THE PAVILION

[Prev]

People please be wary when going to The Pavilion. Lots of reports of stolen vehicles from there despite the new security systems with number plate recognition cameras etc. furthermore, when using the parking look carefully at your entry and exit times. The entry times are correctly recorded but exit times are overstated by an hour at least meaning you pay more for parking. I picked this up and drove to the exit point where I pressed the help button. Instead of getting an operator to speak to, the boom was simply opened and i exited. Easy to steal cars from there hey. I emailed the management team. I got a weak response....we will investigate.

So spread the word to people you know that visit the Pavilion to be wary and on the lookout.

 

[kugs330]

The pavillions big wigs have gone too greedy i went to the movies a few weeks back and i paid 40bucks for parking + they have gotten rid of most of the cargaurds which leaves our vehicles totally unprotected they need to get rid of this new pay parking system, we are paying them to come and spend our money there :nonono:

 

[Diablo Jnr]

My combi was stolen from rooftop of Pavillion Mall 10.02.2013. The security guard laughed in our face. The camera footage shows us getting out of the car and then it is CUT and when it comes back there is NO COMBI. Tracker admits to a syndicate running there and had a meeting with Pavillion last week. Security management admits this is not the first incident of missing car and CUT footage. My ticket stub has my registration details but they were 'fixing' the boom gates during this whole thing and then an hour later when my father arrived with transport for me to go to SAPS his ticket has no reg. number and when we left we were waved through OPEN boom gates!!! We have a case 111/02/2013 with police for theft of vehicle and includes the suspected security guard. Pavillion Mall passing the buck and nobody taking responsibility. My husband tried to make a citizen's arrest of the security guard and almost got arrested himself. This is ridiculous and I need help please. My kids cant go to school and my company is coming to a grinding halt without my car. HELP PLEASE!!!!
You may contact either myself or my husband, Alex Strachan 0823827946 for further details.

Tracker retrieved my vehicle abandoned on the side of the road with ignition torn to shreds, dashboard and all the interior panels pulled apart. I am still waiting for fingerprints to be done and then the car will be released to Budget Insurance for repairs.

Letter from my husband to Pavillion::


Another Vehicle theft at Pavilion, syndicate or just the norm????
Good Morning Shaun

I trust you are all well.

I would like to bring the following incident to your attention and determine what is going to be done as I will email and inform every media channel possible until I have a viable and satisfying solution. I will apologise in advance for the tone of my email but as a citizen who has been in attempted hijackings, store robberies, held at gun point and broken into 4 times I think it is rather obvious that this is the very last straw in my “democratic” “rainbow nation” hat!!!

Early on Sunday morning 10/02/2013, I parked outside Sportsman’s warehouse in my kombi on the roof level and went to Spur for the breakfast special. On returning to the parking area I noticed my vehicle was gone, I approached the car guard standing in the same bay and asked him where the hell my kombi is………he flatly ignored me and gave me a smirk!!! I proceeded to ask him twice and still he just laughed in my face!!!!!! I ran to another guard who immediately contacted security on his radio, I was escorted to the office where I asked to view the footage…………this is where it gets even better, the video footage show me exit the kombi with my family and then an empty parking space!? Even the lady viewing the video seemed surprised so she rewound the tape over and over to check, the footage is looped!!! Clearly someone from the parking lot called the ops room and instructed them to pause the footage so that the robbery can take place.

I rushed down to the bottom office of Interpark or whatever they called, where I received as much enthusiasm and concern as my dead dog and I was told that they could not show me the footage of my vehicle exiting, the more I ranted and raved and asked as to how the hell my vehicle could leave the premises with the card still in my possession the more I received blank stares, they wouldn’t even let me make a call to my wife who was left alone and traumatised with the children on the other side of the Pavilion, by now I am furious with absolutely no assistance and a huge “don’t give a shit attitude” from everyone I have dealt with. Returning upstairs a crowd had begun to gather with my wife calling tracker and my children in in tears. As I relay the story to the people now gathering the more the everyone is agreeing that it smacks of collusion and a syndicate including a few security guards who agreed that it could only be an inside job!

I then storm back to the security office to find the security guard Felix sitting on the couch, I again start asking him for information and again I receive a not a single word and a sly smile of satisfaction. This is where I lose it and take him to task declaring a citizen’s arrest or whatever the hell one is supposed to do when nothing is being done about the situation. I then dragged him out of the office back to the car park by the scruff of his collar, in the elevator he finally says his first words, while drawing his finger across his throat “ they will kill me”. So now if you still do not believe there is not a syndicate then I guess you live under a rock. In the parking lot the crowd has grown bigger and I force Felix to the ground while I wait for the police to arrive and arrest the suspect, tracker then calls back and informs us the vehicle has been recovered in a location and is being towed to Westville police station – WELL DONE TRACKER!!!!!!!!!!!

