Brighton songwriter pursued over wedding song refund

A couple who went to court to get a Brighton songwriter to refund them for a personalised wedding song he never wrote say they are still struggling to get him to cough up.

Ellaoise O’Connor paid Jamie Mathias more than £1,000 to write and perform the song for her fiancee Jodie at their May 2020 wedding – but when it was cancelled because of covid, he refused a refund.

Last week, he announced he was “closing down” his bespoke songwriting business and not taking any new orders to concentrate on a new cryptocurrency business.

Mrs O’Connor says she has been trying to track him down and make him pay the court-ordered refund for more than a year without success.

After being contacted by Brighton and Hove News, he said he was now living abroad, but would probably pay her the money to avoid panicking other current customers.

Mrs O’Connor booked the song in 2019, and by January 2020, she had paid him £1,180 – but then the pandemic hit, and the wedding was postponed.

But when Mrs O’Connor tried to reschedule, Mr Mathias said he was fully booked for most of 2021, and so she requested a refund, which she said he refused.

After speaking to Citizens Advice Bureau, he agreed to take part in a mediation via a phonecall and offered a refund of £440 – but as no song had been written or performed, Mrs O’Connor was not happy with this.

On 15 March last year, Brighton County Court ruled Mr Mathias and his company Jamie Mathias Entertainment owed her £1365 for the full refund plus court fees.

Mr Mathias said he received no notification of the court hearing, and so could not attend to argue his case.

But despite her successful judgement, Mrs O’Connor has not been able to get the money paid back as she cannot track him down.

Mrs O’Connor says details of the hearing were posted to the address his business is registered to in Windmill Drive, Brighton – where Mr Mathias told Brighton and Hove News his mum lives, but he does not. She said it was also included in emails sent to him.

Mrs O’Connor said: “I am getting nowhere with this and I am finally at my wits end with it all.

“We managed to rebook our wedding (a second time) and got married in September.

“We’re now looking into how we go about having children and we need this money to be able to do that.

“What was supposed to be a nice surprise for my future wife at our wedding has turned into a nightmare that has lasted over two years.”

Mr Mathias said the refund he offered her was for DJ services and the performance, but that the terms and conditions of their agreement were that no refund was available.

He said: “I wanted to go to court to put my point across. I lost the case by default because I didn’t get the thing about the court date.

“I don’t think I have ever got a letter about it. I don’t live in the country. [The Windmill Drive address] is my mum’s house. I haven’t lived there for quite a while.

“At the time my services terms and conditions were that everything is non refundable. I provided a discount for upfront payment.

“I didn’t write the song because she told me that she didn’t want it. At this point I will probably just pay the whole thing.”

Last November, Mr Mathias hit the headlines after a series of tweets he posted blasting an influencer for asking for a free song in return for exposure went viral.