Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  07/31/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On 3 July I contacted **** to make an appointment.My girl friend and I live together. I own the property with no mortgage. My girlfriend is concerned that if I pass away that she might not have any rights.We wanted to get some legal advice concerning the situation and would probably want to get a legal agreement drawn up that would give her some solid legal rights and give her peace of mind.We spoke to a male at the firm and gave him a basic idea of what we wanted to accomplish.We were asked if we wanted to do a virtual appointment. We told the male that we wanted an in person appointment. He gave us an appointment at 4 PM on 17 July. We paid a retainer with the male on the phone.We arrived at ****** office prior to 4 PM on the 17th. My girl friend left work early to go to the appointment. We were told by a female employee when we arrived that our appointment was virtual. We said that the male **** employee offered the virtual appointment on the 17th and we specifically said we didnt want it.. The female employee offered no other option for their s**** up. We weren't too pleased. We made another in person appointment for 24 July at 4PM. On the morning of 21 July my girlfriend indicated that there was a credit for the amount she paid on her credit card statement. Prior to noon on the 21st a female employee from **** office called to advise us that their office was canceling the appointment because of a conflict of interest. I asked what conflict? She couldnt supply an answer. She said that we were sent an email explaining why the appointment was canceled. We did not receive an email. That same female said we didnt reply to a previous email confirming the original appointment. We didnt get that supposed email either. There was a period of 18 days from the time we originally contacted their office until they credited us with the deposit. Since we didnt talk to the attorney at all how could there be a conflict of interest? Awful service(

  Business response

  08/03/2023

  In response to the complaint sent by *************************, the undersigned regrets that the initial call from **************** led to my call center incorrectly noting his email address. This was an error made by at a worker at a call center, which handles our prospective client calls. He did not speak with a firm employee at that time but a vendor from a call center who was following a script we provide. The fact that the receptionist follows a very detailed script/********* makes his assertions very hard to believe, particularly his insistence that the appointment set for 7-17-23 was to be in person. 

  Beyond that, though, I do not regret our actions or our decision to decline his case. On July 17, 2023, **************** did appear at my office, however, his narrative fails to include that he and his significant other were disruptive and rude to my employee, who responded with grace.  There was no possibility he set an in-person calendar when he set his appointment, because that time was already reserved for another client, who needed documents executed prior to a surgery (again, his story is not possible in light of the limited choices available to the call-center receptionists).  The following day, I performed a conflict check and determined I was prohibited from taking this opportunity for employment. 

  It is critical to note that this complainant was never a client and was merely a prospective client.  Additionally, we refunded the entire amount of the consultation fee that he paid. 

  We did have a call-center receptionist relay on July 21, 2023, that we could not accept his case. We cannot provide him specifics as to the nature of the conflict based on ******* Bar Rule 1.6.  We sent the attached correspondence as a courtesy, but we are under no obligation to provide him with a written explanation.  

  Customer response

  08/21/2023

   
  Complaint: 20399124
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  Its difficult to reply to the attorneys reply but I feel I must because of the untruths and the total incompetency of the firm. When I called to make the original appointment on 3 July I wasnt told that I was  speaking to some call center.  They obviously were completely incompetent because I gave them my yahoo email address and they said they messed it up by changing the yahoo email to a gmail. Thats why we never got two emails that they supposedly sent us. Really!
  
   The male who answered the phone definitely gave us an appointment on 17 July at 4PM and it wasnt a virtual appointment because we told him we didnt want that.  We arrived early on 17 July to the firm and the the female receptionist told us our appointment was ********** wasnt happy but I didnt abuse the receptionist as was stated. Thats an outright lie.  My girlfriend was more upset but didnt abuse her either. My girlfriend left work early to get to the appointment on the 17th. The idea that we couldnt have gotten a live appointment on 3 July is also a lie because apparently one was not available according to the attorney. .  The total screwup that was made by the male on 3 July when he listed my email as a gmail rather than the yahoo mail I gave him pretty much calls into question his ability to get anything right. 
  
