In
May 2017 I contacted Stuart Allsop ( a well known studio desinger and acoustic engineer) about designing my studio. We exchanged
quite a few mails and we made an agreement:
Payment:
The normal method of payment can be any combination of wire transfer and PayPal (I prefer PayPal, since it is the cheapest method for both of us), and is split into stages, based on progress with the design. I suggest an initial non-refundable down-payment of 35%, followed by another 25% upon delivery of the initial basic layout and specs, and 30% on delivery of the completed design. The final 10% is payable after the studio is finished and ONLY if it substantially meets or exceeds the design spec goals, or six months after I finish the design.
The normal method of payment can be any combination of wire transfer and PayPal (I prefer PayPal, since it is the cheapest method for both of us), and is split into stages, based on progress with the design. I suggest an initial non-refundable down-payment of 35%, followed by another 25% upon delivery of the initial basic layout and specs, and 30% on delivery of the completed design. The final 10% is payable after the studio is finished and ONLY if it substantially meets or exceeds the design spec goals, or six months after I finish the design.
I
made the first payment in July but there were some huge problems so the money
did not go through until 1st week in August. Stuart
had said he was very busy but the initial design could be delivered in 2-3
months.
Mail on Oct 18th:
Hi
Ricardo,
Nearly there! Coming soon...
Best regards,
Nearly there! Coming soon...
Best regards,
Stuart
Next mail was 11/16/17
Should
be ready on Monday, perhaps before.
Best regards,
Stuart
Best regards,
Stuart
First
video arrived about Nov 23rd, 2016.
Not on the Monday but at least that same week. This was looking
promising but was lacking a roof and ventilation system. IT was late but it did
arrive.
Dec
15th
I
finally got a link to where I could see the high resolution video from Sketch
up and access the skp file. Finally!
We
exchanged a lot of very friendly and interactive mails between Dec 16-22nd
and I was feeling really positive. I asked for a slightly larger window in the
live room and to make the storage area a bit bigger. He said he could do this
and I would get the changes in a week or two.
I made the 2nd payment.
Jan
1, 9, 19,20, 24, 26, 30- no answers at all.
Feb
2nd, 6,
All
the while Stuart has made at least 50 posts on the forum.
Finally Feb 8th—
Hi
Ricardo,
I owe you a huge apology. I've been keeping you waiting for far too long. I have been working on your project, with several versions of what can be done with the extra half meter, but I have not advanced near as much as I had expected by now, as I have been bogged down in other projects that I thought would be completed by now, plus some personal stuff that I wasn't expecting. I have no other excuses than that. Nearly every day I've been telling myself "Today I have to advance on Ricardo0s studio", and somehow something always comes up.
However, I will be taking a vacation next week, and I'll be dedicating most of that time exclusively to your project. I'll be out of the office, in a small town on the coast, without much internet connection, so there won't be any distractions. I'm letting all my clients know that I'll be off for a week. So that's my promise to you: I'll give your project the attention it deserves, and hopefully get it to the point where you can get your architect to star on the drawings.
I do apologize, sincerely, for this major issue. I'll do my best to make up for it next week.
I owe you a huge apology. I've been keeping you waiting for far too long. I have been working on your project, with several versions of what can be done with the extra half meter, but I have not advanced near as much as I had expected by now, as I have been bogged down in other projects that I thought would be completed by now, plus some personal stuff that I wasn't expecting. I have no other excuses than that. Nearly every day I've been telling myself "Today I have to advance on Ricardo0s studio", and somehow something always comes up.
However, I will be taking a vacation next week, and I'll be dedicating most of that time exclusively to your project. I'll be out of the office, in a small town on the coast, without much internet connection, so there won't be any distractions. I'm letting all my clients know that I'll be off for a week. So that's my promise to you: I'll give your project the attention it deserves, and hopefully get it to the point where you can get your architect to star on the drawings.
I do apologize, sincerely, for this major issue. I'll do my best to make up for it next week.
Stuart
Feb
26th and March 1st a bit of communication but still
nothing is finished as promised. No roof or HVAC.
March
8th- the design in different formats and with some of the people and
furniture stuff removed… but not complete.
I
wrote on the 18th, 25th, April 1st.. Never
heard from him again.
