Hello would someone please be able to give me some advice or opinions on my next steps to help me.
To cut a long story short i have a small business. I ordered an item to be manufactured for £1600 from another business (i now believe this business to be a sole trader). I paid 50% on order and 50% on completion.
All good so far.
I collected the manufactured item and took it home and placed in my unit but never opened it.
I was speaking with the said manufacturer a couple of weeks later and told them that i was unsure if i had made the correct decision in purchasing it because my customers hadn't seemed that keen.
They told me that I could bring the item back and they would sell it to one of their customers for me as they had a backlog on their orders for the item. I took it back and left it with him.
After a couple of weeks and trying to contact them via a few different methods i dropped by the factory to see where my item / money was.
I was told that the item was at a different property and they would drop it off for me.
You guessed it.
Nobody showed up and no contact has been made.
My thoughts are that the item has been sold and now they haven't got the money to pay me.
What can i do next?
Small claims court maybe??
The only paperwork i have is the invoice, i never even got a delivery note.
I do however have a string of messages stating that i dropped it off etc
Thanks in advance