Stange Law Firm, PC

Do not use this law firm, it is a scam!! I called and set up a consultation and they said I needed to pay $175 to reserve the spot so I did. Then I called back ten minutes before the consultation to confirm if they would call me or if I should call them, the front desk couldn’t tell me or do anything but transfer me to lines that didn’t answer. Either that or they would hang up/not answer. In the off chance this is a legitimate business, I would not recommend doing business with them if this is how they handle things. They did call me at 2:25 (appointment was supposed to be at 2:00) and the “lawyer” was acting strange, it seemed off, when I said I suspected this was a scam his response did nothing to alleviate my concerns I said I wanted to cancel the consultation and get a refund which I doubt I’ll get. Later I called back and got through to someone and said I wanted a refund because I suspected this was a scam, but they “don’t do refunds” . NOT SURPRISED 0/10 don’t recommend

Hired the Fort Wayne, Indiana location for a uncontested divorce. About as simple as it gets. No property division arguing. Just submit 2 documents to the court and wait for the required 2 months waiting period. I thought I was hiring a local attorney. This appears to be based out of Illinois. This is on me. I should have done more research. I had to submit a $2300 retainer. There are only 7 reviews on here. I can hardly believe ANY of them are legitimate based on my experience. We will see if this review stays on here. I am an actual person who hired Stange Law Firm in Ft Wayne, Indiana which turned out to be the worse decision I could have ever made. To start, I was shocked that I was getting billed for EVERY form of contact with my paralegal here. Phone calls with questions, email questions, stop in the office to sign a document. You name it and I was billed for it. I'd get charged $29.50 for them sending me an email. List goes on and on. The amount I paid just for communication back & forth is staggering at minimum. Maybe this is how law firms are, I don't know. This is not the reason for the one star (the minimum I could rate, zero stars is more accurate). Again, my fault for not researching or understanding how this all works. I won't give a bad review for my not understanding things. So I was required to pay an initial consulting fee for the first visit. Really?? Then I was required to pay a retainer fee of $2300. Everything billed I paid outright as it went along. Retainer wasn't touched. I hired them towards the beginning of the year. Courts finalized at the end of May/June. So my dealings with Stange Law Firm was finished. Notified my paralegal so they could submit there 10 day waiting period to courts. June 3, I believe. Should have been May 16, but they drug their feet doing it even after I confirmed with them. So, after the 10 day wait period was over, my retainer was to be returned to me. Time goes by and I contact them. I was told it could take maybe 2 weeks up to 4 weeks for them to return it. Come to find out, my retainer is being returned from their Closing Department in Illinois. So, I wait some more. Another email to my paralegal. Only replies I get is "I will look into it". Granted, I was told everything was closed and in order. Now it's going on 10 WEEKS and I still don't have my retainer back. They have zero concern on getting my retainer back to me. This debacle of a mess getting my retainer back is the reason for the bad review. I have another attorney I have used for things in the past. This review is step one. Step two will follow in two days from writing this review. Step two will involve the bar association. Then step 3 will involved hiring my attorney and take Stange Law Firm to court. It will be totally up to them. I am not asking for anything, just my retainer back they were supposed to return. So again, it's up to Stange Law Firm as to how much damage they wish to receive for this. I am an actual person who hired Stange Law Firm. Feel free to contact me. I can give more details. Look on social media. I'm in the Ft Wayne, Indiana area. Look up their reviews on the Internet. Not Google reviews, because I truly believe the ones listed for the Ft Wayne office are not real reviews by people who have actually used them. What's happening to me is their day to day type of operations. Again, find reviews on the Internet and you will see what I'm saying is factual. I will never recommend these guys ever. If you do use them, I guarantee you will be disappointed at the very least. This is step one. Step two starts on August 15, 2025. Hopefully they'll do the right thing.
Richard Pettyjohn
Edit: forgot to mention this. I did some research on the attorney heading this office. Just over a year as an attorney. No experience here and not willing to make things right. Just a simple return my retainer as was told in contract and all of this would have never happened.