The crazy thin is the guy from tracker tells my wife to phone him once back at the police station which she does and he begins to tell her that just last week a meeting was held regarding the high rate of vehicle theft reported at pavilion!!!!!!

This is just getting worse with everything pointing to an inside job, awareness of a huge problem and clearly nothing has been done!!!

Various friends and family arrive to take my wife to the police station and ferry my distraught kids back home as we have been standing in the sun shattered by this experience with zero assistance! I then meet with Louis the head of security, he informs me that he has spoken to Ackerman and they will be retrieving the footage etc. I am then asked to return to the office, I take down everyone’s details including Jeanette (video operator) who was less than impressed after asking me why I wanted her details and I told her that I want this investigated because it stinks to high heaven of an inside job!!!! During this Louis was great and calmed me down assuring me that he will assist to get the footage to the detectives at Westville Police Station and he agrees that there is clearly something going on. Thank you Louis!

I then get informed that I being charged for assault, I asked the policeman if he has all the details what is going on and the very same person laying an assault charge is the person I suspect, he says no, so I tell him the whole story and clearly the policeman was only given on side including the staff that are rallying around the ”poor defenceless security guard” who is now under paramedic observation and covered in bandages.

Surprised and clearly shocked by my revelation the policeman says I must go to the police station and open a case which I duly have done.

So now it is Monday morning and I am even more worked up playing yesterday over and over in my head, my 3 children at home with no means of getting to their various schools and we can’t even drive to the shop to buy bloody bread or milk and on top of this my wife now has to cancel all her jobs for this week as she has no transport to get the staff around and get to her clients, wow it makes me feel so good that my wife’s tiny little business she started a few months ago to provide work for our “less fortunate South African Citizens” now loses her income due to having to cancel all the jobs and as a new Company it doesn’t go down well with furious and frustrated customers who have already paid their deposits and are expecting the jobs to be done! Oh how I love this country!

So to make a long story short I have a vehicle that has been trashed and is un-driveable and standing in a police yard and at the time of this mailSTIILL NO FINFGERPRINTS HAVE EVEN BEEN TAKEN!

I want to know “Pavilion Management”, what are you going to do about this incident? My vehicle was stolen off your property in full view of cameras, guards, security, interpark operators etc. What the hell is the point of going to your centre and paying for a ticket “service offered” and still feeling sorry for the guys standing in the sun and tipping them even more money! I will never ever tip a car guard again in my life and I promise you, you will never see me back at Pavilion, not that my few rands will even make a dent to the millions you procure, it’s just the principle.

Please don’t bother emailing your standard unhappy customer template as this will not suffice. I hold you responsible for the theft and damage to my vehicle. I want this investigated right from security, Interpark or whoever the hell they call themselves. I am upset and this may seem like a personal attack, it is not, but understand my state of mind and all I want is action, someone to get off their backside and take me seriously, I want answers, I want justice, I want this case blown wide open from the stinking roots to the very top!

Absolutely not “proudly South African” – just another victim who will become old news this time next week!

Without prejudice.

Alex Strachan

---

Best you start going to Gateway Prev

 

[Dippies]

That security guard needs to be Bliksimed and questioned, I have no doubt that the internal security system is manipulated and the Guards is part of the Theft Problem :nonono:

 

[Prev]

I doubt that Gateway is crime free. A colleague went there sometime last year and was the victim of the remote jammers. Had his laptop and 3G data card swiped in the incident. Cost him big bucks because the fool forgot to cancel his data sim after the incident and only realised it after the first bill was received....R5k....ouch :fishwack:

 

[moranor@axis]

damn... I was going there this weekend... I will not go there out of principle till i hear they are resolving this...

Diablo Jnr send this to the papers Im sure it has a good chance to get in...

 

[sidewayz]

South africa..................... :fencelook:

 

[moranor@axis]

well I dont see why we should just sit around complaining and waiting to change... be active and force change...

I would most definitely try get this into the papers it will force action... change will not happen with large actions but it will happen with alot of little ones...

 

[herr bmw]

damn,cant believe what i just read,good one tracker,at least you got the kombi back.security gaurd should be bliksemed,then bliksemed again,and then again just for the hell of it

thanks for the heads up prevan,havent been there since the early nineties,and only go to gateway,but now you say will have to be careful there too

 

[Oh_Yulz]

Gateway isn't that safe either...

Facebook article.

https://www.facebook.com/TrafficWC/posts/131338283698931

Copied and Pasted here:

On Friday the 11/01/2013, my white Toyota Fortuner , was stolen from Gateway Shopping Centre in Umhlanga Durban. The car was parked off at about 16:00 in the under cover parking. We noticed that the car was missing at about 21:30. After alerting security and searching all the floors of the parkade we realised that the car was stolen. We were taken to the security room to watch the camera footage to see if our car had went out of the boom gates. We saw that our car was escorted out by a Blue Opel Cadet. On the footage we saw that the Blue Opel and the our Fortuner drove very closely and used one ticket to leave the parkade. Our concern was that if this was a secure paid parking area, then how was it so easy to steal a vehicle?

