Complaint Review: H&R Block Marvin Ballard

On May 16th 1:30 PM, Marvin Ballard, His District Manager, and myself met in court. Small claimes in CA, least where I went to run a little different. There was a thrid party with them, who basically stayed in the background. After having discussed the matter with M.B. and the district Manager who informed me she had come on after the origional incident and had just learned of the problem and would have settled earlyer, well, Ill just post the outcome and some of what was said. I need to correct part of my earlyer statement in regards to my moving not listed in my return. It was listed, unfortunately there was a miscomunication at the time the tax forms were done that it wasnt. As for M.B. keeping my $50 check/rebate. THe district manager stated that M.B. did send it in, but because of the rare occurence of a rebate needing to be changed on a tax preperation that was already completed, somehow it got lost in the system.


There was also some discussion between a RAL and RAC which was not discussed with me during preperation, and fankly, Im not going to harp on it. The Office M.B. worked out of, doesnt have a postage meter so my check was sent from there (Dont know exaqctly how) to another office where it was metered and then sent to me. Hence the Printing date being March 8th, and the meter date being March 28th. Marvin Ballard had taken the blame for what upper management had done or not done. I apologise for that.


Now for a little closing. When I go to a place to get service, which has been the same for 11 years almost, I expect the same service. I went to have my taxes done, to get a timely refund. Had I known Id be waiting a long time, Id have used another route. This whole mess was caused by miscomunication, and failiere to follow up. Marvin Ballard is a decent prepairer. With the new upper management, I'm sure this fiasco will not be repeated. I unfortunately wont be going back. The outcome from court was reasonable.

On May 16th 1:30 PM, Marvin Ballard, His District Manager, and myself met in court. Small claimes in CA, least where I went to run a little different. There was a thrid party with them, who basically stayed in the background. After having discussed the matter with M.B. and the district Manager who informed me she had come on after the origional incident and had just learned of the problem and would have settled earlyer, well, Ill just post the outcome and some of what was said. I need to correct part of my earlyer statement in regards to my moving not listed in my return. It was listed, unfortunately there was a miscomunication at the time the tax forms were done that it wasnt. As for M.B. keeping my $50 check/rebate. THe district manager stated that M.B. did send it in, but because of the rare occurence of a rebate needing to be changed on a tax preperation that was already completed, somehow it got lost in the system.


There was also some discussion between a RAL and RAC which was not discussed with me during preperation, and fankly, Im not going to harp on it. The Office M.B. worked out of, doesnt have a postage meter so my check was sent from there (Dont know exaqctly how) to another office where it was metered and then sent to me. Hence the Printing date being March 8th, and the meter date being March 28th. Marvin Ballard had taken the blame for what upper management had done or not done. I apologise for that.


Now for a little closing. When I go to a place to get service, which has been the same for 11 years almost, I expect the same service. I went to have my taxes done, to get a timely refund. Had I known Id be waiting a long time, Id have used another route. This whole mess was caused by miscomunication, and failiere to follow up. Marvin Ballard is a decent prepairer. With the new upper management, I'm sure this fiasco will not be repeated. I unfortunately wont be going back. The outcome from court was reasonable.

On May 16th 1:30 PM, Marvin Ballard, His District Manager, and myself met in court. Small claimes in CA, least where I went to run a little different. There was a thrid party with them, who basically stayed in the background. After having discussed the matter with M.B. and the district Manager who informed me she had come on after the origional incident and had just learned of the problem and would have settled earlyer, well, Ill just post the outcome and some of what was said. I need to correct part of my earlyer statement in regards to my moving not listed in my return. It was listed, unfortunately there was a miscomunication at the time the tax forms were done that it wasnt. As for M.B. keeping my $50 check/rebate. THe district manager stated that M.B. did send it in, but because of the rare occurence of a rebate needing to be changed on a tax preperation that was already completed, somehow it got lost in the system.


There was also some discussion between a RAL and RAC which was not discussed with me during preperation, and fankly, Im not going to harp on it. The Office M.B. worked out of, doesnt have a postage meter so my check was sent from there (Dont know exaqctly how) to another office where it was metered and then sent to me. Hence the Printing date being March 8th, and the meter date being March 28th. Marvin Ballard had taken the blame for what upper management had done or not done. I apologise for that.


