Santa Barbara Tax Products Group

Review: Ok I filed with turbo tax- like I do every year. I was unaware that there was a typo in my account number [redacted]0874 (correction is [redacted]) I received no notice of any kind of mistake. Rather than email or calling the decided it was a " great " idea to send a check! I went in the website to change the typo and have a 2nd deposite requested! After not receiving the deposit I called their customer service and was told my check WILL arrive in 7-10 business days! I waited and waited and called several times about no delivery!! They " apparently" don't certify the check at all and the customer has to hope they receive it!!! Customer service was VERY rude and didn't take any responsibility that the time of delivery was not accurate. I was asking to VOID the check and deposit the amount into my acc!! I was given the runaround and excuse after excuse as to why it hadn't arrived!!! It was suppose to be deposited on 2/9/2015 but here we are 2/28/2015 and I'm still waiting on it to arrive!!! I kept being told " it's suppose to" _____ and their " suppose to's" never delivered!! I'm extremely livid they refuse to take any responsibility for their lack of certainty and horrible customer service! [redacted] if you VOID a check it's not cashable. Plain and simple!!!![redacted] I will NEVER use turbo tax again!!! I'm never going to suggest this "company" to anyone!! Apparently I'm not the only one with this issue!!! It seems to be an ongoing problem that they have had!!! Guess I shouldn't be surprised!!!Desired Settlement: I want the 20$ they deducted to print the check and send it returned!! Had they had a tracking number on the mail that $20 would have been necessary. I want the full amount deposited into the acc on file, and a written apology from the company!

Business

Response:

RE: Case

03.03.2015

Dear [redacted],

This is in response to the complaint filed against

Santa Barbara Tax Products Group to the Revdex.com on February 28,

2015 regarding wrong account information.

Upon review of your record, a Refund Transfer

(RT) was chosen when your taxes were prepared through Turbo Tax. On February 9,

2015 the IRS funded your federal return; fees were deducted to pay your Turbo

Tax user fees and an additional Bank 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

R03 “no account/unable to locate account”. The funds were returned to TPG on

February 11, 2015. According to your contract, TPG issued a Cashier’s Check on

February 12, 2015 and mailed to the address on record.

You stated in your complaint that you have

not received the Cashier’s Check mailed on February 12, 2015. We apologize for the inconvenience this has

caused you and the manner in which your inquiry was handled by our Customer

Service agents. Please fill out and

submit the Indemnity Bond attached along with the required IDs so that we can

place a stop payment on the lost check and reissue a new one for you. You may

forward these items directly to me so that I can assist in processing them. I will ensure you have tracking information

for this item to allow you to trace en route.

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

Review: The Santa Barbra Tax Group a 3rd party tax bank, received our tax refund on February 17th from the IRS. After contacting them they stated they tried to send the funds via EFT which failed. After sending a paper check and getting it back we were told they would need an I-Bond to get a new check. After submitting an I-Bond we were told they couldn't reissue a check and would be sending our refund back to the IRS. They held out refund for an additional 3 weeks before finally sending it back to the IRS even after repeated requests to have the problem resolved. We were told that our funds would be sent to the IRS in the next batch, after calling 10 day later to find out if it had been sent we were told that they had sent a batch the day before but that our funds were not sent and would be sent in the next one. Managers were unwilling to try to resolve the issue and refused to take and return phone calls. When discussing the issue with Santa Barbra Tax Group we were told different procedures each time we called. They seemed to be very unwilling to resolve an issue that steamed from their not being fully up to date and not collecting all of the information needed to ensure our funds reached us in a timely manner.Desired Settlement: We paid for tax services though this company and would like a full refund as well as the full interest amount that the Santa Barbra Tax Group obtained by holding our funds for an extended amount of time causing undo emotional distress.

Business

Response:

[redacted] Blvd Apt [redacted]

AZ [redacted]

Re:

Case [redacted]

April

21, 2015

Dear

[redacted],

This

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

to the Revdex.com of San Diego on April 12, 2015 regarding service issues

Upon review of your record, a Refund Transfer

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

13, 2015 the IRS funded your federal return; fees were deducted to pay your

Turbo Tax user fees and an additional bank deposit product fee. The balance was

deposited to the account instructed on the [redacted], N.A. Refund

Processing Agreement. Your Bank rejected the funds and declared the account an

[redacted] “No Account/Unable to Locate Account”. You may contact your bank and provide them with trace

number [redacted] to discuss the rejection of funds. The funds were returned to TPG on February 19, 2015.

According to your contract, TPG issued a Cashier’s Check on February 19, 2015

and mailed it to the address on record. The cashier’s check was returned

to our office on March 6 as “undeliverable”.

You

state in your complaint that an Indemnity Bond was filed for a reissue of the

cashier’s check. This form came in after we initiate the process of returning

your funds to the IRS. This was explained to you on March 11 and again on March

18.

