In a world where everything we do seem to have a guideline you can find on Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram or ChatGPT, we at The Milkfish Lady, take pride in doing things ethically and organically.
One of the things we love about what we do is how we have been able to maintain great relationships with families in Malaysia. Whether they are Malaysians, or expats calling Malaysia home for a couple of years and tourist visiting for a few days. But it’s not always rainbows and butterflies for us.
Being an ethical company also means we are honest about our processes, our communication and we try our best to be fair to all families fishing with us. No matter how much we try to refine our services, or our customer service, it is only natural that this does not make everyone happy. Through data, if 97% of our customers and clients are happy, then we have done a great job (yes, very high standards I’ve set!). If we find a trend where customers and clients complain about a service, we take our time to stop, reflect and find a solution that works. When someone asks me, what makes The Milkfish Lady thrive all these years, throughout the pandemic; I always tell them, it is because we are never fixed in our business, we are always adapting. We change alongside the requirements of the generation; our customers come first.
As a founder, what our customers do not know is that, to my business, the customers are priority, but to me… my team is. If I do not have a team, or a process within our business that works, and if they are not happy, then how can we make our customers happy?
Many of you know Andrew, our Tour Manager, who will be there to answer all your questions, send you all the information and ensure your booking is secured. Andrew addresses the customers as Sir or Miss, a sign of respect, which I encourage. Our customer service and hospitality is very old school in style; that is influenced by my family’s background in Tourism and Hospitality, we MUST make the customers feel important… because they ARE important.
Most of our information, about 90% of it, is a template. After more than 10 years, our FAQ’s remains mostly unchanged. Through experience, we are able to come up with scripts that makes it easy for Andrew to reply to customers swiftly. How fast? Andrew is able to respond to 30 families a day, from 9a.m to 6p.m. Which explains why, our tours were fully booked by October this year. Although replies regarding our tours and services are scripted from FAQ’s over the years; the relationship you build with Andrew, is not. He takes his time to listen to your requirements and requests, table it to me and we work with the team to find a solution if we can.
Unfortunately for most families, I’m strict. In Malaysia, there is a shopping/bargaining culture where many will try to get more for less, from bargaining on Tour Price, to demanding more hours and extra services (like beer or barbecue on location, or even, booking for 1 but bringing 5 people to fish). I have never in my wildest dreams envisioned that a fishing business like mine would have to deal with issues akin to what an event venue, local market or even theme park would have to deal with. It always puts a smile on face because that tells me, fishing is today an option, just like every other family-friendly business.
So the answer to all of that is… No. And some may ask, “Why not?”.
It’s simple. Understanding our goal as a company, what we are good at and how we can give the best to our customers is key. We all want to make our customers happy, but we will need to do so within our means. My job is to give your family a memorable morning together, doing something you may have never thought of otherwise, if our service did not exist. So if 97% (2025 Data) of our customers are happy, what is the 3% unhappy about, and why can we not fix it?
Pricing
It is fixed. And yes, so is the rule of fishing with us. Rod sharing is strictly not allowed, for the last 10 years, it has NOT been allowed unless you book us for an event of 30 people or more. I understand, that makes no sense to you, why can’t you share fishing rods? Well, firstly, on our first year, it was allowed. We had people fighting over fishing rods and who is next to catch, kids crying, Mum & Dad getting furious because the truth is, you will catch fish, and on some days, it will be FAST, so rod sharing will snip that adrenaline in half faster than you can say FISH ON and that is a horrible, horrible feeling.
Secondly, we work with Malaysian fishing ponds that charge per rod, per hour. We WANT to support them (to answer the FAQ of why we do not have our own fishing pond), and in order for us to ensure they get to maintain their ponds well for our customers, rod sharing will not be fair to them. So, no rod sharing, because I care about how you feel, and I care about Malaysian businesses in fishing trying their level best to do it right.
So how do we do it with 30 people or more? Well, the cost of a large group allows us to put in more fish into a pond and have a larger team to assist, ensuring everyone goes home with a fish.
We are priced moderately, which also means, we are not cheap, neither are we expensive for the activity and service we provide. The charges include our 14 years of skill building, water and weather reading, gear understanding and set up, safety, fish understanding and mastering fishing methods to adapt to weather and fish changes. That is TRULY the service we provide, which ensures your family, especially the kids, go home happy having landed their first or biggest fish.
