Gave deposit to tradesman now can't contact him

Bermond

We hired a tradesman to do some work for us who we had hired before with no problems. He asked for a 50% deposit for materials (around £1000) which we gave him by bank transfer. The work was supposed to be done in October. After the date passed his mobile phone number  came up as unavailable.
Long story short we found another phone to contact him but he doesn't answer that now. We left a message on his Facebook page saying to contact us urgently and a message on his alternative number saying he must do the work or return the deposit immediately.. We've had no reply.
He is a registered company with an out of town workshop if that helps. He's never at the workshop though. We don't really know what to do next. The obvious answer is a solicitor but as it's not an enormous sum feel it's throwing good money after bad.
Any help will be greatly appreciated. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Letter before action to the registered address, with the threat of small claims court if he doesn't respond.  No need for the expense of a solicitor.

Bermond

Thanks for your quick reply. I hadn't written to him because the only address we have is the workshop were we can never find him in but it is the address he has on the Government website so I will do that next. Thanks again. 

mattyprice4004

Bermond said:

Thanks for your quick reply. I hadn't written to him because the only address we have is the workshop were we can never find him in but it is the address he has on the Government website so I will do that next. Thanks again. 

If it's a large sum of money, I'd camp out blocking the workshop door. He'll need to get some tools etc eventually, and you can then confront him. 
Similar worked for me when a car dealer refused to return my deposit (despite selling the car under my nose to someone else!) - a Sprinter parked against their shutters soon focussed their minds. 

mobileron

Tell us his name to ensure no one else gets scammed by him.Also put it on facebook.

PaulBrighton2021

see if listed on facebook, twitter, etc - a public shaming often does wonders..  Add tags like #NameAndShame, #ripoff  etc.

Or the trader compare sites?  eg- trusted trader (not!), check a trade..

mobileron

So whats his name lets start the ball rolling.

ak19841

This story sounds almost identical to mine, which is why I've read this thread and was about to post.

I paid a "joiner" by the name of Sean gould to build a media unit for our lounge. Guy has disappeared after I paid him a deposit of £1000 and never even started the work!

Reported to the police, who predictably said it's a civil matter.

Can anyone advise if the process through small claims is straightforward?