TLDR: If you have a very basic tax return or if you are someone who is so wealthy that you often find people bending over to kiss your feet, Chuck King may provide adequate tax services. If you're anywhere in between, I would recommend looking elsewhere.
I was reluctant to write this review because Chuck actually seems like a nice guy who probably got some bad advice from a business magazine in 1987 and took it as gospel--the advice being something along the lines of focusing on wealthy people or people who can do the most for you in return and not wasting much time on the "small folk". That may have worked 25 years ago, but isn't a great philosophy in the Internet age where everyone has a voice.
I made an appointment to file my annual taxes with Chuck at least a month and a half before the April 15th deadline. The appointment went pretty well for the most part. He seemed friendly enough and confident in his abilities. My return had a small handful of complications that made it a bit more involved than a basic filing, but nothing earth shattering. There were about 3 or 4 things Chuck needed to research how to file before we finalized the return. That is totally fine. Tax law is complicated and I don't expect professionals to have all of the answers offhand. He told me we could leave things 98% complete and he would figure out how to tie up the loose ends later and confirm with me once everything was complete. He offered to let me pay when the taxes were filed, but I opted to pay on the spot. I'm not sure if this had any impact on what transpired next.
It started off normal at first. Chuck would call me to check in every two days or so to inform me of his progress on closing out the open items on my filing. Then he began to go dark on me. I started having to call him for updates. He was not apologetic at all--he was actually frustrated that I was bothering him by checking in on a service that I paid for but didn't receive. He told me his methodology is as follows: for every filing he can't complete on the spot, he puts it into a pile towards the back of his office. When he has downtime, he works on the outstanding items in order from "most important client" to "least important client". These are his words, not mine. As you may have guessed, I was a very low priority/low income client to him and he made that very clear numerous times.
To make a long story short(er), I went through a series of very painful emails, phone calls and in-person visits with Chuck to get my filing pushed through. The weaker I was on the phone, the more he tried to bully me, but once I started to (mildly) berate him a bit, he seems to regain some sense and started to act. Some people to respond better to scolding than gentle pushing, and Chuck seems to be one of those guys unfortunately.
Chuck literally dragged this out until the 11th hour. Even though my appointment was relatively early in tax season, I had to go to his office the day of the deadline to ensure he filed it. And I had to take the initiative to show up--he certainly didn't seem that concerned about it (after all, I make peanuts--why would the IRS care about me?).
Look I get it. People make mistakes. People are busy. People don't have all the answers. But what makes it worse in Chuck's case is that he was never apologetic about it for one second. There was never a "sorry you had to chase me down for the last 6+ weeks" or a "I swear, the service here is much better than this". I just felt like I was bothering him the whole time.
I really wanted to like Chuck and there were many times I would look at him and see the "good guy" in him. I don't think his accounting skills are inadequate or that he was out to get me. But unfortunately for him, you can't put someone through what he put me through and be considered "good at your job". One star. read more
