I have used document preparation services before, however it's been awhile and the service I used retired. So when it came time for my wife to adopt my daughter, seemed like I needed to find another. DIYD seemed to be the place for me, quick information input online, available for questions via chat, no sweat. I didn't want to have to take the time to prepare them or investigate the process, this comes with step by step instructions, worth the money, right? Wrong.
First I completed the required information in the form and submitted payment. I received an email a bit later that my documents were completed and sent and to check the junk mail. Nothing. I emailed back that I did not receive them and the response was something along the lines of sorry we sent the wrong email - I should have just said your payment was processed. Okay no big deal. Next day I get the documents and immediately notice not one, but two typos. When someone types a name a certain way, best to not assume it is an error and rather how that person's legal name is. Also one digit on the address was wrong. No big deal, the documents are in Word, so I pop them up and decide I best read through all to catch anything else. There were several errors, one of which I had to go into chat to clarify, so the preparing party admitted she did it wrong. I will say she offered to change it and send it back but I was already deep into editing all of her other mistakes so I said no I'll do it.
Now I have all the documents completed and I'm printing them out, along with the instructions. In order to make sure I understand everything fully I am flagging documents, making notes and reading the instructions as I go through. I find the instructions are not clear on much, including what to do with a few documents I have been provided. I go onto the chat again, and am asked to call. After taking about 15 minutes of walking through the instructions with her, as she edits the instruction document on the other end, I have a good idea of what I need to do. I secure notaries, get everything lined up and ready to go to the court, and leave work early to file the documents. Unbeknownst to us the ex-parte department had very limited hours and we were forced to come back the next day.
One of the documents her instructions indicates that the Commissioner will complete the document (Order Directing Filing of Post-Placement Report). Upon presentation to the Commissioner it was clear that no, she wasn't going to sign it because it wasn't completed AND she was just about fed up with the document preparation services as she yelled that we needed to hire a lawyer. I attempted to get DYID on chat, but despite it being the time that they indicated chat was available, there was no one to help me.
Some googling (ok a LOT of googling) around and I found that we were supposed to locate and secure an independent adoption social worker to complete the post-placement report, and were supposed to provide their name in that space with their resume/credentials attached. No where in the DIYD instructions was that indicated. Now here we are, at the office in the limited hours with no way of knowing that the document needed that information prior to being presented to the Commissioner. I tried chat again and was able to get a response in which I informed them the situation and how the instructions were not clear. The response I received was basically sorry, the rules and law change and we didn't know.
With each interaction the person's name was Amy. This is a one woman show here people, and quite honestly that would be fine if she was capable of doing it all. I don't think saying that you didn't know is a justifiable response considering the service you are to provide is knowing the law, the courts and the process so that you can facilitate people doing this without a lawyer.
I am HIGHLY disappointed to have spent the money having DIYD prepare incorrect and incomplete documents with incorrect instructions and basically a shrug when told they were wrong. Worst part is because it is a one woman show there is no one to complain to, other than Yelp and BBB...which is next. read more