Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. 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.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/21/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Our law firm has enlisted the services of Avvo Inc for 5+ years. We expanded our advertising with Avvo over a year ago to include one of our other employed attorneys. Our law firm engaged into the advertising agreement and agreed to the monthly fees. Our employed attorney, *************************, was not involved in the agreement and does not pay the monthly fees. Avvo changed our monthly rate 2 months ago for Attorney ********************** advertisements without informing our firm (the payee) with whom the agreement was made. We have been trying to reach our account manager, ***********************, as well as Avvo customer support since June 7th when we became aware of the unauthorized changes and charges (an additional $230/month). We have since communicated to Avvo that they are to immediately cancel all of our services and issue a refund for the two unauthorized additional payments (5/2/23 & 6/2/23) totaling $460; however, Avvo and our Account Manager will not respond to our requests or cancel our services. We are not bound under a contract. We have communicated to Avvo and ****** multiple times over the past 2 weeks that we would be reporting them to the BBB if they did not respond and cancel our services. They will not respond to our multiple requests. Your assistance in holding this company accountable is much appreciated. Thank you.

  Business Response

  Date: 07/05/2023

  Thank you for your feedback.  Prior to the price increase for **************** advertising, the account manager reached out via email to ************ on 4/18 to inform him of the price increase, additional incentives, etc. and was also advised the increase would be in effect by 4/28 if we did not hear back from him.  We never got a response from the attorney as requested and the price increase went into effect.  His account is set to expire at the end of July.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 07/10/2023

   
  Complaint: 20218813
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  As Avvo and our account manager are well aware, *************** had no involvement in the establishment of the Avvo ad accounts, did not enter into any agreements with Avvo, and does not pay for Avvo. All Avvo accounts were setup and paid through myself and our Business Manager, *****************************. All communication with Avvo has been with myself (**********************) or *****************************. A price increase communicated to an uninvolved party, who is not responsible for payment or the agreement, is irrelevant and does not address the issue. We have significant records and additional communications demonstrating that all communications setting up and paying for Avvo have only been with ***************************** or *******************. *************** is not a payor, nor is he a firm decision maker, nor is he able to enter into any firm agreements, and has had no previous record of communication or account setup with **********************. 

  In addition to the increased charges that we (the employer/payee) did not agree to, we communicated our cancellation of all ad services with Avvo on 6/7/2023 and continue to be charged. This is not for just the ads promoting Attorney ****, but also myself (**********************). We have communicated multiple times since 6/7 that they (Avvo) are to discontinue all ads for our firm, but we were charged again on 7/3/23 for $1081.
  
  Our firm did not agree to the increased amounts communicated to a non-party to the agreement and we continue to be charged for services weve cancelled. The amounts and actions appropriate for resolution are as follows:
  
  *Confirm cancellation of ALL firm Avvo services (******************************* ads running for ********************** & *************************)
  *Refunding the firm for the $1081 fraudulently charged on 7/3/23 after we cancelled all ad services
  *Refunding our firm for the $460 in unauthorized/unapproved additional charges incurred on 5/2/23 ($230) & 6/2/23 ($230)

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

  Business Response

  Date: 08/02/2023

  Your account manager should be reaching out to you to resolve your concerns.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/05/2023

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Hired an attorney based off reviews on AVVO and to my shocking discovery, the attorney was unprofessional and simply put, awful. I tried multiple times to post a review about my experience to warn others and every time, it was removed after a few days. This company is falsely advertising fake reviews and making kick backs off the attorneys.

  Business Response

  Date: 05/08/2023

  Thank you for your feedback.  We encourage former clients of attorneys to leave a review detailing their experience.  We only ask that reviewers follow our Community Guidelines when leaving a review.  Located here: *******************************************************************

  If you have any questions please contact our ************* team.

  Have a great day!

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/08/2023

   
  Complaint: 20023209
  
  I am rejecting this response because: this is simply an excuse. I read the guidelines and followed very specifically. I was asked for proof that I hired the attorney I was reviewing, not because I violated their terms. I sent them proof and even followed up asking why my review was not reposted- no response. Ive tried multiple times to post my review and it was removed every-time. This is not the only case of this happening. *** heard from others whom have posted a negative review for this same attorney with the same result. The attorney has one star rating on other sites, but 5 stars on this AVVO. And, the negative reviews keep getting removed on AVVO. So youre saying that every negative review is magically in violation but the 5 star reviews are all conveniently to community standards? I dont think so. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

  Business Response

  Date: 05/23/2023

  We are currently in contact with the reviewer and working with her to resolve her concerns with the review she is referring to.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/03/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I am a small business and I signed up with this service for marketing. I was told that I would be listed for advertising on 3 websites. I am only appearing on one site. The one site I am on is not bringing in anything but spam accounts. I have tried to contact Avvo to cancel and they have ignored by concerns.

