total novice with questions about letter

[novicemember]

Hello all

I purchased an item from a company in mid Feb and it didnt arrive. It was about £40 so I cannot easily sort this through my credit card company due to being under £100. I have tried through email/facebook and trustpilot to get them to resolve this but they keep stalling. Only after I mentioned the possibility of court action on the businesses facebook page did I get any quick and proper reply. In this reply they claimed that it was stated as delivered by the courier company and they are speaking with them about it, but my subsequent question asking for the tracking number has been ignored. I kind of feel they only replied to make it look better on them as a business.

I do appreciate the item might have got misdelivered by the courier but they are showing no commitment to getting this resolved.

I am drafting a letter before action and have a few questions.

i) Can I serve by post on a business address because I dont have their residential postal address
ii) or Can I serve the letter before action by email and as one of my requests ask for their residential address to serve a hard copy? I would prefer to serve by email because I think they do a lot of business by email and might actually read it. Plus its easier them to reply by email. Even though they have not done so to date.
iii) Who do I address the letter to? and make reference to in the body of text? the owner of the company or the company by name? I cannot find any details on companies house. I think there is one owner and they have assistant helpers at busy times.
iv) In the actual court papers would I be able to claim for time spent putting my case together and collecting evidence? If so can i mention this in the letter before action? Sort of as a way of making them realise it would be cheaper to refund me now.
v) What happens if they dont respond?

Sorry if this is a bit garbled its been a tiring day.

Thanks very much.

Edit. I have also phoned them many many times and they never answer. Other people have mentioned this on their online reviews.

[Law Student 3]

To keep everything organised, I have used your questions as pointers:
(i) & (ii) Letters before action can be served by email, if you have successfully communicated with the company via email previously, do so again! If you choose to send the letter by post it is acceptable to send it to the business address. When the letter is sent, it is important to retain the original document along with evidence of when it was sent. If it is sent by post ask for proof of postage
(iii) In law, companies have their own identity so it is acceptable to bring a claim against a company instead of an individual within the company.
(iv) From my research, it states that in a letter before action you are required to set out the amount you are seeking as well as how you have calculated the amount, so I see no reason why you cannot claim for the time you would spend putting the claim together.
(v) If they do not respond or you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can begin a small claims track within the court. To do this, you will need to complete a N1 form.
Hope this helps!*

[des8]

Sorry to disagree, but if the claim is allocated to the small claims track you cannot claim costs of preparing your claim.
In small claims costs are limited to court fees and*reasonable travelling expenses, loss of earnings (although the amount that can be allowed for these is restricted by the court rules for the small claims track) and expert’s fees.
If a party acts unreasonably the court might order they pay the other side's costs.
cf CPR 27.14

I would also suggest using MCOL to make the claim:*https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome