Assalamu alaykum. I'm glad there is somewhere I can raise my concern about the poor standards of packages offered by the so called approved agents.

I was one of those victims.

I travelled for Umrah first time in my life with my wife and a 3 yr old daughter. It was in October 2001.

I made it very clear to the agent that money is not a problem, as long as we get a decent package, being first timers and going with my family. I was promised a 3 star accomodation.

On reaching there, I couldn't believe my eyes. We were given a room in a remote hotel about 15 min walk from Haram in Makkah, with cockroaches in the room and toilet, unchanged dirty bedsheets and pillow covers, unprepared for the next customer.

My child started vomiting as soon as she entered the toilet. None of us slept that night although we were tired after the long flight and Umrah the same day.

I rang the agent in the UK who ignored us. I spoke to the agents in Makkah, Medina and Jeddah in Arabic, argued my case but was told that this is what we had booked for by the agent in the UK.

He also showed us the booking papers.

By Allah, the Makkah and Medina stay were a nightmare. Not only that, our return trip to Jeddah was paid by me, because they caused so much delay in confirming our return ticket that we would have missed the flight had we not taken a taxi to Jeddah from Medina.

Did they care???

On my return, I wrote a complaint letter to the agent, MCB and the Saudi Embassy but to date, I am still waiting for their acknowledgement, let alone doing something about it.

I'll be happy to assist in your campaign for the better of our Muslim brothers and sisters going for Hajj and Umrah.

Wassalam

Dr Khalid Patel

Forest Gate

London