On February 25, I was finally ready to deal with some tax issues that had been hanging over my head for quite some time. I did some research on the net and came across Tax Inc. I checked them out with the BBB and at that time there were no complaints against them listed. (I have since found out that was because Tax inc. Was payed up on their BBB dues then, but have not renewed their membership and there are now over forty complaints against them.) But like I said before, I felt that I had thoroughly researched the company and decided to contact them.
My first phone call was with Paul Valentine. After describing my situation to him, he assured me that, "You've come to the right place... You don't have to worry about a thing, we'll take care of everything." He stated that a "ONE-TIME FEE" would cover everything from filing past returns to any tax liens or levies that I might have, or any other issues that might come up. When I questioned him again about the fee, he again stated that there would be no other charges. On their website it states, "we charge a simple one time, flat fee for each case. That means no per-call charges or hidden fees like "cheaper" services." He quoted me a fee of $5300.00. I told him that was quite a lot of money to come up with at one time and he agreed to allow me to divide it into two payments. He took my bank information and took a payment of $2650.00 immediately from my account by an e-check. The balance was to be paid one month later, which they promptly removed from my bank account using the same method without seeking my consent.
I received a packet from them a couple of days later with three forms that needed to be returned to them. I promptly filled out the first form and returned it to them. I had some questions regarding the second form and spoke to Julie Chung about them. As I am not knowledgeable about tax issues (that's why I hired them), I was having some trouble understanding the answers that Ms. Chung was giving me. When I asked for further information she asked to put me on hold, but I guess she was a little slow to press the hold button because I heard her say to someone "My God, What a Hand-holder!", which I assume was in reference to me. I spoke to Ms. Chung a couple of more times and then proceeded to fill out and send in the second form. The third form took quite a bit longer as it involved gathering receipts from several years back. So it was a couple of months later that I sent the final form to them.
On their website, Tax Inc. States that it can sometimes take six months to process an offer to the IRS.in a letter that I received from them, they state that they do not contact their clients during this time unless they have a specific question. They state that I should "assume they have everything they need to move forward." So I wasn't concerned when I didn't hear from them for several months.
Last week I received a call from Rebecca Sando. Ms Sando stated that she was with Tax Inc. And that she was so glad she had finally reached me. (I know that they had NOT tried to reach me prior to this and my cell phone records reflect this.)
She did not seem very knowledgeable about my case and she put me on hold eight times during an approx. 15 minute phone call.
She told me that they had not received any information from me. I believe her exact words were "We don't have anything on you." I asked her what she meant by that and she said they have not received any information from me. When I expressed my shock and disbelief at this, she put me on hold again. She came back to say that "We've been working really hard and we've done alot." She said the money that I had paid has already been used up. She then asked if they could have my permission to take more money from my account using the same method as before. I told her "absolutely not!" She wouldn't give me a definite figure when I asked her how much more they needed. She said the money had been used up for working time and telephone calls.
If they had not received any information from me, as Ms. Sando had claimed, then how did the $5300.00 that I had paid them get "used up"? It seemed to me that she was being coached on what to say when she kept putting me on hold. At one point, Ms. Sando came back on the phone, after putting me on hold again, and told me that "This is serious! We need to get this going because the IRS could demand payment in full or it could possibly mean jail time." I then told her that I was not paying another dime. Her response was "Well, then we can't do any more."
I have completely lost faith in this company's ability to handle my tax problems. I regret that I have already shared very personal information with them because I have serious doubts as to their integrity. I am demanding that I receive a full refund from them, because I don't feel they have fulfilled their end of the agreement that I had with them. I am angry that they would try to use scare tactics such as the threat of jail time to try to con me out of more money. I will not give up on this until I have been fully reimbursed $5300.00 from Tax Inc.
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