LegalZoom

Just spent hours on the phone with various LegalZoom representatives. Was disconnected twice by their system. I assumed the person would call me back. Silly me. Got into the long wait line again and again and again. Was given untrue information on the third call - that it's not possible in Texas to indicate a future date for the effective date of incorporating. On the 4th call, I pointed out the Texas form and page number for doing so. Was told that yes it was possible in Texas but that it was my fault that the effective date was Sept. 10,2014 because I didn't indicate in the "Special Instructions" box that I wanted the corporation to begin Jan. 1. Was told that the fact that I wrote on their forms that our fiscal year would begin Jan. 1,2015 and that payroll would begin Jan. 1,2015, that wasn't enough for them to know to file it that way nor apparently to ask me, since there was no where on their forms that asked that specific question. Apparently I had to clairvoyantly know to fill in the blank "Special Instructions" box with that information. Now I have a huge mess on my hands and their only response was that it was my fault. If you would like a personal review, call me at *******722. Susie Moore

I am going on 3 months of dealing with getting a simple last will and trust. It is almost impossible to get a hold of anyone without having to wait an hour, they constantly put your order on hold and then do not let you know what you need unless you call them. Then when you do get to talk with someone they can't help you because they cannot give legal advise. I have scheduled attorney appointments, which I had to wait 2 weeks for the first time because they are only available from 2-5 on certain days. I basically had to take time off work to get their phone call, then they called, the phone was disconnected and when I tried calling back they didn't answer. The second time, which I had to wait for again, I put in my paperwork just as the attorney told me to do and they still denied it. I WOULD NEVER EVER RECOMMEND using Legal zoom. EVER. I have a very simple last will and testament and they can't process it because my wording in a section doesn't pass their initial automated phase. DO NOT USE THEM!

I thought it would be more efficient and cost effective to go through LegalZoom to submit my request for a patent. I also thought LZ could refer me to the correct attornies to assist with submitting a patenet request. After spending thousands of dollars i found that i did all the work and they basically didn't help on completing any research, meaning giving any counsel on the idea. They only confirmed feedback from the US Patent Office, which is really at a point that is too late. I requested a "book" through LZ from the US patent office proving many many patents that might be similar to what i was suggesting. With my limited knowledge on how this worked and what to look for I didn't find anything that seemed to be similar to my suggestion. With the years of experience of the Huntington Beach law firm that LZ recommended I worked with they did nothing to help. After I got the no from the US patent office the reasons why they said I could not get a patent were for reasons that any reputible, and experienced patent attorney would have, or should have caught long before the final answer came. I am now out several thousand dollars for very poor service through the attorney's office. I would never recommend LegalZoom to anyone that wants a serious legal experience working with competent people. Take your business to a local, reputible law office. Also, I gave a one star only because there is no option to not give any starts or negative stars.

BEWARE of the Registered Agent SCANDAL! This company automatically makes itself your business's registered agent and will continue to bill for this so-called service annually, which is literally just a name listing and they claim that they will send you so-called alerts! It's a scandal. I NEVER HEARD A PEEP FROM THEM until I just received a collection notice in January 2020. They are collecting for supposedly being my Business Registered Agent back five years ago in 2015! Yes, they are so desperate to get revenue that they are billing inactive businesses from 5 years ago! When I contacted the state of Pa, they told me they get calls ALL THE TIME from people like me who didn't realize I was being scammed by Legalzoom. They should re-name themselves Il-legal Zoom. Contact your state to find out if you can be your own registered agent/office. That's what I did. If only I had known about this option 5 years ago! They have no problem making themselves your agent and billing you, but they are unable to make changes to remove themselves as your registered agent. You have to do that on your own! If I could give them a negative star review I would. Go to one of their competitors. They need to realize that they are taking advantage of the unsuspecting. They should be all about customer service not a disservice.

MY (GOLD)package

My name was filled wrong.
I took around 4 weeks
Legal zoom offered me to correct in an additional 2 weeks i rejected and did it myself in 1 day.

Was charged $119 to obtain a DBA for my business. LegalZoom spelled the name wrong, costing me weeks in opening my business, then told me I needed to purchase a PREMIUM DBA for $129 (which also has an automatic $45/month ongoing fee if you don't cancel) and have them re-apply in order to correct. Would take another 2-3 weeks, but they promised a refund of BOTH amounts and no automatic monthly fees for the Premium DBA. A total pain and, worse, I have since learned I could've obtained the DBA online in my State for $10, in about 10 minutes.

