PIRATE.COM - Rehearsal Studios Reviews 817

Title: 6 years of credit damage for a loyal customer - Claim N3KF278Y

"I have been a loyal customer at Pirate Studios since before 2022, but I am now being treated with total disregard. Due to a failure in their car park registration system from a session in February 2022, I have been hit with an unjust parking fine that has now escalated to a County Court Judgment (CCJ) and a £335.33 legal debt.

Despite reaching out in March and providing clear WhatsApp proof of the claim details, the support team failed to act. Now, they are closing my support chats and hiding behind automated bots while my credit rating is at risk.

It is disgraceful that a long-term customer is being left to pay for the company’s administrative negligence regarding their parking facilities. I am still waiting for a senior manager to take accountability and reimburse me for this debt."Update to my review:

"I am frustrated by the claim that there is ‘no record’ of this. I have maintained a clear paper trail, having submitted your official online parking form and sent all details via both Email and WhatsApp multiple times.

The necessary details—Booking ID 10427582, vehicle YC59ZHW, and the Leeds Kirkstall site—are all within your systems. The reference number is the legal case number (711200692495PEL) because this was allowed to escalate to a CCJ despite my repeated attempts to resolve it with you.

With the May 8th deadline approaching to have this judgment removed, I am asking for this to be escalated to someone who will actually check your email and form records. I have done my part as a customer; I now need you to do yours and settle this with DCB Legal immediately

After a chat with Gemini Ai, I was recommended to record my vocals, not far from where im based, for a small amount, hiring a rehearsal studio for an hour. Everything from the company itself has been very good. The codes worked a treat, however, if I knew the rooms had zero sound padding, I wouldn't have agreed to buy. I was in Studio 5 and Studio 8, they had drum and bass louder than a nightclub speaker. It was incredibly loud. So much so, mine and anyone else's booking was pointless. A WhatsApp chat with Chloe was pleasant but didn't help the situation. She said she messaged the customer and offered me credits to come again, but as nice as she was, I was never going back again. I've simply gave 4 out of 5 due to pleasant service, 1 out of 5 for the setup. Who makes a rehearsal studio with boards of wood and no soundproofing? Pirates I guess!

Very very difficult to set up an account. mediocre equipment and more expensive than most of the (better) competitors

I’ve used PIRATE recording studios a number of times now, and can honestly say it’s a dream for aspiring musicians. It has everything you need to get real work done, and the rooms are consistently solid and reliable. I’ve never had any issues with noise leaking in from other studios, and I’ve always found the equipment to be reliable.

Andy at the Manchester location is always incredibly kind and great to talk to. For the price point, I genuinely have nothing bad to say about the place. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for affordable studio space across the UK.

Customer service was amazing! I forgot to cancel my booking (got sick and couldn’t go) and I realized too late and wasn’t able to get a refund on my own. Sara helped me out and gave me a one time credit to make up for the mistake on my end! Super cool and just made the whole experience so much better.

Here we go again; broken equipment. Tried Camden that was pretty poor.

Complained & had to rebook another site ended up with the same cheap & nasty equipment.

The mixer was not a professional unit at was ammeter level. The speakers were trashed, poor sound quality.

Avoid Pirate Studios in Edinburgh. Crap Gear, always a problem with the drum kit. Disgusting toilets.

They also cancelled a booking even though I had already booked it and paid. Told me it was for maintenance. Lo and behold on the day we were meant to rehearse the room was available.

Very badly run company. Company service is crap.

Seamless booking experience, clean and well maintained studios, customer service is actually exceptional even though it's remote. Feels like a safe environment too (Bristol Studios) - love coming here to blow off steam and blast the tines

Turned up to a DJ studio where one of the CDJs was faulty and kept freezing. I messaged the helpline and they told me to turn the CDJ on and off again... problem recurred during trying to mix which made the session very difficult as had to keep restarting the CDJ. I messaged again after I left letting them know the problem with the CDJ, but rather than offer an apology and say they would fix issue they said it was my fault for not messaging them again during the session in a series of quite passive aggressive messages. Terrible first experience using them won't go again.

Been coming to Pirate Leeds for years. The rooms are good with a decent sound for rehearsal, the equipment is generally decent and I’ve found their customer service via WhatsApp to be excellent. Don’t always go by the bad reviews, people are far more likely to review if they’ve had a bad experience!

They took away my 500£ credit without even sending an email. Although to they sending spam. that's illegal. Don't buy big amount of credit . That's my advice..