You fish in a fishing pond? I can do that on my own right? Why pay YOU?
Firstly, refer to last paragraph on pricing where we speak about what you TRULY are paying us for. Secondly, we have had many clients that took the option of fishing on their own first… and the reality of fishing in a local fishing pond without assistance frustrates even experienced fishermen as different ponds have different controlled styles. Most local fishing ponds also control their bite rate, this simply means, you could be paying for an entry fee of RM30 for an entire day of fishing…and not catch anything.
Lastly, most of our sessions are for two hours. The cost includes Entry Fees, Gear Rental, Guide, Fishing for 2 hours, Nespresso Coffee (for the adults in the family) and cold Mineral Water (for the entire family)…it also includes FISH. Catch and Release only by the way so you don’t have to worry about fridge space or eating fish caught from a fishing pond. Most of all, we show you how it’s done so you can now go to any fishing locations…and catch fish. Then you go home, update your photos on social media, smile and feel great as a family that you accomplished so much on a Saturday morning and still have so much more of your weekend to spend together.
If you are from a family that knows the basics of fishing, then we feel you will be ok fishing in local ponds; but if you have never tried it, then I recommend joining us so we can guide you and share with you about a more ethical way of fishing as most methods used and practiced in Southeast Asia for generations may not be palatable to the rest of the world.
It is my job to share with you about fishing as a hobby and sport, with an understanding of its importance in survival as sustenance; and our tours introduce you to exactly that; alongside taking away the headache of figuring out how to catch the fish and answering the 101 questions children have about the activity and fish.
How are you fully booked? You can’t just fit ONE more child?
As I have mentioned earlier in this post, we are very aware of what we are good at, what we can do to the best of our ability to ensure our customers will have a great day fishing with us. So no, it’s not about the money. The money allows us to continue on and is important, but we cannot compromise on our standards and service. Your families mean a lot to us. The fact that your children wants to fish and you have selected us to fish with is something we hold very dearly and we do not take for granted. Yes, growing our team and taking 50 bookings every weekend will look great on our bank balance… but we will not have the time to get to know you, your children, to be aware of their needs, their worries and to celebrate their triumphs when landing a fish. I, personally, would like to be present for all those moments on every single one of our tours.
You can’t hold my booking without payment? Then we won’t fish with you!
And we will respect that. The truth is, we will wait for you to decide. Most times, we will wait within the day for you to decide, or give you a cut-off time depending on how many enquiries we get for a specific day. When we do that, we will also be telling the family enquiring after you to hold off payment to confirm, until you do. So when the cut-off time is near, Andrew will remind you, and if you have not made payment, Andrew will ask you one last time before we release the slot, according to one of our many scripts, “Hi Miss/Sir, can I check if you are still joining us? I will need to release the slots to the next family at the cut-off time”. And we stand by what we say, as it’s fair to you and we also keep the promise to the next family that is waiting to confirm their slots.
We want to fish with ALL of you. So we try our best to make it work for everyone and to be clear and concise. There are some days we slip and make mistakes too, we are only human… (yes, not AI).
Like I’ve said, we try our best to make everyone happy but that is not possible, so 97% of happy customers is great for us.
As we bring the year to a close, I cannot help but feel thankful for 2025, it has been a challenging but rewarding year which has inspired me to write again and share what truly happens behind the scenes of getting you a slot to fish with us. In 2026, we will be growing the group, by just a little… because I still need to have those moments with families. It is so important to us to be able to spend time with all of you and share with you about Fish, the sport of Fishing, the Rivers, Streams and Seas.
As for our booking systems, it will not be automated. You will speak to Andrew, he will assist you and we shall always take it from there, maintaining privacy of the location, our clients and their families, ensuring we extend a level of customer service that is curated despite being scripted and the comfort of knowing you speak to a human being, and not a computer.
If you haven’t heard, our tours are almost full for January and our offices are closed until the 5th of January 2026. Andrew and most of our team deserves a break before they come back all guns blazing in the New Year.
Until then, I’d like to take this moment to wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a spectacular New Year! We look forward to fishing with all of you in 2026!
-Shamin Shaimah (Founder, The Milkfish Lady)
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