BEWARE OF THIEVES AT STOPWASH

I went to Eastgate Shopping mall last week Thursday in order to go to the gym, and on my way out, I put down my handbag in order to find my keys.

I forgot my handbag and I drove away, it had many items in it ( such as diamond earrings and over R500 in cash), My fault entirely, I know.

The next day, I realized my mistake and drove to eastgate to ask if any honest person handed it in, and alas no one did.

I then went to security and reviewed hours of tapes to find two of STOPWASH's girls finding my bag and then looking through it and yes finding all my important things and walking away with my bag around half an hour after I forgot it. These girls wearing your shirt and holding "stopwash" boards did not hand the bag into security. Infact they took it home with them that afternoon.

When the security called in the supervisor, and then the girls were called in, they denied it at first but then when they saw the footage, they admitted to taking the bag home with them.

Their supervisor then sent a message with the security guards that I can pick up my handbag "tomorrow morning as they lady will bring the bag back when she comes to work in the morning" as she lives far away and she won't be able to bring it that afternoon. How is any of that my problem? I already wasted hours of my day at security, let alone the inconvenience of being there and not just being able to pick it up from the mall management. But hey, I cant inconvenience the girl that STOLE my bag, right?

Firstly, did you guys expect that I will wait an entire day for items such as credit cards, my license and especially my diamond earrings??! I think not. Secondly, from that message that I received, she was going to be back at work the next day with no repercussions whatsoever?!? Way to go stopwash, I assume you guys are used to dealing with dishonest people touching our most prized possessions.

I waited until close to 10pm for my handbag back, my money had been moved to a brand new spot in my purse, and when I mentioned that over R300 was missing, the lady who stole my bag started screaming at me that I am lying and she didn't touch anything.

Her supervisor said nothing to the worker, even when she was speaking to me so disrespectfully and looked at me like I was wasting everyone's time, the supervisor rolled her eyes when I mentioned all the items that were missing. My diamond earrings were no longer in the bag and my late grandfather's chain ( that is worth nothing in monetary value but is invaluable to me ) was of course missing. I think what upsets me the most is the fact that I didn't even get an apology from both the person who stole my bag or the supervisor, I received a mumbled "hi" from the supervisor when they walked in and that's all that was said to my boyfriend and I who have been waiting at the security office from 3pm that afternoon.

UPON contacting Stopwash head office, they apologized and gave me back R300 cash and promised me that they will replace what was stolen, I.e the earrings. All I had to do was give them the receipt, to which I had to request it from the store that I purchased it from. So I followed their request the very same day.

Now Stopwash REFUSES to follow through on promises, in fact they made that promise to me infront of management at Eastgate Shopping Centre , but now according to Stopwash's head office, "it has absolutely nothing to do with Stopwash."

I would definitely recommend staying far away from Stopwash, being those girls that constantly irritate you to wash your car or thinking that it is convenient to wash your car with Stopwash, but then you are sitting at security for HOURS to get your belongings back .