Santa Barbara Tax Products Group

Review: I cannot get a person on the phone. I have called dozens of times and was on hold for hours. They are supposed to issue my tax refund and it has been 10 days. I need my refund money. The irs told me to contact the Santa Barbara tax group. No one seems to help me.Desired Settlement: I want my tax refund put into my checking account like it was supposed to 10 days ago.

Business

Response:

March 2, 2016

RE: Complaint

ID: [redacted]

Complaint

ID: [redacted]

Dear Ms. [redacted],

This is in response to the complaints filed against Santa

Barbara Tax Products Group through the Revdex.com on February 22,

2016 by you and your spouse.

Your complaint stated that once you learned your account was

placed on hold, you tried speaking with TPG’s customer service to learn why

there was a hold. You were unable to speak to someone after calling a number of

times which is why you filled a Revdex.com complaint.

We are experiencing extremely large call volumes which

correlates to extremely large funding from the IRS. This unexpected spike

in business has caused extreme demand on our resources and unfortunate delays

in processing. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you and

the manner in which your inquiry was handled by our Customer Service

agents.

Controls are in place to protect our customers from identity

theft and fraud. Our Risk Department contacted you on February 26 to discuss

your complaint. TPG was able to verify your information and released the hold on

your account. Your refund was direct deposited into your account.

If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel

free to contact me at [redacted], Monday through Friday, 7am to 4pm.

Sincerely,

Compliance Analyst

Review: The IRS website says I am due a tax refund (that should have been forwarded to SBTG on February 10, 2016 in the amount of $1855.48. The amount remitted to me by SBTG was $265.15. I have tried to reach someone at this company for three days now with no response from anyone. I have remitted five emails and four phone calls. There has been no attempt by the company to contact me outside of an automatic generated email stating that they received my email. I need to know what is going on and when I will receive the refund due to me. I'm starting to believe this company is not legitimate .Desired Settlement: Refund the amount owed to me in the amount stated by the IRS.

Business

Response:

February 15, 2016

Review: This company forced me to have to provide ID verification to them. When the information was provided I was told it would be 2 business days to process. After I called 2 business days later, they informed me it would be 4 business days. I accepted this and called on the 4th business day. They are now telling me it will be 7 business days. They refuse to allow me to speak with the department handling this verification, which I can accept. THey then informed me they could "email that department to try and get the process to go faster." When I asked for proof of this email, they refused to provide it.Desired Settlement: I wish for the department verifying my identification to just do exactly that in the timeframe I was initially provided. I wish for this company to have to do this for all customers instead of just changing how long it will take. They should be prepared for the influx of information about this as it is THEIR policy and they do 99% of their business during this time frame (jan-april). This isn't unreasonable.

Business

Response:

February 26, 2016

Dear Mr. [redacted],

This is in response to your

complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group through the RevDex.com on February 19, 2016.

In your complaint you stated that

after providing your identification for TPG to verify your account, you were

given an array of different time frames for when your verification will be

processed.

If a taxpayer enters a bank

account that will not accept the refund deposit, the transaction is rejected by

the receiving bank. Oftentimes 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 has nothing to do with the incorrect account

information entered by the taxpayer or the receiving bank’s decision to reject

the funds. Once TPG receives the rejected refund, the company has the option of

making another attempt to disburse the funds to the customer or simply

returning the funds to the IRS.

Controls are in place to protect

our customers from identity theft and fraud. TPG has requested you to provide

your state license and social security number in order to verify that you are

the correct account holder. Your information was then verified and the hold on

your account released. On February 20, TPG processed your tax refund as a check

and mailed it to you on the same date. Please allow up to 7 days for the check

to reach your listed address.

If you have any other questions

or concerns, please feel free to contact me at [redacted], Monday through

Friday, 7am to 4pm.

Sincerely,

Compliance Analyst

Review: My IRS refund chk was sent to thm to be handled. After trying to locate my funds for 2 days I was given a website to taxproducts.com. after putting in my info. I located my funds and saw tht my ach to my bank hand been rejected but tht I was charged a $24.00 processing fee. The ACH error was not my fault. I contacted customer service to explain and gt my funds sent to the correct acct and request the fee be reversed. That was the most horrible experience. Each time I cslled I got a different petson with a different answer none to which was resolvinging my issue. When I ask for a supervisor I was told to leave a voice mail and they wld call me back at their convience??? Thn finally a rep told me my refund wld be sent back to the IRS due to fraud. Because I hd explained to thm my circumstance behind why my ACH was rejected and tht it wld take 8 wks to gt my refund.

I had to email several personal and private docs to an email and wait 2 days for confirmation of receipt. This is totally unethical treatment of consumers, especially since I did not knowingly elect to do business with them to begin with. Nor will I ever. I will make a point to let othrs know of ths treatment as well.Desired Settlement: I would like any and all fees charged to me from this transaction refunded. Since I did not receive the service or customer service I shld hve as a consumer

Business

Response:

Case ID# [redacted]

02.09.2015

This letter is in response to the complaint filed against

Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) to the Revdex.com of San Diego on 2/5/2015

regarding fees.

On February 4, 2015 TPG disbursed the funds into your

account and they were rejected by your financial institution as an account

closed. The funds were returned to TPG on February 4, 2015. According to your

contract, TPG issued a Cashier’s Check and mailed certified to the address on

record. Please allow 10 business days for receipt of your check.

