As a business owner, you will make a lot of decisions every day. Some of them are easy and brainless choices. While some others take a significant amount of brainpower to decide. It’s not a huge surprise that you fall into bed exhausted at the end of the day (if you even get to sleep at all).
However, choosing a business formation service provider does not have to be one of those unbearable decisions. To help you choose, we will look into LegalZoom’s LLC entity formation services to set up an LLC for business and wrote a short review summary of people’s experience.
People used LegalZoom to set up an LLC for their businesses. During the process, people took note of things that stood out to them, both good and not-so-good. Here’s a quick look into of some of the users’ experience – just in case you don’t wish to read the full review (no judgment here).
What people like (The Advantages and Benefits):
- They provide a 100% money-back satisfaction guarantee
- You can get support via live chat or telephone
- The process is direct and easy to use
- LegalZoom has helped set up more than 1 million LLCs
What people don’t like (The Disadvantages):
- They don’t have any free plans like hoe IncFile or Inc Authority have to offer (plans start at $79 + state filing fees)
- LegalZoom can hold your order for business processing for up to 30 business days
- Pricing plans aren’t exactly so clear when you start the registration process
- Registered agent services aren’t exactly free either (unlike many other providers)
- They charge a fee for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) number
Overall, LegalZoom’s process is straightforward to follow most times. However, some people find it a bit more complicated than some other business formation service providers currently out there. Their customer support team seems to be one of the best, although they try to get your information for marketing purposes initially.
However, knowing that they can hold your order up to 30 business days is a huge disappointment compared to other similar services. And they don’t even offer a free package or free registered agent services either (unlike most other providers).
The biggest summary is that LegalZoom comes out as being one of the slower and higher-priced LLC formation companies that is available.
Legal Zoom Plans and Pricing
LegalZoom uses a tiered pricing structure with one of the most affordable plan starting at US$79. Their Standard Plan is US$329 plus state fees, and their Express Gold plan is US$349 with state fees.
On top of that, you’ll have the choice to choose one (or none) of the following add-on regardless of the package you opt for:
- Operating agreement ($99)
- Operating agreement + EIN ($149)
- Operating agreement, EIN, and licenses ($199)
Although LegalZoom says these are important documents, you don’t have to buy them through LegalZoom. You can get an EIN number for free via the IRS. And operating agreements depend heavily on the type of business you have and how it runs generally.
Blanket operating templates don’t really work for every business and can end up being a waste of your money. Furthermore, you can also find out which business licenses you need on your own too. With that being said, these add-ons does make sense if you want to save time or aren’t sure how to do it on your ownself. So, always do your research and make the best choices for your businesses and your current situation.
Conclusion
If you are interested in creating an LLC, there are a huge number of incorporation service providers out there. Despite LegalZoom’s striking background, it’s hard to look past the hundreds (if not thousands) of unsatisfied customers speaking out about their experiences.
Always read the fine print and understand entirely what you’re signing up for before providing your credit card information. From the reviews and feedbacks we have received, it seems hard to cancel these subscriptions, and their customer service team seems to be unwilling to help resolve these issues.
Furthermore, LegalZoom’s services are more expensive when compared to other providers. They don’t seem to offer any additional value for the price either. Their premium pricing packages are a huge jump in cost without really providing anything worthwhile. That means that your best bet is to make sure it doesn’t happen in the first place.