Family Law Inc.

I hired Family Law Inc. in March of 2013. I paid them $ 2600 for them to find me a local attorney who specializes in Father’s Rights. When I first contacted them, they seemed to sincerely care about my plight and pending custody case. However, there was something off-​putting about a company that requires so much money up front and that you sign up for their mandatory monthly membership.
Here’s what has happened since:
First, over the course of the first month after signing with Family Law Inc. they did find me two attorneys that were willing to take my case. The first attorney was from the same law firm as the Guardian ad Litem assigned to my case, so that was a conflict of interest. The second attorney, although very nice, did not share my outlook on my case and we did not see eye to eye on it’s direction.
After this I realized that Family Law Inc. did not have a special list of «network attorneys, as they put it. They simply cold-​called local attorneys. Figuring I could do the same thing I found an attorney to take my case, on my own, and asked Family Law Inc. to issue a refund. Rob agreed to give me a full refund but first I would have to give him a few weeks to file the paperwork before the refund could be issued.
Fine. Until about five weeks passed and still no refund. I called Rob. No answer or return call. I called the case manager. No answer or returned call. After about twenty more calls and messages spanning about four months, I finally got a hold of Rob again who informed me that a refund would not be happening after all.
I filed a dispute with the credit card company and was denied due to the fact that I had signed Family Law Inc.‘s contract.
Fast forward another four months. In shear desperation mode, I decide to utilize the attorney that was assigned by Family Law Inc. and get something for my $ 2600. I meet with the attorney and contact Family Law Inc. They agree to reopen my case file and sign «their’ attorney. I sign an agreement with the attorney, of which she then sends to Family Law Inc. to get her money which is only about 30% of what you pay Family Law Inc. by the way.
Fast forward another three months and Family Law Inc. has still not paid her! She will not work on my case until payment is made and Family Law Inc. keeps making ridiculous excuses as to why they aren’t able to pay her yet. For example, another client is not paying and their resources are tied up. This issue has nothing to do with me OR this attorney!
Bottom line, they are thieves. They have my money and the contract signed from one of «their» attorneys and they still won’t transfer the funds to her! They have lied to me countless times. They have made my life more difficult than it already is dealing with very painful custody case.
The worst part is that they want you to believe that they understand and support your cause as a parent just trying desperately to see your children. When, in reality, they just want your money, which is evident in my case with Family Law Inc.
Rule of thumb, if a company’s offer sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Especially in this case. Stay away!

This company has misrepresented itself, taken $ 1200 from us as a «deposit» on guarantees they made for services that we, after giving them the money, were told they do not and will not offer. Employee Scott pressured us for a deposit, promising us representation in all our court hearings for this case in Napa as well as LA from a «top notch attorney» for a flat fee of $ 2,950. Scott stated that because our court date was so soon, he needed the money within the few business hours remaining that day in order to take our case and have time to get us an attorney. He said that he «really wanted to help» so would «be willing to accept a deposit of $ 1200 to get started instead of the full amount.» Feeling extremely pressured for time and believing the promises made to us, we made the payment. Scott said they would need to get us a «referral from a judge» to be able to provide these services and said, because our case was so extreme, involving a DCFS child abuse case against the other party, that they «really wanted to make sure they got us representation in court» because «without a lawyer we would lose even with all our evidence» Scott transferred us to the director of the company, Rob Paw. He said he got us a case referral from a «Judge Logan» that he «pulled from another person’s case» because «we needed help more» and also promised us a lawyer would represent us at our hearings. We were then contacted by a third person, Kristen. She sent us contracts. One for myself as «cardholder» and to my partner as «member» We were shocked when we read the contracts which stated the $ 2950 flat fee was for something COMPLETELY different than what we were told and for services we can’t even use. It sated that an attorney would only go to either 1 hearing or 1 mediation-​not to all court hearing as promised. It also listed a «monthly recurring membership fee» of $ 39 (indefinitely) which we were never told about. When questioned Kristen said «it’s a one time fee.» The contract states otherwise.
We didn’t sign anything
Desired settlement description
Refund
We are asking for a full refund of our $ 1200 payment. The payment was made for services promised that were immediately denied. We never signed the contracts and no services were received. We didn’t sign because the terms were COMPLETELY different than those promised and included a «monthly recurring fee» that was not discussed. We have tried to resolve this matter with the company directly for several days only to be transferred to new people each day promising resolution by the end of that day. No resolution has been made.
**EDIT**
The company, after reading this review & dealing w/​the Business Consumer Alliance, refunded the money… ***HOWEVER*** The company called me about two months after refunding the money (& after the matter being closed by BCA), & the OWNER OF THE COMPANY blatantly threatened me in regards to taking this review down.
What happened:
Once the matter was cleared with BCA & money refunded, it was about two months later that the owner called me & asked, since he refunded the money, could I take down the review? (he caught me in a *really* good mood) I said «I guess so» against my better judgment knowing that the money refunded did NOT change the fact that this co operated in what I consider an extremely shady way & would NOT have refunded the money if I had been suckered into signing their super shady contract– a contract that was NOT what they discussed or promised & would have had us both paying $ 39 a month FOREVER!!! Not to mention, because of them, we lost all the time we had to get real representation & ended in court without it
Anyway, as soon as I said I would take it down, HE THREATENED ME!!! The OWNER OF THE COMPANY! Yep. He said, Well that’s good because I’d hate to have to get counsel involved. I immediately stopped him & asked if he was in fact threatening me. He tried to back-​peddle at first & say no (a lie) but after explaining that I was very familiar with the legal system & what «counsel» meant, he *admitted* that he was indeed threatening me.
At that time I pointed out that he had absolutely NO legal grounds in which to be threatening me & that all events stated in this review were true. He agreed. I also let him know that it was a pretty dumb move, in my opinion, to try to use bullying/​scare tactics (ones they probably use all the time on low income people that are less educated in law & facing court battles effecting their kids/​lives, i.e. vulnerable) when I had just agreed (prior to his threats) to take down the review.
I told him Thanks for the reminder of exactly why my review should remain– to warn other people against going through a situation like this. I also recommended (as a person who runs a business) that he work on business etiquette, respect for people/​customers, & personal tact. His response was «Well we gave your money back… doesn’t that at least prove that we aren’t totally scum…» Ummmm… No. No, it does not