Ted Smith Law Group, PLLC

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: Regards, [redacted] ***If Mr [redacted] would like to discuss my case with me in person like he stated, he has my contact informationI have no issues with the firm contacting me and attempting to resolve the issueIf the issue remains unresolved I will continue with the process with the Revdex.com

This client retained me to work a solution to his problemOur initial consultation fee was $250.00, which he paid I was further required me to meet at the opposing counsel's office, which I did on 10-31-I spent one and one-half hours at that meeting, including travel time My Hourly rate at that time was $per hour The client was informed of my hourly billing rate at the time he retained me I did the work and accurately documented my time when it was performed I am sorry that this person has such a difficult time under standing, I invite him to stop by my office and discuss it with me if he feels he was over-billed for my services Otherwise I expect full payment

Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] , and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me Regards, [redacted]

His statements are not factual and he is doing this to harass me and my practice It doesn't matter weather he agrees or notI have stated the factsBy the way, I do not live in [redacted] and I charged for travel time from my office in [redacted] *** to Mr [redacted] 's office in [redacted] This is an old matter and we have closed the file years ago

We have met with this client since this complaint was filed Although the client was upset at first at the outcome of the mediation; after giving it some thought, she was willing to accept the outcome and sign the agreement The statements made by the client in her complaint were the result of her disappointment with her situation and not reflective of the service we provided to her I believe we have satisfied this client's concerns and, at our last meeting, she informed me that she would withdraw her complaint

Revdex.com:
I have contacted the business through email and we have come to a resolutionThis is in reference to complaint ID ***I find that this resolution is satisfactory to me
Regards,
*** ***

This customer was a client of my law firm. Accordingly, I cannot ethically discuss his case with anyone but the client unless the client gives me authority to do so. Because the client's complaint discusses a variety of factors which occurred during the course of our representation
involving sensitive legal issues, I am prohibited from discussion without a complete release from the client. If the client would give his un-restricted permission for me to so discuss, I would be happy to respond. Thank you for understanding

I am rejecting this response because:
- Mr*** *** did NOT meet with the oppositing councelorHe met with my attorney
- I did NOT ask him to meet with my attorney, he told me that he need to meet with my attorney because he can solve the problem
- Mr*** *** lives in ***, based on him, which is miles away, and it doesn't make sense that the client will pay for his travel time
- I met with Mr*** *** and he told me to pay for minutes, for a meeting did not last few minutes
- Mr*** *** and his front desk received the check with note that it was a final payment
- Why Mr*** *** did cash the check? which approve that he accepted the amount
- I did not hire him for the job because I found that he would not do anything for me as promised!
- I have a copy of the check!
- Finally, I'm deployed for Army mission for days as mentioned on the complaint
Regards,
*** ***

I invite the client to make an appointment to meet with me to discuss his complaint. He can reach my office at 254-690-to make that appointment. I look forward to meeting with this client to discuss this complaint

***, I am reaching out to you. I'm you're busy and time is money. So, I will make this quick in response to my compliant with the Revdex.com. I feel as though that there were no resolution of my case and I'm the one who had to keep bothering your attorneys to put my case in the fore front for a month then months would go by with nothing done. As you know time is money, and when I would see an invoice stating that the lawyer spoke to the legal assistant for a minute to discuss my case and you're charging me $everytime they discussed my case but nothing was done. From a clients point of view, it's very frustrating and angry that my hard earn money is being was*** with no results. *** told me once we got the waiver of parental rights from my son's biological father that it would be a quick process. Once I gave you the retainer fee, I'm the one who mailed off the waiver to the biological father and he sent it back within a week, I dropped it off to your office within weeks from the time we star*** this process. Once we got the court order appointing the social worker, I called them myself to make the appointment. They said that your office is the one who would have to send the court order to them in order for us to make the appointment. I emailed *** *** and told him this. I called a week later to the social worker, *** *** to see if they received the court order from your office so I could make the appointment. They said NO. I feel as though, I am the one who was doing all the leg work in this situation so we could complete this process. I am hoping that you see from my point of view why I am very angry and I feel like since nothing was done from your office, I should get rest of my retainer fee back. The service I reques*** was not comple*** within a timely manner especially when I feel that I did most of the leg work for it. *** ***

Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because: I have constantly been in touch with Ted Smith Law Group.I spoke with Ted Smith himself in regards to the poor service I was given by *** *** after I was informed he left.The lawyer replacing him was able to move forward with this case in a week rather than over a year it took Joshua.That lawyer ended up leaving and they gave me a new one.It was then I decided I no longer wanted to work with Ted Smith Law Firm, not that I didn't want the case continued.I was charged for services rendered correcting the mistakes made by the Law Firm.The one decent lawyer (I had for about a week) informed me that she would resolve all of my issues with Joshua's charges and that my concerns were validThat person is no longer with the company
Regards,
*** ***

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.I'm resending this email because we have difficulty on sending emails from G-mail early morning..I would like to express my great appreciation to the Revdex.com great support, also to acknowledge as the consumer that I will accept the business offer in the second time that the business closed the files years ago, according to Mr*** ***: "This is an old matter and we have closed the file years ago".My acceptance based on receiving a Zero balance statement or invoice, will not receive on the future any mail regarding this matter from collecting agencies or anyone else and a promise that it will not be reported to the credit bureau(All can be in a single statement)Again, I would like to thank Revdex.com for their great work and Mr*** *** for solving this matter.Note: Attached is a response for the record, but I will accept the business offer in the second time that the business closed the files years ago.Thank you
Regards,
*** ***

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
Regards,
[redacted]If Mr. [redacted] would like to discuss my case with me in person like he stated, he has my contact information. I have no issues with the firm contacting me and attempting to resolve the issue. If the issue remains unresolved I will continue with the process with the Revdex.com.

I'm sorry that this client was not satisfied by my earlier response to her complaint.  This firm strives to render exceptional legal services.  Unfortunately,  some of our clients have left feeling that they were not well taken care of.  I encourage this former client to contact me directly to discuss resolution of her grievance. She can contact me via e-mail at [redacted]

The client in this case was seeking an adoption and did have three different attorneys handling the case. Because two of the attorneys are no longer with this firm, I can only speculate about their involvement. It does seem that the adoption took longer than normal with the first two attorneys but...

it is unclear why. It certainly sounds odd that an attorney would promise a time frame for something so complicated to be completed, let alone state that it was “too easy.” The third attorney who handled the case was hired by the firm in June 2014. He immediately noticed that certain things weren’t correct and moved to fix them. He obtained the necessary orders from the Court for the case to proceed and explained to the client what was needed. At this point, the only thing left is for a social study to be finished and for the final hearing to be had. The attorney has no control over the social study. Only the client and the social worker can do this. The attorney never received the social study from the client or from the social worker. When the client asked for a refund the attorney explained this again to the client. The client indicated that she and her husband were moving and that she wouldn’t be able to finish the case here. On March 3, 2015 the client e-mailed the firm and said she “wished to take whatever [was] left of [her] retainer fee.” She also knew that it would be about $1500. She stated “we are about to move so we no longer have the time or desire to continue.” The client’s case is very close to finishing and the money in dispute in this matter was spent to get the case to that point. I, as the senior partner of this firm, take our responsibility to each client very seriously and I require those working for me to do so. The first knowledge I had of this matter came with this complaint from the Revdex.com. I would like nothing more that to visit with the client in an effort to resolve this matter. I hope that they will give me the opportunity to do so. I can be contacted at [redacted]  or by e-mail at [redacted]@tedsmithlawgroup.com.”

This client retained me to work a solution to his problem. Our initial consultation fee was $250.00, which he paid.  I was further required me to meet at the opposing counsel's office, which I did on 10-31-2013. I spent one and one-half hours at that meeting, including travel...

time.  My Hourly rate at that time was $325.00 per hour.   The client was informed of my hourly billing rate at the time he retained me.  I did the work and accurately documented my time when it was performed.  I am sorry that this person has such a difficult time under standing,  I invite him to stop by my office and discuss it with me if he feels he was over-billed for my services.  Otherwise I expect full payment.

His statements are not factual and he is doing this to harass me and my practice.  It doesn't matter weather he agrees or not. I have stated the facts. By the way, I do not live in [redacted] and I charged for travel time from my office in [redacted] to Mr. [redacted]'s office in [redacted]. This is an old matter and we have closed the file years ago.

Ms. [redacted],   I appreciate your frustration.  Legal proceedings are difficult and the clients often times are left in the dark concerning the completion of seemingly simple procedures.   I will agree with any client who feels the process takes far too long.   Besides the attorney and his or her staff, a number of other people enter into the mix and the attorney has little control over their schedule.    All things working together and effectively, this case should have been resolved much more efficiently than it was.  While we had some staff turnover which contribu[redacted] to the delay, this case was back on course for resolution  by early July 2014 when the judge signed the order appointing the evaluator.  Since the evaluator is to conduct a study of the parties, it is the client’s responsibility to schedule with the evaluator.  This was discussed with you on June 13, 2014.  We have never been informed if and when the home study took place.  Before we could proceed to finalize this matter, that home study and the report from the evaluator would be necessary.  It is my understanding that you decided to drop the matter and that you have moved out of state.  My question is; was the home study ever comple[redacted], if so, when and where is the evaluator’s report?  If you can help me out by filling me in on what happened after July-August 2014, I would be in a better position to evaluate this matter.   I am not sure where you are at the present time or how best to contact you, but I would prefer to have a telephone conversation with you as a better way of resolving this matter.  You can reach me during the workweek at [redacted].  If you do not reach me, leave your telephone number and the best time to call you back.  Thank you.   [redacted] Ted Smith Law Group, PLLC [redacted] Harker Heights, TX [redacted] – Telephone [redacted] – Facsimile   Important/Confidential: This communication and any files or documents attached to it are intended for use only by the named recipient/addressee. It may contain information that is privileged, confidential and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the named recipient/addressee of this communication, you are hereby notified that copying, distributing, or otherwise using this communication is strictly prohibi[redacted]. If you received this communication in error, please notify the sender by reply e-mail or telephone ([redacted]) and delete and destroy all forms of this communication (electronic or paper). Thank you.

We handled this lady’s divorce which was granted after two hearings, one on April 30th and one on August 22, 2014.  Although she states that she was dissatisfied with that first encounter, she did retain this firm subsequently to assist her in a modification action in October...

2014.   The respondent in this new matter was living on an Indian reservation in Quebec, Canada.  Apparently, service was attempted on him via certified mail which was signed for by his father.   The attorney in this case was not made aware of that until he appeared in District Court for a default hearing on January 22, 2015.  During the time between the filing of this later action and the hearing in January, we lost contact with the client as is evidenced be 4 items of returned correspondence from December 31, 2014 through January 29, 2015.   On February 25, 2015, the client finally sent a notice to this office informing us that she had relocated to Westminster, MA.  During this time and well into 2015, this office was attempting to get service on the respondent.  Because he was residing on an Indian Reservation in Canada, service of process was extremely difficult.  On June 11, 2015 this office sent the client an email informing her that the attorney originally assigned to her case had left the firm and that a new lawyer had been assigned to her case.  That attorney was still assigned to her case, and still working for this firm, when the client informed us that she did not want to pursue this matter any further.   At the time she dismissed this firm this case was ready for final hearing, which was attempted in January 2015 when it was discovered that service, through no fault of this firm, was not made on the right party.  This case posed difficult jurisdictional and service problems which we were attempting to resolve when the client dismissed us from her case. The client was billed for two hours for the appearance at the January hearing, not the four hours she stated in her complaint.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards,
[redacted]