Dont trust

Got him in under recommendation to build us a custom built therapy pool around November last year. He took a very large deposit and started work. 1 week or so in he claimed he had a car accident and could not complete the job and would refund us. We tried to offer alternatives even offering to collect and drop his staff for him. He refused all offers. Nearly 1 year later we never recieved any money back. No more work was ever done and he ignores communication. I got someone else to do the job which they had to start from scratch, I now have a huge debt to pay as I had to take a loan to be able to pay the other company. Basically paying an extra 50% on top because of money not returned. He has made no effort to resolve or even apologise to us this entire year.