How would you confront this type of client?

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A friend of mine, who has contractual work making print-based designs, thinks she might have been ripped off by one of her clients, and now she's wondering how to best approach it as she's never been in this position before. Some summary of the events for clarification: 1. Their previous business transaction went like this: she designs, they dis/approve, she bills them upon approval. They've paid her before using his method, so she was at ease with the thought that they were trustworthy clients. 2. The current project had some arbitrary communication going on because they didn't have an agreed-upon method of communication, so her follow-ups took time, and their answers to her inquiries the same way. 3. She emails them recently with the designs and tells them they can use that email for future communications just to be more specific. The reply is basically, "Will be leaving the country soon, we already have an artist, don't worry, your designs were not used." 4) There is no mention of compensation at all, and because they never cancelled the job, she's provided designs that won't give her anything. And of course she can't use it for another company/theme either, so they're pretty much useless. To those in the design business, is there any way for her to at least get a portion of what was promised her? And to those who've have vaguely similar experiences, how did you deal with it when it happened to you? I have no knowledge of this and can't really offer her an opinion. So please help her make a response if possible. Thank you!