After first attempting to keep $10 of the first, $119 refund with the outrageous excuse that "that's what they had to pay the State", then finally refunding...Now their "Review Team" is saying they won't refund the Premium $129 fee they MADE ME PURCHASE because they "don't do things for free", and despite three different service agents confirming the written documentation of the first approving both refunds.

Does LegalZoom not understand consumer law? Like fraudulent billing and price gouging?

AVOID this scam company at all costs.

I was expecting a call back from a manager as stated below from Legal Zoom based on the review I posted. I am on the phone with Department of Education pertaining to the form Legal Zoom sent in. I am trying my best to push this application with the Board of Ed. Myself. I was told by that department Legal Zoom again made a big mistake on the application and it will be rejected. Instead of having my name as the administrator, Legal Zoom have my name as the MD and the department of Ed is requesting both certifications on me and Dr. Wilkins. I sent the information in for Dr. Allen Wilkins and just received a call from the Department of Ed. That they have accepted the certification on Dr. Wilkins but is needs the information on Denise Conway. I called Legal Zoom and was placed on hold for about 15 minutes then Nathan again came on the phone refusing to get on a conference call with the department of ed to correct the mistake.

This problem has been going on since October 2015. Dr. Allen is slated to start his practice 04/01/2016.

I am still waiting on a manager to call me.

I can't do any enrollments with insurance companies especially with Medicare.

I recently had a rather frustrating experience with LegalZoom, and I feel compelled to share my dissatisfaction with their services. My encounter revolved around their trademark search feature, and unfortunately, it left much to be desired.

Firstly, LegalZoom charged me a hefty $99 fee for a trademark search, promising to provide clarity on the availability of the name I wanted. However, what irked me the most was the fact that this fee did not contribute towards the actual trademark application, as one might reasonably assume. Instead, it seemed like a blatant money-grab, leaving me feeling deceived.

When I questioned the customer service about the possibility of using the $99 towards the trademark application or, at the very least, obtaining a refund, I was met with unhelpful responses. The representative went so far as to suggest that some people might not be well-versed in the trademark application process. I found this explanation utterly absurd; after all, if one can set up an account on LegalZoom, surely they can navigate a trademark search without being exploited.

Moreover, the platform's insistence on keeping the $99 fee, regardless of the outcome of the search, felt like a disheartening lack of transparency. It left me questioning the integrity of their fee structure and the true value they provide to their customers.

In essence, my experience with LegalZoom has left me disillusioned and wary of their practices. The seemingly unnecessary $99 trademark search fee, coupled with unhelpful customer service responses, has made it clear that this platform prioritizes profit over customer satisfaction. I would caution anyone considering their services to be wary of hidden fees and explore alternative options that offer more transparent and customer-friendly practices

I thought the LegalZoom service could save me some time. Instead it cost me much more of my time and a lot of my money.

Pretty much all of their services come with hidden recurring fees that they will never mention or explain it to you until after they have your money, of course.

I called and cancelled my service from them (I even received a cancellation notice email) and they charged me again LATER THAT SAME DAY!

I called back to have them refund the charge only to find out the service is totally clueless. The customer service lady was rude and had the incorrect information. Their own website was giving me different information than what she was telling me, and they were both wrong.

They refused to issue a refund for the charges after I cancelled my account. So I had to dispute the charges through my card company.

I will NEVER do business with LegalZoom again and that is the advice I will give to everyone else in the future.

------UPDATED-----
As you can see, a LegalZoom Rep has responded below with more of the same old run around. I would like to make it known that I sent 3 different support emails trying to get support, but only received an email when they found my reviews on this site. That just goes to show the kind of company they are. Covering their own asses, not their customers.

Nothing else has changed. They claim to be sending me a refund check. But then a few hours later they charged me AGAIN!

They also claim that their system won't allow them to issue a simple refund to my card. So just to get that straight, they can take your money all day long, but can't refund it... that's an amazing service you have there!

I'm not even sure how this company is even in business still. HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE. Scammers, 100%.

