Is prepaid legal service worth having or is there another way to get basic legal information when you need it free?

Answer 1

Prepaid Legal ServicesPrepaid legal service is a generic term and there are several companies that offer these plans. However they are all variations and offer less service and value than the company that started the concept which is Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. located in Ada, OK.

You pay a monthly membership fee and you have unlimited access to an attorney for your legal questions, traffic ticket representation, will preparation, and other benefits. Only you can determine if a prepaid legal plan will benefit you or your business.

In my opinion anyone with assets to protect, who travels extensively, or has teenage children should seriously consider one of these plans. Also anyone nearing retirement age will will soon be having issues with an area known as Elder Care. The assistance of an attorney is invaluable in preparing for retirement and a prepaid legal plan is one of the cheapest and best ways to access legal advice.

There are numerous sites and bulletin boards on the internet that offer free legal advice. The problem is that they do not have access to all of the paperwork or information concerning your particular situation and it is not unusual to receive conflicting answers. In general this type of advice is worth what you have paid, zero.

Here is more input:

• I tried the service I am unsatisfied with the service. Attorneys are very rude and when you them question about youre legal issues they will just answer yes or no they will not really explain the full details to you. But for the people that are selling the service they just want their commission other than that you are just wasting money.
• All those who are bashing this amazing life changing company are wrong. Pre-Paid Legal Services is changing lives for millions of people whether through only the services or through the business opportunity as well. It is an awesome company that gives piece of mind to any who see's the value in this incredible company. It also puts you in a position to profit and make the life you usually would only dream of. My huband and I have been involved with Pre-Paid Legal for only 5 months and have already seen GREAT things, not only with the services but with the business opportunity as well. They are an open book. Check them out on the nyse.com ticker symbol PPD.

• I HAVE BEEN VERY, VERY UNSATISFIED W/PPD. THEIR ATTYS ARE OVERWORKED, AND IN MOST INSTANCES NEWLY LICENSED. ONE LETTER, THATS ALL. SHOULD THAT ONE LETTER NOT FULFILL ALL YOUR NEEDS OR THE LETTER MERITS A RESPONSE, THEN THE METER STARTS TICKING.

• In my opinion, a legal plan is worth it. I have friends who are attorneys and I can't afford to go to them. Most Americans have legal situations or questions arise periodically. Most can't afford an attorney. A legal service plan makes the rich man's game affordable to middle americans. It is true that a legal plan has limitations. That's nothing new in the marketplace. So does healthcare, auto, home and other forms of insurance. However, consider the alternative...$200 - $400 or more an hour. And another thing to consider that's a plus with a legal plan; most have a section of their plan that offers a discount on attorney fees of at least 25%. Consider this: do you have the clout to go out and get a quality attorney to give you a discount on their fees of at least 25%? Think of it in terms of dollars and cents...at $200 an hour, just a 25% discount amounts to $50 an hour off the usual fee. That's quite a savings! So in short, a pre-paid legal service plan can save you a bundle. I've saved $1000's by spending $26 a month. Think that's just too darn expensive? How much do you pay for car or health insurance? How often do you use your insurances? Do your premiums change if you use them? Are you penalized for using them? You won't be with a legal plan. Many keep their price to you at the same price over the years.

• "Consider this: do you have the clout to go out and get a quality attorney to give you a discount on their fees of at least 25%?" Are you getting the same 'quality" attorney with PPD OR are you getting a rookie? Quality is a variable. PPD has a VERY limited value. IF you can pay $26.00 a month to have a cookie cutter will drawn up for you, GO for it. Good Luck

• I have used pre-paid legal for questions and got quick responses. I needed a letter and it was done quickly, however I was involved in a major accident (i was rear ended) and they completed dropped the ball, no return phone calls, no updates. i had to call on a daily basis but never got to talk to my attorney. made phone appointments that were hardly kept. finally my attorney said "basically, the company doesnt make money handling auto accidents." so there you have it. it still is not settled, 5+ years and counting!

• I absolutely think that the services provided by Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. out of ADA, OK is of tremendous value! I have looked at other plans and none compare! I am a business owner who spent thousands of dollars on legal fees for simple contract and document review, advice (being charged hourly rates on the phone etc.) I use my PPL plan for both business and personal needs. I have been extremely impressed with the Quality of Attorneys that I have worked with. Many with MANY years experience and most firms are AV rated (the best rating to get). They call me back within an hour or two of my call. They have assisted me in collecting thousands of dollars in fees from customers, who ignored me for more then 2 years. Once they got a letter from my attorney, the check was in the mail!!! They helped me with a small claims suit against the former owners of our home. They also advised us on a discrimination case at my husband's office. All of the above was included in my monthly fee! I will NEVER be without a Pre-Paid Legal Membership. I am sorry that some of you on this had a bad experience, and I am extremely surprised. However, they have over 1.5 million customers and I have only found up to 5 complaints on many of these boards to date. So those odds are pretty good.

