Santa Barbara Tax Products Group

Mr. [redacted] and TPG have come to an agreement and the complaint has been resolved.  Mr. [redacted] will update you on the status of the complaint.  Please see his response below:
sans-serif;">Ms. [redacted],
Thank you ever so much
for your expeditious manner in solving this grave issue for us. It has been
plainly stated as to the fault of my banking institution, [redacted] Bank, for
indeed erroneously REJECTING my federal refund. Again, Please accept my sincere
thanks in solving this matter for us. We indeed will continue to wait for our
cashier's check to surely arrive sometime this week.
Gratefully yours, Mr.
[redacted] 
 
Thank you,
[redacted]
Santa Barbara Tax Products Group

April 29, 2016 [redacted]   Dear Ms. [redacted], This is in response to your complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the Revdex.com on...

April 8, 2016. In your complaint, you stated that you filed your federal return through Turbo Tax. You had your refund deposited into a friend’s account but there was an issue where your refund was sent back to TPG. Your refund has been with TPG for the last month and you are still waiting for it to be deposited into your account. Please allow me to explain the role of TPG in this matter. TPG, on behalf of the Bank, offers tax related financial products through a network of tax preparation franchises, independent tax professionals and online tax preparation providers. These products provide the taxpayer a method of having their tax preparation fees deducted from their tax refund without paying any upfront costs. When the taxpayer selects an RT, they direct the IRS to deposit their tax refund into a temporary account at the Bank. When the Bank received the IRS refund (usually less than 21 days from the filing date), the Bank makes deductions from the refund to pay the tax preparation fees and Bank fees. The balance of the refund is then disbursed to the taxpayer by way of deposit to an account designated by the taxpayer. In summary, on January 29, 2016, TPG received your electronic filing record from [redacted].  This means that you used this tax preparer to prepare your tax return and you elected to utilize a Refund Transfer to pay for your tax preparation fees.  TPG received the data file only and no monies were transferred.  The IRS funded your return on February 9, 2016. Your tax preparer issued a check at their office and provided it to you.  TPG confirmed that the check was negotiated on February 12, 2016.  The issue that was raised in the complaint does not exist on this record. If you are contacting us on behalf of another taxpayer, please have them contact us directly at 877-908-7228, Monday through Friday, 7am to 4pm.  No information can be disclosed without speaking directly with the record holder.   
Sincerely, [redacted] Compliance Analyst

Problem: 
This business is ran by criminals and liars. They had problems with my tax return, which took them weeks to "resolve." I then filed a complaint. They immediately decided to reject my return and send it back to the IRS; this lasted for about a week, before they changed their mind (WITHOUT my permission) and decided they would keep it. Two weeks ago, they claimed it was mailed. A week ago, they again claimed it was mailed. I have received absolutely nothing. When I call them, they lecture me about how important they are and how much worse they could make this for me. This is unacceptable. They are holding MY money. I want it ASAP, and I want my charges that they took from my return refunded. I will never again do business with [redacted] as long as they associate themselves with these criminal buffoons.
 
Desired Outcome:
GIVE ME MY MONEY.

March 21, 2016
 
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]...

[redacted]
 
Dear Ms. [redacted]
This is in response to your complaint filed against Santa
Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the Revdex.com on March 9,
2016.
Your complaint stated that since February 18, you have been
waiting for your refund to be deposited into your bank account. You realized
that the account you entered for your refund to be deposited to is closed. You
called to inform TPG about your account but learned there was a hold placed on
your refund. You requested your refund be sent back to the IRS but have been
given different timeframes when the refund would be returned.
We apologize for the inconvenience you experienced and the
manner in which you felt our customer service agents handled your inquiry. We
have spoken with the customer service representatives regarding your complaint
and reminded them of their obligation to always process customer inquiries in a
respectful manner.
Controls are in placed to protect our customers from
identity theft. As explained to you during our phone conversation on March 17,
since there was an error in your account information as well as the address you
entered while filing your tax return, TPG is obligated to send your refund back
to the IRS. TPG has begun the process of returning your funds to the IRS,
specifically the RISC/IVO Division of the IRS in Fresno, California. The funds
will be sent back via Cashier’s Check and you will be provided a tracking
number to enable you to track the delivery status. This process can take up to 15
days. Please be advised that once we have returned funds to the IRS it can be 10-15
weeks before they acknowledge receipt and post to your account.
Thank you for taking the time to communicate to us why our service
did not meet your expectations. If you have any other questions or concerns,
please feel free to contact me at 877-908-7228, Monday through Friday, 7am to
4pm.
 
