My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: California

My roommate and I put down a $2000 holding deposit for an apartment, that was under construction, that we were told would be complete February 1st. The deposit was put down on January 15th after our application was approved. We had not yet signed a lease, and no paperwork or verbal agreement was made regarding the conditions of the holding deposit, just that it would be to take the apartment off the market.

Shortly after the deposit was made, they changed our move in date from Feb 1 to Jan 26. They threatened to give up our apartment to another tenant, even with the holding deposit, if we did not move in on that date. We begrudgingly agreed. Then, they changed the move in date 4 more times- to Jan 28, then 31st, then Feb 1, then Feb 2nd.

Come February 2nd, we did a walk through and the place was still not move in ready- the walls had not been painted, the toilet was broken, a window was broken, the closet doors weren't properly installed, the window and balcony screens had multiple tears and holes, there were waterstains on the ceiling, one shower leaked, the other had no showerhead, the "brand new" stove they gave us was at least 20 years old and covered in food gunk. The place was dirty and covered in sawdust (even after they boasted a 3 person cleaning crew had made it spotless). Needless to say we were not satisfied with the condition, especially since they had promised everything was going to be brand new. Despite this, they pressured us to move in as is, and said they would get around to fixing the many repairs once we had already moved in.

The aforementioned problems, plus various unusual interactions with the landlord and manager including: them failing to show up to 3 meetings, then lying, saying I had never called to schedule the appointment (which i absolutely did and remember clearly- and so do my phone records!), made us change our mind about wanting to business with these people. We decided not to sign the lease

We said we weren't interested anymore, and the manager told me (in a text message, so on record) that we would get our full deposit back. The next day, he texted me again to say never mind, we were not getting any of the deposit back because they had held the place for a full month for us.

Firstly- it was 2 weeks, not 1 month, and the place was under construction, so it could not have been rented out to anyone. And it was not move-in ready by the (finally) agreed to move in date, so obviously we did not want to move into an apartment that still was in need of great repair.

My question is, am I legally entitled to get my deposit back, or at least some of it? What is the best course of action to take?