Despite high charges, contractual agreements and promises of first-class services, pilgrims who paid domestic Haj companies for VIP travel to the holy sites were critical of their services, with some of them pointing out that they actually had to “beg” for medical treatment and water. While pilgrims staying in camps were relatively satisfied with the services of different Haj companies, for those staying in Mina Towers, rented for millions of riyals by VIP Haj tour operators that supposedly offer first-class services, the situation was different. In front of the gate of Tower 4, many people gathered and complained about their situation, saying they wished they had stayed in camps and spared their women and children the bad service and maltreatment they received from the company's employees, Al-Watan newspaper said. Saudi pilgrim Bilal Aseeri said he and his friends signed a contract with the company that stipulated that a male doctor and a female doctor would be provided in case of any medical emergency. He said they found out there was no doctor at all when they asked for one to see a patient. “Someone came later wearing a physician's uniform, but you could not be sure whether he was a qualified doctor or not,” he said. Ibrahim Al-Wad'ani said the VIP Haj company put him and his family in a tower, where, as soon as he arrived, he met the manager who confidently said he would guarantee all services and that he was responsible for everything. The manager later extricated himself from any responsibility when Al-Wad'ani and others traveling with the same company asked him to provide tents for their women and children in Arafat. Muhammad Al-Aseeri, who performed Haj with his diabetic mother, said he paid SR15,000 for the VIP trip – SR7,500 per person – and he selected the Haj company because it accommodated their pilgrims in a tower, and because of its attractive advertisements before Haj. He said the company did not provide them with drinking water in Arafat, not to mention the bad service, overcrowding in the tower, and the large number of pilgrims who traveled with the company for SR1,000 only to squat on the stairs and fill the corridors with garbage. Al-Aseeri said that he was ignored by company staff when he asked them for drinking water for his mother in Arafat. Their tent had no air-conditioning either. He said his mother, being a diabetic, needed to eat after taking the pill with the help of water provided by a fellow pilgrim. She took it as the “promised” breakfast was supposed to come afterwards. However, the meal never arrived, and her condition worsened. The chairman of the board of directors at the Haj company said the bad services were due to the delay of the company getting the tower accommodation. He said the company received the tower only five days before the pilgrims arrived, describing the services that had been introduced as “an accomplishment.” He said that according to the regulations set by the Ministry of Haj, a bed in a tower costs SR5,300 and his company charged pilgrims SR8,000 covering flight tickets and transportation expenses. He attributed the differences in prices to the different duration of marketing periods before Haj. Haj Ministry Undersecretary Hatim Qadi called on “affected” pilgrims to file formal complaints with the Complaints Committee at the ministry. Complaints will be examined by members from the Ministries of Interior, Haj and Commerce, he said, adding that if negligence is detected, the Haj company will be forced to return some of the money that the pilgrims paid. __
