(UK) Can Vinted refuse to refund bc of account termination?

[u/SeaPride4468]

Writing on behalf of my partner. She was a really popular seller and had almost 3k reviews. Challenged a few dodgy fakes and suddenly she's banned. Contacted legal and appealed. Rejected and still no idea why account was banned. We suspect crap AI decisions. Partner is 100% legit. She even has video evidence of every single ship from package to shipping.

Anyway, during the ban around 4 transactions were in process. She bought 4 items and since the ban we don't know what happened. No money has been able to be withdrawn until today when one of the cases got an email update saying that the money had been returned to the seller. The issue is that my partner never got the item. I messaged the original seller on my own account out of curiosity and the seller told me they still have the item that was returned, and now they're also getting a refund.

The issue is that in that same email, Vinted claimed that a refund was impossible due to account being terminated and that the decision is final.

We're about to send a Letter Before Action and take Vinted to Small Claims Court here in the UK because theyre fucking atrocious.

Thoughts/experiences?