TL;DR: My wife and I had a will made by a lawyer. Lawyer estimated an amount. Got bill in mail for 2.5 times more than estimated amount. Now I'm pissed. Is there anything I can do?
Longer version:
We met with a lawyer for an hour to discuss our estate planning documents. Later that night he sent us an email which summarized our discussion of what we wanted in our will. He gave us an estimate of $700 to $1,000. Based on what I found online, that is a reasonable price for a will, so we gave the okay to proceed. The following day, I was looking through the email more thoroughly and noticed he had a name spelled wrong and it would probably be a good idea to add any children we may have or adopt to the documents. He said he'll make the changes.
A week goes by, they tell us they have the documents ready to sign. We go in, sign all the documents and are done. I ask when will we receive the bill. They said they bill at the end of each month. Fast forward 2 months...(we sent several emails inquiring as to the whereabouts of this bill after the first month lapsed) Finally get the bill in the mail. I expect to see an amount around $1,000, however was shocked to read $2,500! What the hell!?
They had a summary of charges as follows:
- 3/11: Meet with Mustache_In_Training to discuss preparation of will ______Lawyer we spoke to _________ 1 hr
- 3/12: Begin preparing wills for Mustache_In_Training __________________Some lady I never met________3 hr
- 3/13: Revise documents per Mustache_In_Training comments ___________Some lady I never met________1 hr
- 3/14: Review draft of wills _______________________________________Lawyer we spoke to__________0.25 hr
- 3/16: Revise documents _____________________________ ___________Some lady I never met________2 hr
- 3/18: Prepare cover letter_____________________________ __________Some lady I never met________0.5 hr
- 4/10: Attend to signing of documents_____________________________ _Lawyer we spoke to__________0.75 hr
Rate for both people was $295/hour. Total $2,507.50
I don't know if I should just bend over and take this? Do I have a choice? I would have liked some warning if they knew we had far surpassed the estimated amount by 2.5 times! Had they provided me an estimate of $2,500, I would have laughed and found someone else. I feel like a victim of switch and bait. I restrained myself from sending an email last night, I wanted to cool off and gather feedback from smart people (yourselves).