martindale-avvo.com

$24k for $0 in Revenue - Refusal to Cancel

Back in March of 2023, I received one of those dozen Martindale Avvo emails we all get weekly, advertising their "preferred results," "county cross-reference," and "professional profiles" across all of their platforms at $2,029.93/month. The referrals they provided as examples and the number of referrals provided over the year were, shockingly, not what was advertised. For the year, I received a grand total of 112 calls. Of those 112 calls, 54 were less than 1 minute, and only 20 were greater than 10 minutes in duration. Of those 20, at least 3 (but I suspect 7) were actually referred to me by other lawyers, and they just googled the number that MA had posted for their tracking purposes. Not a single lead converted, and if someone calls me with a probate or trust administration/litigation case, I almost always convert (which tells me that none of these people actually had a probate case or one I would take). I recognize none of the names on these calls other than those referred by other lawyers.This is all bad enough... 13-17 leads over the course of 12 months all for $24,359.16, resulting in $0. But it gets much worse...When I originally signed up, I got approval from the sales associate and management for a month to month term--I was highly skeptical of these leads, and my other lead system is a 3 year contract but with a guarantee that the referrals will meet the spend (and they always exceed). I said I wouldn't do this unless it was month to month, but they would only approve over the phone. On top of that, I explicitly accepted the agreement in writing by stating: "I accept one year." After the first month I called to cancel, because the two or three calls I received were not even adjacent to my practice area, at which point I was told I couldn't cancel without buying out the contract. I told them to check with the management on my month to month approval, and I was told 'there are no notes.' Again, in August of 2023, I emailed demanding to cancel, at which point I was told I could cancel if I paid 60% of the remaining contract. I told them I would just finish out the year at this point, rather than taking a $8k+ bath. In writing that I wanted to cancel (twice), in writing that I was only agreeable to one year term.Guess who auto-renewed? I was charged an additional 5 months. I called, they told me to pound sand, read the contract. I went through the entire situation. Pound sand. They also sent me a spreadsheet with all of the good work the profile has done (the 13-17 original leads with $0 to show). They also include the email chains where I say "I approve 1 year," and where I requested to cancel in writing back in August 2023. They then tell me they are also going to charge me for September because I didn't request cancellation in writing within 30 days...Absolute theft. Absolute trash product. Absolute abysmal service. During my entire contract they continually hounded me to increase my spend with them after demonstrating the uselessness of their product. I have canceled and blocked future charges, I'm working up the BBB complaint, and I'm informing the Florida Bar as well, but I just wanted to let all of my peers in practice know who don't already; block their emails, hang up on their calls, and do your best to not give them a dime.

Date of experience: Aug 29, 2024