Accu-Tax The Tax Pros. Inc.

Review: Accu-Tax The Tax Professionals advertise what they claim as the "The Accu-Tax Advantage" on their web-site. Under this advertisement claim they state as part of "The Accu-Tax Advantage", "Satisfaction Guaranteed". This "Guarantee" states "You will leave our office confidently assured of the accuracy and completeness of your tax returns. We go the extra mile to get it right. If you are not pleased with our service and decide not to file the returns we will refund your fee in full." This is in fact deceptive advertising. We did allow them to review our taxes for this 2012 tax year, we were not confidently assured in their ability to accurately and with completeness file our return and subsequently decided NOT to file our taxes through Accu-Tax. Accu-Tax responded to our decision not to file through them with personal insults, threats of collections and demands of payment. Accu-tax is demanding we pay for the work that they have done "estimating" our tax return even though we did NOT file our tax return through Accu-Tax. Under their "Satisfaction Guaranteed" policy we are well within our rights to not file through them if "we are not pleased with their service and decide not to file the returns" AND they should "refund our fee in full". Accu-Tax should NOT be demanding payment as we did not file.If Accu-Tax intends on collecting payment for work REGARDLESS of whether or not a customer files they should REMOVE their "Satisfaction Guarantee" from their website and any other forms of advertising media as it is Deceptive Advertising. They are NOT honoring this advertised benefit of their "Accu-Tax Advantage". As a consumer, if we had known we would be required to pay for their tax preparation estimate EVEN if we did not agree with it, or feel comfortable about it's accuracy, and subsequently did NOT file through them, we would have NOT sought an estimate through them. As there are many other options in the marketplace for tax prep. Therefor, Accu-Tax brought us in through Deceptive Advertising.Desired Settlement: Accu-Tax should honor their "Satisfaction Guaranteed" Policy. They must STOP demanding payment for work that was done for "estimating" a tax return that was NOT filed. We did NOT file through them due to the fact that we did not feel comfortable with their ability to accurately file our taxes. This is reasonable and falls within their OWN policy of "Satisfaction Guaranteed". They should also remove their claim of "Satisfaction Guaranteed" from advertisements if they do NOT intend on honoring it.

Business

Response:

Accu-Tax The Tax Professionals Inc. 2080 Carlisle Road York, PA 17408 ###-###-####

Re: Complaint [redacted]

Dear Revdex.com,

In Complaint [redacted] they forgot to mention that we have been preparing their tax returns since 2004. They have been satisfied enough with our service that they picked us over our competitors every year for the last ten years and 2012 was no different

Here’s what happened this year. Complaint [redacted] moved out of state during 2012. Because they loved our tax service so much, they sent all the tax documents to us in February and instructed us to prepare their 2012 taxes.

We immediately prepared complete federal, state, and tax returns except for one piece of information that Complaint [redacted] needed to provide in order to finalize the state and local returns. We should have sent him a bill at that point in time because I’m certain tha£ he would have happily paid us for our work at that juncture.

About eight weeks later, Complaint [redacted] contacted me during the first week of April and asked if he got the information to me the next week would that be OK. I informed him that, because he took so much time, it would be necessary to put his returns on extension. Complaint [redacted] was still happy at that point. Then, I informed him that an extension of time to file a tax return is not an extension of time to pay his taxes and provided Complaint [redacted] with extension forms and payment vouchers. It was only at that time that Complaint [redacted] became dissatisfied, I believe his dissatisfaction was actually with the tax code which provides no extension of time to pay your taxes because he was completely OK with an extension of time to file his tax return.

A day or two later, Complaint [redacted] emailed and said he was going to use a CPA near his new home to prepare his tax returns. I said, "OK, I'll bill you for the work we performed" which was basically to prepare all his returns.

After I sent the bill, he tried to use our “Satisfaction Guarantee" to weasel out of paying me. Being unhappy with his unscrupulous use of our guarantee, I replied that any decent human being would pay us for the work they ordered and we provided in good faith without advance payment We usually require advance payment from out of town clients.

