As briefly as I can: agreed some work with a roofer at the end of October. Paid him up front the cost of scaffolding hire (not for the actual work itself). Scaffolders repeatedly failed to show up, I was rarely told they were cancelling, had to chase him up about it and they were always going to show "tomorrow" or "the day after". He was moderately apologetic but I eventually got fed up and asked him to hire a different company (they were more expensive - he quoted me two right at the beginning and I said I'd rather pay more for the other company since the cheaper ones were proving unreliable. I transferred the difference in cost to him.) Second company also fail to show up three or four times. Some of these are reasonable: they can't put up scaffolding in the rain. But there were at least a couple of times they could have done it but just didn't show. Again, I was never told they weren't showing - I had to chase him.
I finally got sick of this mid-December. I said (very politely) that this obviously wasn't working out and I wanted my money back so I could find someone who had reliable suppliers. The roofer said fine, he'd get the scaffolders to refund him, then refund me. Nothing happened. Chased him up and didn't hear anything for two days. Continued chasing and getting increasingly snippy, until the roofer finally got in touch to say he'd been in hospital having a bowel resection. It's a very major operation. I'm somewhat sceptical, as I think this guy might just be taking the piss, but he has made reference since to "having a bag on" which is a fairly specific detail if he's bullshitting. Anyway. I've been chasing him for over three weeks, although obviously we've had Christmas and New Year, when I wouldn't really expect the scaffolders to be doing anything (if indeed they exist - I don't really trust this guy anymore...but I'm not sure). I've heard from him periodically, always "I've messaged the scaffolders" or "I'll sort it" - but he's getting less responsive and I still don't have my fucking money back!
So (told you it was boring!) what now? Do I start a small claims procedure now, keep chasing him a bit longer, or is there something else I should be doing?