Ask HN: Taking a corporation to small claims court over a refund I the USA?

Has any non-lawyer here had success if either sending a large corporation a demand letter or actually taking them to small claims court? Do I need a lawyer for this? This is in the United States.

For background, I’ve been in refund and call center hell with West Elm for 5 months now. They’re holding on to almost $2,000 and I can’t seem to get the refund to which they’ve already agreed. They tried to refund me once and when that failed they automatically put the balance on a gift card. I did not ever consent to this and have already to spoken to them, making it clear I want an actual refund. However, it apparently takes a 2nd level manager (manager of a manager) to cancel a gift card. Despite hours on the phone and promises every time, nothing ever changes.

Is it possible using some combination of Google, GPT, and persistence to craft a compelling demand letter or even represent myself in small claims court? Could I demand damages for the time invested in this?

Curious if anyone else here has done this that isn’t a lawyer? I’m currently a SWE and am curious of others experience.