Order comment box on checkout step1 not being saved

[HaCos]

Hi there,

I am on 1.6.0.9 and I am facing the following issue on a live website. At the checkout process, step1 there is a field where the customer can add comments about his order. Same thing can happen after the order has been submitted from the myaccount >order history. 

The problem we face is that from the myaccount >order history, everything works just fine but from the step1 of checkout , nothing is happening. 
We do have the following code in order-address.tpl but still nothing.

        {if !$opc}
            <div id="ordermsg" class="form-group">
                <h3 class="section-header" style="text-align:left">{l s='If you would like to add a comment about your order, please write it in the field below.'}</h3>
                <textarea class="form-control" cols="60" rows="6" name="message">{if isset($oldMessage)}{$oldMessage}{/if}</textarea>
            </div>
        {/if}

 

Any help or idea from where to start looking for it, is more than welcome