team-member

Keating Simons

Charleston, SC

Licensed for 29 years

Law Degree

Awards

Primary Practice Area

Business

Language

English

About

Practices Areas

Business

Litigation

Real Estate

Language

English

Contact

Simons & Dean147 Wappoo Creek Dr Ste 604Charleston, SC, 29412-2157147 Wappoo Creek Dr Ste 604Charleston, SC, 29412-2157

Office: N/A

Website: N/A

Reviews

anonymous
April 6, 2016

I was served papers informing me of foreclosure on a property I own, though I live out of town. I never received any prior correspondence from either the HOA or Mr. Dean's office. I tried calling his office multiple times the next day, and no phone calls were returned. I made an initial offer to resolve the suit, and it took 11 days for him to let me know that he had not yet received word from the HOA on their counter offer. He indicated on that message that he would follow up that same day. Two weeks later, after I contacted him asking the status of the negotiation, he claimed that he thought the process was being held up as they were awaiting additional information from me. In the meantime during the 2 week lapse in communication, I was charged an additional several hundred dollars in legal fees, essentially due to his delay. When I called to discuss this with him, his reason was that he was "too busy" to attend to it sooner. So for all intents and purposes, his delay increased my bill to the HOA and only padded his own revenue as a result. He essentially admitted that there were many things that were not done on his office's behalf, and all but admitted to making a conscious choice not to move faster. Despite this, he took no financial accountability for that problem, as he could have waived his own fees for services that rendered no results to anyone! He finally offered the option of additional negotiation, but indicated that there would be no consideration of a new offer from the HOA. In this way, he further discouraged me from continuing negotiations, despite suggesting that a mutually agreeable settlement would be reached in initial contacts about 6 weeks prior. If there was only going to be one offer considered and counter made by the HOA, this could have all been taken care of at least 3-4 weeks sooner. He said that there was nothing stopping me from sending some payment sooner, which was also not true, as I asked on multiple occasions for the address and payee for remittance of what I owed, but never was this information provided! Again, this delay essentially only increased his fees, which on more than one occasion he used as another threat to discourage my further pursuit of the matter. I left multiple messages with his office staff throughout the past 6 weeks, requesting a phone call- none of which were returned. He was unavailable during times that I'd set to contact him and neglected to tell me that he would be unavailable during those proposed times. Even in my most recent interaction with him, he said he would call during set window, but I was the one who had to initiate the call. During our 20-30 minute phone conversation, he repeatedly interrupted me, talked over me, and gave false information regarding the situation, what he'd said and intended, and what he felt I had not done in the process of trying to resolve the issue, despite my written record in emails and invoices from his office. An exasperating and unsatisfactory experience that could have been avoided weeks, if not months, ago, which appears to be due to his office's negligence.

scott
April 30, 2015

Quite possibly the worst and least professional Attorneys office I have ever dealt with. This group is trying to tell me I should NOT contact a property owners association who I did not know even existed about dues they say I haven't paid this year (I have never made a payment to this entity for the 5 years I owned this home, always a monthly payment to the HOA). Obviously incorrect on many things when the office says we represent someone that the lawyer five minutes later says we do not represent. I have never been more foggy concerning moneys owed in my life. Terrible lawyers group.