• It is the best way to have accees to an attorney if you cannot afford one on a regular basis. In my experiences the lawfirm has always responded quickly and each situation in which I needed legal help was resolved to my satisfaction. I have read some complaints on the internet where customers were unsatisfied because of limits to the Pre-paid Legal plan such as only one letter offered per issue or only receiving a discount to the regular hourly rate for certain issues (which are described in the membership agreement). The way I see it, you save money whenever you use the plan, because the annual cost for membership dues are often less than the hourly fee of attorneys of the same caliber. My point is that I never even considered using an attorney before I had this service because I simply cannot afford one. Attorneys at private law firms can "milk the clock" so to speak in order to squeeze more cash out of their clients. The pre-paid legal attorneys have already received their payment so they spend 100% of their time resolving your issue and not their paycheck.
• At one point, I used pre-paid legal but I ended up canceling the service after about one year of using them. I used them a couple of times during my year membership and I felt like the lawyers were trying to do the minimum possible to get you off the phone. From my research, the law firm is paid the same amount of money each month so if they spend 5 minutes or 5 hours they'll make the same. In the end, I ended up resolving the legal issues on my own without the pre-paid legal attorney's help. The major downside to this service is only, you, the client can contact the pre-paid attorney. Thus, if you're in a legal situation, you'll have to deal with the oppositions attorney and then funnel all the information to the pre-paid legal attorney. This could lead to a compromise to your legal situation. The old saying applys here, "if it's too good to be true, it probably is".

• Getting benefits from PrePaid is like pulling teeth. Because they make more money if they do not have to render free services, it seems they will try to prevent you from using the free trial and pretrial services offered, and use any loophole.

• I bought the Entrepreneur plan for $49/month, thinking it would cover business exposures. Later I was sued. Because the suit named my business instead of me personally, Pre Paid Legal refused to honor my guaranteed hours of pretrial and trial. But that's what entrepreneurs do by definition -- have businesses. They said I was covered under the 25% discount. Let's face it - no one buys this plan for a 25% discount on the lawyer's hourly rate.
• So I canceled the entrepreneur plan and got two other plans: one personal plan, and one for my business, thinking I'd be covered no matter what. Right? Wrong! I have been paying $100 per month for many years.
• Recently I was sued again. PrePaid Legal would not honor my free hours of representation benefits, as the suit was filed against me personally, and my personal plan does not cover the business matters. Again, I was told I only had to pay 75% of the attorney's hourly wage.
• The fact that I have both a business and a personal plan does not seem to matter.
• The principals of the firm even contested my coverage with corporate in OK. Corporate told me over the phone that I could not use my free hours of representation, but for completely different reasons: the lawsuit was "baseless." They also said they do not cover small claims court, only State (district) court, or federal court. But small claims is a division of district court.
• I did not get anything in writing from PLL explaining this, or why the suit was deemed "baseless". But the local PPL law firm got a letter stating they did not have to provide me the free hours of trial and pretrial.
• Additionally, the attorney I spoke with at PrePaid Legal told me that small claims is meant for people to represent themselves. He told me that small claims judges side against people who bring attorneys, and encouraged me to not have representation.
• I related this exchange to a local attorney and he was irate. He said to contact the bar association and the insurance commissioner of both Oklahoma and my own state. He said that I never should have been advised to go to court without representation and people get sued personally for business stuff all the time.
• I have had several other disappointing experiences with PrePaid legal. They have, in the past, outright refused to advise me, wrote a letter that was so terribly inaccurate that it hurt rather than helped, and have repeatedly misspelled the name of the opposing parties.
• The claims department does not take phone calls - ever. My fax to that department went unacknowledged. The only people you can speak to are Customer Service, who are merely hourly workers who act as buffers between claims department and the dissatisfied customers. While their chant is "We're here to help", they merely call claims, come back and relay the decision to you. If you object, they say "I'm sorry you feel that way" "I cannot change the decision" or "I wish I could help, but I can't". The fact the claims is not available to speak with policy holders does not auger well.
• I have read about class action suits against PPL and agree with the person above that there should we should try for one ourselves. Unfortunately the only entity who has the contact information for PPL dissatisfied customers is PPL.
• I think anyone that has a problem with PPL Membership just got the bad attorneys. Everyone knows there are bad attorneys no matter where you are. and they cover so much with the membership. The associate thing is because they couldn't repeat what any one that was teaching them taught them. I am 20yrs old and i wont give up the company. I think anyone should try it because even if you only get one person you just got what you paid an also made your first profit.