Legal Helpers

In about October of 2006 I rendered the services of Legal Helpers to file a chapter 7 bankruptcy. I have paid them 500.00 to date. On about April 4, 2008 I faxed them a letter requesting that my request be cancelled and that any refunds due or correspondance be sent to my new homw address which I included on the fax. Prior to this I had request this service be cancelled two times in 2007 and that my address be changed with no response from the Company. Since the fax was sent I have called approximately five times to check it's status, including today. On time when the young lady realized I was calling about a refund her phone began to make the noise of a fax machine and she hung up on me. Today I was told that accounting sent me a letter, to my old address. Also that I paid 500.00 but the lawyer was paid 520.00 so I owe them, and that they could not tell me any additional information until I recieved the letter. All I had was the "free consultation" and made about three calls to ask questions before I cancelled this service. I don't understand why I was charged 520.00 just for that. Futhermore, I have a serious problem with thier corporate office hanging up on me, I was not using fowl laguage nor yelling at anyone, while I will admit I was noticibly(sp) upset in customer service you shouldn't hang up on someone just because you don't want to or aren't allowed to answer their questions. I finally recieved my letter, they charged me for 110 minites of attorney time aoutside of my "free consultation" for calls to a call center. Additionally, they charged me for e-mails sent that they never acted on. I was also charged for a fax that they requested I send cancelling the service even though they charged me for the request via the phone and the internet that they never complied with.

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I have been a so called customer of legalhelpers.com[Macey Aleman] since February 09 2009. Since then I have not once been contacted by LegalHelpers.com, unless I contact them first. In early April I made one payment. [the exact amount stated on the contract] About 4 weeks later [May] I noticed my check had not been cashed, so i called them, I was told the check was in my file and would be cashed soon and it was. A couple weeks passed after my check was cashed,[June] I decided to call back. This time I was told there was a balance due on my account, I told the gentlemen I had paid in full. Then he asked how much I paid, I told him the exact amount that the contract called for and my check had been cashed and cleared for over a month. After all the time I spent on hold and the lengthy period of time on the phone while legalhelpers got there records strait, I was told they would start soon. In July I called back many times. I was told they needed a income verification form they Emailed it to me, I told them not to contact me through Email or the phone number I originally provided them [I had no access to them] and I gave them a new contact number, I retrieved the form filled it out with a notary and returned it promptly and still nothing. The next time I called back, I was told they had not received it and to send a copy. I asked is a copy OK! the original had to be signed in front of a notary. then I was told they would Email me another one. Again I told them my new contact information and was told my case was all wrote up and all they needed at this time was a the income verification form. I was able to get the fax after a few days. I called back to see if they found the original form, they did. I was then told my case had not been started yet [guess what I was pissed and let them know it] I then asked to talk to management. I told management my problem, she did not want to here my aggressive displeasure and told me not to talk to her like that because she did not know anything about my case, I responded! Then let me talk to the person handling my case. Then I was then told I do not need to talk to them, she could handle it. I then asked to talk to her manager, the response was you don't need to talk to them either, after a heated argument she hung up on me. I have called back numerous times and get the same result, but while on hold I hear that [I can speak with an attorney 6 days a week][high level client service][vary accessible] I have requested to be contacted by my attorney to many times and no response. Today is August 27 2009 any suggestions

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I should have smelled a rat, when this company did not provide any local telephone number. The only way to communicate with Legal Helpers Macey and Aleman was through a 1 888 #.

Anyway, I did want to file a bankruptcy, but couldn't afford the local attorney fees. So, when I found that Legal Helpers Macey and Aleman would handle that bankruptcy on a payment plan I decided to go that route. But the newbie attorneys at the local office really poured it on thick. Quick service... and all you do is fill in the information of the various forms. They will then convert it into a bankruptcy petition and will send you all the legal paperwork - ready for signing and filing with the bankruptcy court.

So, I paid my fee and was going to spend all night Tuesday to fill out the forms.