Now for a little closing. When I go to a place to get service, which has been the same for 11 years almost, I expect the same service. I went to have my taxes done, to get a timely refund. Had I known Id be waiting a long time, Id have used another route. This whole mess was caused by miscomunication, and failiere to follow up. Marvin Ballard is a decent prepairer. With the new upper management, I'm sure this fiasco will not be repeated. I unfortunately wont be going back. The outcome from court was reasonable.

On May 16th 1:30 PM, Marvin Ballard, His District Manager, and myself met in court. Small claimes in CA, least where I went to run a little different. There was a thrid party with them, who basically stayed in the background. After having discussed the matter with M.B. and the district Manager who informed me she had come on after the origional incident and had just learned of the problem and would have settled earlyer, well, Ill just post the outcome and some of what was said. I need to correct part of my earlyer statement in regards to my moving not listed in my return. It was listed, unfortunately there was a miscomunication at the time the tax forms were done that it wasnt. As for M.B. keeping my $50 check/rebate. THe district manager stated that M.B. did send it in, but because of the rare occurence of a rebate needing to be changed on a tax preperation that was already completed, somehow it got lost in the system.


There was also some discussion between a RAL and RAC which was not discussed with me during preperation, and fankly, Im not going to harp on it. The Office M.B. worked out of, doesnt have a postage meter so my check was sent from there (Dont know exaqctly how) to another office where it was metered and then sent to me. Hence the Printing date being March 8th, and the meter date being March 28th. Marvin Ballard had taken the blame for what upper management had done or not done. I apologise for that.


Now for a little closing. When I go to a place to get service, which has been the same for 11 years almost, I expect the same service. I went to have my taxes done, to get a timely refund. Had I known Id be waiting a long time, Id have used another route. This whole mess was caused by miscomunication, and failiere to follow up. Marvin Ballard is a decent prepairer. With the new upper management, I'm sure this fiasco will not be repeated. I unfortunately wont be going back. The outcome from court was reasonable.

In response to Joseph -

you said "1. Block does not require a client to sign a statement about not suing (this may be something California requires, but I doubt it). Nor does block require a fee for arbitration if necessary. I have never seen such a form or hear d of such a requirement."

They do require you sign such a form. We live in Los Angeles, and my husband and I had H&R Block do our taxes for the first (and last) time this year. You do have to sign such a form. At the bottom of the form is an address that you can write to (within 30 days) to opt out.

I found this report whilst looking up other reports on H&R Block, before filing my own complaint. We were treated more civilly, but needless to say, H&R Block screwed up our taxes royally, cost us over $1500 in refund, and our taxes had to be amended and we're still waiting for the remainder of our refund.

We found H&R's (numerous) mistakes and omissions on our return, and WE found that their mistake cost us the $1500 in refund. We were emailed a customer service survey, which we filled out, and when we stated our bad experiences with H&R, corporate called us numerous times to follow up on it, however, they didn't follow up on the most crucial step - making sure we got our tax prep fees (almost $200) back, since H&R didn't live up to their guarantee.

H&R block & Marvin Ballard will be in for a big suprise on May 15, 2006 1:30 PM which is the hearing date. Not only is H&R bvlock stuck in a huge nation wide class action suit, but a small one brought on by myself. M.B is going to have a tough time getting out of mail fraud and tax fraud when the evidence in produced Monday May 15th. I'm hoping this opens the eyes of the IRS and state to do full investigations towards H&R block for the illigal and untruthful filings they did with me in 2005, and false fees. H&R block had attempted to bribe myself with offers of full refunds and partial refunds in past in attempts to stop me from going to court. Unfortunately, H&R block fail to make due their promises and has kept quite in hopes their illigal activatity in 2005 has been forgotten. The above date will show you how badly they are wrong. Ill follow up on the outcome after the court date.

The move to CA was known for a while. My prepairer had in fact transfered my files to the office I delt with in CA, and which they in fact had when I was there. The prepairer was very sloppy. He was given instruction by the home office on what he was to do, and instead did it his own way. Far as fee structures go, there were 2 state returns and a federal. He charged for all 3, on top of those fees, he charged for electronic filing for all 3, he charged a moving fee, along with some other fees. Copy of the fee breakdown was sent to corporate, a total refund of fees was promised, but instead a rebate check was sent instead which the prepairere was informed to submit for me for a refund and not to be used for next return. He kept it and nothing was given.
As for my RAL, he actually lost it, and managed to mail it out over a month lator and told corporate it must have been lost in the mail. Coporate got a copy of the envelope showing it metored for mailing over a month after he had the check which is the main reason they sent the refund/rebate check.
Anyway, I plan on doing a small claims on this.

