Alternative Legal Solutions

Review: We paid [redacted] to help us with our divorce and to file paperwork with the court in South Lake Tahoe. We paid her the asking fee. We had one meeting and now we can't get her to return our phone calls or emails. We have since had to hire an attorney and plan on suing [redacted] in small claims courtDesired Settlement: Refund full fee and new attorney fees and court fees for small claims court if she won't refund

Business

Response:

In reference to the complaint filed by [redacted], all I can say is that this is a complaint made from whole cloth. [redacted] and [redacted] came to our office in June of 2015 to file for dissoulution of marriage. Without going into too much detail, the case lingered, due to money issues between the couple. They simply could not come to an agreement. We did move all the way through the paperwork, up to the default, which basically is two documents away from finishing the case. Those last two documents, however, were the judgment documents, which necessitated the preparation of a Marital Settlement Agreement, to wit the couple could not agree on terms for child custody, child support, spousal support, and division of assets. On September 10 of 2015, I received an email from [redacted] stating that they were going to be going to see their corporate attorney [redacted] to help resolve the ending issues. This is after our office had spent many hours drafting and redrafting their MSA. We believed, due to this communication, that the case would be finished with their corporate attorney. It wasn't until May 4, 2016 that we heard from the [redacted]s again. [redacted] stated that [redacted] hadn't been able to reach us (after she stated that they wouldn't be continuing with us?), and that he would be filing a complaint with you, "if" we did not get in touch with [redacted], not him. I stated that I would be happy to speak or email with her, and after leaving phone messages, I received an email from [redacted] detailing what had happened with their attorney (he doesn't handle family law, and sent them to yet another mediator in town, who basically said that the MSA that our office prepared was good for them). It states on the retainer agreement that all of our clients sign that we are simply a document preparation service, and that there are no refunds of the price once paid. We charge a flat fee to all clients, but honestly, the work we put in with the [redacted]s went well over what we normally put in in hours. And, to top it off, why is [redacted] filing a complaint, then trying to get us to continue helping them, while his wife is still trying to use our office to finish their case on the side?

Consumer

Response:

I am rejecting this response because: WE HAVE BEEN READY FOR MONTHS TO FINISH OUR DIVORCE. I PERSONALLY LEFT SEVERAL MESSAGES ON [redacted]'S ANSWERING MACHINE WHICH I NEVER RECEIVED A RETURN CALL. OVER THE LAST 8 MONTHS [redacted] LEFT MESSAGES AND EMAILS THAT WERE NEVER RETURNED. I WAS READY TO SUE ALTERNATIVE LEGAL SERVICES IN SMALL CLAIMS COURT FOR NON PERFORMANCE OF CONTRACT. I WAS CLEANING OUT MY OLD EMAILS AND RAN ACROSS THE ORIGINAL DIVORCE PAPERS THAT WERE SENT TO ME AND FOUND THE SECRETARIES PHONE NUMBER THAT FINALLY GOT BACK TO US VIA EMAIL. SHE HAS EVERY EXCUSE IN THE WORLD TO TRY AND COVER [redacted]'S POOR HANDLING OF OUR CASE. THE COMPLAINT IS ABOUT [redacted]/OWNER THAT FAILED US EVERY WAY POSSIBLE. NOW WE ARE INTO THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS WITH A NEW ATTORNEY BECAUSE HE HAS TO START FROM SCRATCH. HE CAN'T US ANYTHING THAT [redacted] ATTEMPTED TO WRITE UP FOR US. AFTER THE DIVORCE IS SETTLED HERE IN THE NEXT MONTH I STILL PLAN ON SMALL CLAIMS COURT. [redacted] COMPLETELY DROPPED THE BALL.

Business

Response:

Well, while I hear Mr. [redacted]s frustration, I have to say that I disagree with his claims. After we had filed the initial paperwork in their case, it came down to preparing the Marital Settlement Agreement (MSA). There was quite the haggle between Mr. and Mrs. [redacted] about spousal and child support, to the point that we had to run upwards of 10 [redacted] reports (all at our own cost, as the cost paid by Mrs. [redacted] is all inclusive, except for notarization fees *see attached Fee Agreement*). After literally months of negotiations by our office, in which time Mr. [redacted] was very hard to contact himself, Mrs. [redacted] told us that they were going to go to their corporate attorney for some mediation, after we had set up attorney mediation with the family law specialist we use for such things. Mrs. [redacted] told our office that she believed Mr. [redacted] would be more comfortable using their corporate attorney to finish up things for them. It was after this that we didn't hear from the [redacted]s for many months, believing that they had pursued a course that was better for them. We left it that, also believing that they would contact us when they needed anything. It wasn't until this past month that we found out that they had gone to attorney [redacted]'s office to receive more mediation, and were following through with his office for their MSA. As for Mr. [redacted]s statement that Mr. [redacted]'s office couldn't use anything we wrote up for them, I don't understand why. We do many, many of these MSAs, and are actually referred people from the El Dorado County court's Family Law Facilitator's office to prepare MSAs for clients of their's. If our MSAs were so subpar, why do the county attorneys use them? I also want to mention that in all of this, the only one with a complaint is Mr. [redacted]. Mrs. [redacted], who is/was "technically" our client, as she is the only one that signed the fee agreement (which also clearly states "no refunds") stated to me just last week that they were ok to finish the MSA with [redacted]'s office, and would contact us if they/she needed anything else (see the attached email copy ). They did nt have to "start from scratch", as Mr. [redacted] puts it. The initial Petition and Summons was prepared and then filed by our office, then served by our office on Mr. [redacted], and then a Proof of Service filed. We worked many months on an MSA, then also prepared and filed the Declaration for Default and Request to Enter Default. The only thing left to do, which could have been completed by our office because they are already prepared, is complete the MSA and file the Notice of Entry of Judgment and the Judgment. These, especially after all the work we did for the MSA, to get the spousal and child support under control, would have literally taken us 10 minutes to prepare and copy, and then take to the court. The "hours and hours" that Mr. [redacted] is speaking about...I'm at a loss. I am truly sorry and concerned that Mr. [redacted] sees things this way. after he began his communication with us last month, I offered to do whatever it took to make them happy, and get their case completed. You'll see in my communications with him that this is the case. Our office is still willing to complete their paperwork, which is what Mrs. [redacted] paid us for. We have the Notice of Entry of Judgment and the Judgment ready to go. All we need is the final wording and figures they want for their MSA, and then to get them a signable copy to execute. I understand that at this point that looks like a slim to none case of it happening, but even so, Mrs. [redacted] said in her email that that was ok, and that she's get in touch if they needed anything. Our office, and I personally, absolutely hate to have an unsatisfied client. I know you can't please all of the people all of the time, but we do try. I try. I hope there is something we can do to bring about a successful resolution here. Please let me know what else we need to do. I'm at your disposal.