It comes down to this, we provided flawless, professional service to Complaint [redacted] and expected him to pay us for the service that he requested. We have honored, and will continue to honor our guarantee when it is exercised in good faith. Complaint [redacted] was abusing our policies to try to get away with not paying us. That's not what an honest moral human being would do.

So, I beiieve there are cases where I am morally justified in asking to get paid even though we have the "Satisfaction Guarantee". If that's a good reason for some dishonest person to file a complaint with the Revdex.com then so be it. I’m not apologizing because Complaint [redacted] is the wrongdoer in this situation.

Sincerely

[redacted] CPA

President Accu-Tax The Tax Pros (no

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: Accu-tax is blatantly refusing to honor THEIR ADVERTISED GUARANTEE as evidenced by their response to the complaint. Stating "I believe there are cases where I am morally justified in asking to get paid even though we have the Satisfaction Guarantee" . I would advise Accu-tax to seek the counsel of an attorney to explain to them what their "Satisfaction Guaranteed" actually states as they clearly do not understand it. Accu-tax needs to remove their guarantee, as it is currently false advertising OR they need to add a disclaimer stating something like * will honor Satisfaction Guaranteed ONLY at owners sole discretion AND if deemed morally justified...again, they should seek legal counsel...

Furthermore, We had been loyal customers of Accu-tax since 2006 (not 2004) and that is what makes this situation and their response all the more puzzling and offensive. They continue to insult and attack our character in a very unwarranted and unprofessional manner. We did move out of state this year and we did have them estimate our tax return. However this year Accu-tax made an egregious error when preparing our taxes. An error that if WE had not caught it, we would have been paying the IRS upwards of $17,000.00.( I have provided the Revdex.com with a copy of the correspondence in which he tells us what we owe). This was clearly NOT "flawless and professional service" as he states in his response that he provided to the Revdex.com. The error was so grave that it is actually gross negligence. His error could have easily been avoided if he had exercised due professional care in his preparation. The information necessary to correctly estimate the return was CLEARLY on the documents we provided. Only after WE caught his error did he concede to fix his mistake and it was WELL OVER a $10,000.00 mistake. Because of this error and his unfortunate response to it, we lost faith in Accu-tax and sought counsel with a local CPA. The local CPA estimated our taxes more accurately than Accu-tax, so we decided to go with him (still filing an extension). Needless to say, we were NOT "confidently assured of the accuracy of their return" and decided not to file with them. This is absolutely in line with their policy and they SHOULD be held accountable to HONOR THEIR ADVERTISED GUARANTEE OR FORCED TO REMOVE IT.

I would also like to point out that we have in fact filed an extension before THROUGH Accu-tax, so his claim that we were upset that "an extension of time to file is not an extion of time to pay" is ridiculous, as we were already aware . It comes down to this, he assumed that his long time customers decided not to file through him for a reason as absurd as suggesting an extension and apparently this made him angry?? Coupled with his delusions of "flawless" and "professional service" and believing that after 7 years of loyalty WE somehow became "unscrupulous" and attempted to "weasel out of paying" which we had never done before. Clearly he did NOT acknowledge his gross negligence with regard to the preparation of our 2012 taxes WHEN that is in FACT the true and ONLY reason we did not file with Accu-tax. Accu-tax did not ask why we decided, after being customers for so long, not to file with them, instead they responded with weird accusations, demands of payment and unprofessional actions of personal character attacks and above all THE REFUSAL TO HONOR THEIR ADVERTISED POLICY.

An "honest moral human being" would not claim they "provided flawless, professional service" when in fact there was gross negligence. An "honest moral human being" would not attack customers in such an unprofessional way. An "honest moral human being" WOULD HONOR THEIR ADVERTISED POLICY OF SATISFACTION GUARANTEED.

