Dear Serena - First things first, and I have to be careful here to not give "legal" advice.  You must first make sure that your certified letter was properly worded and sent to the proper address.  Depending on the structure of the company, it may have to be sent to an address and person other than what you have as the contact and mailing address.  After the proper person, place, wording and time-frame, then you can proceed to court.  The best thing I can tell abstractors is to go to the site I mentioned before - www.consumeraffairs.com - that has a wealth of information for small claims court.  Also after reviewing that, go to your small claims court online site where many times they have the filing fee posted, the service fee and basic legal forms that you can fill out to start the suit.  It is a court where most people represent themselves but you have to be under a certain owed amount, which varies from state to state, which is another reason why you should never let accounts add up - it will push you into a higher court with stricter guidelines and higher fees.