  Business Response

  Date: 05/15/2023

  Hello *********************,

  Thank you for your feedback.  You are currently listed on our 3 flagship websites here; Avvo.com - ****************************************************************************************, Lawyers.com - *****************************************************************************, and also Martindale.com -  **********************************************************************; I hope this helps with finding your listings.  

  If you have any additional questions please reach out to your Account Manager, ***************************** @ **************

  Have a great day!

   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/15/2023

   
  Complaint: 20016017
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/03/2023

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  ******************************************************************************** I am a license attorney in the *****************. Unfounded advertising by this business entity. Refusal to take down illegitimate review that throughout the years caused me loss of business and recently a promotion. I believe it is racially targeted as I am Arab-********. Business entity attempted to blackmail me through harassing phone calls. Multiple attempts to reach out to this business entity and would not talk to me without me having to give funds or credit card information to them.

  Business Response

  Date: 05/03/2023

  Thank you for your feedback!  We do allow former clients to review their attorneys and the experience they've had during the legal process.  We do not take sides when it comes to factual disputes nor do we verify or investigate reviews.  Please see our Community Guidelines here. *******************************************************************

  We give attorneys the option of responding to any reviews that are on their profile, if you are interested in pursuing legal action against the reviewer please see our terms located here: *******************************************************

  Thank you and have a great day!

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/23/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I am very curious why my review was taken down? The ** bar association had many concerns over the lawyer Avvo recommended and when he didn't act professionally (from their referral) I was told to take my review down. Why? I'm doing a decent person's job warning others? Your inability to properly vet "lawyers" cannot and will not violate my first amendment rights. I will *** the s*** out of you for that. Here, I'm happy to show the texts of your "great" lawyer who told me I'm "nothing special and worthless." But please, tell me: I'm inaccurate here. I'd love to have you defend your actions in court.

  Business Response

  Date: 03/03/2023

  Thank you for your feedback.  We appreciate your participation in our Client Review program. As an online community we host a variety of diverse opinions. We welcome this diversity, and ask that all of our participants adhere to our community guidelines located here:  *******************************************************************

  
  If you have any questions please feel free to contact us.
  

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/08/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I have been using an attorney advertising platform and really have had no complaints. However, when I notified AVVO that I wish to cancel my account due to my closing my private practice down, it has been a real hassle. I have left numerous messages with *********************** ************ ********************************** my account manager, and with her boss. I have sent at least a dozen emails. ****** returned one message and said something to the effect of: I received your message and I need to confirm you are cancelling your account and that we will not charge you beginning March 2023. So, now, I'm supposed to re-confirm what I've already stated but they will not answer the phone, return messages, or return emails. I reached out to another attorney who I knew used AVVO and he said he had a nightmare of a time trying to cancel - same thing, AVVO refusing to acknowledge you want to cancel, and then switching his account manager on him, so then he was supposed to start all over again. This is unacceptable. My account is set up through an automatic withdrawal through my Debit Card. I am going today, per my Bank, to cancel that card and receive a new debit card - extremely inconvenient to have to do this. Thank you. I just want to cancel and I want them to "admit", VERIFY that they have cancelled my account and that I will no longer be charged anything per month, beginning March 2023. Attorney *************************** ************

  Business Response

  Date: 02/14/2023

  Hello *********************,

  Thank you for your feedback. We are sorry to hear you had an unpleasant experience when trying to cancel your account.  I want to confirm with you that your account has been cancelled and you will not be charged anything going forward as you requested. 

  Have a good evening.

  Andr'e

   

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/22/2022

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I was called by Avvo this morning asking if I was interested in paying for referrals. I clearly stated no. I had received two or three emails from the same person at Avvo during the same time period, which I deleted. Within 5 minutes, I received a "receipt of Order" with an order number using my name and address, but the ******** address in a state I've never been to and a credit card that I'm not affiliated with.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/29/2022

  Good Morning,

  We apologize for the error that was made on this individuals account and has since cancelled and marked her as Do not contact, this issue has been resolved.  I believe one of our sales managers reached out to her to confirm and apologize as well.