I finally did get an e-mail chiding me for not getting those formats filled out right away, but I could not b/c I kept getting the run around and conflicting info. When I believed I thought I had all the info in someone else would say 'no you have to turn this in' And because I had delayed, I would have to pay a so-called 'reopen fee' to proceed. That made me mad enough to spit blood.

So, now I should pay an additional fee for a problem and negligence they created? Not on your tintype.Besides, no such mention was made in their 'agreement' as to time to complete or as to extra fee. So, now I will have to find a more honest web site... and I will have to spend time suing Macey and Aleman and Legal Helpers for the fee they say is not refundable. As a legal assistant I know that one cannot benefit from their own negligence... I don't care what kind of disclaimer you put in an agreement. Oh well, I will file my pleadings and sue them. As a pro se(one capable of handling his own lawsuit) it will only take time and effort(and filing fee). I can assure them they will pay more in defending against my cause of action than what they scam from me. Anyway, I mainly file lawsuits against such weasels - not to win, but to punish them with cost from their own attorney's billing hours.

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As someone who works for this law firm as a customer service representative, I have to admit I have no doubt all of the information below is correct. This is a law firm that functions as a nation wide corporation and people's concerns are not handled properly. As a corporation, their primary concern is capturing as big a share of the "bankruptcy market" as possible. The result is, they are stretching themselves thin and they are providing a service with inferior quality. What is really sad: nothing is done about that. I have been appalled by the way clients are treated and the quality of the service provided. I would not recommend with law firm to anyone.

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I also have been having a lot of trouble getting my refund from Macey & Aleman. I started the proceeding in March 2007 and paid the $1774 (which included the $274 credit counseling course that I never took on line).

I tried to email my written request to the home office, but the fax was always busy, so I faxed it to the Phoenix AZ office on May 2, 2008. I did receive one phone call from the Phoenix office stating they need to talk to me, and I called them and actually spoke to a person. She said if I wanted to cancel and get my refund I had to take the petition to the office. I went to the office where I had originally started, but they had moved. Thank goodness another bankruptcy attorney's office informed me they moved. I called got the address and dropped off the petition that first week of May. The contract states that a refund will be issued within 30 days. It took over 30 days for the Phoenix office to send anything to the home office. Today is July 21, 2008 and almost 3 months since I initiated the refund process.

I had called the home office numerous times and got the run around that "it is in for review and should be a few days." Well, the Phoenix office never bothered to send the paper work in. The Home office got the paperwork sometime on or after June 24! Way past the 30 day time frame! I was told at one time by someone named Mik (a supervisor I think) that I would be lucky to get $100 back and that all my phone calls were costing me $50 each time. Not bothering to tell me that it was per hour, not broken down my "actual minutes." That was finally clarified though.

I emailed one of the Senior partners through their "contact" form on the legalhelpers.com website. I got a call a couple days later from Mik telling me that I would get a refund of $690 (but don't know if that even includes the credit course fee). That was on a Friday morning, July 11, 2008. Emailed them again the following week to find out where my refund was. No answer. Emailed the Senior partner again, for the 3rd time today, stating that if I did receive my refund by Wed July 23, 2008 I will contact the Better Business Bureau.

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I had the very unfortunate experience of being a client of Macey and Aleman. This firm is a complete disaster and it was a nightmare working with them. The attorney’s at Macey and Aleman do not respect their clients, and are incapable of providing adequate legal services in a timely manner. It was a huge mistake on my part for not shopping around and researching other attorneys. I just hope that my story will make any potential clients think twice before retaining Macey and Aleman. I strongly advise anyone that is considering this firm to go somewhere else. There are hundreds of lawyers out there that charge less and will provide much better service. The operators at the 800 number that they make clients call are hopelessly incompetent and unorganized. During the process of my simple Chapter 7 bankruptcy, I had three different lawyers and it took them almost four months to file the petition. After reading about this firm’s negative accounting practices, I decided not to make an attempt to get a refund from Macy and Aleman. I could not afford to throw away almost two thousand dollars and then spend another $1500 to hire another attorney to take over my case.

