Complaint Review: Robert Pavelko

This lawyer was hired for a landlord/tenant matter where I am the tenant and Robert Pavelko charged me a $500 retainer to work on my case and he told me the cost shouldn't exceed $500 and whatever is not used would be refunded. I told him to call me before he made any charges above $500 and he did not. And so, I got billed for another $218. Then he asked for a second $500 retainer to work on drafting a settlement. I paid the $218 I owed plus an additional $141 to go toward the retainer for drafting a settlement. I told him I would send him the other portion of the $500 retainer if a settlement is reached and a settlement letter needs to be drafted. AGAIN, I told him to please contact me before making any future charges and he failed to contact me once again and now he says I owe $309! No settlement was reached! He charged me for the day of cancellation and AFTER! Got the bill today and told him I was going to file a complaint and he is threatening to put a lien on my property TODAY!

Robert Pavelko is not trustworthy. I trusted that I could give him money in advance and that he wouldn't make any unauthorized charges, but he did.

Robert Pavelko is not responsive. After I paid him the $218 plus $141 for the retainer for future services, he did not contact me for a full two weeks. Then all of a sudden I get a forwarded email that my landlord sent to him saying, "Please call to discuss" and then I also got a voicemail saying the same thing except he added, "to discuss a settlement". I called back his office phone, left a message. I called his cell phone, left a message. 48 hours goes by when he said he would get back to me in 24 hours. I got fed up with him and my landlord and said via voicemail and email that there will be no settlement and I am canceling my services.

Instead of this garbage referral to Robert Pavelko that I got through a employee assistance program, I go see a professional lawyer for a $100 consultation. The consultation was free with Robert Pavelko as a benefit through my employer. His presentation during the consultation was poor, but I had trust that my employer would refer me to someone ethical and professional. Robert Pavelko upholds neither of those qualities, and is simply a licensed attorney that should have his license revoked.

Robert Pavelko is not knowledgeable. He told my husband that my landlord could illegally evict because we were on a month to month lease. I relayed this information to a second professional attorney and she told me that was absolutely false!

Please do not trust this attorney with your hard earned money. He will try to Rob you blind with unauthorized/inaccurate charges. He won't return your phone calls in a timely manner and will most definitely not keep you informed about your case.

Robert Pavelko has a very rude and disrespectful demeanor as he will not let you finish when talking and will talk over you and every time he talks over you, he will raise his voice a notch to the point of yelling at you. This occurred during the consultation as well but I trusted the services provided by my employer and overlooked his sour demeanor.

On the contrary, Kara Noack, Denver, is a fantastic attorney for landlord/tenant cases. She truly listens to your entire story to understand the full picture and she demonstrates her knowledge through relaying the information back to you within her responses. Her fees were very reasonable. Robert Pavelko charged me $718 to write one letter to my landlord and Cara charges $200 for the same service...just one flat hourly based fee. Robert Pavelko charged for every phone call and every email...one email alone cost $75!!! Cara Noack does not charge people for talking to them through a 10 min phone call nor does she charge them for every email she sends.

Robert Pavelko said it would cost me $7500 for his representation in a countersuit against my landlord. Cara Noack said it would be a flat $1500 fee for her representation.

Stay Away from Robert Pavelko. Innocent families, such as ours, are getting robbed blind and lied to by this attorney who is in a position of trust. I absolutely do not recommend this attorney. If you need a lawyer to represent you for landlord/tenant matters, I highly recommend Kara Noack. She actually truly cares about the livelihood of her clients and she makes sure her responses are accurate. The consultation was only supposed to be for an hour but Kara Noack spent an extra 30 mins with me just to make sure I had a clear path forward. I came out of the consultation with Kara Noack rejuvenated and refreshed. The feeling of doom that Robert Pavelko continuously pushed upon me really dragged me down physically and mentally over the span of 2 1/2 months and the darkness was finally lifted after talking over my case with Kara Noack.