Dangerous Beach Club with unethical management. Visit at your own risk. — Summary: As a VIP guest at Finns Beach Club, I suffered painful burn injuries (1-2a degree) after being hit by fireworks launched by Finns. The injuries have left a scar on my body. Finns Beach Club had dismissed my experience, refused to take responsibility for the incident and their manager even blocked me on WhatsApp. — The incident occurred at Finns Beach Club at around 7:15pm on 17 June 2024. My group of 12 friends were excited to visit Finns Beach Club as they claimed to be “The World’s Best Beach Club”.

We had booked two VIP tables with a sea view beside the beach and around sunset, fireworks were being launched from the beach at a short distance away from our tables. While looking at the fireworks display, I suddenly felt a sharp pain on my left hip area. The feeling was akin to a slingshot hitting me at high impact and I realised that the fireworks had hit me. I sat down to check on the wound and saw that it started bleeding. I immediately cried due to the pain and shock from the impact of the fireworks.

My friends alerted the Finns staff immediately. However, staff appeared lost and took some time to provide help. There appeared to be a lack of any standardised procedure or staff training of any sort to deal with my injury, despite its seriousness. Staff gave inappropriate medical advice (including putting ice on my wound, which caused me more pain, before being told to stop by another staff), resulting in the delay of proper treatment of my injury. This is gross negligence in terms of safety standards and medical protocol.

After the incident, we got in contact with Finns' manager, Mr Matthew Browning. Mr Browning appeared dismissive of my injury and trauma and insisted over Whatsapp that it was a minor incident. After we pointed out the seriousness of the incident, Mr Browning attributed the fireworks incident to a third-party company and merely stated that Finns would "monitor the situation closely", instead of taking responsibility and conducting a thorough review of their safety protocol and staff training for emergencies.

Finns has so far refused to offer any monetary compensation to account for my injuries and trauma suffered, as well as ruining the night for my group of friends. Finns, through Mr Browning, offered a complimentary deluxe bed for 6 pax at Finns Beach Club as compensation. The burn injuries left a permanent scar on my body and it’s not something a “complimentary deluxe bed” can ever make up for. The rest of my Bali trip was also ruined as I wasn’t able to enjoy any water activities.

Bizarrely, after responding to Mr Browning's offer, he stopped replying to my emails and even blocked me and on WhatsApp. Finn’s higher management has also remained silent despite me contacting them through several platforms. This is extremely unprofessional and unethical, which leads me to conclude that Finns Beach Club had dismissed my negative experience and refused to take responsibility for the fireworks incident.

On a separate note, I wish to highlight that fireworks were set up within close proximity to the VIP table which my friends and I were located. This puts us and other guests at serious risk of injury from stray shrapnel or debris from the fireworks. No shielding of any sort was in place to guard against this risk. My friend who was behind me had also gotten hit by the fireworks shrapnel at his ankle but was not injured. When I visited the clinic in Bali, the doctor had classified my burn injury to be of 1-2a degree. I am fortunate enough that the fireworks shrapnel hit my hip area. I dare not imagine what would’ve happened if the shrapnels hit my face or my eye area.

Needless to say, the experience at Finns Beach Club was a very physically and mentally traumatic one for me. They refused to acknowledge the severity of this incident and failed to understand that their current facilitation of fireworks is a highly dangerous activity capable of scarring and blinding their guests, among other possible injuries.