In regards to fees, 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 and an additional legal processing fee of $25 to return

funds back to the IRS. No

interest is earned on your deposit and your deposit is not being used by any

financial institution during the processing of your refund. This process along

with the associated fees is disclosed in 4 different sections of the Turbo Tax

RT application. Please review

the attached application and agreement for full disclosure.

TPG

has returned your funds to the IRS on March 26, 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

[redacted], Monday through Friday 7 am to 3 pm, if you have any further

questions or concerns regarding this complaint.

Respectfully,

Compliance Analyst

Review: I contacted the Santa Barbara Tax Group all of February and March regarding my income tax check. February I was ask to provide numerous documents stating that my address changed. I provided those documents and was ask to wait for my refund check. I didn't receive my income tax check by the given date (March 17, 2015) because I was told by (Fedex) certified mail that the Santa Barbara Tax Group didn't provide a zip code in my mailing address. So when I called back (March 19, 2015) I spoke with an individual from the Head of House and she became irate and decided to tell me, the customer, that it was my fault that I got the information wrong in which I think that no person that is representing the Tax Group should speak to a customer in that kind of manner. I called back again March 19, 2015, and was told that my income tax was sent back to the IRS because of no zip code and that there was going to be a hold on my check for 15 business days because of 2 failed attempts. I know the first attempt was my fault but the 2nd attempt was not because the Tax Group didn't provide a zip code. I was told to call back on April 9, 2015 to check and see if the IRS received my check. I called today (March 25, 2015) to check and see if the Tax Group sent my check to the IRS, I was told that the IRS received my check today and was told to call back April 19, 2015 whereas last week I was told that the IRS already received my check already and call back April 9, 2015. Once I finished talking to the Tax Group I called the IRS and was informed that when my check was sent direct deposit January 30, 2015, the IRS had nothing else to do with my income tax. So, as you can see I have been given the run-around for the pass 2 months.Desired Settlement: I want my income tax check to be delivered or I will be filing a complaint until I am satisfied and I receive my check immediately.

Business

Response:

RE: Case [redacted]

04.02.2015

Dear

[redacted],

This email

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

to the Revdex.com on March 25, 2015 regarding service issues

Upon

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

prepared through Turbo Tax. On January 29, 2015 the IRS funded your federal

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

Bank deposit product fee.. The balance was deposited to the account instructed

on The Citizens Banking Company Refund Processing Agreement. Your Bank rejected

the funds back to TPG on January 29, 2015 and declared the account an R13 “RDFI

Not Qualified to Participate”.

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 our 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

through an alternative delivery method, which is a paper check mailed to the

taxpayer address of record, was made on February 2, 2015. Check was never

returned, TPG allowed a stop payment on check number [redacted] by force of the

Indemnity Bond.

A

second Cashier’s Check was mailed on March 18 to the address of record

certified mail. You stated in your complaint that you have not received the

Cashier’s Check mailed to you because of a zip code issue. In order to receive

a tracking number from FedEx a full address must be displayed in the request

before a tracking number is issued. You may contact your FedEx and provide them

with trace number [redacted] to discuss the returned item to our office “undeliverable

address recipient unknown” on March 24, 2015.

Because we were unable to

deliver the funds after three attempts, we couldn’t proceed any further in our

efforts. 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

for full disclosure.

TPG 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

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

regarding this complaint, please feel free to contact me at [redacted],

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 below.THIS IS THE SECOND TIME I AM FILING A COMPLAINT WITH THE SANTA BARBARA BANK AND TRUST. I BEEN DEALING WITH THIS PROCESS SINCE FEBRUARY OF THIS YEAR. MY TAX RETURN WAS NOT SENT TO MY ACCOUNT BECAUSE I MISTAKENLY PUT THE ACCOUNT INFORMATION IN WRONG (FEBRUARY). I WAS TOLD MY SBBT TO FAX OVER SPECIFIC INFORMATION SO I CAN GET IT MAILED. I DIDN'T GET IT IN THE MAIL BECAUSE I WAS TOLD MY FED EX THAT SBBT DIDN'T PUT MY CITY IN AND THAT WAS IN APRIL OF THIS YEAR. I CALLED BACK SBBT IN THE MIDDLE OF APRIL AND I WAS TOLD THAT IT WOULD BE SENT BACK TO THE IRS IN 6 WEEKS. WELL 6 WEEKS PASSED AND I CALLED THE IRS IN WHICH THEY HAVEN'T RECEIVED MY REFUND BACK BECAUSE I PUT A REFUND TRACE ON MY CHECK (JULY 9,2015). I BEEN GIVING THE RUNAROUND FOR THE PAST 5 MONTHS AND SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE IMMEDIATELY BEFORE I TAKE THIS TO THE NEWSI WANT MY REPLACEMENT CHECK SENT TO MY ADDRESS IMMEDIATELY AFTER 5 MONTHS OF WAITING I DESERVE THAT MUCHJust today I was on the phone with a young lady by the name of Chrissy from compliance. Pretty much after being on the phone with her for 2 hours she proceeded to hangup in my face without even starting to talk with the IRS about my refund. I found that very rude and disrespectfulDesired Resolution: Finish the Job

