Question for Hess Kennedy lawyer/employee

Try this number and see if you can get any info. about your case/account.

1-800-336-9811 x110

I hope HK has started the negotiation process with your creditors. Usually, the settlement companies don't begin their process until the accounts are defaulted for a couple of months. Since you have hired HK for the settlement process, they are accountable to you and answering your calls. Hope that you hear from them soon and know about the latest status.

The number given to me for H/K is 954-345-7848. I havent called them yet but would like to know from someone who has.

The Help Desk is available 24/7 "help@hesskennedylaw.com"

Questions presented on Sunday will not be answered till Monday.

Do not be alarmed about more aggressive collection techniques. If your creditor has received a letter of representation, and they contact you a third time, please let us know through email. Send your name, social, the creditors name, telephone number, and extension number if available.

We will file an Attorney General Complaint, as well as a Bar Complaint against their in-house counsel.

I tried to use that email address, but they get returned. I have emailed messages to info(at)hesskennedylaw.com, but they have gone unanswered.

How can I report someone in violation if I have no proof that they have even been contacted by Hess Kennedy?

I would advise you to get out of your contract, using a lawyer if you need to. I have similar experience; when I get calls returned, I get a runaround. I found out they will collect money from you for several months before even starting to pay your creditors. This guarantees defaults going onto your credit record. They have an unsatisfactory record with the Better Busines Bureau. They refuse to give straight answers to questions. Please check out the FTC website on debt management and also your state attorney general's website. Do not hesitate to file complaints or even file a complaint in small claims court, as I am preparing to do. I asked if i changed my mind what recourse or refund I could get -- None! they said, sounding amazed I even asked.

I dont like the fact that until H/K recieves THEIR first payment and access to your bank account, they will not do anything..... It is almost like youd be better off fending for yourself. also their fees are added into your bill and you end up possibly pay more than if you work out something else with the creditor.....

Hess Kennedy Company does not have an unsatisfactory record with the BBB Buff, that is a lie.

How come the HK BBB report always says its being updated? I have been thinking of signing up with HK but there has not once been a BBB report displayed?

I made a personal call to the bbb in central flordia and they told me hess co were not lawyers and they have had several complaints one of which is unpaid money to creditors. Please stay away.

To the Hess Kennedy rep, what is your answer on the BBB issue? How come you guys dont have a rating on their site.....?

The BBB of West Palm Beach is currently re-evaluating our membership because a lawyer referral service that we do business with has an unsatisfactory record with the BBB Orlando.

It was first reported that Hess Kennedy Company refers clients to the company with the unsatisfactory record. We corrected that error. If the BBB decides that they do not want us receiving client referrals from a lawyer referral service with an unsatisfactory record, we will not do business with that company.

With all due respect to the Hess representative, what do you mean? What lawyer referral service? Why would the BBB re-evaluate you based on what a lawyer referral service is doing? Wouldnt they be re-evaluating every lawyer that the lawyer referral service does business with also?

Please be honest with the people here. I encourage everyone to call the BBB and ask them this question for themselves. This is not the answer my wife got when she called the BBB in Florida about HK.

I assure you they are having an issue with a lawyer referral agent that refers business to our firm.

Contact them if you like.

I think a lot of people are signing up with Hess Kennedy and assume they're now in a debt consolidation plan. When no repayment proposals go out to the creditors and no monthly payments are being sent to the creditors, these new clients start assuming they've been robbed.

I just signed up with Hess Kennedy about a month ago after first contacting Consumer credit counseling of America. Due to owing more than $10,000 of unsecured debt (payday loans included in this amount), I was advised that a debt settlement plan would be the most affordable and fastest way to clear my debt. I am aware that my creditors will not be paid off until I have adequate funds in my settlement account to allow Hess Kennedy to start making settlement proposals to my creditors.

I think there is some confusion about the difference between debt consolidation and debt settlement.

im glad that hess worked for you tiffany but unfortunatly many people have not had a good experience especialy now with the knowledge that they're not lawyers but "counselers"

That last one was really dumb and once again false.

The public records of the firm indicate directors that are attorneys as well as the shareholders are all required to be attorneys under Florida law. This information is public record. All negative posters in this forum are employees of other debt settlement companies who are being scrutinized by the various state regulatory agencies.

I once again reiterate, any one who requests additional information may have it. Negotiation with creditors is a heavily regulated industry.

Every Settlement Company that is not properly licensed, or attorney exempt will be out of business soon.

This is the report I read:

http://www.bbb.org/central-florida
archStd.asp

Most of the complaints are regarding unauthorized withdrawals and refund disputes. How would these complaints result from a lawyer referral company. It seems these complaints could only originate from you.