Scott,

Please understand that what I wrote is Block policy. If you had the misfortune of dealing with a rogue office or employee that would be another story.

However, I am still confused about what you are saying.

If as I understand from your original report, you moved from New York to California, youwould not have been in the computer system, ,so you would be treated as new. Until this year, data is stored at a district level only, so if would not have been available to a Block office in another state. I understand this may be changing this year.

You would have had to pay for two state returns, with the New York return having to be mailed. I am not familar with California requirements, but I suspect their return could be electronically filed.

Paying for a RAL would mean that the federal return would be electonically filed, so you would not have had to mail that in, but you would still have to mail the NY return.

It seems to me that youmay have misundertood some of the fee structures, but it also evident that you may have received some poor service. I try to make sure my clients have a complete understanding of their returns and their fee structure. I do not rush through returns because that leads to exactly the problems you are describing.

You stated: 1. Block does not require a client to sign a statement about not suing (this may be something California requires, but I doubt it). Nor does block require a fee for arbitration if necessary. I have never seen such a form or hear d of such a requirement.

My Reply: Now, I dont know if H&R block are Franchise but past experience for all the years I used their service in other states, I never had to sign a paper stating that I wouldnt sue, or pay for arbitration even if I wasnt wrong, yet this one office I had to use had a sloppily written waver they required me to sign and also said their office charges more fees then any other H&R block. They would not continue unless I signed the waver which I actually didnt sign and the prepairer didnt even bother to check.

You Stated : 2. Moving expenses do not require use of Schedule A. Expenses that are eligible for a deduction are actual costs of the move, mileage, reasonable hotel and gas expenses, and job hunting expenses. If you had something else, then that would be excluded.

My Reply: The info above was submitted and more but all left out. The tax form prepaired was basically a rush job of taking in the W4's anf filing them except state which I had to mail myself but was charged a electronic filing fee for. I still have coppy of the breakdown of bogus charges this person made up.

You Stated : 3. If you did not file electronically, you should not have had to pay a filing fee. In fact, the Block program will not print forms for mailing if the return is electronically filed. Additionally, if you received a refund after mailing your return, no check would have come to the Block office.

My Reply: You tell Marvin Ballard that. He charged for electronically filing and I being in high standing with a letter for instant RAL, didnt get it to way over a month lator. He put mein the system as new despite having my full records from previouse years. Also the written notice stating he was in the wrong and that I was going to be given a partial refund never happened. He filed electronically, had me mail the state forms which I was charged for electronic filing. A Check was sent to the office which they couldnt find yet mailed out a month lator.

You Stated: 4. You complained about paying a RAL fee, which is not available for mailed returns. No mailed return's check would have come to the Block office, so it could never have been mailed to you by Block. It would have been mailed directly to you by the IRS, or directly deposited. If you receive a RAL, then that check would have come to the Block office for you to pick up. It is not a general practice to mail RAL checks to individuals because a pick-up signature is required, however I know of one occasion where a check was mailed to someone who had moved out of the state.

My Reply: I did not in fact complain about the RAL fee in which your stating. I complained I paid for electronic filing which I was made to mail out the states returns. It is not a general pratice for an H&R block to make excessive bogus fees, this one person did, he also didnt have the check in his office which I had come in for weeks trying to get and they did in fact mail it to me. I have been use to going in to other H&R blocks and signing for my RALS. To suppose to have my normal instant since I have been a great customer past years, and to have to wait a month because the prepairer decided to enter my as new instead of following return customer procedure isnt my fault, its Marvin Ballard's. My fee complaints are charging me for electronic filing for all returns, when only federal was done, making up bogus fees like moving fees in which my moving from anyplace has no bearing what so ever except generating another state return in which a fee and excessive one was already charged. Two state fees charged, plus a moving fee?

You Stated: 5. As for the $50 rebate (?) that would apply to the next years returns, you probably have that confused with a coupon that would reduce your tax preparation fees the next year. That is not the same as a refund. A refund would have been a check sent that year by the district office responsible for the tax office.

