I need some advice here. I don’t post very often here, but I read all the time, and I am always impressed with how knowledgeable and helpful everyone is. I have my own home set-up, and though it’s nothing too fancy, I really enjoy recording my friends and I. This last summer I recorded a project for one of my friends, a fairly simple guitar/vocals project. He was really excited about how the recording turned out, and wanted to get it professionally mastered. That is, he did until he saw how much it costs to get something mastered professionally. But I told him not to worry, the homeboys at homerecording.com would know where we could get a good deal. So, I logged on and found someone here on this site advertising some really good mastering for an amazing price, 10-12 songs for only 220 bucks (plus 20 bucks shipping). (I’m not going to say who this was just yet, we’ll call him “S”). His studio was still being put together, but it was mostly up and running. “S” was offering this deal as a kind of special deal--a favor--for homerecording buffs, just until his studio officially opened, at which point he would go back to charging a lot more for more professional clients. I contacted him through email and looked at some pictures of his studio on-line. It all seemed legit. He obviously knows a lot about mastering. So I recommended “S” to my buddy. Since he’s a poor college kid, he had to borrow the 240 from his parents. He was anxious to get it done, and it sounded like if we didn’t act now that this deal would fall through. On August 3rd, then, we sent “S” the data CD and 240 bucks.
A month went by, and we didn’t hear back from “S” (though he apparently cashed the check right away). Two months, and we started getting worried. So, I found his phone number and called him. Apparently, just after making this offer, “S” had to undergo some very serious surgery, and couldn’t get to any of his projects. He said he sent all of his clientele an email explaining the situation, but he must have forgotten to let us know. Well, okay, I thought. No problem. I mean, everyone has tough breaks once in a while. I told my friend to just be patient. “S” said he would get to our project right away.
Month three goes by and still no CD. So, I call “S” again and he says that the project is done, and he only has to mail it to us. But a week later, we still have no CD. So I call him again. He says, yes, he just mailed it that morning (express mail). Great, I think. It’s finally on its way. But three more weeks go by and we still have no CD. Mind you, this is month #4 now. So I call him again (this is last Wednesday). This time he sounds genuinely confused. “I sent that ages ago,” he said. He figures it must have gotten lost in the mail somehow. So I ask him to make another copy and to send it to me. He agrees to send me “another” one, and I hang up. On Friday I call him to follow up and he says the CD is in the mail and that I should expect it by Tuesday morning.
So today is Tuesday and I just checked the mail. No CD. So what do I do now? 240 bucks to a starving college student is a lot of money. I’m mostly disturbed that homerecording.com would be used for this kind of scam. He took 240 bucks and gave us NOTHING. We sent him the money based on a sense of trust, and it seems when that trust is violated, it doesn’t only screw us, it taints the entire homerecording.com environment. And it would seem like common courtesy, to me anyway, that some of the money be refunded, even if the job eventually gets done. Am I being unreasonable? I know “S” posts here a lot, and I don’t want to give him a bad name. But we sure would like either a Mastered CD or the money back.
What do you think?
--Squashboy
A month went by, and we didn’t hear back from “S” (though he apparently cashed the check right away). Two months, and we started getting worried. So, I found his phone number and called him. Apparently, just after making this offer, “S” had to undergo some very serious surgery, and couldn’t get to any of his projects. He said he sent all of his clientele an email explaining the situation, but he must have forgotten to let us know. Well, okay, I thought. No problem. I mean, everyone has tough breaks once in a while. I told my friend to just be patient. “S” said he would get to our project right away.
Month three goes by and still no CD. So, I call “S” again and he says that the project is done, and he only has to mail it to us. But a week later, we still have no CD. So I call him again. He says, yes, he just mailed it that morning (express mail). Great, I think. It’s finally on its way. But three more weeks go by and we still have no CD. Mind you, this is month #4 now. So I call him again (this is last Wednesday). This time he sounds genuinely confused. “I sent that ages ago,” he said. He figures it must have gotten lost in the mail somehow. So I ask him to make another copy and to send it to me. He agrees to send me “another” one, and I hang up. On Friday I call him to follow up and he says the CD is in the mail and that I should expect it by Tuesday morning.
So today is Tuesday and I just checked the mail. No CD. So what do I do now? 240 bucks to a starving college student is a lot of money. I’m mostly disturbed that homerecording.com would be used for this kind of scam. He took 240 bucks and gave us NOTHING. We sent him the money based on a sense of trust, and it seems when that trust is violated, it doesn’t only screw us, it taints the entire homerecording.com environment. And it would seem like common courtesy, to me anyway, that some of the money be refunded, even if the job eventually gets done. Am I being unreasonable? I know “S” posts here a lot, and I don’t want to give him a bad name. But we sure would like either a Mastered CD or the money back.
What do you think?
--Squashboy
