LegalZoom.com
reviews and complaints

Legal Zoom is a mess of a company! Their reps DO NOT know what they are talking about. I tried to start an LLC with them and they delayed the filling by more than a month, when I called them, they kept claiming that it was my state of California causing the delay, and this was NOT true! I was able to file another LLC on my own in only 4 days for a 1/5 of the price! They lied to me multiple times and refused to give me a refund because according to them "the state had the paperwork and they could not do anything about it". I was told by more than one person at the secretary of state office that ALL legal zoom had to do was send them email with a request to pull my application, which can then lead to legal zoom giving me a refund. DO you think they did it? Of course NOT, because they are thieves and I pray that karma gets this company! This is on top of their misleading registered agent fees, which like many before me, I was duped into signing up for! I REGRET doing business with you, I've never had a worse experience.

LegalZoom.com charged me $1200 on July 16th, 2018 to get a non-profit set up. Six weeks later I got the package only half finished. Now I have to finish all of it myself! Each call from them was very time consuming, ended up in repeatedly speaking about the same issues that should have been resolved weeks earlier, by several employees that could not speak English very well at all. There were several other entities calling me for services I thought I had paid for with LegalZoom.com, that were not included in the high fees . Additional charges for hundreds or thousands of dollars from other entities to do exactly what this package was described as doing would be needed for documents, accounting, filing, etc. I was just told today, September, 17th, 2018, I would be charged another $190, discounted from $300 to get a copy of the business license because that was not included in the package I purchased. I called the Secretary of State in Nevada and she happily told me the existing Corporate Charter letter and the Articles of Incorporation from them were all I needed, not a business license. I continue to get more calls from LegalZoom.com regarding issues that were resolved weeks ago. I am very frustrated with this company for causing me so much undo stress and aggravation and really would like to get a full refund for what little they did do. This company is not professional in any way and I DO NOT RECOMMEND LEGALZOOM.COM FOR ANY OF YOUR BUSINESS OR PERSONAL NEEDS! This company is borderline Scamming people for money with very little in return!

LegalZoom has fraudulently charged my closed about a $160 Registered Agent fee that I have never agreed to. When I called them to remove the services I was told I was added by default because I didn't sign up for a registered agent. Becuasr they were trying to charge a closed account, they have now sent me to collections. This is a complete scam and a class action lawsuit should be brought against them. I tried to cancel the services that I didn't know I was even apart of and it can not be done without getting the Secretary of State involved. This is fraud and a scam. At no time was I notified of the process. This needs to be researched.

I incorporated my company on 2012, legalzoom without my authorization charged me $159 for registered agent fees on 2012, after this charged I let my cc know that I do not authorize any other charges from legalzoom. I never heard from them since, now, we are in 2017 and they want me to pay all the years (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017) that my cc did not authorize the illegal charge by hiring a collection company. I reached out to them and they told me they could not do anything besides that I had to pay the balance due $636 and change the registered agent wit the state.
I am so mad at this company, this is a big scam and people should be aware of this dishonest way to do business. We all do business but we do not charge our customers illegally.
This should be a learning lesson for you out there. Please stay away from legalzoom.

LegalZoom just charged me $249 on 4/8/17! And before that $159 in 2016 and 2015! I called them today and they said "I CAN'T CANCEL THIS SERVICE"

I told them I filed final tax return already and no longer in business. They said they still see ACTIVE status on their end so I can't cancel registered agent service or whatever...

Here is the fact: they never told me in advance that they will charge this amount for this reason. They just went ahead and charged the fee without my consent! (no email, no letter)

I understand that I might have opted-in for this option but how come I don't have an option to opt-out?!

NEVER do business with LegalZoom again! I would have paid much less if I went with local lawyer/attorney.

I formed an LLC in Arkansas five years ago, and used LegalZoom. Like others, I was caught unaware by the $159/yr registered agent fee, but that's on me for not reading the fine print. Business practices like subtle costs and mandatory auto-deduct do take away from the credibility of the institution though, and when I asked to cancel my service I was informed of the following:
1. I must maintain a registered agent service through legalzoom until I dissolve my LLC
2. To dissolve my LLC I must pay $338
3. After paying, I was informed they couldn't complete my order because of unpaid state taxes.
4. They instructed me to contact Arkansas tax folks to figure out I owed $150/yr for each year of the LLC's life, now complete with late fees for four of the years.
My main complaint is that every year my LegalZoom dashboard said "No additional filing requirements". So not only do I have all these fees, but the actual registered agent never informed me of taxes I needed to pay the state, nor were they proactive about telling me before I paid the $338 to dissolve. I'm just glad I found this out now before I had 15 years of back taxes due.