Once TPG receives the rejected refund, the company has the

option of making another attempt to disburse funds to the customer or simply

returning the funds to IRS. As a courtesy, I’ve enclosed a sample copy of the

Refund Transfer online agreement for your review. TPG provided the service

which we were contracted to provide in deducting the applicable fees and depositing

the money into the account which you directed on the online agreement. TPG

charges a processing fee of $20.00 to process the rejected of funds. Your

electronic signature on the return authorized the deduction of all applicable

fees and processing of the Cashier’s Check. Per our phone conversation, we came

to an agreement you were satisfied with.

If you have any further concerns or questions regarding this

complaint, please feel free to contact me at 877-908-7228, Monday through

Friday 7 am to 3 pm PST.

Respectfully,

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.

Regards,

Review: I have been waiting for 4 months to receive my refund. Every time I've called in the past 3 months. I get different answers and excuses to where my refund is. A first they say contact a tax advocate, then they say it's at the IRS IVO Dept. I sent them personal information to verify who I was and still nothing; they refused to accept it. They continue to tell me information that is untrue just to get me off the phone. I tried to update my address and they didn't up-date it, then the ask me have I received a letter stating the status of my refund. How when you don't have my address because you won't up-date it. I want my refund?Desired Settlement: After waiting 4 months I just want my complete refund asap.

Business

Response:

[redacted] R [redacted]

PO Box [redacted] GA [redacted]

RE: Case [redacted]

06.12.15

Dear [redacted] R

[redacted],

This letter

is in response to the complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group

(TPG) to the Revdex.com of San Diego on June 9, 2015 regarding your tax refund

deposit.

Upon review of

your record, a Refund Transfer (RT) was chosen when your taxes were prepared through

Turbo Tax. On February 5, 2015 the IRS funded your federal return; fees were

deducted to pay your Turbo Tax user fees and an additional Bank processing fee.

The balance was deposited to the account instructed on the Sunrise Banks, N.A.

Refund Processing Agreement. Your Bank rejected the funds and declared the

account an R16 “Account Frozen”. The funds were returned to TPG on February 9,

2015.

TPG has nothing to with incorrect account

information entered by the taxpayer or the receiving bank’s decision to reject

the funds. Once TPG receives the

rejected refund the company has the option of making another attempt to

disburse funds to the customer or simply returning the funds to the IRS. This second attempt to deliver the refund to

the customer is for the benefit of the customer. Therefore, when the rejected

refund is returned, TPG makes a good faith attempt to deliver the refund to the

taxpayer through an alternative delivery method; a Cashier’s Check was mailed to the address on record on February 9, 2015.

In the scenario described in your complaint

you tried to change your mailing address but TPG would not update it. 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. To

ensure that nobody but you can change your personal and confidential

information we asked that you submit a clear copy of your IDs and a utility

bill for address verification. These items came across too dark to obtain the

personal information we needed to make changes to your account. 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.

TPG returned your

funds to the IRS on April 15, 2015. Please allow approximately 10-12 weeks from

the date for the IRS to acknowledge receipt of funds. It is recommended that

you contact the IRS at 800-829-[redacted] for further details.

Please feel free to contact me at 877-[redacted], Monday

through Friday 7 am to 3 pm, if you have any further questions or concerns

regarding this complaint.

Respectfully,

Compliance Analyst

Review: This bank has held my tax refund since February 19th. They are suppose to handle fees for turbotax and deposit the remaining refund to my account. February 6th I was locked out of the account and told to call and verify my account by faxing my wife and I social security cards and licenses. I did so and was told my account should be fine in 48 hours. Around February 13th my account was still locked and I was told to fax my documents again. February 19th my funds where deposit into sbtg and they still had not unlocked my account. After getting nowhere with many sbtg representatives, I agreed to have my deposit returned to the irs. I have spoken to the irs many times and even initiated a return trace and sbtg still has my money. Turbotax now claims to simply be a software company and refuses to help me with this problem. I would never have had any business with sbtg bank of it wasn't for having used turbotax to file. It's now been over 60 days and they refuse to give me money or send it back to the irs.Desired Settlement: I simply want my money to be deposited into my account. I will not pursue any legal action as suggested by the irs if sbtg simply gives me my refund.

Business

Response:

[redacted] Ave **

NY [redacted]

Re:

Case [redacted]

April

27, 2015

Dear

[redacted],

This

is in response to the complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group “TPG”

to the Revdex.com of San Diego on April 21, 2015 regarding service issues.

Controls

are in place to protect our customers from identity theft and fraud. In the

scenario described in your complaint you had faxed over documents in order to

verify your identity. TPG received those documents the same day you requested

that the money be returned to IRS. This process can take up to 15 business days.

In between that time you made more attempts to change your information delaying

the process of returning the money back to IRS.

TPG

returned your funds to the IRS on March 18, 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 800-829-1040 for further

details.

Please feel free to contact me at

877-908-7228, Monday through Friday 7 am to 3 pm, if you have any further

questions or concerns regarding this complaint.

Respectfully,

Compliance Analyst

Consumer

Response:

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.

