On August 30, 2007, Phyllis Muscat sent this letter to Charlot Gauci of Dryzone, The Chemical Building Products Malta Ltd, 35 Triq Fra Diegu, Hamrun, HMR 12:

I have been repeatedly trying, without success, to contact you for the past month. I left numerous messages with your son, for you to contact me, and also quite a few messages on your voicemail.

Apparently, you cannot be contacted for ­after-sales service. I recall you had answered immediately before purchasing your product, as advertised in The Voucher and other magazines.

On March 18, I had the walls of a property in Sliema treated by your company. You advised me to paint the walls with emulsion paint after six months from date of treatment (September) to give the chemical enough time to work.

However the ­dampness has now moved to an area above the treated patch that was previously not damp.

You had specifically stated that the dampness would disappear, not move to another area. I am disappointed with the result of your treatment and I would like the situation rectified.

I await your call for an appointment to revisit the premises prior to due date for emulsion paint treatment. (Mrs Muscat)

On August 12, we asked Mr Gauci for his comments, to no avail. On September 14, Mrs Muscat sent Mr Gauci this letter:

I asked you to call me in order to verify the result of your work. Instead, you sent your son to inspect the walls with a moisture meter. Obviously, he found the walls on top of the area that was treated with Dryzone still damp and flaking.

You had inspected these same walls before being treated and the drilling of holes was done under your supervision. I am very disappointed with the outcome and would like the situation rectified immediately. In the meantime, I await your call to carry out the Dryzone treatment all over again until the problem is completely solved, at your expense of course. Dryzone comes with a 20-year guarantee. (Mrs Muscat)

On October 1, Mrs Muscat sent Mr Gauci this letter.

Since I haven't received a reply to my letter dated September 14, I am writing to you again to inform you of my disappointment with your after sales service.

The dampness treatment that was carried out on March 18 did not solve the problem but only made it worse, as the dampness has now risen to a higher level. Since you do not have a solution to the problem, I demand a Lm270 refund. (Mrs Muscat)

On September 19, we sent Mr Gauci a copy of this letter, yet again, asking him for his ­comments. No feedback. On October 10, we sent Dryzone another copy asking for comments, to no avail.

In all fairness, we have given Mr Gauci more than a fair chance to give us his side of the story.