  Andr'e

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/29/2022

   
  Complaint: 18452596
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  They are correct that I was contacted both by email and by phone, and they removed the subscription.  However, the email indicated they WILL NOT remove my profile or **** it unclaimed.  ******, who I talked to by phone, was apologetic and said he would **** my profile/email for no contact.  Additionally, I am now receiving daily ****eting emails from AVVO, which is the opposite of what I wanted.  So, while they corrected the fraudulent subscription, they have NOT removed any of my information and they are benefiting from the use of my name and business and continue to irritate me on a daily basis with unwanted emails.   

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

  Business Response

  Date: 12/07/2022

  Thank you for your feedback, I reached out to our ****eting team and had them **** your account as DNC (Do Not Contact) across all our business units; Nolo, Avvo, Martindale, Ngage, and Captorra.  I do apologize if you were told that wouldn't happen and it did.  In regards to your profile, we cannot delete that due to it being public information and listed in the Bar.  

  Andr'e

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/22/2022

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  This business "AVVO Inc" has a website where Customers they go when they have legal problems to look for a good Attorney with good reviews! After I hired an attorney choosing this website Avvo.com, I realize that He was a very bad, unethical, unprofessional attorney that hurt my case tremendously. I tried to post a negative review five consecutive times and they were all rejected! I wanted to warn other Victims from his unethical behaviour but this site won't allow you to do that if the Attorney rejected the review! went and did search AVVO and found out that a lot of Victims/Customers were scammed by this business (AVVO). I believe that legally they should be liable for choosing a bad Attorney because of their misleading practice!

  Business Response

  Date: 10/06/2022

  At Avvo we want individuals to leave reviews for attorneys and we understand all feedback may not be positive and we encourage individuals to be honest about their legal experience and to provide as much context as possible.  We also expect consumers to ensure they abide by our Community Guidelines outlined here when using our sites:  https://www.avvo.com/support/community_guidelines. If you have any questions in regards to the guidelines and what you can and cannot post we will be more than happy to speak with you and assist.  Please contact us at ************** (option #3) or ***************************************.  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/23/2022

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I submitted a review on my former lawyer to www.avvo.com. The Avvo website denied my review saying it contained "personal information". I told them it didn't. Then they said that my review wasn't specific (not true), that it didn't clearly indicate that I was an actual client (not true), that it was spiteful and not based on the facts (not true), that it contained unsupported accusations (not true - I even sent them my arbitration award).I understand Avvo takes down many negative reviews against lawyers.Here's my review. I would appreciate your help in making Avvo post it:"I hired *********************** to represent me in a child custody case and paid her $2,000 retainer. She didnt meet a single deadline. She unreasonably delayed the child support filing so I lost over a month of child support payments. She missed several calls with my witnesses that she scheduled. She missed calls with me. I had to call/email/follow up to get anything done.After so-called working on my case for almost two months all she managed to do was to file a child support petition - a simple form anyone can fill out in 10 min (it took days for her and her assistants to fill it out and I still had to correct mistakes after them).I asked her several times to return my retainer and let me go. She refused. Instead, she requested I pay her additional $4,622 so that she returns my file (it was her legal responsibility to return my documents, instead she chose to blackmail me).I filed for arbitration and I won. The arbitrator issued an award in my favor in the amount of $1,500. The award was binding on *******, but she failed to pay it. I had to go to court to get it confirmed so that I could start the enforcement procedure. ******* showed up in court more than an hour late and finally handed me the check. The fact that she lost a case regarding her own fees and was late to court for the hearing only confirms her incompetence."

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/19/2022

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  AVVO published inaccurate non-public information on my profile. I requested it be removed twice. It was later modified but not removed. The review is below: Mixed experience 2.0 stars Posted by OM June 26, 2021 *********************** is polite, knowledgeable, good communication, acts fast unless it is matter of distribution of the funds. In my case it took over one month (after the money was cleared by the ***********'s bank and check in my name was issued), numerous calls and emails before I received the settlement funds. The explanations were: accounting department is busy, the check in the mail, it will take up to five days to receive the mail, large overhead, I should have received the check already, etc. Few hundred of accrued interest were not paid and the invoice was altered accordingly. I wonder if he had any control over it and if **********'s "creative" accounting was ever reported. My case was handled by a junior associate, and I wish *********************** was more involved because at some point I was worried that approach of a less experienced associate would lead to countersuit. Luckily, it didn't. *********************** claims he can't afford to be fair to own clients because of large overhead. My case was addressed and settled in timely manner and I eventually received the settlement funds sans interest This review is from a person who hired this attorney.