They are lying through their teeth. I was locked out of the account long before they even received my refund and tried for weeks to have it unlocked by submitting my wife and I's documentation.The first time I faxed my documentation and waited 48 hours, I called and was told that it was lost. The 2nd time I was told to again wait 48hrs and still my account remained locked for verification. They passed me around from representative to representative for weeks until I finally told them that If they did not believe that I am who I say I am, I would prefer for the money to be returned to the IRS. I rather deal with the USA government than continue to play this game with SBTG. At that point I was told that the money would be returned upon receipt(February 19th), then I was told it would go out in the next "batch", then I was given various different dates of when the money was supposedly returned to the IRS. I was extremely patient with these people despite facing hardship and needing my funds. I absolutely do not accept this response because it is 100% false.

Regards,

Business

Response:

Hello [redacted], Yes, in the case of [redacted] we have addressed and responded to the complaint. We cannot further assist in the matter, [redacted] will need to contact IRS as we suggested. Kind regards, [redacted] Compliance Analyst: Tax Products Group[redacted] N [redacted] Rd, Suite [redacted] : [redacted] : CA [redacted]www.[redacted].com : TF [redacted] : O [redacted]

I contacted them after not being able to review my account online and was connected with a very rude woman who acted as though she was being bothered and I was being unreasonable to ask for an itemized list of fees as I found a $33 discrepancy. When I asked to please have explained to me why I needed them to receive my tax refund from the IRS and then have them send the refund to my own bank when I could just have the IRS send the refund directly to my own bank I was told "you can just do your taxes yourself, too!" I really thought there must be SOME reason to have them involved and that they provided some necessary service to earn the fees they were charging me. Turns out there is no reason and they just charge money for a service the IRS provides for free. I guess [redacted] must get some kind of kick back from their useless company. This nasty woman told me to contact [redacted] to find out why there was a discrepancy even though the discrepancy was between bad attitude woman's records from her company computer and said company's own website for customers use and not from [redacted]. SBTPG will never get another penny from me and neither will [redacted] just for associating themselves with this sham of a business.

Review: I received a letter in the mail from Barbara Tax Products which enclosed a cashier's check from "Sunrise Bank". The letter states "We are unable to complete a deposit of your 2014 federal tax refund using the account information you provided us. As a result, your refund minus authorized fees is being disbursed to you via this cashiers' check." This cashier's check includes my social security number. I have NOT provided this company nor alleged bank with ANY information regarding executing my IRS Refund. I do not know these companies. This is IRS fraud. I conducted my research and "Sunrise Bank" is a lender bank. This mail that I received is a set up to cash this check when in return it is a fraud loan.Desired Settlement: These two companies "Barbara Tax Products" and "Sunrise Bank" need to undergo state and federal investigation and determine if these companies should have their license revoked and be out of business for the welfare of the public so that public do not have to be victims of scams, con-artist like behavior.

Business

Response:

RE: Case [redacted]

03.27.2015

Dear

[redacted],

This

letter is in response to the complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products

Group (TPG) to the Revdex.com on March 17, 2015 regarding service

issues.

Please

allow me to discuss who we are and our role in your tax return processing since

there is some confusion to how we acquired your tax refund. When your taxes

were prepared through Sam Financial Service, you chose to deduct your fees from

your refund. 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

fees. The balance of the refund is then disbursed to the taxpayer by way

of deposit to an account designated by the taxpayer (either a personal bank

account or a prepaid card).

Let

me reassure you that only the last four numbers of your social security number

was placed on the check and not a full social, this is standard even for the

IRS. 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. You

may contact your bank and provide them with trace number 096017415543805 to

discuss the rejection of funds. The funds were returned to TPG on March 5, 2015. According to your

contract, TPG issued a Cashier’s Check on March 9, 2015 and mailed it to the

address on record which you state was in your possession.

You were put in contact with Sam Financial

Service in order to resolve this issue. It is recommended that you contact Sam

Financial Service again for further discussion and roles TPG and Sam Financial

Service play in your tax return.

We

thank you for the inquiry. If you have any further concerns or questions

regarding this complaint, please feel free to contact me at 800-901-6663,

Monday through Friday 8 am to 3 pm PST.

Respectfully,

Compliance

Analyst

Review: I. Recieved an email telling me my tax recibe was on ahh hold on s Sunday morning. That Monday I called tve company and was told to go online and jódete my account information because my Bank had rejected my refund. They told me not to use my phone but to complete the change on a desktop. I logged in requsted the change. The system told me to wsit for a verificstion code. After waiting for quite a while I called back. The representative told me to just wait. It finally came through and I put it in immediately. The code was expired. I called back I was told to rewuest a new code. I did that I put in the new code and system rejected code. I out it in twice. The system then bucles me out. I called back was told my account was locked could not be verified and my funds were going back to tve irs and they would hold them fifteen days then send them back. They charged me twenty dollars for tve ach error after several calla and mrssages with supervisors that have never been returned I am at a losa. I told them they need to investigate thier verification procedures. I was told that was impossible

The representatives are dude nasty and they tell lies. Now they are charging me an extra twenty five to return my funda to tve irs. This has been a horrible experience. I just want my money. I have done everything they asked me to dodoDesired Settlement: I want my tax refund promptly sent to me. I should not have to Pay tve additional twenty five dollar fee. Dont send my moneyw to tve irs send it to me

Business

Response:

RE: Case [redacted]

03.11.2015

Dear [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,

Compliance

Analyst

Consumer

Response:

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 b

Review: My 2013 federal income tax refund was stolen from me when I efiled my taxes. I have been given to run around from all directions including TurboTax, The Bancorp and mostly, Santa Barbara Tax Product Group. Management refuses to speak with you, you get conflicting information from customer service.

