Client
I do NOT recommend Bob. His paralegal was awesome, Kim. She had a great ear and lots of patience. Bob SHOULD have a fiduciary duty to you as a client, but I found this lacking. I get onto that later. The process went generally smooth at first, but I noticed typos in the P&S. I noticed that the P&S also was a template as it had other client names on it. List of issues: Wrong names on P&S. Buyers and random name from it being a form/template. Wrong commission rate on P&S (rate got corrected, but amount became an excess deposit at closing) Wrong sale price more than 2 times, on P&S, and quitclaim Failed to identify incorrectly made out check at closing. This complicated the deposit of one of the checks for the excessive deposit. Overnight shipping for Friday did not come until Saturday when the bank had closed. Requested a re-issue was denied. The closing attorney issued a regular check. This requires a hold of 4 days (fell on a holiday) His advice was to go to UPS to get the documents notarized for $100, but most banks do this for free. After Kim went on vacation, we needed documents notarized. Bob clearly doesn't do things like edit documents. I had to do it myself. His response to the typos was that he would do it LATER and use POA to sign the corrections. I prefer to sign documents that are accurate NOW. Also, If I went with Bob's advice, I would have paid $100 to notarize documents at the UPS store. Most local banks/credit union do this for free. So I edited the documents and got them notarized for free. Kim returns from vacation and we had 4 days until closing. I called and was told Kim would get back to me. The next day I get a call from Bob that I wanted to speak to him (not true) and, SURPISE, final meter readings were not taken. Now we are down to 3 days before closing (Thursday) and they blamed my agent for not doing this work. Now, Kim would have been all over this, but Bob didn't check in on this either while Kim was on vacation. This task was delegated to the closing attorney's office which stated $150 dollars. When I called directly to the DPU, it was only $75. I did additional leg work to get this moving and it's unclear if this fee would have stayed at $150 if I didn't note the difference. After all, it's my money. This seems to be the reoccurring theme, when it's my money and expense the consideration goes out the window. It just ends up being a line item that someone else has to pay, me. After closing, when the check failed to over night (Friday) I requested a reissue check and/or refund for the overnight service I paid for. This was both denied and it comes at my expense. So by the time I got the check deposited, it was Monday. The check came too late on Saturday for me to sign and the bank was closed by then. Since the check was NOT a cashiers check, there is a hold. With the holiday, that's 4 days or 8 days since my closing. That's nearly $700 in interest out of my pocket. So when I asked for the shipping refund it seemed like a reasonable request. It seems like a small gesture that would have smoothed out the bumps. However, it's really just a theme. He really doesn't care about your money and what YOU spend. Customer service isn't part of his business model. He really isn't looking out for your financial interest with the advice he gave, and worse, didn't provide. So I would recommend you AVOID his practice and go with a different attorney. Some tips I would recommend if you go with a closing attorney: Do NOT use Robert (Bob) Spencer to represent you. Never overnight anything, if you do, YOU provide/pay for the label/shipping directly as those are refundable by the carrier when obligations are not met. Go to your local bank or credit union if you need something notarized. Get a written break down of what fees and services are performed by the flat fee service. Water Meter reading, etc. Demand in writing that all checks are wired or cashier's checks ONLY. I hope I can help other's avoid his practice. Maybe the price I paid will pay dividends to other area attorneys.