Regards,

Business

Response:

Re: Complaint [redacted]

Dear Revdex.com,

I have a few comments in response to Complaint [redacted]’s reply to my response to their complaint. There are a few points I would like to make. Foremost, this situation is simply a dispute over the payment of our legitimate fees. Nothing has occurred that warrants any complaint of any kind.

First, when asked for payment for our services on April 10, no mention was made of being unhappy with our service. The exact response was: “As I understand if we don't file with you there is no fee*." No mention was made of being dissatisfied in any way. I have found that the truth is usually found in someone’s initial, unguarded, reaction.

Later, they claimed that they immediately recognized conversations we had about their tax return around February 8th constituted gross negligence, if our conduct in early February was “gross negligence”, then why did they continue to work with us until April 10? If they strongly doubted our ability in February why were they still working with us in April?

Their self-serving story makes no sense when viewed in light of their behavior,

Recently, [redacted] claimed that my initial Revdex.com response was a "public insult". Like this document, my Revdex.com response made absolutely no mention of their name. How is It a public insult when they can not be identified? It is not, but it is another example of their willingness to bend the truth to avoid paying a legitimate debt to my company. If they don’t want to see my responses in a public forum then they should simply withdraw their public forum complaint,

Second, [redacted] never received a copy of a 2012 tax return from us. Their 2012 tax return was never completed and never provided to them for filing and they were never billed for tax preparation. We billed them for all the forms necessary for preparing their extensions. An extension was prepared and submitted to them and they were billed for its preparation.

Our guarantee says if you are unhappy with the tax return we prepared and decide not to file it then you owe us nothing. It says absolutely nothing about any other service such as preparing an extension for a tax return. Because we never charged [redacted] for preparing a tax return our guarantee does not even apply to them.

Third, [redacted] incorrectly claims that we suggested paying the IRS $17,000, When we advise a client to make a payment, there is always a form to accompany the payment and complete instructions. No such form or instructions exist for any payment of $17,000, Appropriate forms and instructions were prepared for the payment of $5,044 which was our best estimate while waiting for [redacted] to provide missing information.

The implications that we recommended paying the IRS $17,000 or that [redacted] file a tax return with a $17,000 balance due are both false. They are taking a piece of a conversation we had during the data collection process and using it out of context to attempt to justify not paying a legitimate debt to my company.

Finally, [redacted] claims to have a history of timely payment with our company. Typically, our clients pay us at the time of service. In the instances where this was the case [redacted] paid on time. However, the only time they were billed for service (by another company of mine) they took over 90 days to pay.

We never offered them credit after that and would have only delivered their 2012 tax returns after receiving full payment. We did not consider them to be creditworthy and it appears that our evaluation was spot on.

Sincerely,

[redacted], President of Accu-Tax

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: Accu-Tax has an advertised policy of "Satisfaction Guaranteed" that states simply "If you are not pleased with our service and decide not to file

the returns we will refund your fee in full." Accu-Tax provided us with an estimate of our 2012 taxes, we were not pleased with their service and decided not to file through them. We are well within our right as consumers to do so, without any penalty under THEIR OWN ADVERTISED POLICY. Is Accu-Tax going to honor THEIR OWN ADVERTISED policy or not?

Note: Please see attachments for the Accu-Tax Advertised Guarantee

Regards,

Consumer

Response:

SATISFACTION GUARANTEED: You will leave our office confidently assured of the accuracy and completeness of your tax returns. We go the extra mile to get it right. If you are not pleased with our service and decide not to file the returns we will refund your fee in full.

Consumer

Response:

“The Accu-Tax advantage is depth of experience and affordable, personal service.”NEW CLIENTS SAVE AT LEAST 15%: Bring a copy of last year’s tax return and the bill you paid for professional tax preparation*. We will prepare the same forms for 15% LESS than the price you paid last year OR our usual prices, whichever is lower. Additional forms will be billed at our affordable prices.