I filed a police report, a complaint with FDIC, FTC and IRS and followed the advice of each. The FDIC has stepped in to assisted and advised what needs to take place, I contact SBTPG to obtain the correct address to send copies to them. [redacted] a lead CSR, who refuses to let me speak with a supervisor, SBTPG informs me they are not going to refund any money to no one or for a prepaid visa card. IT'SNOT THEIR MONEY. IT WAS NEVER THEIRS! It's my money, I earned it worked very hard for it. Why is Santa Barbara Tax Product Group refusing to file a claim to The Bancorp so I can get my money? This financial institution has reflected sub par business practice as well as unprofessionalism and total disrespect. They need to take their mission statement and throw it in the pacific ocean where it belongs. How is it that a bank tells the FDIC what they are NOT going to do?

Sadly they seemed to have no intentions of complying to a simple request? Why is this bank still operating?Desired Settlement: I would like for Santa Barbara Tax Product Group to comply with the FDIC & The Bancorp and file a claim to have the appropriate tax refund monies return to SBTPG so they can refund my federal income tax return money rightfully to me without any games and hold my money for any interest bearing reasons.

Business

Response:

June 24, 2014

Review: I received a so called Cashier's Check in the mail from this company stating that it was 2013 federal tax refund using the account information that I had provided to them. This is totally false as 1. I've never done business with this company, I've never used a tax preparer. I have not even completed my 2013 tax return as yet(3/16/14).Desired Settlement: I would like this type of advertising discontinued when it targets seniors such as myself, as it is very confusing.

Business

Response:

Hello Ms. [redacted],

Review: I used [redacted] to file my taxes for 2015, Santa Barbara Tax Products Group is "Trusted Business Partner" who processes tax refunds for [redacted].

In my case I decided to the processing fees for [redacted] deducted from my return which resulted in Santa Barbara Tax Products Group receiving my tax return, deducting the fees and then depositing my refund in my account electronically.

Santa Barbara Tax Products Group received my tax refund on 2/23/16. I contacted them on 2/25/16 to find out the status of my refund via email with no response. I called Santa Barbara Tax Products Group on 2/29/16, was kept on hold for 55 minutes waiting to speak to someone regarding my return. I finally spoke to someone who said that they have received my return on 2/23/16 but need my ID to verify who I am to have my refund released.

I did not receive any communication from Santa Barbara Tax Products Group regarding this, I was not informed by [redacted] nor Santa Barbara Tax Products Group at any point that I would need to provide ID to get my tax return released and the IRS is saying that this is not required.

I have provided my ID to Santa Barbara Tax Products Group and would like my refund now.Desired Settlement: Someone at Santa Barbara Tax Products Group needs to contact me, they also need to credit the processing fees for the service as it was not done in a timely manner and Santa Barbara Tax Products Group needs to credit me the interest they are accruing by holding my tax refund since 2/23/16.

Business

Response:

March 9, 2016

Bartlett, IL 60103

Dear Mr. [redacted],

This is in response to your complaint filed

against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the RevDex.com on February 29, 2016.

Your complaint stated you did not receive notification

there was a hold on your account and you experienced long waits or no responses

to your email inquiries from customer service.

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 March 1, 2016, 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. As a one-time

courtesy, we have reimbursed your refund processing fee. Please allow 48 hours

to post to the account on record. No interest is earned on your deposit and

your deposit is not being used by any financial institution during the

processing of your refund.

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 877-908-7228, Monday through Friday, 7am to 4pm.

[redacted]

Compliance Analyst

Consumer

Response:

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.

Review: I had the Tax Product Group deduct fees from my refund my account ended up closing so the funds was sent back to the bank. Once they received the funds they told me my account was on hold for verification. I went online uploaded my State ID and it said that it takes 2 days to verify. My refund was supposed to been deposited on the 10 of February 2016 and I uploaded my ID on the 11th of February 2016. I have called and spoke to several customer service reps that gave me all different information. This last woman told me that I should disregard the information that it gave me on the website and that it takes 3 weeks to verify my ID. Now it states that it would take 2 days for online upload of my ID or 4 Days for faxed documents of my ID. I wait in que for over an hour every time I call to speak with them and they won't give me and update or release the hold off my account after I have submitted all documentation needed. I think the company is withholding people funds to draw interest on our money.Desired Settlement: Please release the hold off my account and issue me my refund via mail as stated per our agreement.

Business

Response:

February 26, 2016

Dear Ms. [redacted],

This is in response to your complaint filed against Santa

Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the Revdex.com on February

17, 2016.

You stated that you expected your tax refund to be deposited

into your account on February 10 but found out that your account was placed on

hold. After going online and following the procedures to release the hold you

were unable to receive the information you wanted regarding your account. We

apologize for the differing information provided to you by customer service. I

can assure you we are taking appropriate steps to ensure this does not happen

to our valued customers in the future.

If a taxpayer enters a bank account that is closed or

incorrect, the transaction is generally rejected by the receiving bank. When this occurs, the receiving bank returns

the funds back to the sender, in this case, TPG. TPG has nothing to do with

incorrect account information entered by the taxpayer or the receiving bank’s decision

to reject the funds. When a refund is rejected back to TPG, the funds can

either be sent back to the IRS or an attempt can be made to validate the

taxpayer’s identity so that the funds can be released to the customer. TPG

requested that you upload your current, valid government-issued photo

identification through our website and it appears that this was not completely

correctly. After emailing your identification on 2/17, the hold was released the

following day.

