Get mad, get even... or just get on with life?
Never pay up front. Lesson learned.
If you do, pay something with a credit card.
The doors have shut, presumably because there is no money. Perhaps not even enough to go into liquidation. That is what happened with AerosportUK who used to import the C42s we use - and took a £500 credit note of mine with them.
If there was money, they would surely have stayed open all through the peak summer season.
Therefore: pursuing any court action, small claims or otherwise, is a waste of time, effort, energy and the small sum of money involved.
Pursuing a director personally through shame and embarassment in front of personal contacts is a risky option.
You could, in one view, be seen by people who are more the other person's pals than yours, as carrying out a vendetta and thus be the "bad" person! Unfair, possibly. But reality, yes.
At worst, you could find yourself accused of harassment - and possible defamation. Company directors do have to abide by certain regulations, and she may have had no choice but to cease trading (possibly even for some reason that neither you, I or anyone else, knows - say some litigation over a personal accident for instance, liability for which the insurance didin't cover, so would be insolvent if had to pay compensation, etc etc).
All this is why we simply don't take any money - other than for gift vouchers - up front.
But I go back to the start.
Never pay up front. If you do, pay something with a CC.
And don't get mad. Get even.
And the best way of getting even is sometimes putting it all behind you and getting on with life - don't waste precious time and energy on the negatives.
ps. If you don't think I know what I am talking about
:
TinyURL.com - shorten that long URL into a tiny URL
Our neighbour still lives over the fence, and caused £600,000 of damage (total so far). Reckon even after the insurers have finished, I will be 30k out of pocket. But we just got on with life.