Thats great Guest. That company is not Hess Kennedy Company.

"That last one was really dumb"? This is language from a true lawyer? Really unprofessional.

We have several creditors that say they have not received anything alerting the to the fact we are trying to settle our debt with them. We have recently received a letter stating they are going to sue us for the money owed. No one at Hess Kennedy told me that would be happening. Can someone contact me as to what we do next. We have already invested a lot of money in Hess Kennedy to be hung out to dry. Sharon Robertson

Upset, what is really dumb is making a defamatory statement against Hess Kennedy relating to the Better Business Burea, then posting a link to a reliability report that does not refer to Hess Kennedy Company.

why don't we all stick to the purpose of this forum? stop the silly nonsense and start seeing how we can work together. this kind of back and forth is NOT productive and will serve no purpose. calling each other dumb. that is the dumbest of all.

I live in Louisviile, Kentucky and signed up with Consumer credit counseling which unfortunately signed me up with Hess Kennedy. They are crooked and dishonest and they took money out of my account again even after, a month ago, I wrote and told them I no longer needed their services. They did not help me one bit and did not send me anything copies or statements to any of my creditors that they are suppose to be helping me with here. I am a hardworking individual who cannot afford to pay my bills and Hess Kennedy too, for they are not helpful, but a crooked firm.

Please take my advise and don't do business with Hess Kennedy Law Firm or whoever they are protraying to be as they have really taken advantage of me.

Linda Robinson :x

Does it make any sense that Hess Kennedy never follows up with their clients or sends any proof that they are helping me out? No, it is very unprofessonal and not a way to conduct business when someone is paying them to help them out of their bad financial situation. It also is amazing to me how Consumer Credit Counselors of America are doing business with a shady debt firm like Hess Kennedy. Never again will I trust anything like this and I am completely stupid for doing so.

Has anyone dealt with A.S & Associated phone number 866-331-6161. I had a gentleman call me today and telling me that I need to pay my whole balance to avoid going to small claims court and getting charged all the court cost. I only owe $430.00 and not sure if anyone else has dealt with them. I do not have the whole amount and they said that they can not take partal payment. Any suggestions would be greatful.

Swoozyqz, what is the principal amount you took from A S Associates? Chances are that if the company is doing everything as per your state laws and adding charges within your state laws, they may take the matter to the court. They want to get their money back if they are on the legal side. Request the company for an updated loan statement so that you can review the charges and make payment arrangements. If you must, take some professional advice also.

Thank you Key. I asked and got no response when I asked for written confirmation. He is saying that he is the lawyer for a company that hired him but wanted to work it out with me first. I find that strange that they would demand the money so quickly that is not working with me.

Hess Kennedy never returned a single phone call I made to them. They never returned any communication I ever sent their way. I never was able to talk to a real person on their side of the company. All I ever received was a orientation package. I completely understood the difference between consolidation and negotiation, and it was with that understanding that I hung on for approximately another seven months. I owed $5300. I finally settled the debt myself at half the cost of approx. $7500 (being $4250). This was after a legal firm that collected debts called me. If I knew I could have done it WITHOUT Hess and Kennedy's help I would have never enrolled. They never sent a cease and desist letter to Bank of America, no matter how many times I left the right address on their phones. I am stopping payment on my bank account to their company beause they are in breach of contract and if I actually had any money, I'd sue. This company used to have a phone number in Florida, now it hangs up on you. Everything I can find about this company on the internet reeks of RIPOFF. Thank you Hess Kennedy for stealing my money and doing squat.

Asher, I can understand your frustration. I don't know if it will help you at this point since you've had to do everything yourself, but any time I've sent emails to this address, I've received a reply in a day or two at most. You might get some results in a possible refund of some kind if you email them something along the lines of what you've just posted.

info(at)hesskennedylaw.com

I'm sorry to hear you've had such a bad experience with them. I've made two payments to them so far, and now I'm quite worried.

SHADEN - the email is help@ not info@
Just wanted t0o clarify that, per the hess rep's post

Actually chagrin, I've had a better response time from Hess Kennedy to my emails by using the info@ rather than the help@ email address. Hey, just to ensure the likelihood of getting some results, I would send an email to both the help@ and info@ emaill addresses. It surely cannot hurt.