TPG processed your tax return as a check on February 18.

Please allow up to 7 days for the check to reach your address on file.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to

contact me at [redacted], Monday through Friday, 7am to 4pm.

Sincerely,

Compliance Analyst

Review: I am writing to complain because sbtpg is withholding my tax refund. My direct deposit date was initially 2/10/2016. When my funds were not deposited on that day it prompted me to check back with the site. The site then told me that my identity had to be verified. I called in on Thursday (2/11/16) and the automated system told me that my bank had rejected the transaction; I waited to speak with a representative to get instructions for rectification. I took the steps for verification as told and sent in my drivers license the same business day (2/11/2016). I was advised it would take 2 business days. In the meantime I called my bank to see why they rejected the refund, they had no such record of any deposit attempted. So this morning (2/15/16)after checking the site it told me that my account still had not been verified. The message on the site prompted me to call because I know I did my due diligence in preventing this sort of action, for the second time. On the second call to the company I was greeted by an agitated, interrupting, uninterested, and impatient representative who made me repeat myself at least twice on every question. (I have a southern accent, but gosh!) He was rude but he gave me answers, as far as how true and accurate these answers were was another story. The representative went on to explain to me how I would receive my refund. He told me that the verification process takes 5 business days (longer than the site falsely led me to believe), he then told me it would be another 5 business days before a check would be mailed to me, and another 5 business days for mailing: an expected refund check arrival for 3/5/16. I asked the representative could I have the money deposited into my account since that was what I paying for-the answer was a flat "no". I filed my taxes on 1/25/16 and I may not get them back for 6 weeks--I could have gone snail mail if I'd want that sort of turn-around-time. The representative I spoke with today let me know that he only works there and there's nothing he can do about it. I could have filed my taxes by paper for FREE but I choose this route because the last 5 years I have done this seamlessly with no hiccups, but this year, it's turning into a nightmare. I make very little money, work long hours, full time student, full time single parent, and very stressed out about this situation. Where I spend my money I spend it wisely because I know I have many responsibilities. This was a waist of my money this year and am requesting all of my money back for this service.Desired Settlement: To not only have my money refunded but also get my refund that this company has been holding due to no fault of my own

Business

Response:

February 18, 2016

Dear Ms. [redacted],

This is in response to your complaint filed against Santa

Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the Revdex.com on February

15, 2016.

In your complaint, you stated that your refund was rejected

and you needed to send in your identification to verify your account.

Unfortunately, after contacting TPG’s customer service a number of times, you

were given different time spans for when your account would be released from

the hold. You also expressed how some Customer Service agents were rude towards

you.

Upon review of your record, a Refund Transfer (RT) was

chosen when your taxes were prepared through Turbo Tax. On February 9, 2016 the IRS funded your

federal return; fees were deducted to pay your Turbo Tax user fees of $71.98

and an additional Bank processing fee of $34.99 for the RT. Please review the

fee disclosure in your online agreement, a sample copy has been attached. The

balance was deposited to the account instructed on the [redacted] Refund

Processing Agreement. [redacted] rejected

the funds and declared the account an R04/ “Invalid Account Number”. You may contact your bank and provide them

with trace number: [redacted] for further details regarding the rejection

of funds.

If a taxpayer enters a bank account that will not accept the

refund, the transaction is rejected by the receiving bank. Often times this

occurs because the taxpayer has entered the wrong 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. When the

rejected refund was returned, TPG has the opportunity to deliver the refund to

the customer using an alternative delivery method.

On February 18, 2016, TPG released the hold on your account.

Please allow 24 hours for the check to process.

Once the check is issued, it may take up to 7 days to be received at

your address on record.

On behalf of TPG, I would like to formally apologize for the

poor customer service experience you had when inquiring about your refund.

Customer courtesy is an extreme priority for us and in this case, we failed

you. All of the agents involved have been reminded of their obligation to

always process customer inquiries in a respectful manner.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to

contact me at [redacted], Monday through Friday, 7am to 4pm.

Sincerely,

Compliance Analyst

Consumer

Response:

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.

Thank you so much for responding to my complaint,

however I am still not satisfied with the outcome. Yes, the refund was allegedly rejected by the

bank. Again, no such transaction exists on my account. I have attached a copy

of the return so that you are able to verify the account information that I

submitted was accurate. I used the same account number as last year and it worked

then, why not now? The account number has not changed. Besides the transaction

being non-existence I did review the fee disclosure (which was not attached as

stated in your response), there is a

clause that reads, “Our Liability: If we do not complete a transfer to your

account on time or in the correct amount according to this Agreement, BANK or

Processor may be liable for your losses or damages.” In addition to your

company’s clerical errors, you are charging me for your mistake. The fault

appears to be not on my behalf but on your bank. I did not enter the wrong

account number and the accusation of me doing such is actually offensive. And

the latter part of the accusation states the account is closed, another

inaccuracy on behalf of your company. It seems as if all the blame is on me,

and you did nothing wrong but I beg to differ.

