Buyer Beware. Please listen to this warning, don't let your emotions get away with you & get sucked in by their sales pitch. The website says they can provide comprehensive legal services "for under $1000." And they do-$999 to be exact.
Mr Darcus calls U & claims to be a family/child advocate for something like 13 yrs & that Ms Grayber has been doing this for at least as long. He lulls you into thinking they are on your side & concerned about you. He goes on to tell you how they will help U, be with U every step of the way, save money, you don't have to pay high attorney fees because they can do the same job, for a lot less money. Steal your money without providing any worthwhile help or services is more like it. The sales pitch convinces U that Y are working with an attorney & they claim to have "a network of attorneys throughout the entire state" This was important to me as my daughter lives in rural California & we needed to make sure that we could get assistance where she lives. I was assured several times, both by Mr Darcus and Ms Grayber that everything would be taken care of. As it turns this is all false.
Even though the company is located in LA, Mr D assured us that they could still file papers in NorCal "using technology." We both asked him about this several times. We were prepared to file ourselves but waited for A-List to come through. We had already gotten forms from the court, started filling them out & asked if we should file what we had or at least send the forms we had already started to them (U can download them http://www.courts.ca.gov/cfcc-familylaw.htm). Again, Mr D said they would take care of it all with "technology" & not to bother submitting anything. Well, waiting for them caused a delay & some of the forms were rejected. When we called Mr Darcus about our filing being rejected, he acted like this was to be expected & "it happens all the time". He said he would have Ms G call us back right away. It has been over a month now & in spite of our attempts to contact them, they still have not followed up.
What did they REALLY provide? They emailed us some partially completed forms from the Superior Court and others that were completely blank. These were forms we had already gotten FOR FREE & ended up completing/filling out ourselves. We paid them for their "expertise" in filling these out! I emailed Ms Grayber about the incomplete forms, but got no reply. Forms I already had, forms we ended up completing ourselves (had already started) & could have submitted earlier b/c we ended up filing the forms anyway. BTW: Their "use of technology" means that they email U the forms, U print them out & U take them to the courthouse yourself.
The contract needs to be canceled within 24-hours & this is where they get U. They are very attentive, several people will call you back during that time, so U trust them & think you are in good hands-until they get your payment in full. They will not release the paperwork or even let you see it until U pay them. Then they send U incomplete/blank forms & never return Ur calls/emails. By the time you realize that they don't deliver what they promise, it's too late.
In essence I ended up paying $999 for some forms I had gotten for free. They didn't even bother to check that they were completely filled out before sending them or bother to fill out some of the forms out at all!
What did we decide to do? We went with an "overpriced attorney" anyway-someone who actually knows the law & follows through. At our very first visit with the attorney, he told us that he could see why the papers were rejected & that some of them weren't even correctly filled out. By the way...he is part of a busy law firm, but still finds time to address any issues that come up with our case. I wish we had contacted him first. Save yourself some time, hassle, maybe even some money & don't bother with these rip-off artists. I wish I hadn't signed up with them-I could have used the $ I paid them for real attorney fees, gotten things done completely & correctly (including having everything filed with the courts on our behalf)!
Read the reviews on the BBB website: http://www.la.bbb.org/business-reviews/Legal-Services/A-List-Legal-Services-in-Encino-CA-13213132. Wish I would have taken the time to read these first. Don't let their denials convince you. I am not sure how the BBB rates companies-I checked their website beforehand & saw that the BBB gave them an A+ rating. I didn't go any further; I should have read the complaints too. I don't see how they got such a high rating...they have questionable business practices & take advantage of U when you are desperate, at your lowest & will do anything to see your baby again! Unfortunately they are no help at all in achieving this! read more