I reached out to LZ customer service and had a nice conversation with them about what I needed to do. Their customer support is alright, but the problems are driven by their own policies and failures, and I will not see a dime refunded for these expenses that total well over $1000. As of now I have paid the back taxes but I'm still waiting on LZ to finalize the dissolution. Hopefully there are no other mysterious fees.

The attached picture is what showed as due every single month of the year.

Well, 4 years ago I helped a friend of mine to open an Non-profit organization with LegalZoom. Since she didn't have a credit card, I provided it for her for one-time payment only. Now to my amusement, LegalZoom illegally stored my credit card info and charged me every year $159 for their representation services even though i have no affiliation with the Non-profit organization that they created. Moreover, my friend contacted them several times soon after Non-profit was created, and asked to stop their representation. They said it will automatically stop after 1 year is passed. I'm considering a legal action, or perhaps a Class Lawsuit Action against LegalZoom for their fraudulent illegal practices. Please contact me to join: [protected]@gmail.com.

I fills out the online form to have an attorney contact me in my area. I set up an appointment time in the morning to have an attorney call me and they called me an hour later than my scheduled time. I was told that an attorney couldn't call me until later that afternoon, when the attorney finally contacted me 30 min late, He was rude, did not identity himself by name, offered no advice other than I would need $1000. As soon as I explained that I was a stay at home mother of 4, with no income, he stated "well you can contact us when you can afford it", I asked if i could file then paperwork myself, and he said "no, I wouldn't make that gamble", and i asked why not, he said, "I guess you don't need to be speaking to me if you know what you're doing." And he hung up on me! Legal zoom needs to screen which firms they outsource to.

LegalZoom associates did not follow my instructions when filing for a LLC. I call and asked several times that I wanted the LLC to start on January 1st. and how I should set it up. They said fill out online application and someone will contact us. I filled out online application and received my LLC forms from the state 10 days later. Which was October 15th..The start date for my company said October 8th. I contacted Legalzoom and informed them of this mistake and they said there was nothing they could do for us. This mistake cost us over $800.00. I saw there advertised 100 percent satisfaction qaurenteed ad and asked them to honer there gaurentee. I was told that they did nothing wrong and they don't need to reimburse or try to rectify the situation. I had to contact the state myself and try to fix there error and was told that Legalzoom does this a lot. Not only did they not file correctly. They also did not try to even help to fix there error.

Same here! They ran this garbage on me too! I guess this is regular practice. I would recommend anyone to do it themselves. It cot $25 in my state of NJ and not the $300 they charge per year to just forward you emails about when your taxes are due or that it is time to renew with them and give up another $300 for nothing. Sadly these are just lawyers being lawyers and trying to separate you from your money. Sad. I thought they were different, but I guess thieves will always be thieves. They don't provide you with ANY help in getting your self as a registered agent. They make it sound so confusing and such a pain to get it down that they hope to discourage you. SMH... never again... I will go to the local clerk next time and every time for now one when I have a new LLC.

Also to boot, I was told they would PRORATE me the difference after I finally get my change from the state. Horrible customer service! Would never recommend to anyone... EVER!

LegalZoom was the opposite of helpful. I signed up with them to start a sole proprietorship - even had multiple conversations with customer service agents who set my account up with what I was told would be necessary for my business to be up and running. Two months and $165 later, they filed a DBA and did nothing for my actual license. When I called to ask where the license was, they THEN informed me that they do not handle business licenses and only prepared what was necessary for my business name. When I expressed my incredible dismay about the price I paid for a service that is not only ridiculously simple but also not worth $165, I was told that $99 of it was the price of them filing for me. I have wasted large amounts of money now - thinking that I was cleared for a license that they could not get for me. No one bothered to mention that in my conversations prior to placing an order that they set up for me. Now, I am out time AND money, which are incredibly precious in my position. I will NEVER do business with them again, and I will ENSURE everyone that I know stays away from them as well. They were clearly looking to make a quick buck off of someone who was asking for a pie and received a sliver. When I was discussing my concerns with them (very respectfully) I was hung up on by one of their agents as well. Thanks a lot, LegalZoom.

Registered Agent "service" is a scam from Legal Zoom. they made has made an unauthorized charge to my bank account for $159. They sold me a service for which I agreed to pay a stated price. You authorize Legal Zoom to debit your bank account for installments to cover the service you are purchasing. They did not offer me the option to just pay it out up front . 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 did not wait until I recived any 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."

