1 Reviews on “Goldstein Bershad and Fried, PC (Southfield, MI) Reviews”
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Jennifer
In March 2024, I received a letter from Goldstein Bershad & Fried about being sued.
I was not served this complaint until 4.25.24, so I did not know what they were referring to.
This was to remove a lawful Mechanics Lien that I placed on Amazon’s leased property in Hazel Park for unpaid work.
The Attorney’s letter was completely misleading. It referred to their work as Attorneys not having to be paid until they won the case, as if they were working in Car Accidents. I am 100% Disabled, my income is SSDI, I do not have anything to pay Wage Thieves Amazon or an Attorney to defend not being paid in the first place.
I made an appointment to meet with one of their Attorneys on May 3, 2024. This was Aaron J. Scheinfield.
I told him immediately that I was legally Deaf, this is NOT why I get SSDI. I also told him that my only income was SSDI and I could not afford an Attorney, nor would Amazon be able to get at my money since it is protected.
Scheinfield read through this complaint, assured me he was able to successfully negotiate with them, get them to settle, and win a “big payday.” Even though I told him about the SSDI income, he wanted to know what “extra money” I had “laying around.” He said I must have some money somewhere that was “hidden” or “no one needed to know about.” This went directly against the letter I had received from this firm. I did not understand their misleading letter, asked about them not being paid until they won or successfully defended the case, and why he was asking me about hidden money. He said, “Oh, not for Civil Cases – we don’t do that.” Which made no sense because they knew about this “civil case” and sent a letter long before I was served.
Sheinfield assured me that he could successfully fight this case and force them to negotiate, so I paid him $400 cash and a check for $1600 of money I had to borrow.
The only agreement that I had with Aaron Sheinfield was to negotiate payment from Amazon, which totaled $20,000. I did not sign for him or ask him to do anything else. The short one-page contract does not mention any other work except for negotiating.
Except immediately, Aaron J. Scheinfield stuck himself in the middle of the emails between myself as a Defendant, and Amazon’s Attorneys as Plaintiff. I did not need him to answer any emails, nor did I request this service. He had back and forth emails with the opposing law firm that I was not included in so he could OVERBILL his hours. Most of these were a sentence or two responses. He acted as an intermediary between myself and the Plaintiff, as in he would send me emails I had to answer, I would send them back to him, answered, he would send them to the Plaintiff. This required NO work on his part, no billable hours, just a way for him to pad the Retainer Agreement.
I also sent Scheinfield eight different emails with questions and/or statements. He did not bother to answer a single one of them.
June 3, 2024, was the ONLY time Aaron J. Scheinfield did what I hired him to do; he sent an email to the Plaintiff asking for payment. This email was well-written and contained about 10 sentences. Except that it was not written for this case, it was a copy and paste email where he inserted the hours due, amounts, and names. It was simply an email; he just had to fill out a few lines, but he could use it in almost any other Civil Case.
Plaintiff pretty much ignored his email. So on June 13, 2024, Scheinfield immediately withdrew his representation.
Again, he was only hired to negotiate the payment from the Plaintiff. He was not hired to be an intermediary or answer and forward emails to me from Amazon’s Attorneys. He used copy and paste, then sent one single email on my behalf, then promptly quit.
This was blatant overbilling. Scheinfield did not remotely complete $2,000 worth of work. No matter how you cut it, a prefilled email is not worth $2,000.
On July 8, 2024, I sent Aaron J. Scheinfield an email stating this. He did not answer for almost two days. Unbelievably, he now stated that no, he did not complete $2,000 worth of Attorney work on my behalf, but almost $4,000. This was outrageous. The fact that he now was able to pad his billing with unnecessary emails, acting as an intermediary that no one asked him to do, emailing the Plaintiff on his own without including me, forwarding to me questionnaires by the Plaintiff, etc.
This was not remotely $2,000 worth of legal work, much less $4,000. Aaron came up with all kinds of false billing, but the ONLY thing he was hired to do was negotiate a settlement, which was only done in one email consisting of 10 sentences. All of the rest were reasons to create fake bills, invoices for things not required of him, emails he never needed to send, and padding, padding, padding.
Further, when I arrived at the offices of Goldstein Bershad & Fried on May 3, 2024, I was checked in by a professional Secretary at the front desk. A few minutes later, I went into a conference room with Aaron J. Sheinfield, Attorney.
Aaron immediately closed the heavy wood door, introduced himself, put his arm on my shoulders, and then embraced me, which was incredibly strange and uncomfortable. I told him I was Legally Deaf, picked out a chair to sit in, asked if that was OK, he sat next to me, and read over my papers. Eventually, after giving multiple shakedowns for “hidden money,” making guarantees of his negotiation skills and promises he could not keep, he left the conference room and walked down the hallway to the right.
Scheinfield was gone for a few minutes; he was talking to the Secretary, but I could not hear what was being said. A bit after, I was surprised that the copy machine was just outside the door to the room I was sitting in, so I wondered why he had gone to speak with the Secretary, I did not give it much thought, though.
After many minutes of copying a few pages and speaking to the Secretary, Aaron J. Scheinfield walked back into the conference room where I was sitting. As he walked in, I stood up out of respect, then went to get the copies of the papers he was holding. But as I did so, Aaron J. Scheinfield immediately grabbed me and wrapped his arms around me for a hug, rocking me back and forth.
This took me completely off guard. I was sort of knocked back and off balance, almost falling. As a Disabled and a Deaf woman, I felt this was totally unprofessional and made me scared to be in a room alone with this man. I thought at least the Secretary was a few rooms away (hint: she wasn’t).
I felt confused that an Attorney would act like this. I did try to hurry and finish this meeting so that I could get out of this room, as I was alone and was now frightened. I did not want this man putting his hands on me again.
Upon walking out of the conference room, I put my papers and folders in front of me in both hands, so that Aaron J. Scheinfield could not go in for another hug or get his arm around me. But as I walked out the door, he instead said “Good-Bye” and sort of swatted/pinched my buttocks, like in a joking or friendly fashion.
There was nothing joking or friendly about this.
Even more horror: as I walked out, a man was waiting to be checked in at the front desk, but no one was there. I left, went down the elevator, around the corner, and much to my surprise, there was the Secretary. She was not eating a snack, drinking anything, or on her phone; she was just standing by the lobby front glass, doing nothing. As I walked by to go through the front doors, she told me to have a nice day, then proceeded to head back towards the elevators.
It seems that when Aaron J. Scheinfield was out of the room for 10 minutes, making copies, he asked the Secretary to leave the office. So she was simply standing around downstairs, not even trying to look busy, while Aaron and I were left alone in their law offices.
This is not what a professional does or an attorney does. This is what a Predator does.
I was glad I never had to be around Aaron J. Scheinfield again. With fear, I emailed and asked for a refund from overbilling, but his exaggerated response of owing Double that amount for sending a single email, was the only other contact I had to have with this guy.
I never met the other Attorneys at Goldstein Bershad & Fried, but I am not sure why they would allow such unprofessional behavior in their office.
I would recommend anyone who has to meet with Aaron J. Scheinfield to bring a friend or witness. To record your conversations with your phone. And know that this Attorney will overbill and create fake invoices, doing unneeded, unasked for “work” just to inflate your bill. Even with a Retainer Agreement. And please know that this Lawyer has a problem with putting his hands on women, especially when alone and unobserved, even if that person is helpless, Disabled, and/or Deaf.
1 Reviews on “Goldstein Bershad and Fried, PC (Southfield, MI) Reviews”
In March 2024, I received a letter from Goldstein Bershad & Fried about being sued.
I was not served this complaint until 4.25.24, so I did not know what they were referring to.
This was to remove a lawful Mechanics Lien that I placed on Amazon’s leased property in Hazel Park for unpaid work.
The Attorney’s letter was completely misleading. It referred to their work as Attorneys not having to be paid until they won the case, as if they were working in Car Accidents. I am 100% Disabled, my income is SSDI, I do not have anything to pay Wage Thieves Amazon or an Attorney to defend not being paid in the first place.
I made an appointment to meet with one of their Attorneys on May 3, 2024. This was Aaron J. Scheinfield.
I told him immediately that I was legally Deaf, this is NOT why I get SSDI. I also told him that my only income was SSDI and I could not afford an Attorney, nor would Amazon be able to get at my money since it is protected.
Scheinfield read through this complaint, assured me he was able to successfully negotiate with them, get them to settle, and win a “big payday.” Even though I told him about the SSDI income, he wanted to know what “extra money” I had “laying around.” He said I must have some money somewhere that was “hidden” or “no one needed to know about.” This went directly against the letter I had received from this firm. I did not understand their misleading letter, asked about them not being paid until they won or successfully defended the case, and why he was asking me about hidden money. He said, “Oh, not for Civil Cases – we don’t do that.” Which made no sense because they knew about this “civil case” and sent a letter long before I was served.
Sheinfield assured me that he could successfully fight this case and force them to negotiate, so I paid him $400 cash and a check for $1600 of money I had to borrow.
The only agreement that I had with Aaron Sheinfield was to negotiate payment from Amazon, which totaled $20,000. I did not sign for him or ask him to do anything else. The short one-page contract does not mention any other work except for negotiating.
Except immediately, Aaron J. Scheinfield stuck himself in the middle of the emails between myself as a Defendant, and Amazon’s Attorneys as Plaintiff. I did not need him to answer any emails, nor did I request this service. He had back and forth emails with the opposing law firm that I was not included in so he could OVERBILL his hours. Most of these were a sentence or two responses. He acted as an intermediary between myself and the Plaintiff, as in he would send me emails I had to answer, I would send them back to him, answered, he would send them to the Plaintiff. This required NO work on his part, no billable hours, just a way for him to pad the Retainer Agreement.
I also sent Scheinfield eight different emails with questions and/or statements. He did not bother to answer a single one of them.
