Attorney

[HHM]

You paid this guy a lot of money right?

There in lies the false assumption. In all fairness to attorney's, from an attorney's perspective, the fee you pay for a BK is not that much.

As a practical matter, an attorney or one of his staff should return calls within 3 business days, and the attorney or a staff member should set the clients expectations at the outset about phone calls. What I see attorney's doing now is limiting a clients "phone time". i.e. as part of the standard fee you get 15-30 minutes of phone time, after that, the client has to pay more, that is a pretty good way to manage the issue.

From an attorney's perspective (especially in a chapter 7 case), if a person files a complaint, its more cost effective to dump the client and refund their money than take the time to deal with the hassle, because the fee you pay is not worth it.

[truckerswife]

At first we went through a "company" I saw on tv. Stupid mistake! We were going to pay 6 payments of $271.33 (we paid 5 of them) and we paid a $100 retainer that was going to be applied to our flat fee of $3,000. Plus we had a $274 filing fee and $354 for "optional due diligence and products" So the other $1900 was going to be payed out in our chapter 13. So without the filing fee you are looking at... what? $3354! I think you are getting a much better deal. Then again so did we. I did not like that attorney at all. He acted like we were scum. We held out filing until I was eligible to join the legal plan at work and then we got a new attorney. The only money we had to pay him was $100 retainer. We then paid the $274 filing fee and $75 for credit reports. We had to of course pay for the class and appraisal of our home but the rest my wonderful legal plan paid for ($1250). I am paying $180 a year for the legal plan. I think it was a good deal. The contract we signed with the first attorney said we were entitled to a refund if requested. We had paid a total of $1456. They said it could take up to 30 days, that they had to do a settlement sheet with billing. What? They didn't do anything. After the one free consultation I never even spoke to the attorney again. Didn't have his number. You had to call a call center and have them transfer you. This was "America's Largest Consumer Bankruptcy Firm". They said there are always expenses. My attorney says they are full of it. If we don't get a full refund to show him our contract. Oh, are retainers refundable? I wouldn't think so. Sorry about the rambling....still mad. Anyway, yes you got a fair price.

[ruggal]

The amount of money is irrelevant to the argument, but just an illustration. If attorneys were not making money in bankruptcy, they would not offer it. This is a 13, which is more complex, and they charge accordingly. I was laughing when I made the comment in class, so I suppose I should have mentioned that in the post, since everyone was laughing (including the red-faced, coffee out of his nose instructor).

HOWEVER, anyone providing a service for a fee is defined as a professional, and should act accordingly. My attorney (or his assistant) returns all of my calls the same day. That's how it's supposed to be. You're absolutely right about setting the expectations, and I found that the attorneys were very responsive when they are trying to get you as a client, and that same attention should apply after you've retained them. At the very least, let the client know, if you have questions during the process, they way in which they'll be handled.

That being said, I can certainly understand, there are clients who would be considered high maintenance and call for every little thing. I am not anti-attorney, mine's great, and I've worked with some really great people. But there are those too, who don't perform, and shouldn't be excused or forgiven for a lack of professionalism.

We have become so accustomed to receiving sub-par service in so many areas of society our expectations have dwindled as well. Anyone who doesn't service a client deserves any complaints they receive. Attorney, doctor or fast food worker, there really is no difference. Very sad.