SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Several people say a man they hired for mariachi performances at major life events canceled at the last minute \u2014 and did not provide refunds.<\/p>\n
The complaints center around Arthur Flores, who was booked under the name Mariachi Toritos. The people KSAT spoke to say they paid upfront for performances tied to milestone celebrations, including a wedding, a quincea\u00f1era, and an 80th birthday party.<\/p>\n
Mariachi music, a deeply rooted symbol of Mexican heritage, is often central to such occasions. <\/p>\n
Cynthia Montoya said she hired Flores to perform at her son\u2019s wedding but was told shortly before the event that he would not be able to attend.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe expressed he was sorry, he had just gotten into an accident, and there was no way he was going to show up,\u201d Montoya said.<\/p>\n
Melinda Perez said she booked the group for her daughter\u2019s quincea\u00f1era in 2023, paying $550 in advance. She said Flores later told her he would not be able to make it.<\/p>\n
Perez took the case to small claims court in February 2024 and won a judgment. More than two years later, she said, she has yet to receive any payment.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing, nothing,\u201d Perez said when asked if she had been compensated.<\/p>\n
Myrna Gonzalez Childress said she paid Flores a rate of $500 in October 2025 for her mother\u2019s 80th birthday celebration. She said he later canceled, citing illness.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t throw an 80th birthday party for a Mexican woman without having mariachis,\u201d Gonzalez Childress said. \u201cIt\u2019s like I had failed to throw her the party that she deserved.\u201d<\/p>\n
She has since filed a civil complaint and is scheduled to appear in court this month.<\/p>\n
Montoya said she paid $1,200 for her son\u2019s wedding just weeks ago and described feeling \u201cdisheartened\u201d when the group did not appear, especially because her son had hoped to share an important part of his culture.<\/p>\n
Montoya has filed a criminal complaint with San Antonio police. As of now, no arrests have been made.<\/p>\n
She also said that a relative contacted a person believed to be a former member of Mariachi Toritos, who claimed the group disbanded about two years ago due to concerns about Flores\u2019 alleged conduct.<\/p>\n
Attempts to reach Flores by phone were unsuccessful.<\/p>\n
Online reviews appear to reflect similar complaints, with multiple customers alleging last-minute cancellations and urging others to be cautious when booking.<\/p>\n
One of the women, Gonzalez Childress, said she hopes others will avoid a similar experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no sugarcoating this,\u201d she said. \u201cYou are a thief.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read also:<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Several people say a man they hired for mariachi performances at major life events canceled…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5348,82,84,83,5793],"class_list":{"0":"post-231016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-mariachi","9":"tag-san-antonio","10":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","11":"tag-san-antonio-news","12":"tag-scam"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}