Hired and Fired! STAY AWAY AT ALL COST!
My experience with Charles Zavala was nothing short of a disaster. I want to share it here so that people can know who he really is, make conscious decision and not fall into his traps.
While Charles Zavala speaks to you, he speaks nicely but he is very unprofessional and dishonest in his conducts. I hired him for my asylum application but I could endure his unethical and sloppy conducts only for two weeks and eventually fired him. These conducts were:
1. In our initial meeting Charles Zavala and I agreed on a price for his services but two days later, he sent me an email stating that he would charge additional $500 for employment authorization application. This was the first red flag but I didn't notice it. I wanted to trust him but his deceptions did not stop here.
2. He did not follow what is going on with my case. He asked me the same questions that I already responded to his assistant a week ago. There was an obvious disconnect with him and his assistant about my case.
3. I provided him all the copies of my passport, visa, etc. He promised me that he would go over all of my documents. A week later, he was still asking me the birthplace of my wife... Dude, what have you done during the last week? Party?
4. I wrote more than 10 pages about my story, why I am applying for asylum, etc. In our initial meeting he again promised me that he would go over every single paragraph of my application and make necessary corrections before submitting it. A week later, he said that we did not need to submit a narrative; only I-589 was enough for asylum. Even the day before he was supposedly submitting my application, he still did not have a clear idea about why I was applying for asylum. It was very apparent that he did not even thoroughly read my story.
5. I-589 instructions state that incomplete applications will be denied and applicants should submit three copies of each document that they put in the application file. Let alone three copies, Charles Zavala was talking about not including even one copy of supporting documents in the initial application. He was planning to supplement other documents at a later day. Not following USCIS guidelines seriously concerned me that my application was going to have issues, if not rejected at the first place.
The relationships are built on trust and I tried to build that trust from the first day I met Charles Zavala. I accepted his quote, his payment plan and made my initial payment on the day I promised. In return I expected him to provide me the high quality service he promised. However, I observed that his promises were broken one by one. Therefore, I fired him the day before he was supposedly going to submit my (incomplete) asylum application.
Even though he kept almost none of his promises and did not spend time on my case, he still charged me hundreds of dollars and gave me only a partial refund. He was very rude when I went to his office for the last time to get my documents and money back. He kept me waiting for more than an hour in the lobby even though I had a scheduled appointment. I cannot believe how this guy is still allowed to practice law in Texas. I hope my story helps you make a better attorney selection regarding your case. Don't believe in lies. Be smart!
Response to Charles Zavala's response: Please do not pretend as if you do not know who I am. If you go back and read the emails you received before Christmas, you will easily find whatever I have written above in your inbox.
When I told you that I would share my story on the online platforms if you did not give me full refund, you said "go ahead, do it!" Now I am just sharing my experience as it was. If there is one single inaccurate thing about what I wrote above, I am ready to correct it but there is not. If you want, I can share our email correspondences as well. read more
