Afrishade Canvas Manufacturing Cc - Port Elizabeth

Afrishade Canvas Manufacturing CC applied for finance through our company, which is based in Johannesburg, in June 2018 for finance of a Hypertherm High Definition Plasma Machine. Initially everything went well - the deposit was paid and instalments were paid timeously for the first year. In June 2019, the client defaulted on payment of their instalment and fell into arrears. Things quickly went south from there on. By September their bank account had been frozen and shortly thereafter we were informed that 51% of the shares of the company were in the process of being sold to a third party. We requested details of the new majority shareholder numerous times, however none was provided. Demands for payment of the arrears, which had subsequently increased and were substantial, fell on deaf ears. Promises were also made to settle the account in full once the supposed new shareholder deal materialized. The Director, Catherine Anne van Giesbergen, continually made promises that the arrears would be paid, however such payments were never received. Things went from bad to worse in October 2019 when we were informed that the Sheriff Port Elizabeth had attached our Plasma Machine due to unpaid rentals owed to the company's landlord, and that it would soon be sold on auction. After swift action taken by our Legal Director, we managed to have our asset released to us and repossessed it. However, the asset had been vandalized and is in a very poor condition. Naturally, we will follow the necessary legal recourse to recover the indebtedness owed to our company. Indeed, we would like to warn other creditors, suppliers and the clients who do business with Afrishade of our experience with the company, and Ms van Giesbergen. We will not tarnish a client's reputation unnecessarily. Indeed, the facts above speak for themselves.

I seldom complain publicly but after dealing with this company I have to concur with the comments already found online. The business is a complete scam who's owner does not have an honest bone in her body and will straight up lie to your face. We have been fighting with her for months to get paid for work done and she still has the nerve to request further work on the promise to settle all amounts on delivery. We have obviously refused as we are not fools. Brazenly on more than one occasion she has sent fake proof of payments in order to try and claim that she has settled the account only retract and claim an administrative error. Needless to say the account has now been handed over and is being delt with accordingly.

So this is just a warning to other business to be careful and avoid any dealings with this company and if you must do work with them, do yourself a favour and Google the company, not only is the Internet littered with complaints and their website also appears to be suspended which is telling.

Catherine van Giesbergen from Afrishade Canvas Manufacturing scams every supplier she has dealings with, every customer who gives her business, mostly her employees. How she is still in business and not being investigated for reckless trading is dumbfounding. Her modis operadi is deposit fraud with suppliers, she will say she has paid for items to be couriered / delivered and sends them a payment from the bank, this payment is a batch payment which has not gone through all the autorizations. The suppliers send the goods, and have not received actual payment, by the time they pick it up, it is too late. One supplier has threatened to lay fraud charges but never did. She is even bold enough to send these batch payments to lawyers when suppliers have handed her over.
Customers pay 50% - 60% deposits for manufacturing - let it be blinds, pool covers, tarpaulins, steel structures, the value of these jobs vary, the customers then wait months on months for the job to be complete as the deposits get used elsewhere and Afrishade is unable to purchase the material.
With regards to her employees, she pays them what she wants, when she wants and has a running total of the money she owes them. If a fortnight comes and she feels like only paying them R1 000 for the fortnight, she would do so.

Yet she has a fancy home in PE along the beachfront as well as a holiday home in St Francis Bay, The holiday home gets rented out for huge amounts especially during the December holiday, yet the company pays the bonds.
Catherine van Giesbergen or Catherine Dickson as she mostly always uses her maiden name, as she says the company is registered in her maiden name, somehow managers to find private lenders and borrows from them. She has even tried to go to the extend of double financing machinery. Machinery might be paid up, yet she will try to finance it again.

SARS - how they have not clamped down on her I do not know. She has not submitted or paid a Vat / PAYE return in 3 financial years. she continues to deduct PAYE from her employees but does not pay it over.

So be warned before attempting to do business with Afrishade Canvas Manufacturing / Catherine Dickson / Catherine van Giesbergen.

This company should be avoided at all costs. They have a reputation for only delivering sub standard work and refusing refunds, but they also are unreliable at settling supplier invoices, often paying late if they pay at all. In our experience our payment requests were meet by constant excuses and false promises, particularly from a lady called Catherine. It took almost 6 months to get partially paid, before we eventually had to write off the debt as we refused to deal with the companies dishonesty anymore.

This company has nothing ethical about them. We paid more than R23 000 deposit for a Truck Curtain. Their invoice states, 3-4 weeks for completion from deposit. We waited 3 months, after deposit with NOTHING happening. Then when sending a rep of mine to their office, the prints were in Durban, then we had a phone call from JHB of a company that they asked for prints....NOTHING was done. I requested our deposit back. We were told we would get our deposit. It has been months, nothing. I went to their offices, Catherine Van Giesbergen promised deposit on the 7th of September.....then she said she made payment, I asked for proof....then wrong account. This company and Catherine is a company you cant trust, DONT do work with them. We still haven't received our deposit and please, DONT do work with them.
Liqui Moly SA