Really wanted to like this local company, but ultimately was disappointed on every level with the appalling oversight, lack of communication, and ultimate incompetence of this firm.
I worked primarily with Anthony, who was super nice and perhaps was not fully to blame for all the errors that occurred with my very simple, straightforward tax filing. Andrew and Jake were also helping along the way, so it's hard to say exactly where things went wrong. Anyway, here were my issues with Henry Levy:
-they listed my occupation incorrectly, which, had I not caught the mistake, would have been a violation of my Canadian work permit
-they sent me my tax return to sign to the wrong address (whoever copied the address from the return to the envelope missed a number in my address and mistook an "S" for a "5"), which would have been merely annoying except they waited until the very last day for me to file to send it to me while I was out of the country
-thank goodness the delivery person had the correct number for me and called me to say the documents were undeliverable due to the non-existent address
-due to the above situation, I had to leave work early, borrow a car from a friend, and drive to the location where the delivery person had left my tax returns *in a completely different city*
-absolutely no acknowledgement of their error on Henry Levy's part
-the procrastination was a pattern with Henry Levy filing tax returns year after year, with either waiting till days before a deadline to remind me something needed to be filed or mailing me documents at the very last minute - this only added to the stress of filing taxes, rather than alleviate it (the whole reason I hired them in the first place)
-they don't follow their own policies - I received an email from Henry Levy describing packages with included services, the most basic being getting return calls
-the *one time* I called Anthony, ever, and left a message to ask about my tax return, I never got a call back
Well, I could honestly go on and on, but the list of complaints seems to be quite long enough as it is. While I do appreciate the efforts of Henry Levy, ultimately they only made my taxes a bigger headache and made more than one nearly fatal errors in my, again, very simple returns. It's nice to see that some people have had positive experiences, so perhaps I was just unlucky. My only advice would be to avoid Henry Levy if you're not local, as it's hard to get hold of them from abroad (can't just walk in), and mail makes things a bit slower/more stressful.
I have since found a new CPA who is meticulous, happens to charge a fraction of the cost of what I was paying to Henry Levy, and comes with more personalized and practical advice. Sometimes higher cost doesn't equate to better service.
The long and short of it: Henry Levy provided careless, sloppy service and is now, nearly a year after I told them I would no longer be in need of their services, just sending me a letter to tell me they've terminated our professional working relationship and to download digital copies of my previous years returns, as in the case that I might need copies of paper files in their possession in the future, they will provide them at their discretion and charge me for the copies. Good to know.
Try at your own risk - hopefully your experience will be better than mine! read more
