund me the price of the onsen itself. They only reimbursed me for the medical bill, the bare minimum with such little sincerity. I have already suffered and I believe basic compensation is not too much to ask for.

The third party told my partner that it will be hard to convince the management to compensate me because “they have a different culture and do things differently”. I believe customer service should be priority irregardless of culture or background.

Eventually we were able to convince management to compensate me because they insisted my partner remove his one star review on google. I have since gotten the reimbursement for my medical bill but they have never once offered to refund me for the onsen and ear candling experience.

I am thoroughly disappointed at the management’s lack of compassion and this has left a very bitter after—taste. For those that are considering to patronise this place please proceed with the ear candling...

Extremely unhappy with the massage that left bruises on my husband and was highly stressful and painful for me. I went with my husband for a couple package on 6 Jan 2024 and we chose this spa due to the high ratings. The place looks good and hygienic. Onsen experience was comfortable.

Requested for medium pressure before treatment started but during foot bath my masseuse scrubbed my foot excessively and was very rough. She couldn’t speak English at all so had to work through the counter staff to translate. Due to the unpleasant foot bath, we told the counter staff that we want light pressure instead for both me and my husband during the massage and she told the therapists in the massage room while we were there.

It was the worst massage that we have ever been to. My masseuse kneaded my massage furiously and she did something with her elbow to push into different points in my body and it really hurt. I had to tell her to go lighter 3-4 times and she was still unable to regulate the pressure. She was very very rough.I also heard my husband telling my husband that his shoulder hurt where she massage him and not to massage in here and there. Several times he told her to go lighter.

After the massage I was furious when I saw the extensive bruising down his back. To be clear, we did not opt gua Sha and the treatment was just an oil massage. And as they couldn’t speak English, we spoke in Malay which they understood cause she repeated after us and also conversed back in Malay.

I showed the counter staff the bruises anfter the massage and they said ohh, sorry. I was so upset but we did not want this to ruin the day so I just told her I want to pay quickly and leave, no need to wipe down the oil whatsoever. I told them this was not acceptable. To the owners, it is not ok for both people to get hurt due to your incompetent therapists. And my masseuse didn’t even check once with me whether the pressure is ok. For the face massage, they used the rough face towel and wiped the face and side of the face roughly while kneading it, I don’t know what massage technique this is. Then at one time, to stretch my arm, she grabbed my wrist hard and yanked my arm. I told her to stop.

It was so painful I was sweating and I completely regret the experience. Go at...

This has been a super disappointing experience for us (visited on Saturday 29 March). We had high hopes for this place due to the many good reviews and viral posts but there were many things that happened which marred the experience. Would not visit again.

1. masseuse and staff kept on commenting inappropriately about our bodies and this went on the whole duration of the spa and having conversations with each other on it. THIS IS NOT A SAFE SPACE.

2. the masseuse(s) that attended to us were super unprofessional. While the leg massages were okay, when it was time for the tummy massage, the young masseuse was digging under my ribs and even when I expressed my discomfort and said it was really painful, she kept on pressing and digging into my ribs and commented that other guests were okay with this and that I must have a low pain tolerance and told me to endure for 7 more mins and continued laughing. Even till now, the area under my ribs are still tender and painful to the touch. My partner also raised that issue that her masseuse was rather unskilled and applied a lot of friction to the massage the whole time.

3. the aircon was spoiled and this resulted in many people coming in and out of our massage room to try and fix the aircon WHILE we were lying there unclothed. The door was left open while other staff came in and out and my partner’s masseuse continued with the massage while the door was left open.

Indescribably bad experience and would NOT...