I paid cash and nothing was ever written down. Do I still have a claim?

Yes. A contract does not need to be written to be binding — an agreed job and an accepted payment are enough. The practical challenge is proof, so gather whatever exists: messages mentioning the job or the money, a witness who was present, the cash withdrawal on your bank statement dated just before the handover. Courts decide small claims on whose account is more likely to be true.

The trader says the deposit was non-refundable. Can they rely on that?

Not for work that never happened. A term letting a trader keep your money while providing nothing in return is very likely to fail the fairness test in the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and an unfair term is not binding on you. A deposit can lawfully cover costs a trader genuinely incurred before cancellation, but they would need to prove those costs, not simply point at the word 'non-refundable'.

Months of silence, and now they suddenly want to start the job. Do I have to let them?

No. If your final written deadline has passed — or a reasonable time has clearly expired — you were entitled to treat the contract as ended, and you can insist on the refund rather than the work. Either agree a new start date in writing, or confirm in writing that the contract is at an end and the deposit is due back.

The company I paid has been dissolved. Is the money simply gone?

A claim against a dissolved company is effectively a claim against nothing. But two routes survive: Section 75, where you paid by credit card on a qualifying contract, makes the card provider independently liable regardless of what happened to the company; and if the company took deposits while its directors knew no work would ever be done, report it — that pattern can amount to fraud.

Is this a police matter or a court matter?

Usually a court matter. A trader who genuinely intended to do the work and failed is a breach of contract. It becomes potential fraud when the deception was there from the start — a pattern of deposits taken with no intention of working, fake trading details, victims before you. In that case report it to Action Fraud as well as pursuing the civil claim; the two routes are not either-or.

How long do I have to bring a claim?

Six years from the breach of contract, under the Limitation Act 1980. The deadlines that are genuinely tight sit elsewhere: chargeback windows are typically 120 days, and evidence like advertising pages and message threads tends to disappear long before any legal deadline does. Move at the speed of the shortest clock, not the longest.

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A Tradesperson Took My Deposit and Never Did the Work. How Do I Get It Back?

Paid a tradesman a deposit and the work never started? It's usually a court matter, not a police one. How to get it back: card claims, th…