My elderly father paid a guy a $5K downpayment to re-pave his driveway. (For his driveway, most companies would require a $1K downpayment and charge $6K total). Well, the guy never showed. I read reviews and saw that he had duped a lot of folks, lost in court, but apprently never paid. I decided not to take him to court, and told my father to just take the loss. But after reading your post, I'm sorry I didn't give it a go. Great job!

My father once lent someone money in good faith towards education, who then later informed him they had no intention to repay. We're talking £8,000 here.

It took 4 years of legal process before he saw a penny as the other party tried to wriggle out of everything... even so far as fake lawyers and wrongly claiming to have moved out (which the judge did not look to kindly upon).

Recently he received a cheque for the remaining balance - 8yrs after he sent his first letter by registered post which is the first step in a small claims court.

You may have done the right thing.

There was a case before mine, an elderly couple swindled by a landscaper who took a bunch of money, did a tiny bit of crappy work, then disappeared.

Landscaper didn’t show up at trial and they won a default judgement; but good luck collecting from a ghost.