Regards,

Business

Response:

Good morning, All issues were address in our previous complaint for case [redacted] for [redacted]. Our position remains the same Respectfully, [redacted] Compliance Analyst: Tax Products Group11085 N Torrey Pines Rd, Suite 210 : La Jolla : CA 92037www.sbtpg.com : TF 800-779-7228 : O 858-334-6509

Review: They refused to release my tax money to me. They charged me fees for services they didn't perform to be rightfully refunded back to me. I didn't authorize them to receive my tax refund. I was deceived through turbo tax to use their services. My tax refund was 855.00 and since they have

Had it the amount has decreased by $80.00. I have contacted the company and they won't provided any assitence to me.Desired Settlement: want the amount of money taken from my tax refund for services they didn't performed. Turbo tax

Has already refunded $29.99 to me for the way their third party bank has acted toward me.

Business

Response:

We have forwarded our response directly to the taxpayer via email. Our processes were explained, sample bank application and screen shots were attached to our response to help clarify the disclosure of fees. TPG is also remitting the $20 reprocessing fee as a courtesy.

Review: I filed my 2013 tax return with turbotax who uses sbtpg for their banking after a very long process of identity theft procedures I finally was approved and my refund was sent to sbtpg I never heard or received anything from them after about 6 weeks I called them and they were very rude and not any help at all I continued to call day after day finally after 3 months which is now dec,2014 iam told that my refund was returned to irs I called irs and they didnt know anything about it being returned so they told me to allow 6-8 weeks as I did the final day for that was march, 2015 I called irs april,2015 and they now say it was never returned to them and that sbtpg is responsible to reissue the check either to them or to myself which they completely refuse to do in any way shape or form they are no help in this situation which they are totally responsible for they just down right stole my return with I worked very hard for I find it very unprofessional and unfair that a so called company can legally get away with something like this I have 2 granddaughters 2 support which made it extreamly difficult to buy their school clothesDesired Settlement: I would like my refund returned to me which iam totally intitled to and an explanation as to my they stole it

Business

Response:

S [redacted] Rd #**

AZ [redacted]

RE:

Case [redacted]

July 13, 2015

Dear

[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 29, 2015 regarding your tax refund deposit.

Controls

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

scenario the identifying documents requested to confirm identity where never received.

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 October 23, 2014. It is recommended that you

contact the IRS at 800-829-1040 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: the company that this business works with entered the wrong bank account information for them to direct deposit my federal tax refund into and they are refusing to give me my money. One lady said it would be weeks before they mailed me a paper check. this is my money and the longer I do not have it the more money in interest I am losing on my money.Desired Settlement: I want my money immediately.

Business

Response:

February 15, 2016

Dear Ms. [redacted],

This is in response to the complaint you filed against Santa

Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) to the Revdex.com on February 10,

2016.

In

the scenario described in your complaint you have chosen a do-it-yourself (DIY)

tax preparation software package such as [redacted]’s popular [redacted] 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.

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.

Once TPG has received the rejected refund, the company has

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

simply returning it to the IRS. As of now, there is a hold on your account. To

release this hold, please log into your account on the TPG website,

[redacted], and follow the instructions when prompted. Once verified and

approved, your funds will be re-disbursed as a Cashier’s Check.

If you experience any issues with this process or have any

questions regarding your account, 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.

Regards,

I have verified my information twice in the past week. I have attempted to contact you business about my take return approx 20 times and have been hung up on several times left on hold for 25 minutes several times and spoken to by some very nasty people. Turbo tax had a glitch ando cut off my account number it was nothe entered in wrong by me they have taken full responsibility and refunded what I paid for there service. I do not understand why your employees are so nasty. All I am asking for is my money which belongs to me. I have jumped through all of the requestrian hoops several times and this is getting old. One of your employees even threatened to send my money back to the IRS and "make me one through 5-6 months of hell to get it back. I am hoping you can help keep get my return back in a timely manner. I just left you a voice mail after 2 phone calls and 5 different people most of which refused to figure out who you were and transfer me to you when I called the number you gave me in the voice mail.

Business

Response:

February 17, 2016

Dear Ms. [redacted],

After speaking with you on the phone on 2/15 regarding you

refund, I confirmed with you that your account was taken off hold after TPG was

able to verify your information. Your refund check was

mailed to you on 2/16. Please allow up to 7 days for the check to reach

the address provided to TPG.

I would like to, again, formally apologize for the

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

handled by our Customer Service. 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 always process customer inquiries in

a respectful manner.