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Compliance Analyst

[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]...

[redacted]
[redacted]
 
RE:      Case [redacted]
 
03.11.2015
 
Dear [redacted]
[redacted],
 
This letter is in response to the complaint filed against
Santa Barbara Tax Products Group to the Revdex.com on March 8, 2015
regarding service issues.
 
Upon review
of your record, a Refund Transfer (RT) was chosen when your taxes were prepared
through [redacted]. On February 24, 2015 the IRS funded your federal return;
fees were deducted to pay your [redacted] user fees. The balance was
deposited to the account instructed on [redacted] Refund
Processing Agreement. Your Bank rejected the funds and declared the account an
R03 “No account/Unable to locate account”. The funds were returned to [redacted] on
February 26, 2015. 
 
Controls are
in place to protect our customers from identity theft and fraud. On three
separate occasions you attempted to change your banking account information and
failed. Before you can make any changes to your original record, you are
required to answer a few questions which are meant to be difficult. You may
even need your records to answer them. They are used to ensure that nobody but
you can change your personal and confidential information. Because we were
unable to obtain the personal information from you in order to verify your
identity, we couldn’t proceed any further in our efforts.
 
[redacted] has begun
the process of returning your funds to the IRS. This process can take up to 15
business days. Please be advised that once we have returned funds to the IRS it
can be several weeks before they acknowledge receipt and post to your account.
We apologize if our attempts at obtaining your personal information were
perceived as rude, but please understand it is our obligation to investigate
these matters thoroughly to ensure the money is forwarded to the lawful owner.
 
[redacted] charges a commercially reasonable processing fee to
cover the expenses associated with reprocessing these items. Most banks
typically charge between $25 and $35 for return item fees. In this case, you
were charged a $20.00 reprocessing fee for the rejection of funds and an
additional legal processing fee of $25 to return funds back to the IRS. Please
review the attached application and agreement for full disclosure
 
We thank you for the inquiry. If you have any further
concerns or questions regarding this complaint, please feel free to contact me
at ###-###-####, Monday through Friday 7 am to 3 pm.
 
 
Respectfully,
 
 
[redacted]
[redacted]
Compliance
Analyst

March 4, 2016
 
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]...

[redacted]
 
Dear Mr. [redacted],
This is in response to your complaint filed against Santa
Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the Revdex.com on February
24, 2016.
Your complaint stated that you after filing your taxes, you
learned that your refund was rejected due to an issue with your [redacted]
account. After contacting the IRS, they explained that it will take 8-10 days
for [redacted] to send you a new check. It wasn’t until February 19, you learned that
your refund was processed through TPG. After uploading your identification, you
still haven’t received your return.
Controls are in place to protect our customers from identity
theft and fraud. On February 25, TPG was able to verify your information,
released the hold from your account and as contracted, mailed a check to your
address on record. Our records show that your check was cashed on March 2,
2016.
Thank you for taking the time to communicate to us why our
service did not meet your expectations. 
We have every desire to address your needs and provide the best solution
available to resolve your issue as soon as possible.  We hope the points listed above offered a
fair solution.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel
free to contact me at [redacted], Monday through Friday, 7am to 4pm.
 