I don't need to contact them, but thanks

This company sucks. I am in debt over my head now thanks to Hess Kennedy. I am going to sue them, I work too hard to lose that money and I will do everything in my power to stop them. I think we all need to get together and have a class action law suit, sue for money owed to us and to the creditors and any damages caused. I am contacting "a family friend" lawyer on Monday. If anyone is interested in doing so write back on this or I will post that attorneys name that will help us. Sincerley, screwed in Missouri. :twisted:

Hess Kennedy has done nothing for me. They have been taking my money for 8 months, over $1000, and haven't done a thing. I recently learned from Cece that they simply negotiate deals at 55%, and if the creditor won't accept that, then they do nothing. Maybe they're sitting around waiting for the creditors to change their minds? When I signed up with them they said to now inform all my creditors that I have a lawyer representing me. They failed to tell me that they are not litigation lawyers. So if your case makes it to court, they hang you out to dry. You are on your own baby! They are also not licensed to practice law in many of the states they have clients in. So when they send responses in your behalf, they put their name nowhere on the document. They make it look like it all came from you because they can't practice law in your state. Things that are promised in emails and phone calls never come to fruition. Faxes and letters don't get answered. Phone calls don't get returned. You get put on hold for more than an hour and you never get to speak with the person you requested to talk to. Then you get to tell your whole story to at least 5 different people, and you just get the run around. They never squarely answer a question. Rebecca made me wait on hold for her for 97 minutes, and never took my call. She has never responded to any emails. Michael has promised to send me a copy of my file. He did not. He said that he mailed me two different copies of information that I need for court this week, and he did not. He said he would fax it to me right away. He did not. He went out to lunch. Michael is an absolute liar. Please don't send this company any of your money. They just take it, and they treat their clients like pond scum. No human should be treated this way. HK rep, if you respond to this posting this will be the first reply I have ever received. And I'll know that your reply is to simply save your own butt. It won't be because you care about your clients.

All mail gets answered and all clients that listen to the instructions of the attorneys have great success in the process. We have attorney licensed in every state and use them effectively to challenge any violations of the Fair Credit Billing Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and Fair Credit Reporting Act.

I am assuming that this person was harrassed illegaly by original creditors and third party debt collectors and gave up.

Once again, HK gives me the run around and doesn't directly answer any question. My mail, faxes, email, and phone messages do not get answered. I followed HK's directions to a tee. I am not being harassed anymore, because I followed their instructions and had all my mail forwarded to them. There has never been a HK licensed attorney in my state that has given me any help at all, or that has showed up for any of the times I have been called into court. I am constantly told that HK doesn't handle litigation. So, in other words, HK took my money, they have done nothing with it, and when I am in a situation that I badly need an attorney, they are not there. Signing up with HK was the worst move I made in my life. Had I been sending this money to my creditors instead of HK, I wouldn't be in this situation.

I know exactly how u feel Beyond Angry. Stay away cause they took 500.00 from me and i can't get it back. I get put on hold, never have any of my calls returned, never sent out the info they "said they where going to". I'm tired of this and I hope people will read and learn from this. Don't sign and give them any of your money. Have you gotten any money back Beyond Angry? If so how did you do it? I read another lady had cancelled her services with them and they sent her a bill for 9000.00 dollars for services rendered. She said they did nothing. How can they do this? I think they are stupid and just plain old scum! Stay away people!!!

I did get replies to a few of my emails in the beginning, but now I get no response, regardless of which email address I use. When I call, I'm kept on hold for ages, and when I finally do get to speak to someone, they are anything but friendly and helpful, and act as though I'm inconveniencing them by calling.

No communication of any kind has ever been initiated by Hess Kennedy, it's always been done by me, which I don't find acceptable. One of the previous posts said that if a creditor does not accept a negotiation offer, HK makes no further efforts, and I have found this to be the case. At least I would think they would move on to another creditor, but that hasn't happened for me.

The HK rep who responds to posts on here states that all emails and calls are returned, yet I sent an email to four different addresses last week, as well as a fax, to advise that I am terminating my representation agreement with Hess Kennedy, and requesting a full refund due to dissatisfaction with their services, and I have received no response whatsoever. The agreement given to knew clients states that the client can request a full refund if they are not satisfied for any reason. So, I am expecting just that.

