Disgusting Service & Lost Legal Documents

We have been struggling to get a copy of our client's Ante Nuptial Marriage Contract from this firm. We requested a formal quote from them, through email sent to Ismail Dawjee (Assisting Lawyer), on the 21st of September 2017, and have still not received it even with numerous requests sent for it thereafter. How can a client be expected to make any payment without the confirmation and security of the final cost? Especially when taking into consideration that the client was given a broad estimate. Giving an amount through an email does not constitute a formal quote, it has to be on a company letterhead. We have had to keep nagging to receive the feedback requested, and eventually decided to try to acquire the document through another firm - who after weeks of searching, informed us that the Ante Nuptial Contract cannot be found in the Deeds Office. We contacted Ismail Dawjee from Shuttleworth & Dawjee again on Thursday 2nd November 2017, and were promised we would receive a certified copy of the document on Friday 3rd November 2017. We also told them that the client would not be paying a cent towards this until they could prove to us that they even have the Ante Nuptial Marriage Contract, as the document could not be found by the other lawyers we had contacted. Ismail Dawjee informed us that documents can be destroyed after 5 years, which is in contravention of the requirements of the Protocol File as an Ante Nuptial Marriage Contract is a public document and records must be kept. Requests for details pertaining to their Protocol File have also gone unanswered.

By the end of that work day, Friday 3rd November 2017, we had still not received anything, and sent out a request for an update on the progress only to be informed through the email received from Ismail Dawjee on Saturday 4th November 2017 that we had been barred and were requested not to contact Shuttleworth & Dawjee again. When we called this morning, Monday 6th November 2017, in connection to that we were told that they had decided to not do business with us because they had not received any payment, and that our attitudes were "poor and threatening". When we advised that we had already told them that we would not be making any payment until they could prove they did have the document, Ismail Dawjee got extremely rude and put the phone down in our ear, and on our calling again, put the phone down numerous times. He furthermore threatened us with a Court Order Interdict. Why can the Ante Nuptial Marriage Contract not be found when all legal public documentation is supposed to be recorded, and it had been registered through Shuttleworth & Dawjee when it was drawn up? How can a client be expected to make a payment for anything without proof of what it will cost and that the document exists?

We will be reporting this matter to the Law Society.