The Ray Tax Group

Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] , and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me Regards, [redacted]

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: The business owner mentions that "Their [sic] are certain times when I find out in the course of my representation that someone is likely entitled to a homestead exemption and hasn't filed one and in those circumstances I might send them an email to consider it." The question is, why wasn't this one of those times? As easy as it is to file an exemption, as the business owner notes, it's even easier to look up whether one is in place Secondly, the business owner's citation of the typical return of $in tax savings for every dollar spent on fees is completely irrelevant, as in this case, no savings were provided whatsoever Whether a refund has ever been requested, for any reason, is also not pertinent The fact remains that I paid $for work that ultimately had no effect on my tax bill I'd ask the Revdex.com to help aid in further resolving this matter Regards, [redacted]

I have represented thousands of folks over the years and while some people are unhappy with the amount of reduction or the speed of the process, I expect that I can't guarantee results or timelines but I can do my best and I can improve where their is room for it Generally, for every complaint I get I receive as many or substantially more letters of praise from people who are so thankful that I have been able to make their tax burden bearable again In this business I control only the process not the end result because that ultimately rests with Appraisal Review Board of the final authority determining the value What I have never had in the past years and representing thousands of clients was a single person who complained that I had not talked to them about filing a homestead exemption The services advertised and contracted for are the reduction of ones appraised value through the formal appeals process which we did with some success in this case Some property owners own multiple properties throughout the state or even in other states Not everyone is entitled to a homestead exemption and it is not part of our services I have been asked by clients to assist them in filing a homestead exemption and I have generally helped them without charging them anything for the service The homestead application process requires filing out a one page form, it is very simple to do, and something I believe just about every competent adult property owner in Texas knows how to do themselves because the vast majority of them have Their are certain times when I find out in the course of my representation that someone is likely entitled to a homestead exemption and hasn't filed one and in those circumstances I might send them an email to consider it Their is a company out their that mails people regularly who they believe may be entitled to a homestead exemption and charges them a fee to fill out the paperwork for them I always considered that to be somewhat of a disreputable service because the actual application is so short and easy Ultimately my response is that I performed the services we agreed to and I performed them pretty well For every dollar we collected in fee's on from from Texas Property Tax Reductions clients achieved tax savings of more than than $3, which I think is a pretty good return We don't advertise exemptions services, we are busy enough dealing with property valuation appeals, it is an ancillary matter In this case the client appears to have been able to file a retroactive homestead exemption and they applied a homestead cap to his appraised value that was not their previously If any of my customers have a question about homestead exemptions or other exemptions I will answer them as courtesy, but I will not refund a customers money for that and up until now I have never been asked to do so

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this does not resolve my dispute
Please enter your reason(s) for rejecting the business response below
Regards,
*** ***
(1) I have not received any evidence that Ray Tax Group (DBA Texas Property Tax Reductions LLC) attended the appraisal review board hearing. The Dallas Appraisal District confirmed to me that no one attended the hearing.(2) Ray Tax Group (DBA Texas Property Tax Reductions LLC) never returned any of my calls to inquire about the hearing. The only time I actually able to speak to someone after I paid the $fee was when the receptionist at Texas Property Tax Reductions answered the phone and she also confirmed that they had not yet attended my property tax hearing and that was approximately two weeks after the date the hearing was scheduled. (3) I have never heard of such a claim that my "file" was sent to the wrong person so the Ray Tax Group (DBA Texas Property Tax Reductions LLC) cannot provide evidence they attended the hearing. This is an absurd statement.(4) I have concluded the Ray Tax Group (DBA Texas Property Tax Reductions LLC) is unethical and has extremely poor customer relations. It is interesting the only time I can get a response from the Ray Tax Group is through the Revdex.com. I think this is a very telling sign. Also, it appears they have terminated their website www.txptr.com as though it never existed, not sure what I should read into that development

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
The business owner mentions that "Their [sic] are certain times when I find out in the course of my representation that someone is likely entitled to a homestead exemption and hasn't filed one and in those circumstances I might send them an email to consider it."  The question is, why wasn't this one of those times?  As easy as it is to file an exemption, as the business owner notes, it's even easier to look up whether one is in place.  Secondly, the business owner's citation of the typical return of $3 in tax savings for every dollar spent on fees is completely irrelevant, as in this case, no savings were provided whatsoever.  Whether a refund has ever been requested, for any reason, is also not pertinent.  The fact remains that I paid $400 for work that ultimately had no effect on my tax bill.  I'd ask the Revdex.com to help aid in further resolving this matter.
Regards,
[redacted]

[redacted] is simply mistaken.  My firm represent property owners in their disputes with Texas Appraisal Districts.  In the past few months my team and I have handled over 3,000 hearings before Appraisal Review Boards (Including from our records and confirmation by the Dallas Central...

