This Home Studio Owner Ripped Me Off!!!!

on 10/16/01 i went to a studio and left a deposit for block time. the block time was $600 for 20 hours and i left a deposit of $200. before i even went to the guys studio i stressed the IMPORTANCE of my time line. i needed to finish the project in one weeks time with the week starting on the 22nd of october. we would go 4 hours a day for the entire week to finish the project.

the owner of the studio calls me on the 19th to tell me that his computer hard drive has blown up and that we wont be able to record. i ask him when will he be able to record and he states he will be down for a week. this puts me at a disadvantage because i only have one week to record. so i tell the guy that i would tell the other guys in my crew and we will see but i cant promise anything. he says to keep him informed so i do. two days later i call this guy and i tell him the guys are looking into other options as far as recording. he goes on to state that he will only be down for a week and its not his fault. so i tell him thats true but we had a timeline that we needed to go by.

now i will fast forward to yesterday. i talked to the guy and i told him i wanted a refund on my deposit. he goes on to say that he doesnt offer refunds and that its posted in his establishment (he had a sign posted but not one regarding refunds). however this is an excerpt from his web site:

"Deposit will not be refunded for any sessions cancelled without at least 48hr notice."

i didnt cancel the session he did due to his equipment failure. now on my invoice it says the following:

"Block time purchases are non-refundable partially nor in full"

here are the questions:

since this guy didnt honor our agreement to start recording and because i have not received any services am i entitled to a refund?

i didnt SIGN any documents with him but it is noted that i paid for time. i guess i entered into a contract when i payed for the time and received an invoice.

can our contract/agreement/deal be made VOID because of cancellation on his part? can it be made void because i am no longer satisfied with his services/quality of equipment? or because of his equipment failure?


any help, comments,www links to penal code or retail law would be appreciated. thanks.



czar of bizarre


ps i have nothing in writing that states when we were to start recording on a certain date.

can anyone help? btw i am in CALIFORNIA. i forgot to list that. i hope someone can help me out.


czar of bizarre

ps thanx

czar of bizarre said:

can our contract/agreement/deal be made VOID because of cancellation on his part? can it be made void because i am no longer satisfied with his services/quality of equipment? or because of his equipment failure?

Click to expand...

My response:

Simply, he cannot lawfully "steal" your money because he caused the "breach" of your agreement.

Your problem, however, is one of proof. Remember, since you'll be the Plaintiff, you carry the burden of proof to show a judge that your story is, in fact, the truth.

You had better think very carefully how you're going to present your case to a judge, besides relating your story, and turning your case into a "he said / he said" circus. If that happens, and his defense is that "the studio was operating just fine, your honor, and he never showed up", then you'll wind up losing.

Good luck.

IAAL