The Book Restorer - Be Warned

I contacted Liesel in late November 2025 to fix the spine of an old prayer book. After sending some photos and getting a quote, I couriered the book off to her. Once she evaluated the book in person I sent her the 50% deposit required. I was waiting for her to perhaps give me some options on how to make the repair, since matching the book's colour seemed impossible, but a week later her first communication was that the repair was fixed. I paid her the balance and the courier fee back, and she said she would send the book back the next day.

After this I waited for a confirmation or waybill, three days later I tied to confirm if my payment was received, with no answer. From this point she did not respond to any communication, email, Whatsapp, phone calls, nothing. I even found and messaged her cousin on Facebook to try and find out what's going on.

After a week of this, I contacted my bank to see if they could get my money back, assuming I had been ****med. I opened a ***** case at SAPS, did an afi davit, took time off work, spend time on the phone with the bank, a lot of effort. Then, the day I send the final affidavit to my bank, she popped up with a very brief apology saying she had been "out of action". Eventually, after that I got my book back, nearly a month after first contact. And then had to waste more time withdrawing the SAPS case and the bank ***** case.

I will not do business with Liesel again, nor will anyone who speaks to me. You cannot take someone's property and then disappear without a word, and neither is it good form to restore something for a person without any communication as to how that will be done, how it will look etc.