Used Pirate DJ studios a few times 18 months 2 years ago whilst I was waiting for my decks to come into stock. A really great concept but when I first used them the place was a S**T hole especially when you have to clean drugs off the decks in a Tuesday morning is not great since then I have had a few emails to say they had improved the place so thought I would give it a go. Was really pleased to say the studio wan immaculate. Everything was working and will deffo use again to film content even though I have the same setup at home

Keep up the good work

The AC in our room was broken on a sunny 24 degree day. Room was dangerously hot and the only thing they offered us was a 20% off our next booking. They didn't change our booking or even send someone out on site to inspect the unit, bare minimum we should get for having to practice in a genuinely unsafe environment is a refund.

Equipment is generally dodgy, toilets are grim and there's no real upkeep on site.

A bit impersonal and most of the owners are resident in Hong Kong (China) and Singapore (tax reasons). Studio is okay until something goes wrong, at which point you are forced to interact with an AI chatbot via WhatsApp, phone or webpage. Fire alarm was sounding when we arrived for our session (everything is monitored remotely, down in South Africa--have to keep costs low!). The alarm carried on for over one hour, and ultimately there was NO INSPECTION on site into the cause, just instructions provided via WhatsApp to another customer who deactivated the alarm themselves. This is a HUGE fire safety issue. Pirate is just a tragedy waiting to happen; best avoided, sorry.

I have been using Pirate Studios for approximately eight years now. I initially started at the North Greenwich location and later moved to Dalston Junction.

However, over the past few months, I’ve experienced recurring issues with my bookings. On one occasion, my entire booking was cancelled while I was already en route, and I was forced to book a studio in Camden — which is not easily accessible, for your information.

At the Camden location, I encountered problems with recording. After spending 15 minutes on the phone with support, I was informed that this particular site still uses a recording link instead of the app. This wasn’t communicated anywhere — how would anyone know?

Most recently, I booked a three-hour session to record some important sets. Unfortunately, I spent an hour and a half texting on WhatsApp the support team due to technical issues. The new app was going offline repeatedly, and it failed to detect any sound — it was a complete nightmare.

Even after being moved to a different room, the issue persisted. I’d like to clarify that the problem is not with my phone, as I have successfully recorded many sets using the previous link-based system. However, this new app has been a terrible experience.

As someone who suffers from anxiety, the stress of the situation deeply affected me. I was left shaking and in no state to enjoy or perform my mix properly. I had no choice but to request a refund and cancel the remainder of the booking.

Unfortunately, I will no longer be using Pirate Studios for professional recordings. I will have to resort to using my laptop at home — although I can’t play as loud there, at least I have some control over the environment.

Sara was an absolute doll and everyone else that helped us. Couldn’t recommend further

They call a locksmith company and after when we finish the jobs they refuze to pay £264
Very unprofessional stuff

***Horrible customer support and lost £250 - beware***

Having been a regular user of Pirate Studios for a number of years I was shocked to find out that our bands rehearsal was cancelled for "attempting to tamper with CCTV", and £250 had been taken from my bank account. Attempts to contact support to resolve the situation were met with a flippant and rude response that also resulted in myself being banned from using Pirate rehearsal rooms, purely because I had sent an email to their "Security" department (I was explicitly told in the 1st email from them I was not banned provided the £250 charge was successful)

With such a claim as serious as what has been levied against us there has not been any proof of it occurring and we cannot seem to take this to anyone else in the company.

General problems you may encounter in these rooms:

- Missing cables for Amps, Mics etc.
- Shoddy drum kits with bodge job repairs (hi-hat pedals being held together with tape)
- Non functioning AC in rooms that have no windows
- Mismatched amplifiers for intended purpose (pairing a tiny bass amp in rooms with drum kits and much more powerful guitar amps)
- Broken equipment that has not been replaced in the room, such as microphones, PA channels
- Equipment different from what is stated for the room on website, sometimes resulting in vastly different gear that is not suitable

Avoid Pirate Studios and go to a real rehearsal room ran by people who are actually present and don't try to commit daylight robbery - they are happy to take money from musicians pockets if they think they can get away with it

The assistant was so helpful , skillful and kind ! We are so pleased !

I've been using Pirate at Wembley since 2020 but I've now had to stop. They cancelled my booking on Monday Feb 17 at 11.00am. I was informed on the preceding Saturday night (Feb 15) by text. No specific reason given - just a blithe "We're sorry, but sometimes things change" message. This is the THIRD time this has happened. They did the exact same thing on May 6 2023 and again on Feb 6 2024 and now Feb 15 2025. They even have an option on their dropdown menu when you are giving a reason for claiming your refund: "Pirate cancelled your session". Either they have no concept of what it entails to get four working musicians timetabled to be in the same place at the same time. Or they simply don't care. Either way they are clearly not in command of their business model. Luckily, we were able to get a last-minute booking at The Arch studio in Stamford Brook where they provided a room at less-than-24-hours notice with better equipment for about the same price. It's not as convenient as Pirate, but my band will be rehearsing at The Arch in future. That's enough of Pirate for me.