anonymous
April 6, 2016

I was served papers informing me of foreclosure on a property I own, though I live out of town. I never received any prior correspondence from either the HOA or Mr. Dean's office. I tried calling his office multiple times the next day, and no phone calls were returned. I made an initial offer to resolve the suit, and it took 11 days for him to let me know that he had not yet received word from the HOA on their counter offer. He indicated on that message that he would follow up that same day. Two weeks later, after I contacted him asking the status of the negotiation, he claimed that he thought the process was being held up as they were awaiting additional information from me. In the meantime during the 2 week lapse in communication, I was charged an additional several hundred dollars in legal fees, essentially due to his delay. When I called to discuss this with him, his reason was that he was "too busy" to attend to it sooner. So for all intents and purposes, his delay increased my bill to the HOA and only padded his own revenue as a result. He essentially admitted that there were many things that were not done on his office's behalf, and all but admitted to making a conscious choice not to move faster. Despite this, he took no financial accountability for that problem, as he could have waived his own fees for services that rendered no results to anyone! He finally offered the option of additional negotiation, but indicated that there would be no consideration of a new offer from the HOA. In this way, he further discouraged me from continuing negotiations, despite suggesting that a mutually agreeable settlement would be reached in initial contacts about 6 weeks prior. If there was only going to be one offer considered and counter made by the HOA, this could have all been taken care of at least 3-4 weeks sooner. He said that there was nothing stopping me from sending some payment sooner, which was also not true, as I asked on multiple occasions for the address and payee for remittance of what I owed, but never was this information provided! Again, this delay essentially only increased his fees, which on more than one occasion he used as another threat to discourage my further pursuit of the matter. I left multiple messages with his office staff throughout the past 6 weeks, requesting a phone call- none of which were returned. He was unavailable during times that I'd set to contact him and neglected to tell me that he would be unavailable during those proposed times. Even in my most recent interaction with him, he said he would call during set window, but I was the one who had to initiate the call. During our 20-30 minute phone conversation, he repeatedly interrupted me, talked over me, and gave false information regarding the situation, what he'd said and intended, and what he felt I had not done in the process of trying to resolve the issue, despite my written record in emails and invoices from his office. An exasperating and unsatisfactory experience that could have been avoided weeks, if not months, ago, which appears to be due to his office's negligence.

scott
April 30, 2015

Quite possibly the worst and least professional Attorneys office I have ever dealt with. This group is trying to tell me I should NOT contact a property owners association who I did not know even existed about dues they say I haven't paid this year (I have never made a payment to this entity for the 5 years I owned this home, always a monthly payment to the HOA). Obviously incorrect on many things when the office says we represent someone that the lawyer five minutes later says we do not represent. I have never been more foggy concerning moneys owed in my life. Terrible lawyers group.

anonymous
April 6, 2016

I was served papers informing me of foreclosure on a property I own, though I live out of town. I never received any prior correspondence from either the HOA or Mr. Dean's office. I tried calling his office multiple times the next day, and no phone calls were returned. I made an initial offer to resolve the suit, and it took 11 days for him to let me know that he had not yet received word from the HOA on their counter offer. He indicated on that message that he would follow up that same day. Two weeks later, after I contacted him asking the status of the negotiation, he claimed that he thought the process was being held up as they were awaiting additional information from me. In the meantime during the 2 week lapse in communication, I was charged an additional several hundred dollars in legal fees, essentially due to his delay. When I called to discuss this with him, his reason was that he was "too busy" to attend to it sooner. So for all intents and purposes, his delay increased my bill to the HOA and only padded his own revenue as a result. He essentially admitted that there were many things that were not done on his office's behalf, and all but admitted to making a conscious choice not to move faster. Despite this, he took no financial accountability for that problem, as he could have waived his own fees for services that rendered no results to anyone! He finally offered the option of additional negotiation, but indicated that there would be no consideration of a new offer from the HOA. In this way, he further discouraged me from continuing negotiations, despite suggesting that a mutually agreeable settlement would be reached in initial contacts about 6 weeks prior. If there was only going to be one offer considered and counter made by the HOA, this could have all been taken care of at least 3-4 weeks sooner. He said that there was nothing stopping me from sending some payment sooner, which was also not true, as I asked on multiple occasions for the address and payee for remittance of what I owed, but never was this information provided! Again, this delay essentially only increased his fees, which on more than one occasion he used as another threat to discourage my further pursuit of the matter. I left multiple messages with his office staff throughout the past 6 weeks, requesting a phone call- none of which were returned. He was unavailable during times that I'd set to contact him and neglected to tell me that he would be unavailable during those proposed times. Even in my most recent interaction with him, he said he would call during set window, but I was the one who had to initiate the call. During our 20-30 minute phone conversation, he repeatedly interrupted me, talked over me, and gave false information regarding the situation, what he'd said and intended, and what he felt I had not done in the process of trying to resolve the issue, despite my written record in emails and invoices from his office. An exasperating and unsatisfactory experience that could have been avoided weeks, if not months, ago, which appears to be due to his office's negligence.

scott
April 30, 2015

Quite possibly the worst and least professional Attorneys office I have ever dealt with. This group is trying to tell me I should NOT contact a property owners association who I did not know even existed about dues they say I haven't paid this year (I have never made a payment to this entity for the 5 years I owned this home, always a monthly payment to the HOA). Obviously incorrect on many things when the office says we represent someone that the lawyer five minutes later says we do not represent. I have never been more foggy concerning moneys owed in my life. Terrible lawyers group.