I did finally get my refund a couple of weeks ago after I sent another follow-up email. John responded:
"I'm sorry for the delay. As I worked my way through the backlog, I found a lot of older requests that pushed yours down in the queue. However, I've finally got to your request and issued your refund. Your deposit payment of $100 paid on 2020-01-27 has been refunded via PayPal.
Sorry for the unreasonably long delay.
Best regards,
John Alvarado"
It was actually $97.01 after PayPal fees.