Sincerely,

Compliance Analyst

Review: I filed my taxes through [redacted] online and they use Santa Barbara Tax Products Group to process their fees before sending out refunds. I have called several time and been placed on extreme hold times if I am not disconnected I have not been able to speak with a representative. I received a deposit into my account for my refund which was significantly lower than the amount the IRS disbursed (confirmed the amount sent by IRS 2935.70 received 528.30).Desired Settlement: I would like to receive my refund asap!

Business

Response:

February 16, 2016

Dear Ms. [redacted],

This is in response to your complaint filed against Santa

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

11, 2016.

You contacted TPG’s customer service regarding your refund

amount. Your complaint stated that you received a lower amount that you

expected from your refund.

For purposes unknown to TPG, the Financial

Management Service (FMS) intercepted your refund

before it was received at TPG. FMS

offsets taxpayers’ refunds through the Treasury Offset Program (TOP) to pay off

past-due child support, federal agency non-tax debts such as student loans and

state income tax obligations. Offsets to non-tax debts occur after the IRS has

certified the refunds to FMS for payment but before FMS makes the Direct

Deposits or issues the paper checks. Refund offsets reduce the amount of the

expected Direct Deposit or paper check but they do not delay the issuance of

the remaining refund (if any) after offset. If taxpayers owe non-tax debts they

may contact the agency they owe, prior to filing their returns, to determine if

the agency submitted their debts for refund offset. FMS sends taxpayers offset

notices if it applies any part of their refund to non-tax debts. Taxpayers

should contact the agencies identified in the FMS offset notice when offsets

occur if they dispute the non-tax debts or have questions about the offsets. If

taxpayers need further clarification, they may call the Treasury Offset Program

Call Center at [redacted].

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

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

Sincerely,

Compliance Analyst

This place is a joke and I can not believe that I am going through this with this company. My refund in the amount of $5445.00 has yet to be sent to me. Something told me to verify my account information with turbo tax because I hadn't received my refund yet. I notice that my account number was missing the first number and the last number so I called this TPG and made them aware of this on the 10 of Feb because the IRS had sent the funds to me on the 9th. TPG insisted that I use this fake tracking number and call my bank because normally they would go ahead and submit the funds. My bank then took 6 hours to research a tracking number that didn't exist. So I call TPG and the rep tells me that I need to speak to someone from the ACH department. Once again I was told they did not receive a deposit with this tracing number. I went online and began to do my research on TPG. Mysteriously I am not the only one this has happen to and they do not call you or email you. I sent an email to them on the 9. Today I am just now receiving an email from tell telling me that the issue has been resolved and that I need to now again call customer service. I was told by customer service that I need to send in verification. So I go on the website and it says that my information would be verified in 2 days. So I call after 2 days and now I am being told that it will take 4 business days because of back up. This company is misleading at its finest! I will never use Turbo Tax again or anything that is associated with TPG. The rep also told me that they would just send the funds back to the IRS and how long would it take to get my funds. Well its going on 2 weeks so it looks like I would of been better off having my check in the mail. MY sister suggest I speak to a lawyer because how is it that the IRS sends out the funds after verification and now this company wants to hold your funds. There are so many horror stories about this company . Great Ive been on hold for 32 minutes and a recording comes on and tells me that I need to call again at a later time and the line hangs up

Review: On 02/11/2014, the IRS proceeded to deposit with SBTPG LLC, both my federal and state refunds to be direct deposited into my checking account information given to the tax product group. My state refund in the amount of $167.00, was indeed ACH Direct Deposited into my checking account, my federal refund in the amount of $2,108.10, was somehow, REJECTED BY SUCH SAME BANK???? I indeed called SBTGP on the 11th, 12th, and 13th of February, 2014, trying to find the reason why my federal refund did not make it into my checking account information given to the bank. Of course I was lied to by a customer service representative with the first name of [redacted], and subsequently told that such said bank had indeed, on top of the tax fees amounting to $69.90, an additional $20.00 was indeed deducted from my federal refund of $2,108.10, and the remaining balance of $2,088.10, would be sent in a printed cashier's check, through regular mail to be received by me after the holiday on Monday, February 17th, 2014.

To say the least, I am livid with this type of negligent behavior and theft of my hard earned refunds!!!Desired Settlement: I would like a check in the amount of $20.00 to be either direct deposited into checking account information given to sbtpg, or a $20.00 check to be mailed to physical address given to sbtpg! I promise I will never deal with any/all tax products groups ever again!!!

Business

Response:

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:

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.

