Where's Oscar

[Beeper]

Wondering if anyone else is having similar problems with moving forward with Oscar and/or his firm?

- July 22 - contact initiated. Retainer sent to Mineola address as instructed
- Aug 3 - called & e-mailed Oscar to ensure retainer received. No reply.
- Aug 23 - called & e-mailed Oscar again. Received reply he is away until Wed. 8/26 and he will f/u then.
- Aug. 27 - No reply from Oscar.
- Aug 27 - Called & e-mailed Oscar a 3rd time. He advises via e-mail I will have a draft on Friday 8/28.
- Sept. 3 - Nothing received to date.
 
I'm curious if anyone is having similar problems - and especially if anyone has had successful resolution to their issue utilizing Oscar's services. I'm trying to look at this in a positive light - but not knowing the players has me a bit concerned. I realize that they are positioning this as basically pro-bono work, but $$$ has changed hands and there still is a level of expectations from the client and a duty to act by the attorney.

Thanks.
Chris

[Matthew Chan]

Chris,

It appears you are a "victim" of the program's overwhelming success but you are also a victim of bad timing.  He is serving around 200 clients right now just on stock photo cases alone.  It is not necessarily a good excuse but Oscar has told me about what was going on the last couple of months with him.

For half of August he was preparing to leave town and came down to see me in ATL for a few days, then immediately afterward, he went on vacation with family for a week, and now he is back dealing with a lot of catch-up issues.  That month prior he was highly involved with some time-intensive court cases.

Again, not necessarily good excuses but I assure you Oscar is not ignoring you or anyone else.  Oscar has popped into the forum  a couple of times to answer so he is around.

I will contact Oscar on your behalf and see why your case has slipped through the cracks.

MatthewC

[Oscar Michelen]

Dear Chris and All:

Thank you for your post and Thanks Matt for responding on my behalf. Chris - What happened was that the letter went out without the draft being sent to you, but it did go out in a timely fashion to Getty.  I once again am out of the office until Tuesday 9-8-09 and will scan and send you the letter that went out on letterhead.  So rest assured that the matter itself was not ignored, there was just a breakdown in the communication and for that I apologize.  Matt is correct that many folks have responded with requests for help and many more folks contact us with questions or after they have already settled so we cannot help them. But one of the things that I have always prided myself on is that just because i lowered my fee to make it easier for folks to address this issue, I would never want to lower my standards and whether you pay my firm our regular $450 per hour rate or our $150 Getty rate, you should expect the same service.  Matt is correct that things got kind of busy at my firm (on non-Getty matters) and I had to take a business trip to Atlanta and had other significant drains on my time in the office. So I am sorry for the lapse and will do all I can to make sure it does not happen again.  As you can tell from this forum, this is clearly an exception to the way we handle Getty claims and I am sorry to have caused you concern .  We'll be in touch on 9-8

Oscar

[Beeper]

Still no word from Oscar (COB 9/9/09).

[Oscar Michelen]

Chris:

Couldn't  identify you from your posts - can you call me at my office 1 800 640 2000 or email me at xxx.  All open letters have been sent to Getty I just want to match you up to the client on the letter so I can send you your copy.  Thanks!