LegalZoom

She was awesome to chat with - she answered all of my questions and set me on the right path

Ordered an LLC that was supposed to take 15 days. I input the name in all lower case, not knowing the state corporation commission does things in all caps. The state misinterpreted the first letter of the name. All of the other paperwork came through LZ in 30 days with the name I had typed. The order spent over 3 days in the LZ department that checks all spelling and such, and they didn't catch the error, in double the time it was supposed to take.
I called and let them know on noon Thursday. They said it would be 2-3 days for them to research the issue. Called noon Tuesday, they said I would not get a call back that day or Wednesday, but after then. Called Saturday, and they said I was misinformed, their research takes 6-7 business days.
It is quite obvious what happened since all of the paperwork matches EXCEPT the state. If the state only uses all caps, they should have submitted the application in all caps, not the way I input the order. We are paying them to know theses things and not cause unnecessary issues. And they should be trying to correct issues STAT.
LZ charges about $150 to do a name change on an LLC. I'm expecting them to blame me for typing in all lower case, and stick their hands out wanting more money. Thinking of disputing the credit card charge of the original order.

LZ finally called about the name error. Although they were supposed to be 'researching' the issue for the 7 business days it took for them to contact me, the caller sounded like he was reading the complaint for the first time when he spoke to me. Maybe someone else researched it, and he was the go between, but that's not how it sounded. They offered to get the name fixed with the state at no charge. I told them not to bother, I already had gotten it done with the state in less than 2 hours a week ago. I did that after my second call with LZ when they told me it would be another 2-3 days before they would call me back. It was an extraordinarily easy fix and the state rep was kind, considerate, and even called me to make sure the email with the changes came through.
LZ did offer, and I accepted, a $140 refund. That is the difference between the 15 day service I originally paid for, and the 30 day service I received. Nothing else.
The response from LZ on this site said a manager would be calling me. That never happened.

Legalzoom is a TERRIBLE company whose business practices consist of trying to trick people out of as much money as possible while using aggressive up-selling tactics to try and get even more money out of their customers.

In my case Legalzoom somehow FORGOT to submit my Statement of Information to the Secretary of State for 6 MONTHS resulting in a penalty of HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS sent to me- that's how I found out Legalzoom completely failed to perform the service I PAID THEM FOR. Of course after receiving the penalty invoice from the franchise tax board of California I contacted Legalzoom customer service and was promptly treated with skepticism and denial that they had any fault in the matter. After days spent on the phone with a multitude of Legalzoom customer service people and never being allowed to speak to a supervisor and getting nowhere, I decided one day to check my business page on the Secretary of State's website and magically somehow the Statement of Information had been filed... by Legalzoom... 6 MONTHS LATE and only AFTER I had contacted them alerting them to my problem.

Overall my experience with Legalzoom has been filled with nothing but pain, frustration, and overpaying for services. Even their premium package options when setting up a legal entity with them consists only of "free" phone consultations consisting of relentlessly pushy salespeople trying to up-sell me on their third party services. In other words, what you're essentially buying when you add on premium package options with Legalzoom is the privileged to be aggressively up-sold to by their third party partners. Unbelievable. Even timeshare rental seminars provide you with a free shuttle ride and some snacks. Not Legalzoom though, they just charge you for it.

I will NEVER, NEVER, NEVER recommend Legalzoom or it's services to ANYONE EVER. STEER CLEAR. This unscrupulous company wants nothing more than to take your money at a time when you're trying to build a brighter future for yourself and your loved ones. My best advice to you is don't walk- RUN AWAY from anything having to do with LegalZoom.

I should have read all the reviews before placing my last order but I had used the service in the past and was reasonably satisfied.

This recent order involved the placement of an order for a non-profit and appending the order a few days later to add EIN and 501 c 3 application support. Bundling the order initially would have probably saved me some money but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do when I placed the initial order.

Turns out I got a letter in the mail a few days later stating that my initial order was complete but since I did not place an order for the EIN and 501 c 3, I had to secure these items on my own. Confused, I called the company to inquire. The first customer service person who picked up the phone was very polite and told me that the person who took the initial order did not connect the 2 orders and since I had initially checked "no" for help with EIN, the letter was sent. He said he had to transfer me to sales to reorder. I was unhappy but decided to go ahead and replace the other.

I was transferred to someone who started to ask for the same information I had just given to the other fellow so I asked him if was was able to see the comments that the initial person said he was making to the file so they would know what to do upon reorder. He went off on me like a mad man yelling at the top of his lungs. When I told him I was a paying customer and demanded an apology he got even louder so I asked to speak with his supervisor, this triggered even more anger. "I AM THE MOST SENIOR PERSON HERE" he yelled. I asked for his name and he yelled "JOSHUA", "MY NAME IS JOSHUA" and then abruptly he hang up the phone on me.

I got no response to exactly what happened to my order, no opportunity to reorder the EIN and ultimately no resolution for a service I paid over $750 for. I would urge everyone to read the reviews and shop around. You deserve better service and of course, more respect.

I think that was my last order from LegalZoom.