I cannot beleive the length of time legal zoom has been robbing me of $7.99 per month since july 2011 till now feb 2013. I incorporated my business in july of 2011 and purchased their corporation package which apparently at the same time, I signed up for a "business advantage" 30 day trial. 31 payments have been charged to my credit card? I did not sign up for this plan past the 30 day trial period. I just checked my legal zoom account information (which I did not know I had) and could not believe my eyes when I discovered their sneaky business practices. I only assume legal zoom hopes know one notices the small charges (which add up!) being logged into their website I tried to cancel online which of course I could not do, rather they give you a phone number to call instead. I will be calling tomorrow morning to attempt to retrieve a refund for the 31 unauthorized charges. To boot, I noticed that my billing information (address) was very old?!?!? How could legal zoom successfully charge my credit card with incorrect billing information? I am definitely not the only one this has happened to. If this has happened to you, please take the 2 minutes to sign up for complaintsboard.com and reply to this comment. Dishonest business practices along with unauthorized charges should make for a valid and successful class action lawsuit. Don"t let these big companies take advantage of hard working americans!

We attempted to use Legal Zoom to get the DBA and other minor business issues dealt with in a timely manner. It has now been
over a year, and they have not completed anything at all.
Furthermore, I paid them up front a one time fee of $99.95 to do all of the work that I requested, they imediately took the money
even thought they had not done anything, and still haven't. Then on top of that, they started billing me an additional $29.95 per month
for reasons that I do not understand. And although I have contacted them, the money is still being taken. I have been forced to put a stop payment and a fraudulent draft on my bank account in order to keepthem out of it. THEY ARE JUST ANOTHER SCAM, JUST DO THE PAPERWORK YOURSELF, ITS EASIER, SIMPLER AND CHEAPER.

I would like to compliment Legalzoom for providing efficient, accurate and professional services in a timely manner. I applied to form an LLC, submitted all of my information, paid the reasonable fee for this service. Within approximately 4 weeks (that was because they handled all of the filings for my state), I received notice that my small business is officially LLC'd. As a Navy Veteran I found this service to be rated "outstanding". My experience was painless, stressless and extremely gratifying. I would reccomend this service to all of my co-Veterans of every branch. Thumbs Up Legalzoom. !

5 days ago, I used legalzoom to set up my LLC. After I placed my order, I got to a confirmation page which I saved. I guess this was a good move, because I never received the confirmation email from them, promised to be sent "shortly". Since I never got the email, I tried checking my order status the day after placing the order, but I was told that my email address/password combination was not valid. I used the "forgot my password" link to receive a link to reset my password, but the email never came. I constantly receive email on my account, so the problem is not on my side. I also know that my order went through, because my bank account was charged immediately after the order was placed. The good thing is that I signed up to pay in 3 installments and I will advice my bank to not clear any additional charges until legalzoom provides a clear update on my status and a detailed timeline until receipt of my documents. HORRRIBLE service...

Hello,
I have logged onto my Legal zoom account and see that I somehow owe money? I paid a fee (rather large one at that) in full to your company for a service. Then I was charged an additional $159.00 that I was not made aware would be charged to my account. I let it go thinking perhaps it was an oversight, but now it is saying that I owe this $159.00 AGAIN?!?! I do no t see how this is in keeping with you "NO SURPRISE FEES" GUARANTEE. The fee is for a Registered Agency renewal fee? I did not or do not wish to have this service. It was absolutely a surprise fee. And the worst part is there is NO option for me to opt out of this service, which seems very shady to me. How can there be no option for me to elect out of a service that I wasn't even aware existed on my account? My faith in your company has been shattered. I would like the charges removed from my account. I would also like to delete or close my account all together. I am extremely disappointed in this service as you state "NO SURPRISE FEES". I have never been so disappointed in a company, especially one that tries to promote the image of "complete transparency" and "No Surprises". I expected more from a company that is suppose to be at the top of their respective industry. I considered myself a loyal customer, but now I don't think I would ever even consider recommending your services to ANYONE. I AM A TOTALLY UNSATISFIED CUSTOMER.

Legalzoom has been charging me for 5 months in the recurring amount of $7.99. I paid over $400 dollars for an LLC to be started, I never knew that they were going to continue to charge month to month. This is very sneaky business and I'm highly disappointed and will not recommend Legalzoom ever again. I was completely happy with the services that they offered, but after this, I'm no longer satisfied with Legalzoom and will never recommend them.

Since registering a Trademark with Legalzoom, I have been getting hit with a $29.99 charge every month on the 13th since 2011. The description for the transactions are "services." I am a fairly cautious buyer and I KNOW I would not have signed up for something that is indefinitely recurring. The answer from Legalzoom will be something along the lines of "you must be getting charged for a service you were unaware you signed up for."

And that's precisely the point. Legalzoom isn't the only entity online pulling these underhanded tactics, but this is the latest scam I've been pulled into and I'm going to attempt asking for a refund for all these fraudulent charges (good luck to me). I know I'm not the only one getting sucked into these fraudulent charges. Class Action lawsuit, anyone?