Shoddy workmanship, poor work ethic and refusal to honour guarantee

In June, I enquired on a Virginia Facebook group if anyone knows someone who can service and repair gas geysers.

I got a response from Stofel Strydom, a (****?) profile owned by Cornelius Marthinus Albertus Strydom

He said he would be at my place on Saturday morning. He kept the appointment and I was quite impressed.

From there things went South.

He said he needed to take the geysers to his workshop and I paid him R1500 upfront. He promised to have the geysers back on Sunday or Monday.

This didnt happen but I accepted that he was waiting for spares. I offered at one point to pick up the one geyser from him while I was in Welkom for business but he said they werent ready and I sat back to wait.

Come Friday he demands that I drive to Welkom and bring him the rest of the money or he will sell my geysers to pay for his labour, outright refusing to bring them back.

Under duress, I drive to Welkom to fetch the geysers and, against my better judgment, gave him the rest of the money. He assured me he guarantees his work for 6 months and I mustn't worry.

He wouldnt disclose his home or work address for me to fetch the geysers and insisted I meet him at the Sasol garage in Welkom. ***** much!

I returned home and installed the geysers. One worked well. The other however was spraying water all over the place and wouldn't get hot enough. I contacted Albertus and he promised to be at my place on Saturday morning to attend to the fault.

Saturday morning came and went with no sign of him. I called him in the afternoon and he apologized and promised to be there on Monday.

2 months have now passed and he ignores my calls and whatsapps. He is refusing to honour his guarantee.

Im not going to tell anyone who they must and must not do business with but what I would suggest is if you hire this guy, do not pay him anything until the job is complete and you are satisfied.

I posted my experience on Facebook which resulted in hundreds of threatening and harassing messages from Albertus.

At some point he threatened my wife and I responded with a few harsh words and now, instead of apologizing, he is threatening to phone my employer and make trouble for me.

A reputable company or individual would surely respond with an apology, a reason for the delay and an offer to make right. Just saying!

What sort of person chooses to threaten and harrass a client rather than simply keeping his promise and honouring his guarantee?

He refused to provide either a physical address or email address. The only contact number I have is +***0