It is apparent that the vendor isn’t willing to refund the deposit.
He is unable to supply the parts as well.
The reasons are unknown.
It is also apparent that he has seen the internet backlash as potential ruining his current and future business by demanding Doug put a cease to the bashing.
Speculating as to if/ why he does have liquid funds to refund the deposit or if/why he cannot produce the parts is not important to the issue.
However it’s obvious how does he plan to pay the retainer to file suit against Doug,Phil, the internet Et al, if he doesn’t have the funds to issue a refund.
I don’t understand how speculating about and empathizing torq side of this story is beneficial in this discussion with the current information.
Obviously this would have been a non issue if he would have supplied the parts or refund in the 23 months prior to now. That would have been the easiest way an honest businessman would have done to attempt to make the customer happy in order to solve the issue before it ever had the chance to escalate to what it is now.
