ComplaintsforGillPierson

• Initial Complaint

  11/15/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I was referred to ********* ******* in **** ***** I initially contacted her on July 21, 2021 regarding concerns over handling of my mother's will (who passed away last year) (see attachment 'Original Email Sent'). I explained my situation briefly in an approximately 10-minute follow-up phone conversation with her. At the end of said conversation I SPECIFICALLY ASKED if there would be a charge for this conversation and was told "No," by ********* ******** However, I apparently now have been charged!(see attachment '******..PDF'). I shipped the Will/Trust documents to her,at my expense. I eventually received a response August 5 (see attachment '********* ******* response Aug 5'), that she had "quickly" read it. She concluded that should I wish to retain her services, she would require a ******* retainer fee. I thanked her and indicated that I was expecting a bill. No response after 2 weeks. I then mailed a physical 'thank you' note with similar sentiment. I did finally receive a response via email on August 24th, 2021 (see attachment '********* ******* response'). She thanked me for the card, and again NO MENTION of charges. I then felt assured her work had been 'pro-bono,' until months later, on November 10th- I received a ********* bill for 'services rendered!' I have a major issue with some of these alleged services: 1) I WAS charged for the initial phone consultation on June 21, which I specifically asked about, and was told I would NOT be charged for it. 2) There is a **** charge for an alleged hour-long phone conversation with ************* and a '*****' who I do not even know, on **** *** ***** BEFORE I EVEN CONTACTED ********* ***************** contact was **** **** WHAT is this?! 3) Any and all phone conversations between ********* ******* and I would not have totaled more than 30 minutes. I would like to have some proof or evidence of these alleged calls, and request adjustment for erroneous charges. Should have been explained at outset, not months later.

  Business response

  04/08/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/03/22) */ At no time between the time the bill for services was sent and the check for payment was received did the consumer indicate that there was any issue with the amount of the bill or the work provided, and at no time did I agree to analyze the extensive pleadings and documents which took more than 4 hours, on a pro bono basis. The "*****" to whom the consumer refers is shown clearly on the bill to be "******" not "*****." ******, an attorney, is a colleague of *****, with whom the consumer originally discussed the matter. There were two calls from ***** and ******, which were billed for a total of 6/10 of an hour, not one hour (as the consumer claims), and the second call was a conference call in which *****, the referring party, and ****** provided detailed background information. I have the phone bills to support this information regarding the calls. I corresponded with the consumer on July 21, July 27, August 2 and August 5 (8 emails), to gather the information necessary to provide an initial analysis of his matter. The $****** mentioned by the consumer was a proposed retainer if the consumer wanted to enter the litigation. The legal matter that is the subject of the complaint involved a Trust proceeding that had been going on for the past 4 years. The amount of information that needed to be reviewed so a clear picture could be obtained of the underlying Trust and the issues that had arisen amongst family members included 14 pages of probate department notes referencing multiple documents filed with the ** Superior Court (most recently, a Petition, Objections and a Response) , and the Trust document itself, and a then-pending 17-page Petition with at least 100 pages of attachments. The consumer was provided with legal advice as to the best path to take based on that review in a lengthy detailed email. Consumer responded with an effusive thank you email (see attached), in which he stated: "Thank you so much for your responsiveness and for the detailed explanation. My apologies for having not even seen your email until now! It is certainly a relief to hear this from you regarding the case, and a weight off of my shoulders. You have clarified many things that I was concerned about. Your observations regarding my frustration are absolutely correct. My emotions somewhat clouded my thinking. I realize now it's better to stay on somewhat civil terms with my sister, rather than drive more of a wedge between us. I have a close friend who has acted (more than once) as a temporary mediator between the two of us, and he has offered to contact her again if needed. If this approach doesn't work, I will contact you to retain your legal services. For the moment, please let me know what I owe you for the time and work that you have already put into this. I have put my billing address below. Thank you again for the excellent work!" He followed the email up with a handwritten thank you note. I sent him a bill, as requested.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