A law firm in the Orlando area has had to resign after an abundance of complaints were made to the Better Business Bureau about the firm. The law firm, Kaufman, Englett & Lynd, received tons of complaints within just one year. People who were not satisfied with the law firm made it known by going to the Better Business Bureau to complain about the law firm and its practices. Because of the complaints made and the fact that the firm was not willing to make necessary changes to fix and resolve these complaints, the Better Business Bureau gave the firm an F rating.
The Kaufman, Englett & Lynd law firm was once an accredited business listed under the BBB. Within the past three years, 39 complaints were made from separate individuals against the company. The company began working to resolve these complaints but the BBB was not satisfied. The firm took too long to resolve the issue at hand, which is part of the reason they received such a low rating.
The chief executive officer for the Better Business Bureau, Judy Pepper, has said, “Once a company no longer meets our standards, they are not eligible to have the BBB accreditation.” She also says, “We will give those companies the opportunity to resign, or their membership will be revoked.”
Most of the complaints made against the firm from its clients accused the firm of overcharging for services that were never received. Clients were not satisfied with the way the firm would charge them for services that they never received which is why they took the issue to the BBB to spread the word and prevent other clients from suffering the same fate.
One of the firm’s former clients, Amanda Smith-Gillaspie, has said, “There’s no doubt I am losing my house now because of them.” She says that she paid over $3,500 to the law firm to have them defend her and prevent her home from being foreclosed. Smith-Gillaspie says, “They dropped the ball so many times, it was ridiculous. When I wouldn’t pay them another $3,500, they dropped me. Then I started working directly with Citibank and found out KEL hadn’t filed some of the paperwork at all.”
Karen Pintor, another former client of the Kaufman, Englett & Lynd law firm was also disgusted with the law firm and its practices. She says, “They made so many mistakes, I didn’t feel they deserved any money from me.” She also said, “I started working with my lender directly, resubmitted the whole modification package, and did the legwork myself. Within a month, I got approved; I saved my house myself.”
Kaufman, Englett & Lynd have denied the accusations of taking money and not defending clients or not filing all of the necessary paperwork. The firm is putting the blame solely on the clients and claims many clients failed to fill out necessary paperwork in the first place which is part of the reason the process took so much time. A representative for the firm says that the law firm had worked very hard to listen to complaints and respond to them accordingly. The representative also claims that the law firm only resigned from the BBB accreditation program as means of protecting their F rating and not a means of admitting to any wrongdoing at all.