Review: This company is the "middle man" between the IRS and the taxpayer when you use Turbotax to do your taxes and choose to have the fees deducted from your refund. The IRS issued my refund 2 days ago, the direct deposit was rejected by my bank because it exceeded the daily deposit allowance. Now this company has to mail me a printed check. Their website says the mailed it 2 days ago. However, in speaking with 3 different customer service reps (one who I'm pretty sure was drunk), they said the check had not even been printed. So their website was totally wrong! Which is giving out false information. The customer no service reps said that there is a "delay" in printing the checks. Ok, so what's the delay? NO ONE could tell me. No one, not even supervisors knew what the "delay" was on printing my check! They are holding all my money hostage while they "delay" printing my check! And NO ONE can tell me WHY! If there's going to be a "delay" in properly getting people their money, maybe they should offer another solution. I am deeply disturbed by what's going on with this company and it just seems shady. I'm seriously thinking about getting a lawyer!Desired Settlement: Either a check without a "delay" or a direct deposit to a different account/s immediately.

Business

Response:

February 10, 2016[redacted]Dear Ms. [redacted],This is in response to the complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) to the Revdex.com on February 8, 2016.You have stated within your complaint that you requested TPG to send your refund via direct deposit, but the direct deposit was rejected by your bank because it exceeded the daily allowance. Unfortunately, TPF has no control over your bank’s decision to reject the deposit. TPG made another attempt to disburse funds to you. Your refund was converted into a Cashier’s Check and was mailed to your on 2/6/2016. Please allow 5-7 business days for the check to reach you.On behalf of TPG, I would like to formally apologize for any trouble or inconvenience this may have caused you. If you have any questions or have not received your refund, please contact me at [redacted], Monday through Friday, 7am to 4pm.Sincerely,[redacted]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. As a note, I would ask TPG to consider the information given out on their website versus the information given out by customer service representatives. For example, their website said a check had been printed and mailed out to me on Feb 3, 2016. However, in speaking with 3 different customer service representatives, I was told there was a delay in printing the checks - this was on Feb 4 and Feb 5, 2016. No one knew what the delay was, which would've been helpful to know so that we as customers could have a better understanding. The first representative I spoke with actually told me that the IRS was trying to get a hold of me by phone to verify my bank information. I knew that could not be true because the IRS does not call people for information, especially financial information. I do know that TPG has no control over the direct deposit procedures of my bank. And that is not my complaint. The nature of my complaint has to do with the information given out on the website that wasn't true as well as customer service reps not being able to tell customers what the delay was about in printing and mailing checks. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.Regards,

Review: They were paid to handle my Income Tax return direct deposit. They declined to deposit my fund that the IRS sent them. I called to confirm why they gave no reason for the delay are why they decided not to fund an approved IRS deposit. I was insulted by someone claiming to be a supervisor for Santa Barbara Tax Products Group LLC when asked to speak with his boss I was told he is his own boss I cannot make a complaint against him.Desired Settlement: If they are to unprofessional to handle a simple IRS approved deposit they should not be getting paid for services they are unable to provide now I will have to wait 7 weeks for a paper check due to their unprofessional practices.

Business

Response:

Dear Mr.

[redacted],

This

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

Group to the Revdex.com on March 11, 2014 regarding service issues.

In

accordance with your contract, a temporary account was opened to receive and

process your income tax refund and pay your tax preparation fees from your

refund. Our Risk Department felt your

return to be a suspicious or fraudulent filing and funds were placed on a hold

for further review.

On

February 7, 11, and 14 our Risk Department called the phone number on your

record to verify the return. On March 7,

2014, you spoke with TPG and you were made aware of the actions on your

account. Our Risk Analysis Department requested documentation to validate your

identity and the tax return in order to release the held funds for which you

refused to provide us with the requested 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. A determination

was made to continue the hold on the funds and contact the Criminal

Investigation Department of the IRS.

TPG has

begun the process of returning your funds to the IRS, which includes the TPG

fee which you requested to be reimbursed.

On March 13, 2014, TPG received an IRS request for the return of your

funds. You should know that once we have

returned funds to the IRS it can be several weeks before they acknowledge

receipt and post to your account. It is recommended that you contact the IRS at

800-829-1040. You may contact our Risk Analysis Department at (800) 814-0401

between 8am and 4pm PST if you would like to discuss this matter with a

representative. Please understand it is

our obligation to investigate these matters thoroughly to ensure the money is

forwarded to the lawful owner.

My

sincere apologies for the manner in which you were spoken to and treated, I

agree that this should not have happened. I appreciate you bringing this

to my attention and thank you for your input and feedback. This complaint

has been forwarded to the Risk Manager.

We thank

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

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

Friday 8 am to 4 pm PST.

Respectfully,

Compliance

Assistant

Santa

Barbara Tax Products Group

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 have responded with false

information. 1st I answered every question their unprofessional Supervisor

asked. Their supervisor was not at happy to hear my voice tone and yes I was

very anger and did not hide that fact. Their supervisor had all the questions

answered he then proceeds to defend his companies’ illogical policies instead

of doing his job to deposit IRS funds. He basically got mad at me because said

I cursed at him then he says ok sir based on your negative comments I will be

sending your funds back to the IRS. There would be no way of any kind of fraud

to be determined based on what I was asked and did answer these is have

been doing my direct deposits for over ten years know all of a sudden there is

a fraud without any proof these is should be put out of business]

Regards,

Business

Response:

There is nothing additional that we can supply this taxpayer as his account has been flagged possible fraud.