Now
it is 9 months not 2-3 months as we had agreed and I have a 90% complete
design.
We
only got to the 2nd payment and the initial basic layout and specs
were not completed. There is no roof or ventilation system in my incomplete
design.
What
we agreed would be delivered with the 3 payments was:
Building
layout (considering the above 5 rooms in a building footprint of 70m2), basic
structural design (to be reviewed by your own local structural engineer),
isolation design, CR geometry, CR treatment, LR treatment, VB treatment, HVAC,
and basic Bill of Materials.
I
did not even get half of what was agreed on for the price.
So
now, I sit here with my local architect who has never built a studio and we do
not have a roof or HVAC system. IT is clear that Stuart had intended to put the
ventilation system above the kitchenette and the ducting and silencer boxes above the control room ceiling. ? The roof in the live room appears to be about
4 meters.
I
am way delayed in this project and very frustrated and let down by Stuart. I know he does amazing work on this John Sayer Studio forum but
this is clearly his highest priority in life and not satisfying customers. I
love how wise he is but would never ever recommend anyone to pay him to do
anything as you never have any idea when you might get it? IF there are a lot
of posts on the forum, forget it as he will answer them all before he does
anything for you… Pity..
I will
have to go for advice somewhere else.
End
of my story until I get my studio built—
Sorry
Stuart but this was not my fault.. I tried to work with you and was insanely
patient.
Hi Scott,
ReplyDeletePlease contact me on jakobdewittig(at)gmail.com .. I Have also tried to reach you through gearslutz.
All the best
Jakob
Hi Scott,
ReplyDeleteAs a former client of Stuart's I share your feelings....I went through a 4+ year ordeal. I just felt like your story deserved some validation from a second source. I hope you still find a way to reach your goals.
Stadank0
Things are slow in Portugal so I don't even have an approved plan yet. Looks like we will start building this summer as approval is soon. Pity with Stuart. He is super knowledgable but just does not get the job done, sadly. I really liked the guy but he did not deliver as promised. Lost money.
ReplyDeleteHere is the link to my thread from part of the project. If you look through, you can see instances of it...I terminated my relationship with Stuart once I reached a point where I could carry on without him. He locked the thread to block me from commenting about it as he is a site admin.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=21368
Again, Good luck to you...
Just stumbled upon this; I also tried to work with Stuart a while ago and it turned into a huge waste of time. I a huge correspondence saved, most of it emails/PMs from me that he didn't answer. I brought up several times that it was unacceptable, but when I finally did answer there was not a shred of apologetic tone or anything.
ReplyDeleteI sent him a ton of information about the project, about the building I was going to use, various ideas of how I wanted things, and his answers were more or less like he had skimmed through the emails at best. An email later and he was asking me about things that I had already clearly informed him about.
Luckily I managed to pull out quickly. He charged me $500, had first said it would take a while until he could get started but then said he could get started right away. Sent him the money, then didn't hear back from him for 6-7 weeks. Got a couple of more semi-confused emails after that, then nothing. I emailed him, no reply. Wrote to him on the John Sayers forum, nothing. I let it go after that. But I'll track him down one day.
Just chiming in to say Stuart screwed me over as well, but thanks to Paypal I was able to get my money back. The ordeal pretty much killed my motivation to treat my room for at least a year though. I've only recently decided to give it another shot.
ReplyDeleteIt's all very perplexing - why would Stuart give out tonnes of free help to randoms on John Sayers/Gearslutz but the moment someone insists on paying him for his time, he takes their money and ghosts them?
I feel like the admins of these forums should do something. I'm only now discovering just how many people have been messed around by Stuart, and it's going to keep happening unless something is done.
Update: I see Stuart was booted off John Sayers around a year and a half ago, so there's that at least
ReplyDeleteI think the word is getting out.... Sorry to hear about your experience.. One must move on..
ReplyDeleteIf anyone wasn't aware, John Sayers Has passed away. Stuart has taken control of the forum with the families permission. Stuart claimed to be a trusted friend. I have contacted John's daughter, but It think it would help for her to hear from any of you who can share your own experiences with Stuart. Please contact me for her email.
ReplyDeleteI was aware that John had died but not that Stuart was taking over the forum. I can see he is backed by good people so the forum is in good hands. Stuart started his own forum a couple of years ago after he left John´s... I have my studio almost built and Stuart, although he left me in a fucked up position, has been helpful at times... Peace.
