HVK Stevens Amsterdam

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My fiscal advisor setup an initial meeting with this firm to explore what they could do for me (requiring legal, notarial & fiscal). In my mind this was the normal exploratory meeting you usually have with a lawyer or notary. Two weeks later they emailed me an engagement letter/contract that also detailed the scope of work for the complicated legal construction they recommended for the first time (total cost around €40k). I never signed this, because I decided not to proceed with this construction. A *YEAR* later, I suddenly received an invoice for around €11k. Obviously this invoice came as a total surprise to me (as well as my fiscal advisor that had setup the meeting), and so I objected to the invoice and asked for a full specification. As it turns out, they started billing me the moment I left their office, and had already racked up around €4k in billable hours before they even emailed me the engagement letter! The other €7k was billed after they emailed me the engagement letter (that I never signed). All for work I didn't know was being done. Obviously I didn't feel obligated to pay, so I retained a lawyer and told them I'd see them in court. In court I eventually did agree to settle for €7k, but purely because proceeding would be more expensive in the form of my own legal costs, and more importantly: my time. And it would probably drag on for months, if not years, so I just wanted to be done with it. In court, the lawyer for HVK Stevens argued that this situation was like a contractor coming around for a job, and starting the work immediately but leaving the paperwork for later. To recap (statements of fact): I had one meeting with multiple professional lawyers and notaries of this firm, they started billing me immediately and racked up €4k *before* they even emailed me an engagement letter that detailed the scope of work to be done, and another €7k after (even though I did *not* sign the engagement letter), all for work I didn't know was happening. According to their own terms and conditions they should have sent out invoices on a monthly basis. Had they actually followed their own terms and conditions, I would have put the brakes on whatever they were doing as soon as I received the first monthly invoice, as I wasn't aware this expensive work was being done. But alas, for some reason they figured it was better to not send me anything even vaguely indicating they expected me to pay them (invoice, informal specification of hours, a call, whatever), until they sent the invoice for €11k a *YEAR* later. Looking back, the comparison of this firm to a general contractor by their own lawyer is surprisingly apt: Most contractors I have dealt with have left me feeling screwed in exactly the same way! So, if you like to deal with a supposedly top law/notary firm like you deal with the average scummy contractor, HVK Stevens is the firm for you...