Missing property and no resolve for 4 months

I sent this e-mail to Air-O-Car after I collected my wife's car from the airport and noticed the ashtray missing.

1st MAIL SENT - 29 MAY

Hey guys, I was just about to mail you. It was probably an accident when cleaning the car, but the centre console ashtray is missing from the car, it had about R30 or so in change in it. Also, I paid R200 cash when I collected the car. The guy said there was no invoice for me and nothing to sign.If you could check with the chap about the money, and the carwash chaps about the ashtray, that would be great. Thanks.

AIROCAR REPLY - May 29.

Good day Sir. Unfortunately, we have had a slight problem with our accounting system the last few days and this is the reason that some invoices could not be issued as per normal. We are still currently working on the problem and hope it will be up and running again within the next few days. However, I have forwarded your email to our accounts department so that they can forward to you an updated invoice. In addition I have copied in management so that they can have a look into the whereabouts of your ashtray and come back with you with regards to this. At times we have found that our drivers and sometimes the washers will find something valuable in the car and sometimes take it out and it gets brought to us to pack away for Safe keeping and other times they pack it away in a safe spot for the client in the car itself. However, we will only be able to come back to you once we have followed up with them.

MY NEXT MAIL - 2 JUNE thanks to no reply.

Hey there, Just a follow up on the missing ashtray. Cooolest!

MY NEXT MAIL - 8 June thanks to no reply.

Hi Staci, I’ve had no replies regarding the missing ashtray for the Jazz. Any news for me?

MY NEXT MAIL - 4 MAY thanks to no reply.

Still no update on this. I’ll be sending a mail to the Guild to let them know the service can’t be trusted and the feedback is sorely lacking. Thanks.

THEIR REPLY on 4 JULY after a call from the owner.

Good day Mr Wall. We hereby confirm your telephonic discussion with Mr Pieter Rudolph of this morning. Please accept our sincerest apologies for not attending to your complaint as quickly as we would normally have like to have done and this having forced you to have taken your complaint to social media. Unfortunately, during the time span of your having parked your vehicle with us and the collection thereof one of our ladies in the office suffered the misfortune of the death of her father and was on compassionate leave for a time. Not long after this Ida, who is our accounts manager, had the misfortune of having her father suffer a massive heart attack which as you can imagine took priority for her and whom the company offered unlimited time off as needed. In addition, all valuable items that are removed from client’s cars for safe keeping are locked in Ida’s office in the safe and since we are extremely security conscious and take the safe-keeping of our client’s valuable as seriously as we do the safe as well as the office remains locked at all times when not in occupation by Ida herself. Both of these occurrences resulted in Pieter having to stand in and take over the work in the ladies’ absences, in addition to his normal daily function. Further in addition to this, something that is not very well known by many, is that Pieter does not just have the task of being one of the owners of Air-O-Car but also has a very busy legal practice to run. This results in him having to balance his work as one of the owner’s of Air-O-Car as well as at times being in court from early morning until the case is completed which can be late afternoon, the days when he is court he is unfortunately only reachable during times of recess. As you can see we do do our best to reach our client’s concerns, complaints, queries etc as quickly and as promptly as we can, Pieter and Ida are the only 2 in management who are authorised to handle these things when they come up but unfortunately being as busy as our company is and as stated above with Pieter also having a law practice to run this is sometimes not as easy as we would like it to be. And, in this instance, 2 very unfortunate incidents did occur over June and July with the 2 ladies in our office. This resulted in essentially all the work being dumped on Pieter at once to handle in their absence, and as I’m sure we don’t need to point out one person can only do so much on their own.

Please be assured that this is not our normal habit of ignoring client’s at all as our service to our client’s is something that we take very seriously as we would be sure the Editor of *** Pages Mr Rubin Van Niekerk would confirm for you, being a long standing client and personal friend of Pieter’s as well as Air-O-Car. Please once again accept our sincerest apologies, for the inconvenience which caused you to have to go to the extreme that you found yourself having to. In future our offices are always available 09:00 – 17:00 by telephone and our cellphone lines are available 24 hours if for any reason you find that you are in need of having to reach us urgently. In addition Pieter has given me permission to pass his personal cellphone number on to you should you feel you would like to speak to him personally at any time ********** . Please find attached a picture of the ashtray which was retrieved from the safe this morning, please advise if this is in fact your ashtray and if you could kindly provide us with an address where we can deliver it to you. I SUPP**** ADDRESS AS PIC SHOWED AROUND BLACK ASHTRAY AND THEN...

The owner brought the ashtray to my house, handed it to me through his driver's window, no hello, no apology, in fact the whole time he was on a phone call. Just after he left I looked at the Honda Jazz ashtray he gave me that all of a sudden had Audi logos on - it was not mine. I let him know immediately via Whatsapp and was told he'd find and bring the right one as soon as he could.

MY NEXT MAIL - 31 AUGUST.

Hey guys, It’s now 31 August and I still don’t have the ashtray back for my wife’s Honda Jazz. I’ve just called Honda Sandton to enquire as to a replacement ashtray, and they have it at a ridiculous R797.46, but nonetheless, that’s what it will cost me to replace it. Please let me know what to do about this? Will you be finding the ashtray or will I be sending an invoice for a new one? Please advise soonest. Thanks.

MY NEXT MAIL - 12 September

13 days later, no reply. I’m not understanding why exactly? Off to Hello Peter, and again, the South African Guild of Motoring Journalists who recommended this service. This is not how complaints are dealt with.

TODAY IS 20 SEPTEMBER - Guess what the reply is? Well, there hasn't been one, from THREE e-mail addresses. I'm not bothered about the thinly-veiled threat about the owner also being a lawyer, I don't care about the excuses and I certainly DO NOT believe the part in the reply where it says: "Please be assured that this is not our normal habit of ignoring client’s at all as our service to our client’s is something that we take very seriously..." I want the original ashtray for the Honda Jazz or a new one from Honda (not a s**** yard).