Complaint Review: King Umoren: Universal Tax Services

I was referred to Universal Tax Services by a mutual friend who forwarded me his business card via text. I spoke with King Umoren on his cell phone at 702.856.6921, accountant at Universal Tax Services on Wednesday evening April 9, 2014. He then informed me that the charge to prepare my taxes would be $125 and that I would need to send a statement authorizing them to prepare my taxes. I agreed and the majority of our correspondence came via email (see enclosure). In an email dated Wednesday, April 9, 2014 at 11:47 pm.

On Monday, April 14, 2014 at 10:19 am King Umoren replied to the aforementioned email asking me to sign a document so that he can sign my tax return on my behalf.

I then sent a new email on Monday, April 14, 2014 at 12:24 pm addressing the following to ensure that my refund was electronically deposited into my Chase account. There was no response from Universal Tax Services or King Umoren:

“To Whom It May Concern-
I Gregory Mejia hereby authorize Universal Tax Services to sign and electronically transmit my 2013 tax return on my behalf. For electronic deposit please use the following:

Chase Bank, Tracking #: XXXXX1627, Checking Account #: XXXXX3052. “

Once Universal Tax Services and King Umoren had my 2013 taxes in their possession they proceeded to file on my behalf and later informed me that they were ready approximately two weeks after I filed. I spoke with a female representative on Wednesday, April 30, 2014 who could barely speak English and she informed me that they were mailing me my return. I informed her that I requested that my returned be electronically deposited and she had no response with regards to the error on their part.

Until he received my taxes he would call me several times a day to see when I would be sending them, but once he filed getting him on the phone was IMPOSSIBLE.  (See text essages below)

We proceeded to review several times the address on file that I wanted them to forward my return to which was 25399 The Old Rd., Apt 06-110, Stevenson Ranch, CA 91381. I had to repeat myself multiple times with this woman because for some reason she could not understand “THE OLD RD.” It was frustrating to say the least and I would later appreciate the error on their part once again.

My tax return check was sent to my aunts’ residence at 2619 Tundar Ln., Corona, CA 92879, the address on my driver’s license at the time. However, I did clarify with the female representative at Universal Tax Services that I wanted my return mailed to my current address and not the address on my driver’s license. When the mix up occurred I asked them why did they call to confirm my address if they weren’t going to send my return to the address that I gave them over the phone. After confirming with my aunt that she had the check, I met with her over the weekend and she handed me this generic, hand written envelope with a check in it from Ohio Valley Bank (see enclosed).

I then sent a text to our mutual friend on Sunday, May 11, 2014 and informed him that I was going to call King Umoren on Monday, May 12, 2014 to address the matter. When I called King Umoren’s cell phone on Monday, May 12, 2014 at 9:48 am, King Umoren he sent the following automatic reply “I’m in a meeting. I’ll call back later.” I responded with Ok at 9:49 am on the same day and at 2:10 pm I also stated that “I need a copy of my tax return. I also need to know what did that $129.02 cover?” King Umoren did not respond to any of those text messages.

Getting nowhere with King Umoren or Universal Tax Services, I continued to correspond with our mutual friend and sent him a text on Monday, May 12, 2014 at 1:03 pm stating the following:

“This came from a number at West Point Fwd: A check has been issued to you related to your tax refund. This check is available through your tax preparer.”

At 2:11 pm on the same day I also sent the following:

“This dude told me I was getting $425 back, charged me $129.02 to prepare my taxes and my full amount of $768 went to their bank.”

At 2:27 on the same day I sent the following text as well:

He had my return on April 23rd wired to a bank in Ohio and he didn’t even prepare my taxes. Smh, who is Gerardo Huerta? They didn’t call me until the 30th. 

I finally spoke with King Umoren and at 2:53 pm I sent the following text on Monday May 12, 2014 at 2:53 pm to our mutual friend:

“Just got off of the phone with King. He said they mailed it to my aunt’s house. So I’m going to call her to verify. If the numbers don’t add up then there’s going to be problems and I told him that. He said the prep fee was $125+$4.02 for using a credit card over the phone.” “Oh, he told me to call the office moving forward cause that’s his personal phone etc. Smh”

After speaking with, Newkirk a representative at the IRS I was informed that a Mr. Gerardo Huerta (But when I called back at a later date to Universal Tax I was told Gerardo never worked on my taxes) prepared my taxes and a total of $292.80 was deducted from my return by way of bank fee’s and more Universal Tax Service fee’s in addition to the $129.02 that was charged to my debit card of which $125 was the prep fee and the $4.02 was for using a credit card over the phone. I was charged a total of $421.82 for my taxes to be prepared by Universal Tax Services and King Umoren.

I informed King Umoren of this matter and he became defensive and informed me that I shouldn’t call his cell phone with regards to business matters. On Tuesday, June 10, 2014 at 8:43 am with his business card attached I informed him via text of the following:

“the next time you tell someone not to call your cell regarding business I would suggest you don’t put it on your BUSINESS card. According to the IRS I was supposed to receive $768. My check was short for some strange reason and my attorney will get down to the bottom of it very quickly. One thing I can’t stand is a thief.”

This was the last correspondence I had with King Umoren and I decided at that time that it was not worth the time, money nor effort to pursue this matter any further. Now that it has resurfaced, I am delighted to assist in any way to help bring this person and his company to justice by any means necessary. Neither he nor his company was honest with regards to the additional fee’s being charged or that there would be an independent tax preparer other than his company assisting me with filing my taxes. In addition, I still have not received from Universal Tax Services an itemized accounting of how my taxes were prepared, the deductions that were taken out, who prepared my taxes and why they were sent to Ohio Valley Bank.

If it were not for the address mishap, I would have never known about the additional charges for prep fee’s as well as bank fees. King Umoren and Universal Tax Services did not offer to return the additional fees that were charged when asked and stopped answering my calls after they were exposed. Needless to say, I was quite frustrated but decided to let them hang themselves.

I expected a much higher level of service from Universal Tax Services as well as King Umoren being that he came highly recommended by a trusted mutual friend. I am quite disappointed because I do not want to spend any more time with this matter. But I am prepared to exhaust whatever time and energy needed to see to it that Universal Tax Services and King Umoren are no longer authorized to prepare anyone’s taxes, not even their own. I will be informing my friends and family about this experience.