My Reply: Wether that is true or not the home office stated it was a refund that would be adjusted and given to me when I brought it into the office. The coupon was taken (I made copy just in case) and nothing was ever given in return to this date.

You stated: 6. Fee structures are set up such that you pay for each form prepared, so that you would indeed pay for a moving expense form on top of the basic fees. You would have reduced your bill had you actually mailed the return, since there would be no electronic filing fee nor a RAL fee (which by the way is the most expensive way of getting your refund).

Corporate stated there is no moving fee. There is no extra paperwork for me moving, except a second state return which was already charged for. Chargeing me 2 fees for the same paper is illigal and that is what this person did. Only federal was electronically filed, state I was forced to mail but was in fact charged for electronic filing for all 3. Corporate saw this hence the supposely refund which as stated before, I never got.

As for having my facts skewed, my facts are fine, its Marvin Ballard who has his messed up.

Frankly, I am confused about what happened to you. Some things just don't make sense. The actions by the tax preparer are not in keeping with standard Block practices, so I'm not sure why the tax professional did what he did. Maybe I don't understand all the facts, but

1. Block does not require a client to sign a statement about not suing (this may be something California requires, but I doubt it). Nor does block require a fee for arbitration if necessary. I have never seen such a form or hear d of such a requirement.

2. Moving expenses do not require use of Schedule A. Expenses that are eligible for a deduction are actual costs of the move, mileage, reasonable hotel and gas expenses, and job hunting expenses. If you had something else, then that would be excluded.

3. If you did not file electronically, you should not have had to pay a filing fee. In fact, the Block program will not print forms for mailing if the return is electronically filed. Additionally, if you received a refund after mailing your return, no check would have come to the Block office.

4. You complained about paying a RAL fee, which is not available for mailed returns. No mailed return's check would have come to the Block office, so it could never have been mailed to you by Block. It would have been mailed directly to you by the IRS, or directly deposited. If you receive a RAL, then that check would have come to the Block office for you to pick up. It is not a general practice to mail RAL checks to individuals because a pick-up signature is required, however I know of one occasion where a check was mailed to someone who had moved out of the state.

4. If you called the home office after it was closed, naturally you will get a message to call during their working hours (Central time).

5. As for the $50 rebate (?) that would apply to the next years returns, you probably have that confused with a coupon that would reduce your tax preparation fees the next year. That is not the same as a refund. A refund would have been a check sent that year by the district office responsible for the tax office.

6. Fee structures are set up such that you pay for each form prepared, so that you would indeed pay for a moving expense form on top of the basic fees. You would have reduced your bill had you actually mailed the return, since there would be no electronic filing fee nor a RAL fee (which by the way is the most expensive way of getting your refund).

As I previously said, I cannot speak for a particular office, but you seem to have your facts skrewed. It just doesn't make sense.

Just an update to this. District manager is now looking into this after corporate and myself contacted him. He has promised if he sees that Mark has in fact falsafied papers hes going to have another tax prepairer do my taxes and also refund my fees fully.
The Big proof came on March 29th, as Mark had stated he mailed out my check weeks ago, around the 4th of March. Yesterday March 29th the check came and guess what? It was meter stamped for March 28th.Didnt know a meter date from the 5th changes to the 28th? Can we say snagged? Sloppy sloppy work. Im waiting to hear back from the District manager.

Despite the fact the home office stated that I will be contacted by two regional managers which never happened, the $50 rebate came which I was told would be applied to thsi years refund.

Went to the office to have it applied and get my check I should have gotten a month ago, and find out they dont have my check. Guy who did my taxes said he mailed it out the next day he did my taxes. (Next day eh? Then why is the message on my cell phone dated 10 days after my taxes were done?)

It got better. He tells me they cant apply it which I onformed him the home office stated otherwise. He then says hell process it and then tries to stamp the $50 rebate as recieved, meaning he paid me the $50. I managed to put my hand between my ticket and the stamp, and told him "No way in hell, you ripped me off already, your not getting this that easly!"

He tells me IM to paranoid. "Maybe I am, but wouldnt anyone else be after you just shelled out close to $300 to have your taxes electronically filed and the guy then gives them to you telling you, you had to mail them?"