On top of that, the site says that verification

takes 2 business day. Why do I have to

verify my identity if the bank is wrong? Should the error message should have

been “error processing refund” and not fraudulent activity identified. This in itself caused alarm to me alone, I was

thinking that someone hacked my information. The site and representatives are

very misleading with the disclaimer displayed and the information given. Even

if the disclaimer applies to both situations it is still wrong because it says

2 business days, more like 5. The representative I initially spoke with

confirmed that info of 2 days, and I call back 4 days later (or 2 business

days) and the next representative told me 5 business days. So I do as told and

5 days go by and it is not fixed and I call for a third time. During that call

the representative informed me that my account is unlocked and coincidentally

it had been while on the call with the representative. Right before that call,

earlier during the day, and days prior to it had still been locked. Another

coincidence happened after ending the call with your representative, I received

a response from my complaint minutes after.

This is not good business practice when information

is not uniform. It is not good to have the customer feel at fault when they

have not done anything wrong. Since customer courtesy is top priority it seems

as if the first obligation is to investigate further to ensure your response to

the customer is not offensive.

Please understand that the fees that I paid for were

not contractually my obligation since I did not provide you inaccurate account

number. Please review your records. The charges placed upon me are not what I

paid for. I paid for a fast return (not

4 weeks), and I get charged extra for something that I did not want. Its like

going to a restaurant and ordering chicken and getting pork---not what you want

and probably against your diet. Please respond as soon as possible, as I would

like this matter resolved.

Regards,

Business

Response:

March 2, 2016

Dear [redacted],

This is in response to the rebuttal filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the Revdex.com on February 29, 2016.

We experienced extremely large funding from the IRS. This unexpected spike in business has caused extreme demand on our resources and unfortunate delays in processing. We apologize for the inconvenience this caused you in having your funds released in the timeframe given to you. TPG has corrected this message on our website and our staff has been trained accordingly.

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. The taxpayer is entirely responsible for the information provided to the software including the disbursement account where the refund will be deposited. DIY tax software requires that the taxpayer identify a bank account number where they want the refund deposited.

TPG has nothing to do with incorrect account information entered by the taxpayer or the receiving bank’s decision to reject the funds. Once TPG receives the rejected refund the company has the option of making another attempt to disburse funds to the customer or return the funds back to the IRS. Once you were verified as the lawful owner of the funds, TPG delivered the refund to you through an alternative delivery method, which is a paper check mailed to your address of record.

TPG has no visibility into [redacted]’s decision to reject the funds, the only information they provided was a reject code, which was provided to you in our earlier response, of R04/Invalid Account Number. I recommend that you contact the ACH Department for [redacted] at [redacted], option 0. Please provide tracking #: [redacted], disbursement date 2/9/16 and amount of $6,049.23 to help them track the attempted deposit. On March 2, I confirmed with a [redacted] representative that this was attempted and rejected back to TPG. Please feel free to contact me if you would like assistance in confirming this rejection as it may help prevent any future rejected transactions into this account. I can initiate a conference call between TPG, yourself and [redacted].

You stated in your complaint, “and the latter part of the accusation states the account is closed, another inaccuracy on behalf of your company”. Our statement to you was as follows, “Often times this (rejection) occurs because the taxpayer has entered incorrect bank account information or the account is closed”. We made a general statement that most rejections come from incorrect account information or it is a closed account. The code we were given for your account was an R04 – Invalid Account Number.

TPG discloses our process along with the associated fees which is clearly described in 4 different sections of the Turbo Tax RT application as identified below. The Application is accessible on the Revdex.com website on our original response, as a courtesy we've attached it again to this response:

Section 3: “The amount will be reduced by any applicable sales taxes, and if applicable, a returned item and other processing fee paid to Processor as set forth in paragraphs 4 and 7 below.”

Section 4: “You authorize BANK or Servicer to deduct from your Deposit Account the following amounts: (i) the fees for TurboTax Premium or TurboTax MAX; (ii) the fees and charges related to the preparation, processing and transmission of your tax return (Turbo Tax Fees); and (iii) amounts to pay for additional products and services purchased plus applicable taxes. You also authorize BANK to deduct twenty dollars ($20) as a returned item processing fee from your Deposit Account in the event that your deposit is returned or you provide incorrect bank account or routing information, as set forth in the Note in paragraph 7 below.”

Section 6: “We will also charge a Return Item Fee of $20 if the refund cannot be delivered as directed in Section 4 of this application. An Account Research and Legal Processing fee of $25 may be charged if we are required to provide additional processing to return the funds to the IRS.”

Section 7: “If you or your representative enter your account information incorrectly and your deposit is returned to BANK, the Deposit Account balance minus a $20 returned item processing fee will be disbursed to you via a cashier’s check mailed to your physical address of record. The BANK, the Processor and Intuit are not responsible for the misapplication of a direct deposit that results from error, negligence or malfeasance on the part of you or your representative. In cases where the BANK has received your federal tax refund but is unable to deliver the funds directly to you, funds may be held at the BANK until claimed, or returned to the IRS or State of residency. Additional return item and processing fees may be deducted from the Deposit Account for federal tax refunds that continue to be undeliverable and unclaimed and must be returned to the IRS or State. The amount of additional processing fees will be determined by the efforts required and the complexity of the transaction but will not exceed $25. Processing fees will be paid by BANK to Processor.”

The section item titled “Our Liability” is not applicable in this matter as the trace number is evidence of the attempted deposit per our contracted agreement. The taxpayer signs this application and disclosure document before the refund product is offered. TPG provided the service which we were contracted to provide in deducting the applicable fees and depositing the funds into the account which you directed on the online agreement.

You stated in the rebuttal that you “have attached a copy of the return so that you are able to verify the account information that I submitted was accurate”. This attachment was not provided to us through the Revdex.com website. I would be happy to review the documentation you attached. You may fax this documentation to [redacted] for our review.

