TLDR (EDIT): If any service provider refuses to send you their contract (and insists on live…read morereview, then prompt agreement/payment), that's not a RED FLAG, that's a RED BANNER... not to mention illegal! You have every right to review contracts on your own time, including with your own counsel (IF you so choose).
Please beware of shady business practices and protect yourself. If a business relationship starts like this, it speaks volumes about the character of who you are in business with.
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If you're looking for an accountant who thinks that selling you on his services through his own 'required' 2-step sales process (reinforced multiple times as a "free consultation"/ doing you a favor), then you've found your match.
Dario makes it clear throughout his sales process that he's providing you a "free" service & consultation by selling/ informing you of his services (completely bizarre by any normal sales standards). Beyond that, he truly believes it reinforces his value to charge transactional fees - like cancellation fees - for new client consults (folks that haven't even signed up with him yet!)
Clearly a misguided attempt to appear valuable while losing the forest for the trees. To his credit, Dario seems knowledgeable (maybe?), but his approach leaves much to be desired.
While touting ,"white glove"/ relationship-based, his actions denonstrate that he's highly transactional and "pay-for-play" - not exactly what you'd expect from a thought partner in high-level professional services.
Further, he refuses to share his legal contract (extremely unusual business practice - if not teetering on legal/ ethical boundaries). He will review it with you live (ok, fine), but he'll only send it to you if you agree to pay immediately!
In fact, he demanded I pay $430/ hour BEFORE I even signed up - simply because I asked for the DocuSign contract and requested to pay upon onboarding in January, which was previously agreed upon. Per his note, I "exhausted my 2 free sales consults", and any further requests - like a Docusign contract - required a ~$500/hr consult fee.
Folks, this is bizarro land territory, as I was not requesting any free advice beyond a contract that he guards closely due to irrational competitor fears, which he freely acknowledged.
In short, Dario is probably a good accountant (maybe?), but a terribly misguided business person, highly transactional, and not the right choice if youre seeking a thought partner.
After his last absurd note regarding a consult fee in exchange for the DocuSign, I resolved it wasn't a fit for me and decided to move on. Then, I received a note from his assistant to the same effect (um...ok!)
This further reinforced my impression that Dario is myopic, focused on payment rather than providing value as a partner, and likely to be self-serving/ problematic in the long run, even if his technical work might be sound (unknown?).
Best of luck if you go this route (be prepared to pay an exorbitant setup fee, above industry standards, AND a creative $700 cancellation fee). Otherwise, you'll find plenty of stronger /relationship-based alternatives - happy to help as I've done extensive research.