I retained Kiva James in August 2007 and set up a payment plan for the attorney’s fees. I was scheduled to make my last payment on January 2008. Kiva advised that after my last payment was received, she would take about two weeks to type up the bankruptcy petition. After that, I would get the papers in the mail so that I could sign them, and my court date would scheduled about a month after the petition was filed. I paid off my attorney’s fees in December, hoping that my paper work would be completed so I could go to court sooner.

After making the last payment, I waited two weeks and did not hear anything from my attorney. I called the number that was on Kiva’s business card and was forwarded to an automated message telling me to call the 800 number that is also listed on legalhelpers.com. The operator told me that my bankruptcy petition had just been sent in the mail and that I should be receiving it soon. Another two weeks go by and I did not receive anything in the mail or any contact from Macey and Aleman. I called the 800 number again and was told that my petition was still being typed. As anyone would, I became extremely irate after hearing this since I was given a completely different story. I hung up and called again an hour later, in hopes that I could speak to a different operator that might actually know what they are doing. A guy answered and immediately contacted the Brooklyn office. He stated that my attorney had not yet received any of the paper work that she needed to begin processing my bankruptcy. This had been the first time that anyone from Macey and Aleman told me that these documents were needed.

I sent all of the documents that night by certified mail, and left several messages every single day for Kiva to call me to confirm that she had everything. Finally, three weeks later I get a call from her letting me know that it was time for me to take the credit-counseling course. This would be the only phone call I would ever get from this attorney. A few hours after Kiva’s phone call, I completed the online course and faxed her office a copy of the certificate. The company that conducted the credit counseling also informed me that Kiva would have a copy of the certificate emailed to her. At this point, it has been two months after I paid off the entire attorney’s fees, and I was not even close to getting my petition filed with the bankruptcy court. At the most, a bankruptcy attorney needs two weeks to gather all of the information, fill out the bankruptcy form templates, and file it online.

A month goes by after I completed the credit counseling course, and unsurprisingly I did not get any communication whatsoever from Kiva James. I literally called the 800 number several times a day to hear the operators tell me something completely different every time I called. They refused to give me the direct number to Kiva’s office. I asked to speak to a manager and for some reason they were always unavailable. I left message after message, and email after email. One operator told me that my case was not a priority for them because I was not losing my home. Obviously, that is not how any law firm should treat a client. Three months after paying my fees, I had no petition or even a call from an attorney.

My moment of desperation came when a levy was placed on my bank account. All of my savings and rent money was frozen. The entire reason why I hired Macey and Aleman to go bankrupt was to prevent that from happening. Of course, my attorney, Kiva James, was nowhere to be found. When I contacted one of the operators to leave her one of many urgent messages, he suggested that I should apply for a credit card to use while my account was frozen. What kind of advice was that? Who tells someone that is trying to file bankruptcy to apply for a credit card? Craziness. I was amazed at how ridiculous my situation with Macey and Aleman was becoming. Despite this, a different operator informed me that the Brooklyn office had just moved to a new building in Manhattan. Lucky for me, their new office was located right across the street from where I work.

I dropped by and met Michelle who happened to be the managing attorney. I told her what happened with Kiva and that I had been waiting over three months for my petition. Michelle seemed concerned and looked around the office for a copy of my petition so I could finally sign it. Predictably, it was not to be found. She said that it must have been mailed out but just in case she would print out another one for me to sign right there. And then another set back. The internet was not working so she could not access the paperwork. Those papers never did come in the mail, and I had to wait another two weeks to finally sign my bankruptcy petition. After fighting for almost four months, my case was finally filed by Michelle. What ever happened to Kiva? When I went to court, a different lawyer met me and prepared me for the hearing. I had already given up on Macey and Aleman so that was not even an issue. But why did I have to have three different lawyers anyways? I tried contacting Michelle about my case after it was filed because I had a few questions. She never called me back, which is just what Macey and Aleman attorneys do. They take your money and then do not provide the legal advice that you hired them to give you.