After my divorce my finances became a nightmare... I was buried in medical bills and credit cards. I didn't have a lot of money (obviously) to spend on lawyers, but I knew my only way out was bankruptcy, so I called "Legal Helpers".
During my "free" consultation they advised I could do a payment plan with them - I put $300 down and they would deduct a couple hundred from my paycheck every other week. Once all my payments were made (a total of $1274) they would file my case.
Less than two weeks later I was laid off from my job. I immediately called the lawyer on my case and explained my situation. He said they would stop the automatic debits from my account, and resume once I was working again. I explained I could no longer afford to file bankruptcy through them and I needed a refund since I no longer had a paycheck coming in. He advised I needed to put it in writing, and that if they had done any work on my case they would deduct any applicable fees.
I put it in writing and waited... And waited. I called a couple times and was always left on hold for 10 minutes or more each time. I emailed them via their website - after three emails (over a week's period) and a threat to contact the BBB someone called to say they were working on my refund.
Nearly two months from the time I advised I'd been laid off, I got - not a refund - but an itemization of all the "work" they did on my case. Among the "work" they did:
48 minutes of attorney time and 12 minutes of non-attorney time for "post-consultation instruction session" (whoever they were instructing, it wasn't me) plus accounting and various nonsense.
12 minutes of atty time and 12 minutes of non-atty time for them to read the emails I sent asking where my refund was (the emails weren't THAT long!).
6 minutes of atty time and 12 minutes of non-atty time for my initial phone call asking them to stop the deductions and issue a refund (was I actually being charged while I was on hold???).
30 minutes of atty time and 12 minutes of non-atty time for: file closeout and review, return of original documents to client (which I never received), accounting of services, and processing.
Since attorneys earn $250/hour and non-attorneys earn $50/hour, no refund was due to me.in fact, I would have actually "owed" them money, which they ever so kindly advised I did not need to pay.
I'm not saying they're bad lawyers - I never got far enough to find that out. I am advising anyone considering using their services to BEWARE of their accounting practices, and if you decide you want to use their services, save the money on your own, and THEN pay them. There's no reason to enter into a payment plan with them - you'll get nothing until all payments are made, and if anything bad should happen and you need to back out you can forget about getting a refund.
I hope someone learns from my lesson.
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