I'm a 27 year old college graduate who was forced to file chapter 7. I am familiar with the procedure and was going to file myself but decided to be 'safe' and have someone do it for me.
I gave Berger's office a 2 star rating because my case did go through, but not without the typical BS that I have come to loath about lawyer offices.
When I called him up on the phone, I was told the fee would be $1,600 for my incredibly simple chapter 7. I said ok, fair enough, so I head over.
They do a bait and switch, which is common for bankruptcy firms. There is one wealthy owner, in this case Michael, who meets with you for no more then 5 minutes. This is the only time you will ever see or speak to Michael. After the 5 minute exchange, he hands you off to one of his less paid para legals. I sat with this paralegal for 30 minutes while she did the paperwork, and then I was done.
At the end of this 30 minutes (and after I had already paid $1600 cash) I was told that the $1600 DID NOT include the $300 filing fee. At this point, since I had already spent the 30 minutes watching the para legal do the work, and had already paid the $1600, I didn't really have a choice other then to go borrow $300 more.
That day I emailed Michael about it. His response was literally that 1) The $300 filing fee is clearly stated on his WEBSITE, and that 2) I should stay with him, I'll be happy.
This is just a clear example of both incompetence and shady business practices. When someone calls you on the phone and asks how much it is going to cost, you tell them how much it is going to cost. Period.
A month later I had my 341 meeting where a random worker showed up from his office, sat with me while the trustee asked me to verify my name, and that the debt was mine, then dismissed me. 3 minutes total.
That was the sum of the work done for me. To review- 1) 5 minute meeting with Michael, 2) 30 minutes with para legal 3) 5 minute meeting at 341.
It should also be noted that a month into the process I received a letter from a random creditor that did not appear on my credit report, who was demanding money. I was told by Michael's office that it would cost me an additional $126 to take care of it. $26 of that is the cost the court charges to add a creditor, $100 is what Michael thinks is fair to charge to spend 2 minutes printing out a piece of paper and mailing it. I ended up taking care of the creditor on my own without any problems; refusing to pay $126.
I am not surprised that Michael has a lot of positive reviews. I think that many people don't know how much work is involved, what to expect, and they are in a terrible situation to begin with so they don't question anything.
Today I got the discharge notice along with an email from Michael's office which caused me to write this review.
Attached to my discharge notice was a note asking me to write a review on CitySearch with the following text under it-
""If you do this favor for me, you will be helping to put food on my table and the tables of my employees. I will gladly return the favor to you, whenever you need my help.""
I think it is incredibly ironic in multiple ways that he would write something like this. For one, I don't think getting food on his table is an issue. He's a Ferrari owner (complete with a model of his car in the office), has a Beverly Hills location, and I'd say compared to his clients who are declaring bankruptcy, he's the last person to be worried about getting food on the table.
I should say its not just him, there are obviously countless bankruptcy firms that run similar operations. I guess the moral of the story is remember that they aren't there to help you, they are there to make money, regardless of what they may try to convince you of otherwise.
I would never suggest this firm to anyone.
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