In 2004 I contacted JK Harris about helping me with $26,000 in taxes I owed from 1993. Their 800 phone number set me up with an appointment in Atlanta. (I should have noticed it was odd that the agent was working out of an office that had no company name posted anywhere... I found out later that JK Harris was actually banned from operating in Georgia at that time).
The JK Harris agent GUARANTEED me that his company could get the IRS to settle for less than $1500 for my tax debt. He said they would file my back taxes, and file an Offer In Compromise with the IRS. He told me if the IRS called to say JK Harris was representing me. He had me sign a power of attorney, and billed my credit card for about $1600. He gave me a giant folder of materials to fill out and bring back to him, which I did the following week.
From that point on. No one at JK Harris did ANYTHING. I called about three times per week and left messages. No one ever returned my phone calls. About once per month I got a letter saying that a new contact was handling my account, and that I was missing a bunch of forms (which I immediately faxed to them AGAIN).
JK Harris never performed ANY of the actions the agent said they would. They didn't file my back taxes, they didn't file an Offer of Compromise, and they didn't even contact the IRS to say they were representing me...
...in fact, the ONLY action that JK Harris performed was to use my power of attorney to take out a loan in my name, at a very high interest rate, paying JK Harris another $3000, without my knowledge.
After 6 months, I called attempting to reach my contact, who (for the fifth time) turned out to be no longer working for JK Harris... So I asked the operator who was my new contact. She searched the customer database, and informed me that my name had not even been entered into the company database!
At this point I got smart, called my credit card company, and disputed the inital credit card charge for 'No Service Rendered'.
Two weeks later, I got a letter from JK Harris, offering to refund 'part' of my payment, if I signed a form agreeing to never sue them, never join any lawsuit against them, and never say a negative word about them. Since my credit card company had already refunded ALL of the money, I laughed and tore up their attempt to silence me.
In the end, the IRS garnished my wages for a year, until the Statute of Limitations ran out in 2006.
JK Harris is a total scam, and the guys running this company should have been sent to jail years ago.
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