Calvert and Company

Review: Calvert and Co telemarketed their accounting services to my small business. I accepted an invitation to meet a representative at the Calvert & Co office on 2/27/13. We discussed: my business set up, my background as a QuickBooks Pro Advisor, current accounting syste** (QuickBooks) and procedures and future needs and I agreed to become a client. I was told they would handle all my record keeping by historical accounting. I was told by the representative make another appointment to come in and meet with the a CPA to set up my file. I did as requested and met with my new CPA to set up my file. Prior to the initial meeting with the CPA, my bank account was debited twice. One charge for $250 and one charge for $675.At the time of my initial meeting with the CPA it was disclosed for the first time that the actual record keeping and accounting for my business would not take place in my accounting system, QuickBooks. It was entered into a proprietary system and Calvert & Co would only provide me with a monthly report. At this time, I reiterated my background with QuickBooks to the CPA. I explained I had worked with this software for the last 10 years, I was a certified Quickbooks advisor and would not be comfortable not having access to my data. At this point, we ended the meeting. I contacted my representative and asked for a refund because NO WORK WAS PERFORMED and the SERVICES WERE NOT ACCURATELY DESCRIBED. I was told they "would check into it and get back to me".In July (5 months later) I had still received no refund of my $875, so I contacted my rep. again and was told he would look into it.In October still no money had been returned. I wrote them a letter. They returned $675 and stated they were keeping $250 for "setup work". They did no setup. We did not even complete the initial setup meeting. They solicited my business via phone. I trusted them since they were a local company. They did not explain their services properly. They did no work. They won't provide a refund.Desired Settlement: I would simply like a refund in full ($875). The services were not accurately described and NO WORK was performed.

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates that the business has not responded to you directly. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

At this time, I have not been contacted by Calvert and Company regarding complaint ID [redacted].

Regards,

Business

Response:

January 28, 2014

Dear [redacted],

This letter is to request a reopening of the complaint submitted to the Revdex.com about our business on 11/13/2013 by [redacted], ID [redacted].

We have enclosed a copy of the letter dated October 3, 2013 sent to **. [redacted] regarding her request for a refund of accounting fees. As we explained to **. [redacted], we refunded the full amount of accounting fees collected. We did not refund the installation fee which is non-refundable. As of this date, she has never cashed her refund.

At no time did we ever promise her we would maintain her accounting records in Quick Books. **. [redacted] also stated we did no set up. Since **. [redacted] is unaware of our internal processes, there is no way she could know or ascertain if her firm was ‘set up’ according to our usual and customary practice. A client is ‘set-up’ when they sign the Client Engagement Agreement, which she did, and on receipt of their initial payment. This involves a significant amount of time from our administrative support as well as the bookkeeper and accountant.

I feel this explanation, in conjunction with the attached letter resolves any negative review with your organization.

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because:

The business is refusing to refund my fees. The business misrepresented its services to me. The accounting service solicited my business by telling me it would do the data entry portion of my accounting and provide me with monthly reports. Although they did not tell me it would be in Quickbooks, they did ask what software I was using. I told them Quickbooks and I told them my history: " I have used Quickbooks for over 10 years. I have been a certified Quickbooks Pro Advisor. I am quite capable of entering the numbers, I just did not have the time to keep up with it." The business said they understood, it was common and they would take that off my plate. Sometime during the sales pitch or during the initial meeting that was held in their office (prior to set up), they should have disclosed the fact that they would not use my software and therefore all my records would become obsolete as soon as they began service. They did not let me know that the data entry service they were providing did NOT actually enter the data into my database! This was a blatant misrepresentation of their services.

As far as me being unaware of their internal processes and not knowing if my firm was "set up" according to our usual practice, this is true. In fact, I requested to know exactly what set up was done. I was told by **. [redacted] that he would find out and let me know. However this did not occur. I have not been made aware of what Calvert and Co actually did to "set up" my firm, despite my request to find out.

This firm has taken enormous amounts of my time and as a small business, that is my most valuable resource. The very least it could do is present me with a full refund.

Regards,