East River Legal Services

These people are worthless all they did was waste time and went passed the date of the denial period. So now we have to start all over for his disability. This place is a waste of taxpayer money. The lady was very rude and hung up on my husband. This place needs to be shut down. There is not one good review about them. NO MORE GRANT MONEY FOR THIS PLACE... THE MONEY COULD BE PUT TO BETTER USE.... WHAT A JOKE....,

Intake specialist was incredibly rude and spoke to me like I wasn't worth their time. Avoid at all costs!

Snotty tones on the phone, won't listen to you, won't help you with questions that you don't understand like math.., and asked me about CS there was a question I didn't understand and they wouldn't listen to me! Basically wouldn't help you threw questions you don't understand. The last time I I had court I explained everything going on with custody for my daughter then said they couldn't help and they were full! And many more reasons!

I'm unfortunately having to leave a negative review due to my most recent experience with this office. I had high hopes but those diminished just today. On 07/17/2023, I was sent a text by their intake person to send in some required documents. Per the text which I included in a screenshot no date or mention of an extension was given. In fact, I responded back to that text with a question and was never responded to. I keep screenshots for a reason and this proved necessary. This morning they sent a denial and closure of my case email stating documentation was not provided by their timeline. I responded back and attached the screenshot advising no date or mention of said extension was given and stated their miscommunication is very frustrating. I've had no response since then besides them sending a screenshot of their communications to me which is exactly what I sent to them. I feel very frustrated and saddened that had they communicated dates and times, this would've gone much differently. I feel let down and disheartened, which is what is prompting my negative review. I'm a struggling single mother and I in no way, shape or form can afford an attorney on my own. This has now put me back to square one and I at this point want to give up. This all could have been avoided by simple communication.

South Dakota ranks as one of the top states for Brain Drain, i.e. with most bright & capable people leaving. ERLS seems to demonstrate this. It is truly devoid of real talent. ERLS is absolutely horrible. ERLS is supposed to exist to help low income persons with legal services, but they seem to exist more to simply go through the motions, with an extremely limited bag of tricks, little knowledge & competence, doing as little as possible, simply to get continued access to government grants (their main source of revenue, as per their IRS 990 filings). I honestly feel bad for anyone that has to rely on this "service". They don't listen well, they are rude, they give outright bad & wrong advice (from not listening well), and are generally useless. If you've heard the saying "you get what you pay for", that is on full display at ERLS. That "free" service comes at a hefty price, via horrible service, terrible knowledge & much frustration.