In August of 2011 a good salesman for ExpertHub suckered me into purchasing a listing for estate planning lawyers on Nolo’s website at www.nolo.com.  Here’s a link to my listing.  The “referrals” I got from my listing on Nolo were of no use to me and did not result in a single dollar of income.

I paid ExperHub $750 eight months ago in return for which I would get a listing for estate planning probate and commercial real estate lawyers when people looked for that type of lawyer in Maricopa County, Arizona.  If somebody left an online inquiry about that type of legal service ExpertHub charged me $25 and sent me an email message with the text entered by the prospective client.

Here is a sample of some of the “leads” ExpertHub emailed to me:

  • Father and grandfather passed away on the 2nd. We would like some assistance with the estate and paying final bills and distributing what remains of the estate.
  • Misty said she was underage when her father died and his ashes were given to another person. Now that she is older she wants to get her fathers ashes back. But this other person will not give them back to her.
  • Significant other has been diagnosed with life threatening illness. Need to know how to protect assets upon death. is marriage the only solution?
  • Do I need a living revocable trust if my son is listed on all my accounts as the beneficiary?
  • father died, assigned girlfriend personal rep., she wont answer our calls
  • Review purchase and sales contract to see if earnest money can be returned.
  • My Aunt died and has no will.

The next one is my favorite.

  • I have a judgement against me for $160,000. I am single and make $10 an hour and will not be able to pay this back in my lifetime but what would happen if I were to marry a man with substantial assets? Will he also become liable for my judgement?

Bottom Line

In my opinion the $750 I paid ExpertHub in August of 2011 was a complete waste of money.  Now to add insult to injury I recently reviewed my March 2012 Amex account and saw that ExpertHub charged me another $750 last month. On April 20, 2012, I called ExpertHub and sent an email message asking to cancel my account immediately and refund my $750.  Today I got this message from Maria Albano, ExpertHub’s Billing Analyst, Ad Services Manager:

“We received your request for cancellation that was sent to our Customer Service department on April 20, 2012.

 Per our Terms and Conditions, our Advertising fees are non-refundable. Nolo/ExpertHub will terminate the automatic renewal of services and charges at any time, provided that Company delivers written notice to Nolo/ExpertHub by confirmed email, fax or letter at least two business days prior to the start of the next billing cycle date if paying on a flat rate or before the account balance reaches $0 if paying per lead.

 Because your request came in 4 weeks after we replenished your account on 3/13/12, and after the requirement of notification before your account balance reached $0, I am unable to issue the requested refund. I did however set your profile to deactivate upon reaching $0 balance and you will not incur further charges.

 You will be hearing from your Account Representative Dan Haight on our team for feedback and perhaps to offer suggestions for altering your Campaign to retain better results.

ExpertHub never sent me an email with an invoice that showed the charges and the balance remaining in the account.  Why do you suppose it didn’t do that?  ExpertHub never sent me a notice that my account would automatically renew and be charged $750 unless I cancelled before a certain date.  Nor did it send me a message that it had charged my credit card and renewed my account.  Why didn’t ExpertHub use the power of technology to keep me informed about the status of my account at least once a month.  P U!

Nolo vs. Avvo

For over a year I paid Avvo over $200/month for a priority attorney listing on its website.  I had the same result with Avvo, i.e., a complete waste of my money.  I do not recommend that any attorney pay money to Nolo / Experthub  or Avvo to get client prospects.  My opinion is that the primary reason prospective clients use these types of services is because they are looking for free legal advice.  If your experience is different, please comment.