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Compliance Analyst

April 19, 2016
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
Dear Ms. [redacted],
This is in response to your complaint filed against Santa
Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the Revdex.com on April
13, 2016.
In your complaint you stated that your tax return was
approved by the IRS on March 16. You learned there was an issue with your
account number which caused your refund to be redirected to TPG. You were not
aware that TPG was involved with your refund. Once you called TPG, you were
asked to submit your identification to release the hold on your account. After
submitting your identification numerous times, TPG was still unable to
correctly verify your identity. As of April 14, you have not received your
refund.
Please allow me to explain the role of TPG in this matter.
TPG, on behalf of the Bank, offers tax related financial products through a
network of tax preparation franchises, independent tax professionals and online
tax preparation providers.  These
products provide the taxpayer a method of having their tax preparation fees
deducted from their tax refund without paying any upfront costs (please
reference attached screen shots).  When
your taxes were prepared through Turbo Tax, you chose a Refund Transfer (RT)
product.  When the taxpayer selects an
RT, they direct the IRS to deposit their tax refund into a temporary account at
the Bank.  When the Bank receives the IRS
refund (usually less than 21 days from the filing date), the Bank makes
deductions from the refund to pay the tax preparation fees and Bank fee.  The balance of the refund is then disbursed
to the taxpayer by way of deposit to an account designated by the taxpayer.  
Upon review of your record, a Refund Transfer (RT) was
chosen when your taxes were prepared through Turbo Tax. On March 15, 2016 the IRS funded your federal
return; fees were deducted to pay your Turbo Tax user fees and an additional
Bank processing fee for the RT. The balance was deposited to the account
instructed on the Civista Bank Refund Processing Agreement. Your financial
institution rejected the funds because they were unable to locate the specified
account.  You may contact the ACH
Department at your financial institution and provide them with trace number: [redacted] for further details regarding the
rejection of funds. The funds were returned to TPG on March 18, 2016.
In the scenario described in your complaint you have chosen
a do-it-yourself (DIY) tax preparation software package such as Intuit’s
popular TurboTax product. If a taxpayer enters a bank account that will not
accept the refund deposit, the transaction is rejected by the receiving
bank.  Often times this occurs because
the taxpayer has entered incorrect bank account information or the account is
closed.  In these cases the receiving
bank “rejects” the transaction, and returns the funds to the sender, in this
case TPG. TPG in not made aware of this error until the receiving bank rejects
the transaction back to TPG. 
On April 15, TPG’s Risk Department was able to verify your
identity and released the hold on your account. On the same day, TPG sent your
refund as a Cashier’s Check to your mailing address on record. Please allow up
to 7 business days to receive your check.
While the process of converting the rejected deposit to a
paper check ultimately provides benefit to the customer, there is a substantial
cost to TPG for handling these items. TPG charges a commercially reasonable
processing fee to cover the expenses associated with processing these items.
Most banks typically charge between $25 and $35 for return item fees. Please
review your application and agreement on the Turbo Tax website for full
disclosure (a sample version is attached). TPG charged a $20 reprocessing fee
to convert the rejected direct deposit transaction into a Cashier’s Check.  You were also charged a $25 legal processing
fee because your funds were unclaimed and were in queue to be batched back to
the IRS.  Once you contacted TPG, TPG
refunded the $25 legal processing fee and included it in your refund check.   
Please note, you stated that you were not notified of the
hold on your refund. TPG has since implemented a process for when holds are
placed on funds to send email notifications to customers informing them of the
hold and providing instructions on how to have the hold released by uploading a
photo of their identification for verification by TPG. 
Thank you for taking the time to communicate to us why our
service did not meet your expectations. If you have any other questions or
concerns, please feel free to contact me at 877-908-7228, Monday through
Friday, 7am to 4pm.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Compliance Analyst

April 8, 2016
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted] TX 77573
class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Dear Mr. [redacted],This is in response to your complaint filed
against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the RevDex.com on March 25, 2016.
In your complaint, you stated that your refund was
approved by the IRS on March 16 after a security review. Without being notified
about there being an issue with your refund, you tried calling Turbo Tax who
directed you to [redacted] Bank. [redacted] Bank asked you to call TPG. Once you were
able to speak to someone at TPG, you were asked to upload your license for
review.
Due to the amount of compromised SSNs along with
non-public personal information (NPPI) throughout the country, we have put
controls in place to prevent identity theft and fraud. TPG feels this is the
most prudent course of action to protect taxpayers given the current
environment. TPG is committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring that only
you can access your funds.
Despite your history with us, your account was
flagged for further review. On March 26, TPG was able to verify your
information and release the hold on your account. Your return was direct
deposited into the account you provided when filing your taxes.
Thank you for taking the time to communicate to us
why our service did not meet your expectations. Additionally, we thank you for
your loyalty in using our bank product. On behalf of TPG, I would like to
apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
If you have any other questions or concerns,
please feel free to contact me at 877-908-7228, Monday through Friday, 7am to
4pm.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Compliance Analyst

Hello [redacted],
 
All issues were addressed in our previous complaint for case [redacted] for [redacted]. Our position remains the same.
 
Respectfully,
 
[redacted]
 
Compliance Analyst:  Tax Products Group
[redacted] N [redacted] Rd, Suite [redacted]  :  La Jolla  :  CA [redacted]
www.sbtpg.com  :  TF [redacted]  :  O [redacted]

The issue was resolved. I am sorry, I did not know how to let you know.
[redacted]

[redacted]
 
Re:
     Case [redacted]
 
04.20.2015
 
Dear
[redacted],
 
This
email is in response to the complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products
Group to the Revdex.com of San Diego on April 4, 2015 regarding
delivery issues.
 
TPG
has returned your funds to the IRS on April 15, 2015. Please be advised that
the IRS can take several weeks before they acknowledge receipt and post to your
account. It is recommended that you contact the IRS at [redacted]-[redacted]-[redacted] for further
details.
 
We
apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you and the manner in which
your inquiry was handled. Please feel free to contact me at [redacted]-[redacted]-[redacted],
Monday through Friday 7 am to 4 pm, if you have any further questions or
concerns regarding this complaint.
 
Respectfully,
 
[redacted]
Compliance
Analyst

[redacted]...

[redacted]
RE:      Case [redacted]
October 7, 2015
Dear
[redacted],
My
sincere apologies, we should have contacted you with the FedEx trace number.
Customer courtesy is an extreme priority for us and in this case, we apparently
failed you.  All the customer agents
involved have been reminded of their obligation to follow through on special
requests and communicate the tracking details with the customer.
Controls are in
place to protect our customers from identity theft and fraud. Our regulators
require that we follow Customer Identification Program (CIP) and Know Your
Customer (KYC) procedures. Please understand it is our obligation to
investigate these matters thoroughly to ensure the money is forwarded to the
lawful owner. Once you were verified as the lawful owner of the funds, a refund
check was released on October 6, 2015 and as a gesture of goodwill mailed the
check FedEx to the address on record with a tracking number of [redacted].
Thank
you for your valuable input and recommendations which will be addressed in our
annual review. Regular assessments such as these ensure our ability to continue
to deliver quality service. 
Please
feel free to contact me at 877-9[redacted] Monday through Friday 7 am to 3 pm if
you have any further concerns or questions regarding this complaint.
Respectfully,
 
[redacted]
[redacted]
Compliance
Analyst

They claim that there is fraudulent activity and hold on to your funds until you are verified...but no one ever contacts you! So YOU must TRY to contact them when you notice something is amiss. When you try to contact them, you are placed on hold for hours or disconnected. Then they charge you a $40 processing fee and a $20 returned bank fee for attempting to deposit fund into your account???
I checked my bank account information and all that was provided is correct. I believe they are scamming people and a public law suit should be filed to return money to individuals harmed by their fraudulent business practices.

I've been doing with turbo tax for a few years never have I had a problem with them getting my asking information wrong... So now They can't find my return. Said that Santa Barbara bank Has it and has tried sending it twice!! You all are doing that to collect money. And must have changed my account information.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
Thanks for the update however Again, I did not receive ANY communication from your company that my return was being held until I called. Also, if there was any question as to my SSN# being compromised then again, I should have been contacted.
I also did not agree for your company to have any rights to hold my refund so I and demanding that the processing costs be credited.
Also, please answer to the question as to why the operator ([redacted], employee # [redacted]) referenced that the IRS requested verification on my identity when according to the IRS fraud department that was not the case.
Regards,
[redacted]

[redacted]
Dear Mr. [redacted]
Our sincere apologies, I
agree that this should not have happened. The information you were given was
incorrect. I reviewed your case with the Manager and team in order to clarify
procedures and provide further training. In addition, we are currently
evaluating how we can enhance our process to avert this problem from occurring
again in the future. 
We appreciate you bringing
this to our attention and thank you for your input and feedback. On March 8,
2016, TPG reimbursed the processing fee via direct deposit. 
Cathy Kissinger
Senior Compliance Analyst

March 7, 2016
[redacted]
class="MsoNormal">Dear [redacted],
This is in response to your complaint filed against Santa
Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the Revdex.com on February
25, 2016.
You complaint stated that you were told that you alerted TPG
that the account you submitted was wrong. 
You asked that we retrieve your funds and reissue as a check.
Upon review of your record, a Refund Transfer (RT) was
chosen when your taxes were prepared through Turbo Tax. On February 17, 2016 the IRS funded your federal
return; fees were deducted to pay your Turbo Tax user fees and an additional
Bank processing fee for the RT. The balance was deposited to the account
instructed on the [redacted] Refund Processing Agreement. Your financial
institution rejected the funds and declared the account an R23 / “Credit Entry
Refused by Receiver”. The funds were returned to TPG on March 4, 2016.
On February 15, 2016 you called TPG to advise that you
entered wrong account information and needed to place the account on hold.  Unfortunately, this request was not processed
immediately and the funds were disbursed as scheduled.  Our sincere apologies, as this shouldn’t have
happened.  On March 4, we spoke on the
phone and I advised that the funds were returned by the financial institution
and were currently on a hold until we could validate your identity.  Per your request, I forwarded instructions for
this process via email.  You then
confirmed receipt of my email and advised that you completed the verification
process.  On March 7, TPG verified your
information, released the hold from your account, and mailed a check to your
address on record. Tracking information was forwarded to you via email. 
Thank you for taking the time to communicate to us why our
service did not meet your expectations. 
We have every desire to address your needs and provide the best solution
available to resolve your issue as soon as possible.  We hope the points listed above offered a
fair explanation and solution.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel
free to contact me at [redacted], Monday through Friday, 7am to 4pm.
 
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Senior Compliance Analyst

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
Regards,
[redacted]
that  is exactly what happened my account had been closed and sent back to your bank SBTPG this is understandable. it is what happened when you received it back is what I am filing this complaint about.. I was instructed to send my identification...and yes I did exactly what YOUR representatives told me to do ....which was to submit my ID I also asked your reps..if I should also submit birth certificate /social security card to be sure not to delay the process, they said my ID would be fine so I did ...my ID is current and valid and has the same information on it that match my return ......and in less then 1 business  your bank put a hold on my account and flagged it for fraud WHY???? every time I call and speak with customer service nobody can give me a straight answer.. some say it was sent to the IRS others say it is in a holding account that the IRS has to come and remove it from this holding account . why would the IRS come to your financial institution and ask for my returned refund ,,some say they have no record or tracking so I have no clue even where my refund is your customer service is the worst I have ever experienced ...so I guess after your financial  institution received my RETURNED REFUND  my refund is just lost into oblivion... the IRS does not have it and never received it returned FROM YOU!!! your bank RECEIVED MY RETURNED REFUND 2/15/16 ....as of now your bank is holding my refund hostage .....you have thousands of complaints exactly like mine ... you have no right to treat your customers this way nor do you have the right to hold peoples money, you are simply a middle-man for tax preparations  services I want my refund RETURNED TO THE IRS IMMEDIATLY...and believe me when I say you are the absolute WORST company I have ever delt with I will NEVER be using your services again..

[redacted]
[redacted]
text-align: justify;">[redacted]
[redacted]
 
RE:      Case [redacted]
 
03.27.2015
 
Dear
[redacted],
 
This is in
response to the complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG)
to the Revdex.com on March 17, 2015 regarding check cashing issues.
 
Upon review
of your record, a Refund Transfer (RT) was chosen when your taxes were prepared
through [redacted]. On February 10, 2015 the IRS funded your federal return;
fees were deducted to pay your [redacted] user fees. The balance was
deposited to the account instructed on [redacted] Refund
Processing Agreement. Your Bank rejected the funds and declared the account an
R03 “No Account/Unable to Locate Account”. The funds were returned to TPG on
February 11, 2015.
 
A Cashier’s
Check was mailed on February 12 and verified by your bank on February 18. You
stated in your complaint that  “the
teller at the [redacted] keyed in wrong information and verified the check
and when you took it to [redacted] they could not validate it again”. This check
is a negotiable instrument and you may cash it at any participation financial
institution. Controls are in place to protect our customers from identity theft
and fraud. Once a check has been verified we do not allow a second verification
for the protection of our customers.
 
Our
regulators require that we follow Customer Identification Program (CIP) and
Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures, which are part of the statute of the USA
Patriot Act. We apologize if our attempts at obtaining your personal
information were perceived as rude, but please understand it is our obligation
to investigate these matters thoroughly to ensure the money is forwarded to the
lawful owner. Once you and the secondary taxpayer were verified as the lawful
owner of the funds, a second refund check was released on March 19, 2015 and as
a gesture of goodwill mailed the check certified to the address on record.
 
Please
feel free to contact me at ###-###-####, Monday through Friday 7 am to 4 pm if
you have any further concerns or questions regarding this complaint.
 
Respectfully,
 
 
[redacted]
[redacted]
Compliance
Analyst

March 4, 2016
 
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]...

[redacted]
 
Dear [redacted],
This is in response to your complaint filed
against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the RevDex.com on February 26, 2016.
 
Your complaint stated you did not receive notification
there was a hold on your account and contacting customer service are long or
disconnected.
 
We experienced extremely large call volumes which correlates
to extremely large funding from the IRS. This unexpected spike in business
caused extreme demand on our resources such as our call center.  We
apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you and the inability for you
to reach live customer support.
Due to the amount of compromised SSNs along with non-public
personal information (NPPI) throughout the country, we have put controls in
place to prevent identity theft and fraud. TPG feels this is the most prudent
course of action to protect taxpayers given the current environment. TPG is
committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring that only you can access your
funds.
Despite your history with us, your account was flagged for
further review. On February 29, TPG was able to verify your information and
release the hold on your account. Your return has been direct deposited into
the account you provided when filing your taxes.  Your latest email on March 2, stated that you
have yet to receive your funds.  It is
recommended that you contact the ACH Department for [redacted] at
[redacted] and provide them with trace #: [redacted], amount:
$25,930.85, disbursement date: 2-29-2016 to assist them in locating your
funds. 
Thank you for taking the time to communicate to us why our
service did not meet your expectations.  Additionally,
we thank you for your loyalty in using our bank product. We have every desire
to address your needs and provide the best solution available to resolve your
issue as soon as possible.  We hope the
points listed above offered a fair explanation and solution.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel
free to contact me at [redacted], Monday through Friday, 7am to 4pm.
 
Sincerely, 
[redacted]
Compliance Analyst