ReplyDeleteMy hope was that he would not be able to burn others the way he burned us through John's forum. He was banned John himself and I doubt John would have approved. If there is no will to keep that in check then that's that. Unfortunate for his future victims. Glad I made it out...
ReplyDeleteIf your so at peace with all of it, why is this page still up?
ReplyDeleteOne last point and I'm out....His daughter did not know Stuart prior and was unaware of the situation, as she indicated to me when I contacted her. Pretty messed up.
ReplyDeletePeace!
I see your running a build thread on Stuart's forum! Well, that explains it.. It's amazing just how shady this whole community is. Just wow.....About 8 people contacted me about Stuart though my thread to try and get help. All of them burned just like you and I. They also contacted John which is why he banned Stuart permanently, or at least until his death. I know I just gotta be glad I made it and never look back. Good hands my ass!!!LOL
ReplyDeleteI leave this up so people can be aware of what might happen working with Stuart. While I still appreciate his expertize and knowledge, I would not recommend him for paid work. His forum is an amazing knowledge database and when you can get hold of him you get the correct answer...
ReplyDeleteYou get the correct answer as far as he knows. Unfortunately, a lot of this is smoke and mirrors. I've finished my project and had some time to reflect. A lot of it was a waste of time. Much of the treatment had very little effect for the effort. I know this because I did tons of measurements along the way. I ened up doing a tons of digital correction, despite it all, with a very crappy behignger fbq2496. All Stuart's plan, not mine. It looks great on paper, but it sounded like crap until I ditched the behringer and got a BSS audio Blu50. Stuart says converters are all the same! WRONG!!! I ened up re-tuning the CR myself. So much wasted time and energy....
ReplyDeleteAlso, I let Stuart talk me into doing two rooms when I really wanted one to begin with. He never listened to me or cared about what I was trying to accomplish. It was always the world according to Stuart.
The most serious part that I think you fail to realize is that he continues to scam people out of their money with his amazing database of knowledge. When he controls the Social media, none can push back. John's forum has 27,000 subs, while his has 3,000. He has manipulated John's family and doctored or deleted posts to cover his tracks. I'm only posting these comments becasue I'm at the end of my rope ad need to move on.
want proof? One is the original post and the other is Stuart's altered version. I know because the post was edited right after Stuart banned me from the forum for calling him out.
https://web.archive.org/web/20210225193123/https://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=20865&start=45
https://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=20865&start=45
That's what happens when a bully runs the show...Albeit a charming one. I'm done now I think. This has been incredibly hard on me as I've clearly demonstrated. I now you've been through a lot too. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention that you'll want to scan down the page to John's post about Stuart, which was a response to one of his victims.
ReplyDeleteI'm now aware of my typos and poor editing on these last comments. Hard to get it all out in an articulate fashion sometimes.....My reference to the subs is to point out how desperately he wants that audience back. He's only managed to grow 3000 in a couple of years after it was all handed to him on a platter. Now it's been handed back to him again of course. Another thing I want to clarify is that Stuart knows full well that the free advice and knowledge he gives out is enough for show, but not near enough to go the distance. There's a reason that your new guy requires approval before he lets you post. Also, I think it is worth pointing out that a lot of Stuart's design has been redone by your new guy. I am curious as to why you floated your floor on concrete? You don't seem to have any transmission concerns. Your tall ceilings are absolutely key though. I recently visited a local studio to listen to the space. The CR has 2.6m ceilings and sounds way better than mine with a fraction of the treatment. My room sounds good, but it's more like wearing cans due to the much lower volume of space. A very noticeable difference. I built my space from scratch, so I never understood why Stuart didn't try to go higher with my ceilings. I knew I didn't have the space for two big rooms, which is why I would have rather had one. Communication was always very poor, so who knows if he even tried to understand my situation.
ReplyDeleteThere is also the possibility that Stuart is buying the forum from the estate. That would explain a lot...That'll never be known, but could be why there was little interest in stopping the current arrangement despite the overwhelming evidence I presented. It is very nice to give zero fucks about this whole mess as I don't need any help from anyone anymore ever again!. You may yet experience the same sensation.
ReplyDelete