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Registered Agent "service" scam. Legal Zoom has made an unauthorized charge to my bank account for $159. This is how the scam works: they sell you a service for which you agree to pay a stated price. You authorize Legal Zoom to debit your bank account for installments to cover the service you are purchasing. They do not offer you the option to just pay it out up front or if they do it is not readily noticeable. To complete your order you accept the terms & conditions by checking a box. You assume that the terms and conditions relate only to the service for which you have agreed to purchase but that is not the case. Mentioned somewhere in lengthy terms is an entirely separate service to act as the Registered Agent for the company you have formed. This service is $159 and is not included in the amount you agreed to. They wait until you have received your articles of incorporation at that time you will have made to installments on your agreement. They send an email notification reminding you when your upcoming installment payments are about to post to your account. They conveniently NEVER mention the $159 extra service fee for the registered agent service because then you may question and cancel it. You never receive an email about the impending charge. They simply debit your account for the full amount and wait for you to call to hear that it was not included and that when you accepted the terms and conditions you authorized payment for the service. The first person to take my call even said "we get a lot of these calls." It gets better: when you learn that all this service is for is "filtering" your junk mail they charge $49 to remove themselves as your registered agent. I was able to change my registered agent to myself with my state for $5 bucks. I am told that when they receive confirmation of my change they will prorate my "subscription" which in the end allows them to get at least 2 months ($26.50) payment for a so called service out of you that you would never have purchased otherwise add the $5.00 to make the change yourself (and that's only if I can get the proof before they bill again) and you have paid another $30.00 on top of what you agreed. I could have just paid a local attorney to draw up my papers for that less than that amount ($414.00). To stop unauthorized debits your bank will need to cancel your card altogether.
This complaint has been resolved automatically due to user's inactivity.
I unsubscribed from my registered agent services a few weeks before the scheduled renewal at Legalzoom and even deleted the credit card out of my account to make sure they didn't charge me.
That didn't stop them though. They saved my CC even after I deleted it off my account and charged me $399 for the service I had unsubscribed from.
I called in, waited several minutes on hold, and spoke with a rep who confirmed that the service had been cancelled and the card had been deleted but had no explanation as to why or how they were able to charge me for the service. The rep claimed that she initiated a refund (I assume it's true, just waiting to see it come through).
Very very shady business practices though.
DO NOT USE LEGALZOOM ! I also have a recurring charge on my card for $499.00 per year. Not only that, but get this, they had my old American Express account set up on their auto-billing system. I closed that American Express account about 5 years ago now. (I had used it 8 years ago to pay for two wills and my LLC formation. My LLC is now an S-Corp, and Legalzoom is still billing me for the LLC! We never even authorized "registered agent services" for our LLC, but Legalzoom says our state requires it. State of Texas disagrees. BUT, worst of all, Legalzoom is billing my Discover Card account now, that we never gave to them whatsoever! I showed this to their customer service department, and they still refused to help unless we got the state to drop our LLC listing first ? We're a corporation now, not an LLC, Legalzoom did not care at all, said we might get a refund in 90 days If we get the state to adjust our records. By the way, I had to get through to them by picking a different extension, because no one was answering their normal customer care number either. DO NOT USE LEGALZOOM.COM, sue them instead! THEY SUCK !
I just noticed I was getting charged $108 a month, I don’t know what for! And I paid $500 last year as I filed my 1065-F form, and realized my llc was dissolved in September of 2020, they’re still sending me reminders to file as this is how i discovered it! They’re a huge scam!
Not only was I scammed by this, but LegalZoom has now sent our account to collections at "Caine & Weiner." I will never use LegalZoom again and will tell everyone I know to avoid them and their shady business practices.
Exact same situation. How are you proceeding?
Same here. Cancelled account 3 years ago and just received a letter, and was for previous company that was closed 3 years ago. Looking forward to reading on how others are proceeding with this.
I just got off the phone with Legal Zoom in the same situation. I refuted the charge in 2016 and I'm embarrassed to admit I never even paid attention to my card until today. They never removed that charge and when I called today he made me aware of this registered agent crap. It is a sad situation that in the age of Covid-19 could potentially send some balances into the negative. They are fraudulent and I wish I had known. I am following up with the change of agent now and I've learned my lesson to pay closer attention to my cards. This is the one downfall to auto payments I got so comfortable with my bill being paid automatically, I never took the time to check for fraudulent charges. Please take a lesson from me and check your accounts every single month.
YUP I'm dealing with this BS as well. Also as far as registered agents go they are absolutely terrible at their job. Sent me a copy of a letter in the mail 3 months late. I had to pay a $150 fee. Also they were charging me $400 a year. 2 years and $800. They are now trying to charge me $160 to change it. I don't need them to change it and it's already changed. I just need them to stop trying to charge me for services I didn't ask for. You got me for $800 legalzoom. I suggest you quit trying to scam me. Class action in your future.
Team: This is a Converstaion that Took Place with a Debt Collector Caine and Weiner over a 399.00 Charge.
LISTEN CAREFULLY...
Team- Standby! ANOTHER DEBT COLLECTOR HAS TO PAY UP! GIVE MY GROUP 5 HOURS AND THE CALL WILL BE AROUND THE WORLD... COLLECTING DURING A PANDEMIC? GO TO HELL!
We Got A Collection Demand Letter from Caine and Weiner. It is collecting for ... LEGAL ZOOM! We are having it Transcribed NOW. YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE WHAT COLLECTOR CLAY SMITH SAID--- YES, he hung up (as they all do) Tomorrow.. Friday we will be Filing in Federal Court. This will be available at Western Capital Media as well as well as on our Sirius Radio Station and Direct TV. Be Prepared! GOD HELP THEM!
https://soundcloud.com/robert-paisola-173187510/paisola-v-caine-and-weiner-debt-collectors-over-legal-zoom-illegal-account-with-clay-small
FULL TRANSCRIPT OF CALL: https://otter.ai/u/3AvfuDal8AqMC1MFBzDORTbza08
CERTIFIED AUDIO AND TRANSCRIPTION ON [protected] AT 5.13 PM PST
Wetstern Capital International
MyCollector.org
robert@MyCollector.org
[protected]
LegalZoom $10, 000 CHA CHING... Did HE EVEN AUTHENTICATE WHO HE WAS TALKING TO? NOPE!
Just received an email from Caine and Weiner yesterday for a charge of $299 from LegalZoom. We verbally canceled our services with them over the phone early 2019 and DID NOT renew. They were awful. No correspondence from LZ for over two years, and now a collections letter. Fortunately, another scam forced us to close our business account in late 2020. If C&W will be unhelpful, and LZ are a bunch of crooks, what do I do at this point?
Yet another horrible company. I was 3 weeks into creating a DBA and trademark, until I experienced enough yellow and red flags with customer service and delays.
Gas lighting, hidden fees, conflicting information from customer service reps.
Zoom and Airbnb are on the toilet.
I’ll never do business with either ever again.