Hi everyone. This should be straightforward, but turns out it is not! I would like to hold back on names of the companies involved for now, if this is acceptable, as I'm not sure of the full potential implications of the issue. Here is the sequence of events: 1. In 2016, I ordered some custom made furnishings for my flat from a major high street department store. This was contracted out to a company, the Supplier. They were delivered and fitted correctly and I was delighted with them (thankfully, they were expensive!). 2. In 2021, a builder doing some work at the property damaged some of the furnishings by painting over them. The builder agreed to pay to replace the relevant parts of the furnishing and we quickly reached a settlement. 3. I contacted the department store with the original order. They informed me that they no longer deal with the Supplier and to order from them instead. 4. Having contacted the supplier, they put me in touch with a furnishings contractor local to my area, and told me to order via them. This is a local company, let's call it Furnishings Ltd. for now. 5. I got in touch, sent the original order specification to Furnishings, who put in an order for the replacement parts. This order was placed and paid for in March 2022. 6. At the beginning of June 2022, Furnishings informed me that the items had arrived, and came to my property to install them. However, as soon as the boxes were opened, it became apparent that the furnishings were entirely of the wrong colour. 7. I rejected the product, and asked for them to be either replaced with ones of the correct colour or for a full refund. Furnishings agreed to speak to the manufacturer, but asked that I store the product temporarily as they did not have storage space left. I agreed to do this, but followed up by email stating that the product had been rejected and they could pick them up at a time of their convenience. 8. After a lot of following up, at the beginning of August 2022, Furnishings wrote to me stating that the they had settled with the manufacturer and would be in touch shortly to pick up the items. 9. This is the last correspondence I received from them. I have not received the refund and my emails and phone calls no longer get returned (but they pick up if I call from another number). 10. So far pretty straightforward. I began researching the company in view of potentially starting a claim in the Small Claims Court, but here is the twist. To my surprise, I found that the company in question had been struck off by Companies House in 2019. A further company started by the same person with the same name, had also been struck off in early 2021 (pre-pandemic). 11. Furnishing’s invoices and correspondence are all in the name of the struck of company, complete with Company Registration Number. However, it has become clear that I have paid and been dealing with an individual, and not a registered business. 12. I spoke to the Supplier who had referred me to the company to query the transaction. They informed me that they have no record of the transaction whatsoever, and that the order must have been placed with somebody else, or directly with the factory, and they could not help further. I am now unsure how to approach this matter, as the company I have been doing business with effectively doesn't exist. Can I still lodge my claim in the Small Claims Court in the usual way? Would this have to be against the individual concerned, rather than the company that no longer exists? Does fraud potentially come into the picture, and does this complicate the matter for me? Has anybody ever had to deal with a situation like this? Thankful of all and any advice.

Thanks for the advice, Bankfodder. The original phone came with a contract. Overall I probably paid around £900 for it, but it was paid for after 18 months, well before Apple broke it. I was dealing with them in store. They ran a diagnostic and had it in their software. They said they would email the results and a transcript to me but didn’t. They tried to palm me off with writing to Ireland. (As a side note, they stopped me from taking a photo of their diagnostic as they claimed it was “proprietary software”. I was surprised at how robust the manager was with me). This is annoying as they repeatedly admitted to me in store that the phone was in excellent condition and the fault was clearly a hardware issue and not a consequence of misuse or an accident. They also acknowledged the same for the original phone. I have been to the small claims court before and reached satisfactory settlement, although the case was much more clear cut in my mind in that occasion. The problem I have is time as next year I am going to be abroad a lot hence why I didn’t want a shiny new £1,200 phone in the first place. I would quite happily do it if it was a swift process.

Hi all, Been lurking for a while but this is my first post. I need help! I bought an iPhone 7 256GB in October 2016. I looked after it very well and it was in top condition, but given issues Apple had been having with their batteries, I chose to pick them up on a discounted battery replacement program. I brought the phone in to the Apple store on 31 December 2018. During the battery replacement, they apperently broke my phone beyond repair. The substitued it like for like in store (but still charged me for the new battery). Today, 20/12/19, so less than a year later the phone developed a serious fault. I brought it in store and they informed me that an issue with the the "lightening connection, which is connected to the microphone and antenna". Essentially, I can no make telephone calls or listen to anything through the main phone microphone or wired speakers. They informed me that this cannot be repaired and I would have to buy a new phone, although they would give me a small amount for the old phone (up to £100). This does not suit me at all as I will be travelling next year and was not planning on doing so with a shiny new phone. I pointed out to them that the phone was still in near mint condition, had not been dropped or damaged, and was therfore defective. I also pointed out to them that it was less than a year old as they had replaced it after breaking my previous phone. They stated to me (quite robustly, it has to be said), that they only offer a three month warrenty on replacement phones and there was nothing else they could do. They said if I am unhappy with this, I should write to their office in Ireland (I wonder why?), but they won't move their position. It's an unusual case. Clearly I bought the original phone just over three years ago, but I am seriously unhappy that they replacement phone they provided me with less than a year ago for something that is their own fault is defective. Does anyobdy have any ideas as to whether I might have some form of recourse? Any help much appreciated.

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