Questions people ask
What working with Satisfy is actually like, answered plainly.
The questions we get most
How long does it take?
That depends on the business and how it responds. Some advocacy files resolve quickly once a documented claim lands with someone who can decide; others take months of escalation. Anyone quoting a firm timeline before looking at your situation is guessing.
What if the business ignores you too?
It happens, which is why we don't promise a recovery. We escalate as far as the advocacy file warrants, and if none of it moves them we tell you honestly rather than continuing to bill hope. You'll have a complete file, and you owe us nothing further.
Do I need documents to start?
Not to start. Tell us what happened first. Contracts, invoices, photographs, and prior messages make an advocacy file much stronger, so we'll ask for whatever you have once we've taken it on.
What if you don't think you can help?
We say so, and we say why. Sometimes the answer is that the situation needs an attorney rather than an advocate, and Satisfy is not a law firm. Either way you get a straight answer and what else you can do about it, rather than a file we keep open to look busy.
Can you force a business to pay?
Nobody can, short of a court. What changes the outcome is a documented claim landing with somebody senior enough to decide, followed by escalation that does not stop when the business hopes it will. Most disputes are lost to silence rather than to a refusal.
Is this the same as small claims court?
No, and they’re not mutually exclusive. Small claims is a court process you run yourself, with a dollar cap that varies by state and is often below the value of a construction dispute. We pursue the business directly and escalate through the routes that apply to its trade, its licensing, and its insurer. If small claims is genuinely your best route, we’ll say so.
Do I have to deal with the business myself?
No. That is the point of handing it over. Once your advocacy file is open the correspondence comes from us, and if the business contacts you directly you can send it straight back to us.
What if I've already complained somewhere else?
Tell us where and what came back. A complaint already filed with a licensing board, a card issuer, or the business itself is useful history rather than a problem, and it often tells us which route is already exhausted.
What happens to my information?
It's used to evaluate and pursue your advocacy file, and nothing else. We don't sell it. The detail is in our privacy policy.
Why not just hire a lawyer?
Sometimes you should, and we’ll tell you when. At five figures, an hourly attorney can cost more than the dispute is worth, and contingency firms generally aren’t interested below a threshold well above most home services claims. That gap is why this service exists.
Does the business have to deal with you?
Not legally. What changes is the cost of ignoring it. Once a claim is documented and being pursued by someone who does this for a living, the business is weighing real consequences against simply putting it right.
What if I've already signed something?
Tell us about it early. Arbitration clauses, lien waivers, and settlement releases all change what’s available, and it’s much better to know at the start than to find out halfway through.
Can I talk to someone before applying?
Yes. Get in touch any time. You don't have to start an application to ask us a question.
What it costs
What does it cost?
One cost, paid once, before we start work. What it comes to depends on your state, the kind of work, and the size of the advocacy file. You see the exact figure in your portal and in the service agreement after we have reviewed your file, and before you sign or pay anything. Finding out where you stand costs nothing.
Is the engagement cost refundable?
No. The engagement cost is not refundable, because it covers work already done. It is asked for once, after you have seen what we would do and agreed to it.
Do you take a percentage of what I recover?
No. We do not take a share of anything you get back, and there is nothing to pay us afterwards. One cost, paid once, and nothing after it.
Where does the money go if you recover something?
Straight to you. The business pays you directly. We never receive it, hold it, or route it through an account of ours, so there is nothing for us to deduct and nothing to wait on from us.
Still not sure whether to ask us?
Telling us what happened is a question, not a commitment. Here is what comes back.
Ask before you commit
Tell us what happened and hear where you stand. You decide what happens after that.
A straight answer, including no
When we don't think we can move the business, we say so, and point you at what else you can do.
Documents can wait
Start with the story. Contracts, invoices and photographs make a file stronger, and we ask for them once it is open.
Your information stays yours
It is used to evaluate and pursue your advocacy file. We never sell your documents.
Before you decide
See how this actually runs
Every stage, in order: what we look at, what we send, how far we escalate, and what we tell you at each point.