In order to close this rejection and complaint I wanted to provide some insight to the Revdex.com. Mr. [redacted]’s record shows his filing status as single, using an online provider such as Turbo Tax with a $95,000 refund which derived from an income gained in a few months time. In cooperation with the IRS, his funds were placed on hold and the Criminal Investigations Division at the IRS was contacted. TPG offered to release the funds once he provided supporting documentation which would have been reviewed through our IRS direct contact, he rejected that offer and used a few chosen phrases to express his frustration. Our agent was unable to deescalate the situation and our agent proceeded with the only other option which is to return the funds back to the IRS. Our IRS contact served an indemnification and requested the funds back for further investigation and review. These funds are queued to go back to the IRS. He may contact the IRS at 800-829-1040.

Thank you,

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.

Well I am only rejecting because they are still lying

it sounds like they heard the recorded phone conversation I had with the

Supervisor and are now trying hide the fact why my refund was returned. It was

not because of any fraud according to their Supervisor it was because he felt I

cussed him out. Like I said this guy was not trying to ask many questions at all

there was never any mention of details of my return. Since they are continuing

to lie I will take this up with the US attorney General these is are

reporting false information most unprofessional thing I have ever seen from any

US company.

Regards,

Review: My direct deposit was rejected due to an error on the account number on 2/3, it's 2/18 and the IRS still does not have it because Santa Barbara Bank has not returned it yet. They were issued the refund on the 2nd, took their fees out, transferred it to my bank on the 3rd and due to the account error was immediately rejected bank to Santa Barbara - there is NO need to have held it this long other than to get interest on almost 7K. I've been on hold for 15 minutes and nothing - zero - just hold music. When I called and entered my SS# a recording told me that the $ was returned to them - ummm hello - so then why hasn't it been returned to the IRS???? I need my money just like everyone else.Desired Settlement: I want my money returned to the IRS or a check sent to me

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 18, 2016.

Your complaint stated that your

direct deposit was rejected because there was an error with the account number.

You spoke with customer service but were unable to receive the information you

needed regarding your tax refund.

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

returning the funds to the IRS. As you mentioned in your statement, you

requested TPG return the funds to the IRS initially, and then later decided to

validate your identity through our website so that we could disburse the funds

directly to you.

The aforementioned controls are

in place to protect our customers from identity theft and fraud. On February

23, I spoke with you on the phone regarding the hold on your account. On the

same day, TPG was able to verify your information and release the hold. TPG

processed your check and sent it February 23. 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

I used TPG to process my income tax refund through turbo tax. I called when I noticed that the information that they had on file for me is incorrect. I inputted the incorrect bank account. I was hoping that the account information could be corrected. They told me due to high fraud alerts they no longer do this a check would be mail to me once I verified my information. On Feb 11, 2016 I was told that it takes 2 business days for this to be resolved. Once those 2 business days passed I held the lines for over 40 minutes and was transferred and hung on. I called back and held for over 30 minutes and at that point I was told 4 business days. I waited the four business days and nothing was done. I actually waited til day 6. I called back and now I am being told 7 business days. I have used Turbo tax for several years and never had this issue so it is a little frustrating but I totally understand that the account mix up is my fault. This is ridiculous to treat a honest consumer this way. At this point I feel that my funds are being held and they are unwilling to help. To continuously change the amount of time that it will take for them to look at information and verify should not be an burden that is placed on the consumer. I am being charged for them to process the refund as well as they say they will charge me an addition $20 to process a check. To pay for such horrible service is upsetting to me. At this point I don't know what the hold up is and the representatives are rude and unwilling to help. If you can afford to pay the fees up front please do so because TPG isn't helpful and Turbo Tax say they can't do anything. This is a lesson learned for me. I will NEVER use them again.

I did not choose to do business with this horrible company but sadly, I was forced to because I filed my taxes electronically through Turbo Tax (who uses SBBT for payouts). Their customer service line is NEVER available. EVER! Firstly, you can never get into the queue and IF you're lucky enough to get in, they simply hang up on you after 60+ minutes of waiting.

They have yet to respond to an email, they changed their turnaround dates twice during my time dealing with them. Just very inconvenient, very poor treatment of their customers and I'm wondering how or why they're even still in business.