  On the 17th the receptionist gave us another appointment on 24 July at 4 PM.
  
  On 21 July I received a call from an employee of the firm advising us that we couldnt have an appointment on the 24th because of a conflict of interest. 
  
  I asked why and she advised me that we would get an email explaining why the appointment was canceled. Needless to say I never got an email explaining the conflict of interest situation.  
  
  The timeline calls into questioning the incompetency of the firm.
  
  We made an appointment on 3 July. 
  
  We show up on 17 July at their office for said appointment. 
  
  We are told it was a virtual appointment 
  
  If it was a virtual why didnt we receive any direction to indicate how we would connect to have the virtual appointment?
  
  We make another appointment for 24 July.
  
  We get a call on 21 July from the firm indicating that there was a conflict of interest and our 24 July appointment is cancelled. 
  
  So we call on 3 July and make the initial appointment for 17 July.
  
  We cant have that appointment and get another one scheduled for the 24th.
  
  We get a call on 21 July canceling that appointment.
  
  So we make the original contact on 3 July but it takes 18 days till the 21st to tell us that there was a conflict.  Really!
  
  That 18 days is pretty much the definition of awful customer service

  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

  Business response

  08/23/2023

  I will respond to his response point by point; however, I did not see his response as inviting any potential for further resolution. I

  
  "Its difficult to reply to the attorneys reply but I feel I must because of the untruths and the total incompetency of the firm." -

  --- He does not present a single untruth, and his allegations, if taken as true, do not remotely support the conclusion of "total incompetency [sic]". 

   

  "When I called to make the original appointment on 3 July I wasnt told that I was  speaking to some call center.  They obviously were completely incompetent because I gave them my yahoo email address and they said they messed it up by changing the yahoo email to a gmail. Thats why we never got two emails that they supposedly sent us. Really!"

  -- Yes, the person at the call center took the incorrect root for your email address.  However, a clerical error does not support your conclusion that the call center receptionist  "obviously were completely incompetent"

  
  "The male who answered the phone definitely gave us an appointment on 17 July at 4PM and it wasnt a virtual appointment because we told him we didnt want that. "

  --- I understand what you wanted, but the calendar that the receptionist was using would not allow an in-person appointment to be set when you wanted.

  "We arrived early on 17 July to the firm and the the female receptionist told us our appointment was ********** wasnt happy but I didnt abuse the receptionist as was stated. Thats an outright lie.

  --- Please show me where I claimed you abused the receptionist or anyone? No one said that.  

   "My girlfriend was more upset but didnt abuse her either. My girlfriend left work early to get to the appointment on the 17th. The idea that we couldnt have gotten a live appointment on 3 July is also a lie because apparently one was not available according to the attorney. The total screwup that was made by the male on 3 July when he listed my email as a gmail rather than the yahoo mail I gave him pretty much calls into question his ability to get anything right."

  --- OK, it wasn't a lie - it was not possible for an in-person to be set based on the calendar application used by the call center representative. Again, I question the basis of your conclusions, as one clerical error does not call "into question his ability to get anything right."
  
  
  "If it was a virtual why didnt we receive any direction to indicate how we would connect to have the virtual appointment?"

  ------- It was sent to the @gmail address, as we later explained. 
  
  
  So we make the original contact on 3 July but it takes 18 days till the 21st to tell us that there was a conflict.  Really!
  
  That 18 days is pretty much the definition of awful customer service

  ---- The conflict check is normally run at the time the consultation would be set, or at the latest, prior to conferring with the attorney.  It was not done in his case until the date of his appointment on the 17th, which I intended to relay by zoom. We regret that we did not contact him sooner to avoid his visit to the office or that he was under the impression that we were to meet in person, but we refunded all fees paid to reserve the consultation, as **************** never became a customer. 

   

*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. ↩