joe.bloggs
Your 'friend' will have told you the story from his perspective. Very often, there is more to it than people readily admit to. It will probably have been linked to inappropriate energy management rather than just for that. Flying more than 250kts below 5000' is not unsafe. If it was, we'd all have to keep flap out on a ULR departure for longer than desired. I suspect the full story behind his warning has not been fully divulged to you.
As for the topic itself, I actually think the standard of ASR's has improved and we're moving away from the ACR's that we used to read but there will always be the 5% who don't quite get it. EK is not unique in that respect.