Review: Filed tax return using Turbo Tax on4/9. After 30 days with no refund I called IRS. Was told refund sent to [redacted]. Bank. [redacted]. told me Santa Barbara Products handled refunds. On 5/13 [redacted] confirmed Santa Barbara had my refund since 4/19. I asked why no one contacted me-was told they were waiting to hear from me. Was told my refund was being held for "audit purposes". I asked why my refund was held-three different people gave three different reasons. No clear reason why my refund was held. Was told I had to send copy of birth cert. copy of ss card and drivers license. To a blind fax number with no clear reason. When I asked agent [redacted] he basically told me to send the info or forfeit my refund-told me to get his phone number correct and hung up. Left message for a supervisor but never got a returned phone call. I googled Santa Barbara Tax and did discover they were a legit company. I still had apprehension about sending all my personal information into a blind fax number where anyone had access to the information. I did call the FBI where the agent said he never heard of a company holding a tax refund. I final sent the information extorted from me. Only to find out additional fees were deducted from my refund. Santa Barbara mailed a check. Never aching the money-which they were supposed to do from day one.Desired Settlement: I would like assurances my personal information was destroyed. Santa Barbara never executed their portion of the original agreement-I would like a refund of $74.98 sent in a timely manner. I do believe Santa Barbara should pay interest for the amount of time they incorrectly held my refund check which is approximately 41 days $119.58

Business

Response:

Dear Mr. [redacted],

Review: I filed my taxes threw turbo tax they gave sbtpg my money to retrieve the money ivowed for filing I had a number missing on taxes so they mailed me a check on 12th February I moved from address I filed under I fax right account number and new address to them same day they refuse it and sent to old address post office instead of forward ing my mail sent it back they received it back on 21 of February said they could not resend but had to return to irs it s the 11 th of March I they havnt return my money yetvon there complaints web site people saying same thing and they never got money this bank is a fraud irs says they dnt send it back but deposit it to irs account they lie abput giving it tovirs and wont give u your money cause irs site says it was deposied so they wnt help u n they no that how they still your money n they need tobbe stoppedDesired Settlement: My money its mine not there s what the are doing is stealing just want my 7586$ and the world to know about turbo tax and Santa Barbara tax product group wrong doing scam

Consumer

Response:

It s againstt thrm cause once you are approved for refund it s sbtpg who u deal with not turbo tax sbtpg is responsible for getting money to u after deducting fee for turbo tax doing your taxes n bank fee now I admit like I said before I was at fault for having a missing number when they yried to deposit on 11 th of February but on 12th when my bank returned money to them they was suppose to mail me a check I told them before they mailed it I fax them current address new one cause I had moved from address filed and all number to account so it was right they refused to accept fax sent money to wrong address it was returned to them they said they had to return to irs they got check back on 21 of February still irs not received my money nor me then I called turbo tax rxplained to them they said sbtpg said I had to go online to change or update account and address when I did they had my account to do so locked claimed they tried to srnd to bank again which they did not instead of sending back to irs no money irs said irs say it like direct deposit it goes right to irs accpunt cause am already was approved dnt owr no one irs said they either had to give me money immediley or return to them next day to be sent out neither has happen [redacted] dollats and on company website complaints hhundreds of prople said they did same thint we sent irs money never dif and they stole there money they will not do ot to me they need to be expose I need help or resources to make them give me my money like irs said it s minebthey can t hold it yet no one seems to now how to make them give me my money

Business

Response:

RE:

Case [redacted]

03.26.2015

Dear

[redacted],

This

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

to the Revdex.com on March 10, 2015 in regards to customer service

issues.

Upon

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

prepared through Turbo Tax. On February 10, 2015, the IRS funded your federal

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

bank deposit product fee. The balance was deposited to the account instructed

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

and declared the account an R04 “Invalid Account Number”. Funds were returned to

TPG on February 13, 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 our 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

through an alternative delivery method, which is a paper check mailed to the

taxpayer address of record, was made on February 13, 2015. On February 24, 2015

the cashier’s check was returned to our office as “undeliverable”.

TPG

allows taxpayers the opportunity to correct their initial mistake and avoid

reprocessing until the item is reprocessed, which may be several days or

several weeks. TPG offers a website

where customers can change their account information. TPG’s customer service efforts are highly successful as customers each

year utilize the Web to change account information prior to IRS funding. This

process along with the associated fees is clearly described in the 4 different

sections of the RT application. You attempted to change your address by fax

after the cashier’s check had been mailed. Please review the attached

application and agreement for full disclosure

Funds

have been returned to the IRS as of March 18, 2015. 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 thank

you for the inquiry. 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.

Respectfully,

Compliance

Analyst

Review: I called to have a check mailed to me because I had to close my bank account after I had already filed my taxes, the company received my refund from the IRS on February2nd 2016 and didn't mail a check until February 8, 2016 after I was told that it was mailed out on the 4th. It is now February 19, 2016 and still no check has arrived.Desired Settlement: I want to provide my new banking information and have my refund direct deposit because I know they can do it as it has been done before

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 19, 2016.

Your complaint stated that you

called TPG to request for a check to be mailed to your address because you

closed your bank account. You were told the check would be mailed to you on

February 8th, but noticed it still has not been sent to you.

