Henja Schaap Took My Money, **** for 6 Months, and Returned My Dress Untouched⁹

In January, I gave Henja Schaap my wedding dress for alterations. He was hired and paid to take in the hem, fit new cups, and add a few cosmetic diamante stones to the bodice. Essentially, that is a very quick and simple request. Henja confidently claimed he had worked on dresses for Miss South Africa, claimed to have an internationally well known reputation as a designer and even claimed to have designed outfits for England's Queen Elizabeth and the Princess of Monaco. He showed me 2 dresses in person that he claimed to have designed, which albeit were very impressive, and this gave me the impression that he was a professional. Based on that, we trusted him wholeheartedly. He was promptly paid in full and on time. Over R2000.00.

For six months, we followed up. I have WhatsApp proof of every single message ever sent to him where we had tried to arrange a date and time to set up a fitting where I would wear my dress with my chosen wedding shoes so he could take the measurements for the hem to be taken in. I have messages showing where I had told him I had lost a bit of weight and was concerned about the initial cup size I had fit as I was worried it wouldn't fit.

Every single message was ignored, and if it wasn't ignored, it was met with outrageous excuses. Excuses such as him being away in Lesotho for weeks, then upon returning from Lesotho more excuses such as him suffering from a heart attack and being hospitalized for 3-4 weeks, then more excuses about going straight to KZN following his heart attack and THEN being snowed in and unable to drive from KZN back to Gauteng, (it snowed for a day or 2 and cleared up in the same time), and then, the last excuse, supposedly the death of 2 friends simultaneously in 2 separate, unrelated incidents.

Not once did he show us a photo or proof of progress despite numerous requests via WhatsApp. He always assured he'd send a photo but never did. I was constantly reassured in WhatsApp messages that my dress was 100% complete aside from the hem needing to be taken in. Henja told us that the cups had been replaced, the diamante had been added to my dress, and that all that was outstanding was the hem.

I eventually decided that I just wanted my dress back whether the hem had been done or not and told Henja as much. On the 9th of July 2025, I phoned Henja, and was again reassured that my dress was ready (aside from the hem) and that I could collect it on the 10th, the 10th came and I was told about death of the 2 friends. He asked to move the collection to Saturday, the 12th, and I gave him the benefit of the doubt. On Saturday, he sent a voice message via WhatsApp saying he was still dealing with the paperwork regarding his late friends and asked to move the collection date to Sunday the 13th, which I agreed to. He advised he would send me a message on Sunday morning first thing to confirm a time. When I hadn't heard from him, I sent him a message on the 13th at 8:50am asking what time I could collect it, he read it/ignored it. I called him at 12pm that day, and the conversation very quickly turned verbally abusive. When I expressed my frustration and disappointment, he unleashed a tirade of verbal abuse on me, labeled me a "hysterical little girl" who just wants to be hysterical, made comments that my wedding dress isn't even "that pretty" and didn't understand why I was "so upset". I was literally in tears on the call and he told me that he was "done doing a favor for me" (there were no favors, he was paid in full to do this work) and advised me that he would send me a message on Monday the 14th with an address and time to collect my dress. I'd like to mention that during this call on Sunday the 13th, he again assured me that the work on my dress had been done (cups and diamante) and that all that was left was the hem. I have 2 separate witnesses who heard this abusive conversation and his false promises of my dress being partially complete.

Fast forward to Monday, the 14th, we received an address to collect my dress. I stayed in the car, and my fiance got out to accept my dress from Henja. Henja again confirmed verbally to my fiance that the cups had been replaced and the diamante had been added when he was asked face to face. Henja handed over my property and then very quickly returned to the house he had told us to come to.

My fiance handed me a black trash bag.

What we received was disgraceful:

1. The dress was untouched, in a trash bag.

2. A Ziploc bag was pinned to it with two loose bra cups and a handful of loose stones.

3. No cups fitted, no hem adjusted, no diamante added depsite his numerous verbal and written promises that it was done.

To add insult to injury, he blatantly **** about the nature of the loose stones in the ziploc bag. Henja claimed they were Swarovski Crystals and that I should "be grateful" to have gotten them at such a cheap price. Henja made me feel guilty about these stones because he gave the impression that they were worth much more than the amount we had paid and went on and on about how ungrateful I was. I have no expert knowledge about Swarovski crystals and can not tell them apart from rhinestones, so I believed I had Swarovski crystals in my possession as he had claimed. I did not. I had the standard, average, run of the mill, glue-on rhinestones.

To add, in my first and ONLY consultation with Henja, I NEVER asked for Swarovski crystals to be added. I was happy with standard rhinestones. But Henja insisted on it and said he had a source where he could get “Swarovski crystals at a *****" and I stupidly fell for it. I hadn't been ****med by him as yet and had no reason to doubt him.

The "crystals" he provided are, in fact, cheap glue-on rhinestones, which was confirmed by a professional today, the 18th of July. I've had no other choice but to take my dress to someone else, an actual reputable dress maker and seamstress because my dress still doesn't fit right. My new seamstress advised that she will not be using the stones provided by Henja because glue-on stones will fall off, so she has to go back to the drawing board and start from scratch. So again, I will be out of pocket by another 2grand or so to get the alterations done that I had PAID HENJA TO DO.

He ****. Repeatedly. Took our money. Did no work. Misled us from day one. When we gave Henja the opportunity to refund us back the money minus the cups and rhinestones, he blatantly refused, got even more verbally abusive, and resorted to blocking my fiance and I on WhatsApp. When I posted about this on his Facebook page today, the 18th, he blocked me on Facebook a couple of hours later. A guilty person wouldn't need to block and hide and dodge if they were innocent.

This wasn’t JUST a delay. It was a deliberate act of dishonesty and *****. Henja was completely aware that he was lying to us and misleading us the ENTIRE TIME, yet told the most convincing lies and came up with convincing stories until it all came to a head and became very clear, we were being conned.

Whilst I have the option to pursue this matter legally through the small claims court, I feel more compelled and convicted to post and warn others off him: do not fall for his smooth talk and **** credentials. Always demand transparency and proof. Do NOT pay him in full, which he demands before any work takes place. If you do a quick Google search about Henja Schaap, you will find results about him accepting payment, non-delivery, and verbal abuse to clients (and people who worked with him). All of which I experienced. I wish I had done my due diligence and found all of this before we paid him and got ****med, but I guess this is just a very painful lesson for me, one which I hope no one else has to experience.

Henja, should you ever read this, I truly hope there's a part of you that can admit that you know that what you did wasn't just morally and ethically wrong but blatantly *******. You openly ****med and de*****ed us. You have NO integrity. You have NO honest work ethic, and if I can't get through to you logically or even legally, just KNOW that what goes around comes around. Your actions were appalling and disgraceful and you should be ashamed. Also, just remember, despite your public claiming of what a good and honest Christian you are on Facebook that God sits high and sees all.