|
|
Read my Sory
|
|
I'd like to make some disclaimers first: I am a real person who hired and fully paid Congata for his services; and I say that is because when I was shopping for attorneys, I looked at was reviews and wow does this guy have a lot of positive (fake) reviews (based on my experience with "him" or rather his assistant, since he never showed up himself). Secondly, I am not someone who enjoys bad reviews but I know that paying 2-3K for a lawyer is a lot; I simply don't want you to be mislead like I was. Thirdly, to Michael Congata's hired writer(s), please don't bother consulting me with an empty response to make yourself look better. Fifthly, if its your first DUI, you really don't need a lawyer, and if you do decide to gamble and get one just make sure you don’t pay more $500 (unless you’re going for a specific career in government or such and in that case, I would advise that you select lawyer based on family/friends experiences and not fake online reviews—I called all the lawyers under the sun to shop for the right one and all of them seemed extremely shady)
Pros:
-Michael Cognata will pick up the phone himself the first time a client calls to sell himself to the client. He’ll spend an hour with you on the phone to explain the process throughly and how there are many ways that he will be able to get the DUI removed entirely or that at least he’ll reduced to reckless driving. Anytime you CALL him before you have already PAID, HE will pick up and be really personal and polite. That’s what made Michael stand out for me, more than other lawyers (little did I know!).
Cons:
-After you pay and sign the contract, the only form of communication will be email. Even, if you call him, it will be really short and he’ll divert everything to email. I remember once I had a court appearance that I didn’t need to be present in and I eagerly expected an update from him regarding the case but he didn’t email for a number of days, even though I emailed him so I called him, and was shocked when he told me not to call again and use email.
-He doesn’t keep the client updated about the case, except rarely through email and even then you’re left with a thousand question because he is very short and doesn’t tell you what to do next.
-He sends his assistant to court for him (I guess that annoying since you’re paying for Cognata and he will have you under the impression that he will show up to court himself, but in all seriousness it doesn’t matter because the attorney doesn’t do anything in court, they just show up, hear from the prosecutor, and then deliver the news to you—IF you email them)
-My case was dragged in court for two years (for no apparent reason to me, other than the attorney making you think that they’re actually WORKING for you) and when the police report was available, I got an email saying that they can’t dispute it or dispute the blood sample because everything was done correctly (don’t know if that was the case or they actually didn’t do anything because they already pocketed the money so why bother!).
The straw the broke the camel’s back for me was when after my case was dragged for 2 years and “Michael” coudn’t (or wouldn’t) do anything, he actually emailed me and asked me to provide a legitimate reason to tell the prosecutor to convince him/her to not give my a DUI. Hmm Michael, how about you come up with that on your own, since I paid you almost 3k for that reason solely. Or how about you tell me that before I hire you, that that I need a compelling reason and in that case I could have just represented myself. Seriously, how frustrating! I told him that I am going to pursue higher education. On the day of the case, The assistant took the (college) application from me, and timidly gave it to the prosecutor, then she said no and he came to tell me that. LITERALLY, THAT’S ALL HE DID. Then, BAM, DUI. That was the end of all communication between me and those scammers. Please learn from my terrible mistake and DON'T HIRE HIM.
|
|
|
|
Business's response - by Michael C.on 4/22/2016
|
|
This review reviewed on 3 different sites. Here is the response I made for all of her postings.
Obviously, I never enjoy reading that someone has had a less than pleasurable experience with us. But what we must remember is that all of our cases are criminal cases. As a result, we are not in control of every aspect of the case, no one is. There are case facts, that are handed to me borne from the client's own conduct. There is a prosecutor and a Judge. All of these variables are in play in any criminal case and we must do the best that we can in every case as these variables change from case to case. While it is true that I am a former police officer, prosecutor and Judge protem, and yes we have documented over 1000 cases dismissed for errors or insufficiencies that I have found, obviously, not knowing who made this review, they must not have had any errors, which would have allowed for such a disposition. I personally review all reports and conduct the dismissal issue investigation. I personally do the DMV hearings as well as the negotiations with the prosecutor if no dismissal issue exists. My associate, not my assistant is also a former prosecutor, but the only duty he performs is to hand in the paperwork on the final court date after my negotiations. I do everything that is germane to a client's case. The reality is that some people of dismissal issues we can enjoy. Some have none, but alcohol level is low enough to negotiate a lesser charge and dismiss the DUI. And yet some people of neither and get the DUI conviction, with a mitigated sentence by my negotiations. People with good experiences are so relieved that they don't think about leaving a positive review in some cases. It seems to be only those people who are unhappy of the result. A result based upon facts that we have no control over. Having said that, I NEVER want anyone of our extended family unhappy. If you are reading this response, I encourage you to call me and we can certainly do something for you. No hard feelings. Michael Cognata 888-457-6562
|
|