When a taxpayer requests a

different delivery method for their refund, TPG has to follow the appropriate

procedures to ensure the taxpayer is the correct bank account holder. TPG

allows taxpayers the opportunity to correct their initial mistakes which could

take several days or weeks. For corrections,

customers can go to the website change their account information online. TPG’s customer service efforts are highly

successful as customers each year utilize the web to change account information

prior to IRS funding.

Upon review of your account, we

considered your delivery changes and mailed you a check to your address on file. The check was verified on February 20th

and it was cleared on February 25th.

If you have any other questions

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

Friday between 7am and 4pm.

Sincerely,

Compliance Analyst

They received my tax refund from the irs and placed a hold on it stating there was unusual activity on my account so I had to send them a copy of my identification to release the hold . they told me it

Would take two business days if submitted online and when I c g ecked with them again they said it Would be reviewed in 7 days . they need to fix their issues or I will be filing a lawsuit

Review: I signed up with [redacted] to do my 2014 taxes. I opted to have my payment come out of the refund. SO in that case the IRS refund would go to [redacted] then they would deduct the fee then deposit the remaining funds to me. The IRS took 6 months to release my money. I filed on March 17th and they did not release the funds until August 11, 2015. It was in the amount of $5,877.00. [redacted] sent me an email on 8/12/15 saying that they would deposit my funds minus the fees. I had actually called them on Monday 8/11/2015 and told tm that I found out that the [redacted] card I had would not accept government refund money after June 2, 2015 which I found out about the day before. The TPG customer service person said that oh, yes we know that but we still have to deposit into your account per the agreement. Sure enough [redacted] bank which I found out is the same institution as TPG rejected the deposit on the 12th. I went back to my account and it said that since the bank rejected the deposit they were taking a $20.00 fee off as well as the prior fees. So now after the lady knew they would reject the deposit they still put it through then charged me n extra $20.00 fee on my hard earned refund. By the way I only made $40K and I am a single mother. I called them back at 4:20 PM on Thursday because the account said they resent the deposit to the account on the 13th, I didn't want them to charge me more money. The lady said oh we are going to send it back to the IRS because we can't confirm your address! I could not believe it. I said how are you confirming my address. I have been living there since last October. I am on the lease and pay the rent. They said oh you are not the primary on the lease. I am living with another person but I pay the rent and I am on the lease. She said to call back in the morning. I do not understand why they cannot send me my refund.Desired Settlement: I would just like for the business to send me my funds and stop charging me fees out of my refund that they are holding. I have waited since March 27, 2015 and I need this to be resolved.

Business

Response:

RE:

Case [redacted]

August 24, 2015

Dear

[redacted],

This is in response to the complaint

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

August 13, 2015 regarding service issues.

Please allow

me to discuss who we are and what products we offer to taxpayers in order for

you to gain a better understanding of our role in processing your tax return

refund. The [redacted] offers tax related financial products through a network of tax preparation

franchises, independent tax professionals and online tax preparation

providers. Santa Barbara Tax Products

Group (TPG) is a third party processor for the Bank and is providing a response

on behalf of its partner. The Bank provides a product known as the Refund

Transfer (RT). The RT provides 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 prepares their taxes through [redacted], they can

choose to deduct their fess from their refund.

When the taxpayer selects our bank product, 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 software user fees and deposit product fee. 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 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.

If a taxpayer enters a bank account that

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

receiving bank. The Bank charges a commercially reasonable processing fee to

cover the expenses associated with processing this bank product. Most banks typically charge between $25 and

$35. TPG never intervenes prior to the funds being sent to the receiving bank

and rejected by the receiving bank.

Controls are in place to protect our

customers from identity theft and fraud. Your funds were held for further

review to ensure that the funds were being released to the lawful owner. Once

you were identified as the rightful owner, TPG issued a Cashier’s Check and

mailed it to the address on record. I have waived the $20.00 reprocessing fee;

please allow 5 to 7 business days for the cashier’s check to reach you.

We hope this satisfies your inquiry.

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

Consumer

Response:

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

Review: I submitted my 2014 Tax Return via E-File with the IRS in February 2015, and requested that my refund be deposited into my bank account. After verification, and 6 months of waiting, the IRS released my deposit of $478,915.18 to the Tax Product Group, in which I had to fully identify myself with them to ensure I was the "real" recipient. On 29 September 2015, I called the Tax Product Group and spoke with [redacted] ID#[redacted], who advised me that my identification had been verified, and my funds would be released within 48 hours to my bank. On 5 October, I checked my account, and my funds WERE NOT deposited! I called the Tax Product Group AGAIN-spoke with [redacted] ID#[redacted], who now tells me that my funds are being released today, and I could call back within the hour. I asked her what was the problem, and she stated that although my funds have been approved for release, they are awaiting "an email" as confirmation! This is upsetting, as I have done all they wanted me to do, and all they have to do is DEPOSIT MY MONEY!Desired Settlement: I want this entity to deposit my funds into my bank account!

Business

Response: