Malls are usually a place for us to unwind and relax, but recently, the family of Facebook user Shima Reza walked away with a rather bad experience.
When her parents and child visited Empire Shopping Gallery, Subang Jaya, on Friday (22nd July) evening, they did not expect a faulty escalator to cause one of their family members to be admitted into the hospital for a fractured shoulder and bruised skull.
They were enjoying their Friday when Reza’s mom lost her balance and tumbled down the moving escalator as it was jerking constantly. Upon reaching the bottom, Reza’s father and daughter, who were with her mom, asked for help but to their dismay, no help came, although the security team was aware of the incident.
Apparently, no one stepped up to offer aid as there were no centre manager on duty and none of the mall staff were authorised to handle the situation.
After being pulled to safety, the victim had to lie on the stone cold floor for approximately 30 minutes before a helpful staff from the nearby Empire Hotel Subang came with a wheel chair. However, the elderly woman couldn’t move as she was in extreme pain, and continued lying until an ambulance came.
Throughout her ordeal, none of the Empire Shopping Gallery staff stepped forward to help. There was no response from the management and medical team and the only help given was from the hotel staff, who went out of their way to provide assistance and were “running around asking for help”.
The mall’s customer service representative only materialised when Reza’s mother was being wheeled to the hospital. Despite the tense situation and the fact that no help was given to them, the staff had the audacity to hand them a form for signature purposes and even asked for feedback regarding the emergency.
Read the full account here:
Reza also left a message on Empire Shopping Gallery’s Facebook wall informing them of the situation, only to receive a response 12 hours later. What more, it was an automated respond that read, “Hope again to have an opportunity for further contact with you and your family as our message via pm. We sincerely wish your mother a smooth and speedy recovery.”
However, the mall did assure patrons that the escalator has since been shut down and is undergoing maintenance works to ensure that a similar incident won’t happen. A small team from the mall has also visited Reza’s mother at the hospital, but was denied entry.
According to their last public interaction, authorities from the mall are willing to “offer all the help” they can and are looking for an opportunity to meet with Reza and her family.
This is not the first time that Empire Shopping Gallery has come under fire for its safety features (or lack of). In 2011, an explosion due to gas leakage occurred at the mall while in January, a glass ceiling collapsed but fortunately, no one was hurt.
Sources: Shima Reza’s Facebook, Empire Shopping Gallery’s Facebook.