Consumer

Response:

I am rejecting this response because: I will address each paragraph one at a time. #1) NOT ONCE were either of us shown a disomaster from [redacted]'s office. 10 times? Are you kidding me?. You are contradicting yourself. If we could not come on any agreement for custody etc, how could you possibly come up with a number? How is this possible? Please explain. #2) It is difficult to NOT get a hold of me. I have a business that at the time was being staffed 6 days a week. M-F 9:00 - 6:00, And Sat 10:00 - 2:00. I also have a cell phone that is mostly for business that I have on me most of the time. Simply NOT TRUE! #3) After the one meeting we had with [redacted] she seemed to be lost. She was rushing us, she had somewhere else to be so we got nowhere. Both [redacted] and I left several messages on [redacted]'s answering machine but neither of us received a return call. Again, simply not true. #4) Any questions regarding the MSA that was scribbled up by [redacted]'s office, talk to [redacted]'s office. #5)If we need to get [redacted]'s office involved to prove incompetence then there will also be attorney fees involved for [redacted]'s office to pay. The only way I was able to get a hold of [redacted]'s office was when I was cleaning out some OLD emails from my computer and I happened to run by an email from 8/18/2015. NEVER DID ANYONE ANSWER THE PHONE WHEN WE CALLED. By time I finally did get a hold of the office, we were forced to go to [redacted] because of the ZERO response from [redacted]'s office to the messages we left. I realize [redacted]'s office did do a little work even though I had to pay to have it ALL redone. [redacted] and I would be satisfied if we received back 50% of the fees [redacted] charged us and we would not pursue small claims court to get the full refund plus what ever attorney fees we may incur.

Review: I hired Alternative Legal Solutions to prepare and file divorce paperwork for me. I paid them $895 for services and the $299 fee to file the paperwork, for which I was actually charge $1294 and it should have been $1194. This payment was made on April 9, 2015. After much run around, I found out today (June 11, 2015) by calling the county court, my papers were not submitted on May 20 as indicated, but on June 6, 2015 without payment. The original promise was my papers would be sent off on May 12, 2015. Subsequently, a post dated check (dated for June 15, 2015)was sent by Alternative Legal Solutions to the county which they cannot process for obvious reasons. I have paid again the $299 filing fee so my paperwork does not get rejected. I have filed a dispute with my credit card company for the $100 overcharge and the filing fee.Desired Settlement: The resolution is to return to me the $399. The original filing fee I paid to Alternative Legal Solutions and the $100 overcharge. If all the paperwork that was submitted is correct, I do not want to request relief for the $895. If there is any problem with the paperwork and it is rejected for some reason, I want repayment of the service fee of $895.Thank you.

Business

Response:

Yes, Ms. [redacted] hired our firm to type and file her divorce paperwork. Her credit card was charged on April 9, 2015. This complaint is the first our office has heard of the overpayment, in over 2 months. We would have rectified that at any moment, had Ms. [redacted] brought it to our attention. Ms. [redacted] wanted her paperwork done in an incredibly fast manner, which we attempted to comply with. There were elays due to working with her ex-husband, and other administrative issues. Ms. [redacted] is not, nor was she at the time, our only client. The reason they were not "submitted" to the court until June 6th is that there was an outdated form submitted, and we had to get the proper form to the court, a form that they could not process the documents without. As to the postdated check, the check for her filing fee was written as soon as the papers were finally signed and back to our office for processing, and inadvertently, a "6" was written instead of a "5", for May 15, 2015 (when the check was written); a simple mistake. As soon as our office was made aware of the error by the Douglas County, NV court in Minden, NV, another check was dispatched, on 6-9-15 to correct this error. Ms. [redacted] was told that we would try our best to get her paperwork filed as quickly as we could, but there were never any express or implied warranties. We told her that we'd try our best. It is now 4pm on June 11, 2015. We will check with the court tomorrow. We have received no word from the court that Ms. [redacted]'s paperwork willl nor be nor has been rejected. We will follow up, and inform all parties as soon as there is further progress.

Consumer

Response:

I want to update you that this complaint has been resolved.