Merrill Schneider

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.