Be careful! Avoid Smiling Handyman Chris Hanekom. Fraudster and thief!

I asked this so-called "handyman", who calls himself the "Smiling Handyman" (actual name: Chris Hanekom) to sand down my wooden doors and windows. I realized that verbal agreements don’t mean anything to him. Against our verbal agreements, he changed it to his favor in the contract. He asked for a payment of more than 80% as a deposit to even start the work. Since he was a referral of a friend of mine, I trusted him and gave him the contract. Unfortunately, from then on it went downhill. He first outsourced the work to some daily wage workers. Those daily wage workers were not happy with the money Chris Hanekom wanted to pay them, so they refused to do the work for him. The following day, he himself came to do the work and that's when everything changed, his behavior towards me, his tone, simply everything went downhill. Soon I realized that he has no intention to do this job. He was most of the time doing a little bit here and there and then walking around the house to look at his other worker. He came with only one worker to do a whole house with 23 windows and 4 doors. Our nanny told me, that the moment I left the house, he was sitting around doing nothing. He gave me so much attitude and made it clear that he doesn't want to do the upper floor. He said he doesn't have the ladder etc. I asked him, why he didn't tell me all of this earlier before I paid him. No response. He said he will refund me R1,800. I have paid him an advance payment of R4,340. Last week Thursday, him and his worker continued after 2 days of not working at all. They did a little bit of work and before lunchtime they were suddenly gone. He took 2 cans of varnish (for which I had paid for), which he agreed to leave behind for me, so that I can finish the top floor of my house. He left behind a half empty tin of varnish. Without letting me know and discussing the work he has done, he simply took all the material and his worker and just left. When I called him and asked why he left without telling me, he simply said, he didn't want to disturb. To his luck our estate gate was not working that day, so he could exit without me knowing. The matter of incidents and his method of dealing with clients showed me that he is a fraudster and thief. I tried to talk to him in a calm and decent manner, but unfortunately unsuccessful. I can only warn anybody to use this guy for any job! He is dishonest and lazy. The quality of his work is terrible and absolutely unprofessional. If anyone is interested, send me your mail addresses and I will send photos of his work. He put varnish in such a poor manner that it looks absolutely unprofessional and messy. He also messed on all the walls and floors next to the door and window frames. Now I have to get someone professional to do the work properly. And I have to paint the walls and window sills where he messed as well. It seems like the moment he has your money, he changes and comes up with all kinds of excuses to reduce his workload to maximize his profit. He has a profile on LinkedIn and he looks and comes off as trustworthy and professional, but all that is deceiving. People like this should be stopped! Unfortunately, these kinds of people put shame on the profession of handymen.