To say "unprofessional," would be an understatement. I'll leave the parties involved as "G" and "A" as I want to be somewhat nice even though it's not deserved. Where to begin (I'll just use a numbered list):
1) Met with G to go over 2021 Taxes (Federal and State) and received a quote of $300, the same as my in-laws. When the invoice came, it jumped to $600! At the very least, 6+ emails were sent asking to explain the difference and why it was doubled what my in-laws paid and these e-mails were completely ignored;
2) G filed our IL State Taxes wrong due to having two properties in the same year (one was sold, one was purchased) and he was sent the property tax information three times: one as part of the entire 2021 packet for the filing of Federal and State and in two separate e-mails containing both. To date, our State Return has yet to be received. I brought this up to G and was told the state goes on a first-come, first-served basis, which I get, but I still asked if he could make a pro-active phone call and instead of receiving a "No, I will not," I was sent two forms that stated "first-come, first-served," however, G shot himself in the foot when he said the State of IL "always requires the forms he sent in when there are two properties in a tax year." So he knew this to begin with, however, either did not know how to file them correctly or was lazy in submitting the State Return;
3) I have no issue admitting I have an audit thanks to a TurboTax issue stemming from almost a decade ago. G said he would work on it at $200/hr, but when it came time to work on it, it jumped to $250/hr. Again, numerous e-mails sent asking why that went completely ignored. He stated that the IRS was "not taking calls from people" to remedy the issue, however, I was able to get through two days in a row, calling right when they open. When I let both A and G know about this, first I was told "good for you" which was in a completely condescending manner and then told "I have family time that I am not giving up to work early." Really? Not only could I get through, but G obviously knew that to get hold of someone at the IRS, it's best to start dialing at 6:59a to get through the prompts (I even coached him on this) to reach a live person - pretty simple in my opinion. I get having a work/life balance, but we are paying clients that were now going to pay an extra $50/hr for, yet he can reply to e-mails at 8p at night, so work/life balance only applies when it's convenient?;
4) After receiving a letter from a Supervisor at the IRS about what was due in the Audit, I asked G is he could *FAX* a reply asking to have Penalties and Interest waived. He said no, because "agents change all of the time" and he was going on vacation the next day. Since this was around 2:40 in the afternoon, G had obviously checked out for the day and was in Vacation Mode. I escalated this to A and received no response for over a week, so I sent a follow-up e-mail asking for a status to be told, by A, that my e-mail was part of a thread where the Subject Line had "Fwd" so she thought nothing of it. Yes, "nothing of it." I received an apology, but no commitment to work on anything;
5) I decided to take matters in my own hand: I faxed the Supervisor stating that I agree with the overall amount, it was due to an error from a reputable tax software program and would agree to pay if Penalties and Interest were waived. This took less than 5 minutes and less than two weeks later, the *SAME* Supervisor had gotten back to us agreeing to waive what was asked. G could have taken these 5 minutes and charged $250, but instead was lazy, in my opinion, so his firm and he received nothing because I did it myself;
6) Now things have gone radio silent. I have stated that since we paid this obscene $600 for Federal and State Returns to be completed, correctly I might add, that I would like a refund of $300, which is half of what was paid and what we considered to be a fair request since only half of the work was performed and the other half is still incorrect. I said that if this simple request would not be honored I would write this review, go to the Better Business Bureau and escalate accordingly and still, over a week later, ignored.
All in all, not sure why this firm has even Four Stars, so allow me to be the first to give One Star with what I consider more than valid reasons to do go. Thanks, A&G, for being of no service to potential long-term clients! read more
