Merrill Schneider

Was left completely in the dark for the two-years his office worked for me. I was reassured with false promises. Important documentation/discovery was never made. Merril himself treated me as though I was "faking" my disability & even hinted at such during my ALJ hearing! I lost my hearing and his f...irm decided at the last minute not to file an appeal, so now I am forced to file a new claim!

Schneider says on tv we take the tough cases,maybe they do but when it comes time to fight for the client they Quit ! They gave up on my appeal after three years of dealing with them never hear from them for months on end no up dates no nothing. All I can say is don't trust Schneider law with your ...life , find a law firm who cares about you and wants to do the best job possible for you. Mike

Beware of this Jekyll & Hyde personality. He has misled me, failed to keep me properly informed, missed deadlines, refused to return calls & has even used foul language directed towards me. I was eventually forced to terminate him due to his unreliable & increasingly bizarre behavior. Please do yours...elf a favor & stay clear of Merrill Schneider.

This firm could'nt care less about thier customers. I hired them and then there was some paper work to fill out for Social Security. I had questions...I called the firm and left a message. No response....called again and same thing happened. I filled out form without the help I feel I hired them for.... Then I get a phone call from them as they needed info. I explained that I hired them and when I call I expect a response with in a week. She assured me they would. Some weeks later we played the same game of me calling with no response. Again they called some weeks later with another question. I informed her that I was not happey with their practice and this was the last time we would do this or I would fire them... I must say she was typing as I said this and she sounded as if she did.nt care. Some weeks later the same game was played. I hired a new lawyer and he showed me how to fire Mr. schneider. They then called with in the same week and wanted to know what the problem was and could they fix it. I told them and said NO. They then sent a request to Social Security asking for money should I recieve money. They asked for monies that they claim I used their firm long before I walked into their office. Stay away from this firm.

I was a client of Merrill Schneider for approximately 2 years. At first I thought all was well. As time went on I became concerned at the lack of information from his office. I never received any form of written progress/status reports & would go for several months without hearing from them. When I w...ould call for an update I was usually required to leave a message, but often would not receive a reply. I eventually received a check from SSA for an amount that I had not expected. I immediately contacted my attorneys office to find out what this check was for & if it was correct. They did not know, but would look into it. I never received any notification from the SSA or my attorneys office of what this payment was for or how it had been calculated. I was later informed by Merrill Schneider that this was my "Award" and that it was mine to repay bills with, etc. Several months later I received a letter from SSA that an overpayment had been issued & that I needed to return this amount or they would discontinue my checks until the balance had been paid. About this time I also received a letter that my attorney was seeking a higher level of compensation than what the SSA had approved. I questioned my attorney on this billing request to verify who was responsible for paying it. I was informed that the SSA would pay the bill & that I was in no way responsible for paying it. I informed him that I was concerned that the bill would have been sent to me which would go against the original contract that all attorney work would be performed on a contingency basis. I also stated that I did not have the means to pay this bill. I was assured once again that I was not expected to pay the bill. Approximately one week later I was contacted by an office secretary who informed me that due to an error by the SSA that I was required to now pay the bill that I had previously been assured would not be my responsibility. I requested to speak directly with Merrill Schneider & was transferred to his line. I began to explain to Merrill what was happening & that this billing is against our contingency basis agreement. At this point Merrill Schneider began screaming profanities at me through the phone. I was shocked at this sudden & unexpected response. I informed Merrill Schneider that I did not appreciate the tone of this call & to call me back after he had calmed down. I then hung up the phone. I did receive a call back the following day. At this time I again requested information on what needed to be done on the previous overpayment letter that I had sent to the attorneys office earlier. I was disappointed to learn that Merrill Schneider had no knowledge of this letter or situation even though he & I had discussed it approximately 1.5 weeks earlier. He assured me that he would look into it & have an answer for me the following day. He never called back. On the following day I left a message for him to call me. I did the same on the day after, etc. Approximately 3-4 days later, a receptionist called to inform me that Merrill Schneider had decided to refuse to talk to me further unless I agree to pay his extra bill. This is the same bill that I had been assured on several occasions & by Merrill himself, that I would not be responsible for. Meanwhile he had stalled long enough to miss filing an appeal to the overpayment notice. I am now in the process of working with the SSA on my own to remedy this situation. It appears that the overpayment is due to Merrill Schneider’s office inputting incorrect information on one of my application forms.