Iwas looking for help with my back taxes. I started searching the internet andcompiled a list of tax firms I wanted to check out. One of the first that I called was TaxDefense Network. I really liked the waythey handled themselves over the phone and took a lot of notes on theircompany. After we concluded the call, the tax specialist they put me on with told me to check out the competition, ofwhich he sent me links to many of his competitors. He told me that I should do my due diligenceand really check out the firms out there, and see how treacherous many of thesefirms are. Thatswhen I really started my search. Ironically, the salesman didnt realize that I cover all bases, andwould look into his company a bit deeper also. My first stop was to review their Better Business Bureau rating, whichthey spoke so fondly of in our extensive phone calls. They claim an A rating, which they stated no one else in the industry had. Well, I can tell you two lies right there They are A rated, not A
and there are, in fact, other A rated tax firms out there. First off, why lieabout the? As if an A is bad in anything. That made want to look a littlemore into their company. I then lookedup their company with the department of state in Florida, as they were aFlorida state company. Tax Defense Network started as a debt settlement companyin Jacksonville, Florida. If you look uptheir officers, Joseph and Franklin Valinho, in Google you will find lawsuitsthey were charged with as a debt settlement company. Attorney General CharlieCrist attacked them personally for taking advantage of their customers, whoreceived no debt relief whatsoever. The settlement was somewhere in the regionof $250,000 and was reached in 2006. Iimmediately got a bad taste in my mouth, but the search continued. I then cometo find out that their A rating BBB file started in meaning theircurrent rating doesnt reflect this little transgression Tax Defense committedagainst their customers in years prior. Also, the BBB file doesnt even showthe Valinhos as officers of the company, while the record stands with the stateof Florida that they are. More lies. Lastly, and most disturbingly, is thatthey use this rating for separate websites that seem to be different companiesbut are really Tax Defense Network with a different face (i.E. Www.irs-tax-settlement-hq.com). At first I thought they just bought a different domain and linked it to theirmain site, but it seems that these are meant to look and seem different, eventhough it leads you to the same corrupt people.
Themoral of the story DO YOUR RESEARCH! These guys arent who they say they are. I am still searching for help with the irs, so if anyone has worked withsomeone or a firm that isnt completely full of it, please get back to me witha referral. I am in dire need, but dont want to just give my money away to anyliars or crooks.
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