Appraisal District staff) that of [redacted].  What is true is that while weren't able to achieve a reduction for [redacted] at that hearing we did represent him, additionally we should have the opportunity to pursue an additional appeal (either binding arbitration or litigation against the District) if their is evidence the account is still overvalued.  What is also true is that of the accounts we have completed working on so far this we achieved reductions on over 78% of accounts.  Unfortunately even a high success rate means that a fraction of our clients won't see a reduction and will understandably get upset.  However, we pursue many appeals through arbitration and litigation for our clients - and we will be reviewing this case to see if an appeal is warranted.As far as staff at DCAD suggesting we did not perform the hearing, I believe that was just a miscommunication.  My staff was told that the final notice was sent the wrong agent, which is why we don't have it yet, but that we should get it soon.  This will provide affirmative proof that we completed the hearing, though unfortunately with no reduction in value.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards,
[redacted]

[redacted]I am sorry to hear about your communication problems with my firm, however, we did in fact perform the services contracted for and did so with the highest level of competence in the industry (on this I can assure you).As in previous years, several members of the Appraisal Review Board that...

decides these cases referred personal friends to me for their properties, because I am one of the best in Tarrant County.That said, we achieved reductions on both of your accounts as we were contracted to do.  The problem has simply been that with all of the issues that the Tarrant Appraisal District has had over the past two years (since the failed implementation of their new software program) we only received final notices confirming those reductions within the past couple of weeks.I should note that the results achieved where not exceptional, and were in fact below average for what we achieved overall this year in Tarrant County, but they should yield savings in excess of double what you paid in fees.Since that time we have been working on overdrive to try and make sure that everyone is notified of their final results and the savings that we have achieved.  Regards - [redacted].

I believe Ms. [redacted] misunderstands.  We fight the [redacted] Appraisal District to reduce property values, and hopefully thereby reduce property taxes, for property owners.  In Ms. [redacted]'s case she is correct that in the 2016 Tax Year we were unsuccessful in achieving a reduction on her...

property.  However, she seems to have misunderstood that we fought the value again the 2017 Tax Year, as our contract says we will keep working to reduce the value in the future and we have sent communication that to our existing clients earlier in the year.  In 2017 TAD raised her value to $119,188 - we fought the District and reduced that down to $112,700 (lower than it was in 2016 - and a 5.44% reduction which isn't too bad) which will save her about $183.81 on her tax bill (the one she will receive in October of this year) versus what she would have paid otherwise.  Our service is based on a contingency fee, we generally bill off of what we save, in this case we sent her a bill for 45% of that savings, which is $82.71. Ms. [redacted] is correct she could have done it herself, that is to say she could have filed the protest and attended the hearing.  However, there are a few points here: 1) She didn't do it herself, she hired us to do it, we provided her a service with a tangible value (a savings of $183.81) and we sent her an entirely for our time and expertise.  To some people it might have been worth that $82.71 to have spent a few hours of their day (maybe having to take vacation time at work) to go to the Appraisal District and sit in what is sometimes a very crowded waiting room for an hour or two to do it herself.  That's fine, if she would prefer we no longer protest on her behalf and work to reduce her property tax bill every single year, we won't.  We really are experts in property appeals and some people hire us for that reason alone, others hire us not necessarily for our expertise but just because they don't want to take hours preparing a case and hours more out of their weekday taking that case to the Appraisal Review Board when all they have to do is send us a few simple forms that take 5 minutes to fill out.2) My team and I really are very good at this, particularly in [redacted] County where much of our business is.  I have built a program to identify the very best comparable properties for both market and unequal purposes and to put forward the very evidence.  We know how to identify and exploit the weaknesses in the District's evidence and what arguments will work with the Appraisal Review Board and what won't work.  That's not to say on an individual case that a property owner couldn't have done better than we did, I'm certain it happens, but out of the thousands of cases we handle I am absolutely certain that we get results on the whole that are far better than property owners would have achieved themselves.So at the end of the day we provide expertise, convenience, and diligence.  That is what did in this case and Ms. [redacted] will the benefit of that with a tax bill that will be 5.44% lower than it would have been had we not provided our services as contracted to do. If there was any confusion it would have been great if had reached out to us first (as she only received her bill August 21st, a few days before filing this complaint) rather than suggesting we were defrauding people, but I do understand mistakes happen.

I have represented thousands of folks over the years and while some people are unhappy with the amount of reduction or the speed of the process, I expect that.  I can't guarantee results or timelines but I can do my best and I can improve where their is room for it.  Generally, for every...

complaint I get I receive as many or substantially more letters of praise from people who are so thankful that I have been able to make their tax burden bearable again.  In this business I control only the process not the end result because that ultimately rests with Appraisal Review Board of the final authority determining the value.   What I have never had in the past 8 years and representing thousands of clients was a single person who complained that I had not talked to them about filing a homestead exemption.  The services advertised and contracted for are the reduction of ones appraised value through the formal appeals process which we did with some success in this case.  Some property owners own multiple properties throughout the state or even in other states.  Not everyone is entitled to a homestead exemption and it is not part of our normal services.  I have been asked by clients to assist them in filing a homestead exemption and I have generally helped them without charging them anything for the service.   The homestead application process requires filing out a one page form, it is very simple to do, and something I believe just about every competent adult property owner in Texas knows how to do themselves because the vast majority of them have.  Their are certain times when I find out in the course of my representation that someone is likely entitled to a homestead exemption and hasn't filed one and in those circumstances I might send them an email to consider it.   Their is a company out their that mails people regularly who they believe may be entitled to a homestead exemption and charges them a fee to fill out the paperwork for them.  I always considered that to be somewhat of a disreputable service because the actual application is so short and easy.   Ultimately my response is that I performed the services we agreed to and I performed them pretty well.  For every dollar we collected in fee's on from from Texas Property Tax Reductions clients achieved tax savings of more than than $3, which I think is a pretty good return.   We don't advertise exemptions services, we are busy enough dealing with property valuation appeals, it is an ancillary matter.  In this case the client appears to have been able to file a retroactive homestead exemption and they applied a homestead cap to his 2016 appraised value that was not their previously.  If any of my customers have a question about homestead exemptions or other exemptions I will answer them as courtesy, but I will not refund a customers money for that and up until now I have never been asked to do so.