My fiancé tried to set up a PLLC with them... for 3 months. For 3 months they kept failing to turn the correct documents in and he was calling them every single day to try and sort things out. About 2 months in he was told his PLLC was kicked back because they forgot about a document he needed, which he was required to send to TX (we live in NC). It seemed like every single time something was kicked back he needed to give them more info or another document - they had no idea what they were doing!

The last straw was today when he found out documents that were supposed to be mailed to the Secretary of State last week (he has been waiting for confirmation) were NEVER MAILED in the first place. Best part is when he asked for his money back to go through an actual lawyer he was refunded only a portion of what he paid them.

Unacceptable. Don't waste your money or time. Get real consultation from an actual lawyer... do not get scammed like we did!

Ordered "Expedited" LLC package on 11-20. Of the $639 that I paid for the services, $200 was for expedited filing with the state. My account has changed to say that my filing has been delayed, and now my ETA has been pushed back into December even though I payed for the 7-10 business day service because I have work orders waiting on me. I called LegalZoom to see why it was delayed with the state and she said that we were at their mercy and she didn't know any additional info. I called the state and she said it wasn't being delayed, it was taking the normal amount of time because they didn't pay for the expedited filing. Thanks LegalZoom, I'll have to let my customers know that they can find someone else or just keep waiting because LegalZoom didn't provide the services that they were paid to do. Also left message on the 17th and sent email on the 18th concerning EIN, today is the 23rd and haven't heard back. I wish that I had just taken the advice I was given and stayed away from these guys. Called back just now and waited for 11 minutes and gave up.

The Legal Zoom website and documents indicate the following when finalizing a Will... In Connecticut, it is highly recommended to have the Will and the witness signatures notarized. If not, at time of execution, either or both of the witnesses may be called upon by the probate court to validate the Will and the attestation. In Connecticut though, notaries are not allowed to notarize a will - only a law practice can do this. The cost of this runs well over $100 - $150.

The Legal Zoom website simply states that notary work is available from a UPS store. In Connecticut they cannot and will not notarize a Will. The Legal Zoom website provides NO warning or caveats with regards to Connecticut law. It provides no language about the high costs of notarizing a Will.

The purpose of a Will is to avoid conflicts with the Probate court. If the Will is NOT notarized and, either or both witnesses cannot be located, then the estate can be tied up in Probate.

So a few suggestions... You are the lawyers, not me. Enhance your website with regards to Wills in Connecticut and amend language about the use of UPS stores to notarize a Will. Going into this I expected to pay about $80 to Legal Zoom plus normal Notary fees. I did not expect to have to find an attorney, then pay double (or more of) the total cost in special Notary fees. Shame on you Legal Zoom!

I tried to register a company and saved my credit card info, they kept charging for the services I dont know.

For new subscriber, the phone will be answer right away. Once they became your agent, you will be on hold at least 30 mins. I DO NOT RECOMMEND LEGALZOOM FOR ANYONE

I put in this order almost 6 months ago for dissolution of an S-Corp in New York City. The process is still incomplete after numerous instances of miscommunication and incompetence. The most recent example came 2 months ago after I submitted all tax information to NY State and received a consent letter for dissolution, which I emailed to LZ. I called them, spoke to a customer service agent, ascertained that they had received the copy of the consent letter, as well as the fact that the ball was in LZ's court and they will following up on getting clearance from NYS. Having not had any progress updates for 2 months, I called in last week to discover that they had spent 2 months NOT following up.
I kept my temper and was calmly reassured by the customer care agent that she was going to personally follow up with my order and expedite in whatever way possible.
So one week later, I get another one of their convoluted callbacks saying there is still a problem with my order.
Which brings me to their infinitely stupid callback system. If the call is initiated by LZ to a customer, why have the customer go through 5 stages of hold and then still not be able to talk to whoever initiated the call because there is a 20-30 minute hold. When a customer is answering your call, at the very least you should show some courtesy to said customer and have someone on the line already! The inefficiency of this system is mind-boggling!

Legal zoom provides me with outdated forms and forgot some other forms. Results I had to do everything over. Worse use of my money!

Not worth the time it takes to process simple business matters, no communication and no clarity whatsoever.! Do whatever you need done yourselves.!

My elderly mom wanted me to help her create a new will. Based on her minimal funds, I chose LegalZoom based on the many positive reviews. It was a huge mistake. My moms "estate" is very simple but does include a small home. "Wills" commonly include detailed distribution of assets, to include real property. The "comprehensive will" product on legalzoom does not provide for inclusion of a home which is durable in probate. Also, the "comprehensive" aspect of the will includes assistance from an attorney. I had questions, very basic questions, that the legalzoom person could not answer. So I scheduled a call with an attorney (which required a wait time of 5 days). On the next day I received an email from the attorney's firm stating that the call will not be conducted as scheduled unless "all of the individuals who will be signing the document to be on the phone call. " Well how am I to get my elderly mom and two witnesses together when we don't even know who they are during the draft stage of a will?

The technical issues at legalzoom were abundant. One part of the will could not be used because the website skipped right by it ("special circumstances"), yet the legalzoom employee just ignored my request to describe what and why it is missing? When a will is edited is takes a whole day to provide the resulting PDF file for review. Wait times to talk to a rep were in excess of an hour and a half on Jan 5,6 and 7th of 2021. The legalzoom rep I spoke with had no idea what the resulting will document looks like after inputting the basic data on the web.

All around a terrible "service". Their only redeeming quality is that their billing department immediately refunded my money without question (as though they are always refunding money). I wasted the better part of three days on legalzoom.

I had paid for a trademark search with LegalZoom and they did a very very poor job…the trademark was rejected and I called LegalZoom and talked to Joya a manager with LegalZoom and they weren't willing to make it right…I told Joya that I was going to leave negative feedback on the internet but he didn't care…. We were having a back and forth and he said I interrupted him and he went into a long spiel about how interrupting was disrespectful…I tried to point out that a back and forth was how conversations go…I let him say his peace but boy to be dressed down by an employee of a company when you are a CEO of a couple companies and i'm 60 years old is quite offensive…I would find a better company to do business with…as it's one thing to refuse to make things right but quite another to be disrespectful and I was nothing but respectful to him…can you say "power trip"... I hate leaving bad reviews but hey I gave them every opportunity to make it right... used to be a good company... steer clear... or you will lose money like our company did.

FRAUD ALERT. DO NOT USE LEGALZOOM! I needed to file a "DBA" on a fairly quick basis - thought I would do it through LegalZoom as I see their ads everywhere. Total bait and switch - they added services onto my account and sent me documents to sign via UPS "next day", claiming I ordered these services! I did not! They harassed me with phone calls trying to RUSH me into signing these documents, saying they were required when filing a DBA, at an extra cost! THEY ARE NOT! Do not USE LegalZoom for anything! The ONLY reason I paid them anything was because two months after purchasing my DBA from them, they FINALLY filed it - and I am now in a position where I cannot wait to do it myself. Do your research, look at others' reviews on various websites. Type a search into Google for Legalzoom Bait and Switch and see what you come up with! My Tax accountant told me he wished that I had called him first, he would have done the work for me for FREE! I was in a rush, I didn't take the time to do it right, and I paid the price in the end.

Worst experience to date.

I purchased an LLC.
Paid the $368.95

Called the day after i realized it was going to take up to 30 business days to receive the paperwork to see about getting expedited processing.
I was told it would be $165 to receive it within 7 business days. It took 10 business days. Not awful but $165 is quite steep to get it later than they said it would come.

I also knew what i purchased came with 2 different 30-day free trials for legal advice and accounting services.
Both of whom i spoke with and did not get any valuable information, only a sales pitch as to how much more i would need to pay to receive the info i needed.

So i called to cancel the 2 30-day free trials:
1- it took 50min to get someone on the phone.
2- i had already been charged for TWO 30-day free trials (one $320 one $375)
3- they told me that an RA (registered agent) is legally required for LLC business owners, and that they charge a fee of $159. So that was also charged on my card. I called NY State and THAT is 100% false.
The only way to remove them as my current RA i have to mail in a form and a $50 filing fee to NYS!
3- in total i had 5 charges totaling to OVER $1000!

I would say you should still get an LLC from them just be carful with all of the "free trials" that come with it and lies about things being required when they are not BUT i am so angry i would not even recommend that!

DONT DO IT!

I paid $600 plus dollars to register my business, they call me and then put me on hold for 5-10 plus minutes. WIll never use it again.

I used them to register a business, left me totally hanging, screwed me big time,
Stay the hell away