Thank you for taking the time to communicate to us why our service did not meet your expectations. We hope the points listed above offered a fair explanation of the issues you presented to us.

If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at [redacted], Monday through Friday, 7am to 4pm.

Sincerely,

Senior Compliance Analyst

My tax refund was sent to the Santa Barbra Tax group and they said my refund was mailed out by cashiers check through the mail on Feb. 26th, 2016 and said it would be in our mailbox within 10 business days. It never did show so I called them once again to see what was going on. They said they had no control of what happens to the check once it got in the mail system. I have never had an issue like this and very angry with how I was treated.

The IRS has sent my refund to SBTPG on 02/18/2015, until now, they still have the money. According to SBTPG they have to send back the money to IRS and they did not provide any reason why, and said it could take 15-30days to process. I checked the status online and it states the funds was sent to my financial institution on 2/19/15, but when you click on disbursement details it says the funds are on hold and to call the number they provided. But when you call, they say it has to be sent back to the IRS and for what reason!? Again they cant explain. They did collect their processing fees and other fees was applied and now that the money is still sitting in their account, they are making money from the interests its accruing... While they are making money off from my refund, here I am trying to figure out how to pay the bills piling up. I hope they return those fees they have collected, along with the whole refund. Never ever going to use their service again and must warn other customers about their wrong doing and practice.

Review: File my taxes with turbo tax(Never again!) using my girlfriends card with her routing number and bank info...Waited and got nothing...Called to see what was going on and they tell me the card has to be in my name and to change the account info online...Went and signed up for a card with my work that is in my name to make sure the money could be sent to the card for verification...Put in all the correct info card is active with money on it and I return to the website and entered all the info for the account through my work and under MY name...Log back in to see going on only to see that my funds are being sent back to the irs with fees attached for the first one not going through and this one not going through either! ITS IN MY NAME THOUGHT MY WORK! The fact that this card is though my work and in my name and still cant be verified is beyond ridiculous...Never again will I deal with this group or anyone attached to them...They are out to make money with fee after fee after fee...Desired Settlement: My tax return sent to MY card and to remove any fees involved...

Business

Response:

RE: Case [redacted]

03.06.2015

Dear [redacted],

This is in response to the complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group

to the Revdex.com on March 1, 2015 regarding delay in funds.

Upon review of your record, a Refund Transfer (RT) was chosen when your taxes

were prepared through Turbo Tax. On February 19, 2015 the IRS funded your

federal return; fees were deducted to pay your Turbo Tax user fees and an

additional deposit product fee. The balance was deposited to the account

instructed on The Citizens Banking Company Refund Processing Agreement. Your

Bank rejected the funds and declared the account an R17 “File record edit

criteria”. The funds were returned to TPG on February 20, 2015.

TPG has nothing to do with the receiving bank’s decision

to reject the funds. Once TPG receives the rejected refund, our company has the

option of making another attempt to disburse funds to the customer. Per your

instructions, TPG redirected the deposit on February 28, 2015.

TPG 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.

Please review the application and agreement for full disclosure.

Please feel free to contact me at 877-908-7228, Monday through Friday 7 am to 3

pm if you have any further concerns or questions regarding this complaint.

Respectfully,

Compliance Analyst

Review: My federal tax return was funded by IRS to TPG on 2/17. Was returned on 2/18. Sent a copy of my photo ID. Was told at first it would take 2 business days to send a check. Then 4 days. Now I am being told 10 days. SBTPG refuses to mail the check.Desired Settlement: My outcome would be to have my funds released and mailed out immediately. I have already verified my info with the IRS before my refund was ever issued. I have sent TPG a copy of my id and demand that I receive my money. Funny they have no problem taking their fees out, yet holding my remaining money

Business

Response:

February 29, 2016

Dear Mr. [redacted],

This is in response to your complaint filed against Santa

Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the Revdex.com on February

19, 2016.

Your complaint stated that the IRS funded your return and

directed it to TPG on February 17, but the funds were rejected on the February 18

by your bank. Your refund was consequently

placed on a hold. You provided TPG with the appropriate identification to

verify your account but were unable to receive your refund.

Upon review of your record, a

Refund Transfer (RT) was chosen when your taxes were prepared through [redacted]. On February 17, 2016 the IRS funded your federal return; fees were deducted to pay

your [redacted] 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 “R17”. You may

contact 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 February 18, 2016.

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 the 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 has nothing to do with the incorrect account information entered by

the taxpayer or the receiving bank’s decision to reject the funds. Once TPG

receives the rejected refund, the company has the option of making another

attempt to disburse the funds to the customer or simply return the funds to the

IRS.

Controls are in place to protect our customers from identity

theft and fraud. TPG was able to verify your identity and released the hold

from your account. On February 22, TPG issued your check. Please allow up to 7

days for the check to reach your address on file.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to

contact me at [redacted], Monday through Friday, 7am to 4pm.

Sincerely,

Compliance Analyst

Review: The Tax Products Group issue me a check for $6517.03 after fees they took, stating it was for refund of Federal Income Tax's paid. I have never done business with this group nor did I request any services from them. The amount does not correspond to my tax records. The IRS verified that they issued a check for $6662.00 in that amount against my S.S> #.Desired Settlement: I am requesting an apology as well as reimbursement to the Federal IRS of $6,662.00, removal of my S.S.# as well as any and all other data from any and all of their data bases. I am also requesting a name of a responsible official from S. Barbara Tax products group and a phone number that can be used to contact them.

Business

Response:

[redacted]

RE: Case [redacted]

04.14.2015

Dear [redacted],

This is in response to the complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group to the Revdex.com on April 8, 2015 regarding ID theft / fraud.

Please allow me to explain the role of Tax Products Group (TPG) in the filing of your tax return. TPG, on behalf of The Citizens Banking Company, 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 out-of-pocket 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 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 fees. The balance of the refund is then disbursed to the taxpayer by way of deposit to an account designated by the taxpayer either a personal bank account or a prepaid card. TPG is simply a third party processor which serves as an intermediary between the IRS and the taxpayer and has no direct access to the tax preparation event or the transmittal of the return to the IRS.

The return was acknowledged and verified by the IRS, TPG has no reason to question the information provided. We had to assume that the application sent to us was sent by the taxpayer and that the sensitive personal and confidential information provided therein was your account information. As you requested, TPG can return the funds back to the IRS but we require your authorization. Please contact the TPG Risk Department at 800-814-0401 to complete this process.

From your inquiry, it appears that you may be a victim of identity theft. It is recommended you take immediate steps to protect your personal information.

• File a report with the local police.

• File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission or the FTC Identity Theft Hotline at 877-438-4338 or TTY 866-653-4261.

• Contact one of the three major credit bureaus to place a ‘fraud alert’ on your credit records:

o Equifax: 800-525-6285

o Experian: 888-397-3742

o TransUnion: 800-680-7289

• Close any accounts opened without your permission or tampered with.

It is also recommended you take these additional steps:

• Respond immediately to any IRS notice; call the number provided.

• Complete IRS Form 14039, Identity Theft Affidavit.

Please feel free to contact our Risk Customer Support line at 800-814-0401, Monday through Friday 7 am to 3 pm to discuss this issue further.

Respectfully,

[redacted] Kissinger

Senior Compliance Analyst

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.

Regards,

[redacted] P.S. Thank you very much. This company would not respond to me as it pertains to an actual Fed. Income Tax Fraud case. Once I contacted the Revdex.com and you made contact with them they contacted me immediately. I really appreciate your assistance as I am now in contact with them in order that they can return monies received falsey to the FED. IRS. [redacted] J. [redacted]

Review: I filed my taxes through Turbo Tax online and they use Santa Barbara Tax Products Group to process their fees before sending out refunds. I am dyslexic and input the wrong bank account number and because of this my deposit was rejected and put on hold. I called customer service and they told me I could change my account information online and have my refund resent to me. I tried to do this but there is a step in the process where the website is supposed to email the customer a verification code to input that is only good for 15 minutes. Unfortunately, the website is very rarely sending this code. On the day this issue started I tried five separate times to get this code and only received one email but it was two hours late. I didn't receive a code for the other four attempts at all. I called back customer service multiple times and each time they told me there was absolutely nothing they could do. They couldn't manually change my account info, they couldn't manually send me a verification code, they couldn't send me a check, they were basically useless. They couldn't provide any assistance whatsoever. One of the agents I spoke to admitted that the website was malfunctioning and I asked what was being done to fix the issue and they told me that nothing was being done. I have read multiple reviews online for this company with comments from a large number of people who are experiencing the same issue. It is believed that they refuse to provide any kind of assistance in order to hold onto peoples money as long as they can in order to collect interest and profit off of other peoples money. In my opinion this is theft and highly illegal.Desired Settlement: Ideally, they should hire a web designer IMMEDIATELY to fix the issues with the verification process so customers can use their website to fix their problems and receive their money. This isn't an expensive or difficult thing for a large business to do. They could have the code fixed in a day. If their policy is to direct customers to the website to make any changes then it's their responsibility to make sure the website works. They should also change their policies so their customer service department can actually HELP their customers instead of stating that there is nothing they can do. What is the point of a help desk if they can't provide any help? Finally, they should be doing everything in their power to apologize for my inconvenience and make sure I get my money as quickly as possible. This is customer service 101, which is something they are not providing nor are making an attempt to provide.

Business

Response:

RE: Case

02.25.2015

Dear [redacted],

This is in response to the complaint

filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group to the Revdex.com on

February 21, 2015 regardingcustomer service issues.

Upon review of your record, a Refund

Transfer (RT) was chosen when your taxes were prepared through Turbo Tax. On

February 18, 2015 the IRS funded your federal return; fees were deducted to pay

your Turbo Tax user fees. The balance was deposited to the account instructed

on the Sunrise Banks, N.A. Refund Processing Agreement. Your Bank rejected the

funds and declared the account an R04 “Invalid Account Number”. The funds were

returned to TPG on February 19, 2015. 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. Once you were verified as

the lawful owner of the funds, your refund was released as an ACH direct

deposit on February 23, 2015.

Thank you for bringing this matter to

our attention. We apologize for the

inconvenience this has caused you and the manner in which your inquiry was

handled by our Customer Service agents.

Be assured that our team was made aware of the issue and addressed

it. TPG is solely a third party

processor, no interest is earned on your deposit and your deposit was not being

used by any financial institution during the processing of your refund.

Please feel free to contact me at

[redacted], Monday through Friday 7 am to 4 pm if you have any further

concerns or questions regarding this complaint.

Respectfully,

Compliance Analyst

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.

Regards,