June 3, 2024, was the ONLY time Aaron J. Scheinfield did what I hired him to do; he sent an email to the Plaintiff asking for payment. This email was well-written and contained about 10 sentences. Except that it was not written for this case, it was a copy and paste email where he inserted the hours due, amounts, and names. It was simply an email; he just had to fill out a few lines, but he could use it in almost any other Civil Case.
Plaintiff pretty much ignored his email. So on June 13, 2024, Scheinfield immediately withdrew his representation.
Again, he was only hired to negotiate the payment from the Plaintiff. He was not hired to be an intermediary or answer and forward emails to me from Amazon’s Attorneys. He used copy and paste, then sent one single email on my behalf, then promptly quit.
This was blatant overbilling. Scheinfield did not remotely complete $2,000 worth of work. No matter how you cut it, a prefilled email is not worth $2,000.
On July 8, 2024, I sent Aaron J. Scheinfield an email stating this. He did not answer for almost two days. Unbelievably, he now stated that no, he did not complete $2,000 worth of Attorney work on my behalf, but almost $4,000. This was outrageous. The fact that he now was able to pad his billing with unnecessary emails, acting as an intermediary that no one asked him to do, emailing the Plaintiff on his own without including me, forwarding to me questionnaires by the Plaintiff, etc.
This was not remotely $2,000 worth of legal work, much less $4,000. Aaron came up with all kinds of false billing, but the ONLY thing he was hired to do was negotiate a settlement, which was only done in one email consisting of 10 sentences. All of the rest were reasons to create fake bills, invoices for things not required of him, emails he never needed to send, and padding, padding, padding.
Further, when I arrived at the offices of Goldstein Bershad & Fried on May 3, 2024, I was checked in by a professional Secretary at the front desk. A few minutes later, I went into a conference room with Aaron J. Sheinfield, Attorney.
Aaron immediately closed the heavy wood door, introduced himself, put his arm on my shoulders, and then embraced me, which was incredibly strange and uncomfortable. I told him I was Legally Deaf, picked out a chair to sit in, asked if that was OK, he sat next to me, and read over my papers. Eventually, after giving multiple shakedowns for “hidden money,” making guarantees of his negotiation skills and promises he could not keep, he left the conference room and walked down the hallway to the right.
Scheinfield was gone for a few minutes; he was talking to the Secretary, but I could not hear what was being said. A bit after, I was surprised that the copy machine was just outside the door to the room I was sitting in, so I wondered why he had gone to speak with the Secretary, I did not give it much thought, though.
After many minutes of copying a few pages and speaking to the Secretary, Aaron J. Scheinfield walked back into the conference room where I was sitting. As he walked in, I stood up out of respect, then went to get the copies of the papers he was holding. But as I did so, Aaron J. Scheinfield immediately grabbed me and wrapped his arms around me for a hug, rocking me back and forth.
This took me completely off guard. I was sort of knocked back and off balance, almost falling. As a Disabled and a Deaf woman, I felt this was totally unprofessional and made me scared to be in a room alone with this man. I thought at least the Secretary was a few rooms away (hint: she wasn’t).
I felt confused that an Attorney would act like this. I did try to hurry and finish this meeting so that I could get out of this room, as I was alone and was now frightened. I did not want this man putting his hands on me again.
Upon walking out of the conference room, I put my papers and folders in front of me in both hands, so that Aaron J. Scheinfield could not go in for another hug or get his arm around me. But as I walked out the door, he instead said “Good-Bye” and sort of swatted/pinched my buttocks, like in a joking or friendly fashion.
There was nothing joking or friendly about this.
Even more horror: as I walked out, a man was waiting to be checked in at the front desk, but no one was there. I left, went down the elevator, around the corner, and much to my surprise, there was the Secretary. She was not eating a snack, drinking anything, or on her phone; she was just standing by the lobby front glass, doing nothing. As I walked by to go through the front doors, she told me to have a nice day, then proceeded to head back towards the elevators.
It seems that when Aaron J. Scheinfield was out of the room for 10 minutes, making copies, he asked the Secretary to leave the office. So she was simply standing around downstairs, not even trying to look busy, while Aaron and I were left alone in their law offices.
This is not what a professional does or an attorney does. This is what a Predator does.
I was glad I never had to be around Aaron J. Scheinfield again. With fear, I emailed and asked for a refund from overbilling, but his exaggerated response of owing Double that amount for sending a single email, was the only other contact I had to have with this guy.
I never met the other Attorneys at Goldstein Bershad & Fried, but I am not sure why they would allow such unprofessional behavior in their office.
I would recommend anyone who has to meet with Aaron J. Scheinfield to bring a friend or witness. To record your conversations with your phone. And know that this Attorney will overbill and create fake invoices, doing unneeded, unasked for “work” just to inflate your bill. Even with a Retainer Agreement. And please know that this Lawyer has a problem with putting his hands on women, especially when alone and unobserved, even if that person is helpless, Disabled, and/or Deaf.