The car was reported stolen at about 23:00.

Firstly it was scary because my girls were stranded at gateway at that time of the night,so I had to ask a friend to fetch them. I'm a single parent with 4 kids,how will I manage without a car and school was starting this week

On Saturday morning I went with some friends to all the parkades in town because I was told that they park stolen cars in parkades until the dust settles and it also gives them time to find the tracking device. We even went as far as to search in malls in KwaMashu.

By Saturday evening I was devastated because I realised that there was a great possibility of us not finding my car

Later on Saturday evening a cop called and asked me to meet him at the Durban North police station. They had found my car but it was immobile at Victoria street parkade. That's where they had kept the car since Friday,and apparently it was sold already and supposed to go to Malawi in the morning.

The cops and tracker unit guy said 145 toyota fortunas have been stolen since November in KZN alone, and when I asked if there's a possibility of hijacking me,they said they can steal a Fortuner in under 3 min from a parking, it's too much hassle to hijack one.

Also on two separate occasions, peoples cars were broken into at Gateway Shopping Centre. Again from the undercover paid parking area.
Both cars back windows were broken and items were stolen. Security told them that they parked there at their own risk.

Public Servant News Network KwaZulu Natal: This post refers to the Toyota Fortuner but I know that any vehicle can be stolen at any time. Be vigilant when driving, unfortunately there is nothing you can do when you park (& pay) for parking, you think that your vehicle will be safe. I think that if shopping malls are making so much money by charging for parking, then they have to prove that they have done all that they can do to prevent theft. What do you think?

 

[herr bmw]

Gateway isn't that safe either...

Facebook article.

https://www.facebook.com/TrafficWC/posts/131338283698931

Copied and Pasted here:

On Friday the 11/01/2013, my white Toyota Fortuner , was stolen from Gateway Shopping Centre in Umhlanga Durban. The car was parked off at about 16:00 in the under cover parking. We noticed that the car was missing at about 21:30. After alerting security and searching all the floors of the parkade we realised that the car was stolen. We were taken to the security room to watch the camera footage to see if our car had went out of the boom gates. We saw that our car was escorted out by a Blue Opel Cadet. On the footage we saw that the Blue Opel and the our Fortuner drove very closely and used one ticket to leave the parkade. Our concern was that if this was a secure paid parking area, then how was it so easy to steal a vehicle?

The car was reported stolen at about 23:00.

Firstly it was scary because my girls were stranded at gateway at that time of the night,so I had to ask a friend to fetch them. I'm a single parent with 4 kids,how will I manage without a car and school was starting this week

On Saturday morning I went with some friends to all the parkades in town because I was told that they park stolen cars in parkades until the dust settles and it also gives them time to find the tracking device. We even went as far as to search in malls in KwaMashu.

By Saturday evening I was devastated because I realised that there was a great possibility of us not finding my car

Later on Saturday evening a cop called and asked me to meet him at the Durban North police station. They had found my car but it was immobile at Victoria street parkade. That's where they had kept the car since Friday,and apparently it was sold already and supposed to go to Malawi in the morning.

The cops and tracker unit guy said 145 toyota fortunas have been stolen since November in KZN alone, and when I asked if there's a possibility of hijacking me,they said they can steal a Fortuner in under 3 min from a parking, it's too much hassle to hijack one.

Also on two separate occasions, peoples cars were broken into at Gateway Shopping Centre. Again from the undercover paid parking area.
Both cars back windows were broken and items were stolen. Security told them that they parked there at their own risk.

Public Servant News Network KwaZulu Natal: This post refers to the Toyota Fortuner but I know that any vehicle can be stolen at any time. Be vigilant when driving, unfortunately there is nothing you can do when you park (& pay) for parking, you think that your vehicle will be safe. I think that if shopping malls are making so much money by charging for parking, then they have to prove that they have done all that they can do to prevent theft. What do you think?

jeepers,145 since november:nonono:

 

[Prev]

Car theft stats are scary. A lady I work with had a Toyota RunX 160 Sport stolen from her flat parkade about a month ago even though they had round the clock security. When they went to report it at the Local SAPS, they were told that there were 19 RunX's stolen in Queensburgh that weekend :nonono: note these were not hijackings.

 

[Dhp507]

Dam that place is too busy one an two this thing about paid parking has very little recourse should your vehicle be tampered / damaged Or stolen. This hiding behind the parking at own risk should have some proviso

 

[moranor@axis]

only 19... Queensburgh is slacking :roflol:

 

[kugs330]

The toyota fortuners are easy to steal search "toyota fortuner stolen" on you tube and u will see how these guys do it :argh: