This individual/company was hired to file and oversee our bankruptcy, for a fee of $575.00, which was to include them filing all necessary paperwork and keeping us updated on important dates and other requirements, such as when to attend meetings, etc. They promised to be able to provide all of the services that an attorney does at a fraction of the cost.in actuality, they failed to provide the services that were promised, and made so many errors and omissions in our documents that the bankruptcy was ultimately dismissed... On more than one occasion. Richard Berry represents himself as a "retired attorney", which he is not (actually, he's retired, all right: involuntary dismissed by the AZ State Bar in 1977!).
Richard Berry repeatedly failed to file the correct documents in the timeframes imposed by the court, subsequently getting our case dismissed. There are extremely incompetent people working there; who will promise you things that they cannot deliver. Be cautious when dealing with "Kate" or "John", who habitually cover for each other when deadlines are missed. When we began to question Mr. Berry about some of his missed filings, he became defensive and insisted that everything was filed on time, and that it was "our fault" if anything was missed. Then we became skeptical, and we asked for verification that he had actually filed the documents in question. He replied that he filed them electronically, and is not provided with any type of receipt when he files in this manner. After speaking with the Az State bar, we found out that ONLY a licensed attorney has the privilege of filing documents electronically. We also found out that there are many, many complaints against Mr. Berry, some dating back from as far as 1977 through the present. The Az state bar is actively pursuing him, and has already placed sanctions on him, prohibited him from continuing any type of document preparation services to no avail. I hate to use the word "FRAUD" when describing an individual, but...
We didn't save a dime; actually, we lost even more than our money. We have lost our property to foreclosure, and lost our Bankruptcy case in the end. Mr. Berry will not accept our phone calls and is always "in with a client" when we stop by in person. We have since hired an attorney who is handling our case, and we found out that Mr. Berry has been advising us according to old laws, which explains why things went as they did. Our advice: Don't spend your money here; spend a bit more and get a competent attorney who can represent you. If we had done that in the first place, we wouldn't have suffered the losses that we did.
0 comments