This is going to be short, and mainly here to warn people, as a review of Campbells Legal services. A few years ago, I founded a Cayman-based company, and decided to go with Campbells Legal (campbellslegal.com) as my attorneys. Campbells does many things, including handling incorporation, registered offices, secretaries, etc for Cayman Islands companies, which is what I wanted.

They were neither the cheapest nor the most expensive, but I didn’t go with the cheapest because, as Campbells told me, “the cheapest attorneys tend to have a low yearly fee but then hit you with surprise charges”.

It turned out that no one’s charges were more surprising than Campbells’.

Early problems

Shortly after the company’s formation, I asked them how much it would cost for them to send me my company’s apostilled legal documents, so I can open a bank account. They said it would cost around $3000, which seemed expensive to me for a courier and an apostille seal, but fair enough.

The problem showed itself later, when I emailed them to ask something about issuing dividends (although my memory is a bit hazy on this), they replied that I could do it myself, and sent me an invoice for around $300 for the service they provided of telling me I could do it myself.

After my protesting the fact that I was never told there would be a cost nor agreed to pay it, they cancelled the invoice. Still, that was bad news.

More egregious was what happened later. My local tax authority needed a certificate from my company’s tax authority to verify the source of funds, and I asked Campbells whether they can provide a certificate, and how much it would cost. They replied saying that nobody can provide that certificate, and included a paragraph of irrelevant general information about dividends, which I already knew and which had nothing to do with what I needed. For telling me they couldn’t give me what I wanted, they issued an invoice for $287.50.

At that point, I told them I would neither pay this, nor any invoice with the costs of which I hadn’t agreed beforehand, in writing. They canceled that invoice as well.

Transferring away

This brings us to the present day. I was contacted a month or so ago by Samson & McGrath, offering registered office services that are a third of the price that Campbells are asking, so I decided to switch to them (mainly because of my extreme dissatisfaction with Campbells). I sent the necessary paperwork over to Samson & McGrath, who did the transfer free of charge and didn’t charge me anything for the registered office service for the rest of the year, and who also offered to get my paperwork from Campbells for me, and everything was fine.

Until, that is, I received an invoice from Campbells (surprise surprise) for $770.00 (with no prior communication), for “a transfer of registered office”, a fee which was never mentioned to me, and which I did not agree to pay. Given that I had already told Campbells I wouldn’t pay any fee I hadn’t agreed to in writing, I decided not to pay it. I didn’t have a chance to tell them, though, because a few days later they sent me yet another invoice for $580, for “talking with Samson & McGrath”, including the cost of a $28 phone call.

Avoid Campbells Legal

I don’t know if Samson & McGrath are going to be any better, but I doubt they can be any worse. If you like surprise fees and exorbitant invoices for services you didn’t know were rendered to you, go with Campbells. Otherwise, avoid Campbells Legal like the plague.