I'm sympathetic to your situation for sure, not a good place to be. Out of curiosity, I went to the shop's web page and found this:

"Once the details are agreed on, paperwork signed and your deposit paid, we get our artists working on the renderings and schedule time to induct your vehicle into the work flow."

Did you see this before sending him money or was it not there? You didn't sign any paper work that included the refundability of the deposit? If not, sounds like the deposit was getting the cart in front of the horse maybe? I would guess signing the paper work comment means they / he has a standard contract that would include something about the deposit.

So there isn’t any kinda of rendering. He was pushing for the deposit before pw was signed because he had someone else looking for my spot. The contract says nothing about the deposit being refundable or non refundable. The only amount of work he has in my project is the quote which I offered to pay him $300 for. I never went to his website so I can’t say what was there before.

I would also post about him on blogs whenever possible. And Craigslist local. And if he blocked you on aiG, have someone else ask on IG about your deposit.
Is he on FB? Pressure him there too.

Ready to assist via social media when you are ready.

Why did you offer to pay him "only" $300 for the quote? Perhaps the time he has spent already, plus the spot he blocked off for you, and now has no work for, is worth more than $300?

He didn't cancel the month before. Guy sold him on securing a spot tells me he has no issue getting work. Cancelled MONTHS in advance. What has he done worth $300 for the quote, gotta start somewhere to come to a resolution and he didn't even get a response on that offer or a counter? The guy didn't even agree to that, he ghosted him and blocked. I'd be busy Mother Fu%&ing this dude all over the web already.

How soon we forget the example that Greg Weld (RIP) set for us.

This.

Your take of the situation is valid for sure. That being said, I wouldn't bash or trash anyone on the NET that I don't have 1st hand experience with. I would definitely mention a shop to avoid & share the details of someone getting ghosted when trying to negotiate a proper exit though..... Just ignoring someone is worse than @ least trying to attempt a resolution.

No offense to the OP, but we only have his side of the story. We don't actually know the shop owner didn't make counter offers. We don't actually know what went on between the shop owner and the OP. And, given my own experience in dealing with hostile customers, frequently the stories they tell have no resemblance to what actually went on.

From the lady who was 100% positive (and told everyone about it) that I was trying to rip her off by "just trying to sell her oil!" (because there was none on the dipstick--the engine locked up a very short while later), to the guy who told an entire parking lot full of people he "told me it wasn't the timing belt," while calling me a thief and a liar (turns out the car was towed back in because someone had bumped it in the shopping mall parking lot, tripping the roll over switch), I've been down that road too many times to simply assume the OP is giving us the real account (even if he might believe he is).

My advice is, take the shop to small claims court if he's sure he's described events as they really occurred, but don't go blasting it all over the internet. If the fact don't perfectly match his posts, he could find himself in a lot of hot water.

I get what you’re saying but I’d say those two examples are so vastly different from any possible scenario here they can’t even be the same discussion. He cancelled his slot 2 weeks after it was made, 5MONTHS before he was scheduled.

No doubt each should share some liability. But keeping the full amount and ghosting him is BS. I’d say he’s lucky it wasn’t more lost to this and I 100% would just go the route of online presence over small claims for that amount.