Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/21/2025

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Started March 27, 2023
  despite the significant fees charged for the services, the level of support and representation provided was far below the expected standard.
  Furthermore, the advice provided to us has often been unclear and contradictory. As a layperson, we relied on your expertise to guide her through complex legal processes. However, the inconsistent guidance we received has only added to our confusion and frustration.

  Business Response

  Date: 04/24/2025

  Since attorneys have an ethical obligation to maintain
  client confidentiality, we will do our best to reply to this complaint in
  detail without violating any prevailing rules of ethics that may apply.   We also believe that to properly understand
  the nature of what happened here, we need to explain the complexities of the
  area of law for which we provided services to the client.
  
  We have been providing assistance to this client (either
  directly or through her power of attorney) since February 2023.  Initially, we were retained to review and
  assess a long-term care facility contract and provide written advice to the
  client on applying for the ******** program which covers the cost of long-term
  care for eligible applicants.  We are
  experienced attorneys in this area of law and have successfully represented hundreds
  of clients over the years in this regard. 
  Having said that, the ******** program is extremely complex and demands
  a great deal of time and attention by our clients.  ******** applications are submitted to the
  attention of the local county Board of Social Services (hereinafter referred to
  as the “Agency”) and along with the application, the Agency requires
  substantial supplemental financial and other documentation.  These cases are very detail oriented and time
  sensitive, so we are always very clear with our clients on what they should
  expect. 
  
  The client engaged us to assist her in the filing of a
  ******** application which was submitted in August 2024.  Along with our application, the client
  (through her POA) supplied hundreds of pages of documents totaling 14 exhibits.  ******** provides a list of documents that
  should be submitted with each application, but then after review of the
  application and documents supplied, the county Agency often requests additional
  documents.  Our years of experience gives
  us an advantage as we generally know what they may ask for, so we do our best
  to prepare in advance for any additional requests.  The Agency gives the client very little time
  to submit any supplemental documents, so we often need to move very quickly to
  provide the requested documents.   
  However, we are at the mercy of the Agency as far as any supplemental
  requests and we can’t always anticipate what their requests will entail.  Further, if the Agency requests 20 different
  items (for example) and you provide 19, the Agency will deny for failure to
  provide.  We do our best to avoid this,
  especially if there is a valid reason why the client was not able to obtain
  and/or provide what was requested. 
  However, the Agency has been known to take a very rigid stance and deny
  the application regardless of any good cause arguments that may be raised.  It is also important to note that this client
  (as we do with all of our clients) was advised that if she had trouble
  obtaining documents, she should advise us immediately wherein an authorization
  form could be signed by the client which would give us the ability to obtain
  any information on behalf of the client as a means to expedite the process and
  ensure timely delivery.
  
  In this case, the Agency did make a request for additional
  information.  Our office needed to submit
  a response by November 6, 2024.  All
  deadlines are clearly articulated to the client as they are provided copies of
  all communications from the Agency which clearly state when our responses are
  due.   In addition, we continue to send reminders to the client
  leading up to the deadline via email and telephone communications.  Despite supplying approximately 257
  additional pages, the client failed to provide us with all requested
  documents.  The client was warned on
  several occasions leading up to the deadline that the application would likely
  be denied as a result.   The client would
  provide documents sporadically and as we received them, we would communicate to
  the client what the deficiencies were. 
  She did not provide all documents timely.   As expected, the application was denied on
  December 20, 2024, for “failure to provide”.
  
  It is important to note that well after the November 6th deadline, the client told us that she needed assistance obtaining certain bank
  records, and on or about December 17, 2024, we had the client sign an
  authorization so that we could assist her in obtaining same.  We were successful in obtaining the
  records.  We immediately filed a second
  application on behalf of the client and along with the application, supplied an
  additional 132 pages of supporting documents (which were not previously
  supplied by the client in a timely manner). 
  On January 28, 2025, the Agency made an additional request for
  information.  We again impressed upon the
  client the importance of getting everything to us on a timely basis, and to
  advise us promptly if she needed assistance to that end.  The client was again made aware of the
  deadline for which the documents needed to be provided.  The client again failed to supply the
  documents in a timely manner, resulting in our second application being denied
  on February 21, 2025.  We would also like
  to point out that we offered the client a discount around the time the second
  application was filed, as she expressed to us that she was experiencing some
  financial hardships.  Taking her
  situation into account, we accommodated the client and provided a discount in
  the amount of $637.50.  We believe our
  rates are very reasonable compared to our competitors, and what the client was
  charged for the firm to file two applications and supplemental submissions is
  often what is charged by other attorneys to file one application. 
  
  Out of concern for the client’s failure to cooperate and her
  inability to continue to pay our fees moving forward, we suggested to the
  client that she should proceed on her own. 
  She was sent copies of all prior applications and responses to the
  Agency’s requests for information, so she simply needed to complete a new
  application (using the prior two as an example), and supply the few additional
  items not previously supplied in order to get the third application approved.
  We received several email communications from the client’s power of attorney
  demanding that we continue representation. 
  The most recent was dated March 24, 2025.  We also received email communications from
  another family member demanding that we continue our representation at no
  charge.  We advised the client on April
  1, 2025, that we would continue to represent her and advised her of the
  additional retainer that would need to be paid for us to continue to provide
  services.  The client has not responded
  to date.  It is interesting to note that while the client
  alleges in this complaint filed March 21, 2025, that the “level of support and representation provided was far below the
  expected standard” and “the advice provided to us has often been unclear and
  contradictory”, she was demanding in email communications that we continue to
  represent her.

  We vehemently deny the allegations in the complaint and
  assert that we represented this client with a high level of professionalism and
  expertise.