My wife and I were referred to Hess Kennedy through Consumer credit counseling in September. We had considerable debt over $30k and they told us every we needed to hear so we signed up and began making payments of $524.00 per month for 60 months. On October 25th I discovered that one of the creditors I had listed with Hess Kennedy had filed a writ of garnishment on my wages and were receiving 25% of my net pay or about $800.00 per month. I contacted Hess Kennedy and advised them of the garnishment. Adam stated that he would contact the attorney of the creditor and have the garnishment removed. For the next 5 weeks I called Hess Kennedy every other day asking for an update on the status of the garnishment removal. Every time I called I talked with Adam or Rebecca and had to explain the entire situation and how imparative it was to have the garnishment removed. Every time they would tell me that they would contact the creditor's attorney and have the garnishment removed and call me back. Hess Kennedy did not have the garnishment removed and they did not call me back. On Decemeber 8th I faxed a letter to Hess Kennedy terminating them as my legal counsel and explaining why. I asked for a refund of funds held in trust for debt settlement purposes. I also advised them that I had contacted my bank and had the automatic withdrawal terminated. I confirmed that Hess Kennedy had received my faxed letter on December 12. Jennifer stated that my service was cancelled and to expect a full refund in 60 days. I was forced to seek relief under Chapter 7 Bankruptcy laws.
On January 23rd I received an invoice from Hess Kennedy for $10,291.50 for services rendered. My attorney says that the alleged debt will be covered by the chapter 7. I will also be filing complaints with the Florida and Washington AGs office. My recommendation to anyone suffering from severe indebtednes and the inability to pay, contact a local attorney first. The first consult is usually free and they will assist you in finding the help you really need.

Well this company is bad and you can smell it when you talk with them on the phone. They have very rude people who don't know how to answer the phone. I've been on hold for the last time with them. I've held for someone like Michael or Debbie and they never come to the phone. They have put me through to some other dept. and I've never really gotten my answers. They took my money and no refund had been made to me. I'm out of 500.00 and will never see it again. Stay away from here. Please!!!!

Hess Kennedy have never given me a direct answer to my questions. they always send an automated answer. I was told that they would immediately send out letters to my creditors as soon as I signed with them. I have gotten replies from my emails right away. I started giving them my money in Sept 2006 and so far I'm still receiving many calls every day from creditors. I asked them to send me a copy of the letter that they sent out but have not received anything from them. However when I do answer calls from my creditors I give them Hess Kennedy's phone number and have not received any more calls from them. My creditors however still send statements and collection notices. I really don't know what to do, now that I have read all the comments from you dissatisfied people. Help me

I can't tell you what to do, but if it were me, I would stop paying Hess Kennedy anything further and either try to work out something with the creditors directly, or get a consultation from a reputable debt consolidation company, who can try to negotiate lower interest rates, and get late and overlimit fees waived.

I would listen to tiffany she is honest and knows how to put this company in their place. I like the ideas she gives and the help. I to, was taken from Hess for 500.00 and will never see it again. I could use the money too. I've had to settle with my creditors and I've done good so far. The other day I settled an account I had. I had a balance for 10,000 and I got them to settle for 2000.00. Now I call that far better then what Hess was doing for me. And I keep my money now and pay towards my bills for settling them down. I hate I ever got up with this company and I've done nothing but cry since I've been here. Nine months and nothiing is all I got with them. They will not send anything out to your creditors and still you will get all the calls and mail. Talk with them on your own and be "Honest with yourself". You'll feel better in the morning. Take it from someone who had and still has debt and I'm dealing with it everyday and going to school and being a fulltime mom and wife. Take one day at a time and do a lot of soul searching for you!! Praying helps me through this tough times as well. Let us know how it goes.

Congratulations on settling such a big debt, mollie. You obviously have the right idea and are running with it. You are a valuable addition to this forum. You are giving people advice and also showing others that even though you were burned, you are picking yourself back up and taking care of business by dealing with your creditors on your own.

You will be able to provide guidance to others on here about how to work with creditors to get a settlement offer accepted.

What happens if the creditors never settle? What, if anything, would h/k do for me then? I get sued for the money and tell the judge "oh but I paid my 121/month to h/k." I'm thinking Ive been had. Hess Kennedy you need to keep your clients in the loop. We are scared and ignorant. You claim to know whats up... let us in on it. Or at least have the decency to call us back once in a while.

I recently signed up with this company, I did receive paper work from them and I have received a phone call from them, however, after reading these reports I am starting to wonder what I have gotten into, help!

cds,
All I can say is read the boards here.Do a board search for Hess and you will see the problems some of their clients have faced. Then you can make your own judgement from there.

Let me ad, re-read your contract

cds - They called me back in the beginning, when they wanted to get me signed up and started debiting my acct., but after a few months of making payments to them, I couldn't get any communication from them, and when I checked the BBB's website and looked at various other complaint sites, they were not looking good. Mind you, I did check them out when I first signed up with them, but they have downward spiraled since then. I can't get them to refund my $548 that was the balance in my settlement acct. when I told them I wanted to discontinue their services. They have not responded to any emails or letters, and when I have called, I was kept on hold for over an hour.... be careful.