Complaint Review: QB Proadvisor Help

In an email on February 21, 2019 'QB Pro Advisors Help' stated " This is to inform you that your refund request has been taken into consideration. We have created the Refund ticket request & the refund would be processed in the same mode of payment within 7-10 business days.

March 28, 2019 and April 1, 2019 'QB Pro Advisors Help' aka QUICKBOOKKEEPINGEXPERTS has reapplied the charge of $3395.00 ($2500.00 + $895.00) to my business credit card.

This company is a scam artist.

First letter February 21, 2019 to 'QB Pro Advisor Help' copied to Capital One:

On 02/21/2019 about 1:00pm a Ms. “Susan Taylor” (ST) contacted me by telephone concerning technical support for Intuit QuickBooks (QB).  She presented herself as a representative for QB.  I was led to believe that ST worked for QB and was responding to my request for tech support.

I allowed ST to sign on to my computer remotely.  ST informed me that my company file was 79% corrupted and when that corruption reached 84% that my company file data would be unrecoverable and lost.  I was very concerned; I cannot afford to lose 10+ years of accounting data.

ST advised me of two solutions: 1) one-year support contract for $2495.00 or 2) three-year support contract for $4335.00.  I told her that was a lot of money and too expensive.  I asked what the cost was for a single instance of technical support to recover and stabilize my company data file; ST told me the charge is $10.00 per megabyte.  My company file is approximately 232MB, so single instance support would be about $2300.00.

After some haggling, ST offered the special deal of $3395.00 for 42 months (3.5 years) of unlimited technical support and assured me that my present issue (including the reason for my seeking tech support) could be resolved in a few hours.  Please remember:  I had the understanding that I am communicating with an employee of QB, the designer of this software.  I also am under the impression that doom and destruction await my company data file should I not respond and have this data recovery/repair completed immediately.

Immediately (about 1:30pm) ST transferred control of my computer to “Alex”.  “Alex” worked remotely on my company data file until about 3:30pm, at which time he told me that the repair had been completed.   I am still not positive the repair is completed since I have not yet used the software and company data file enough to verify that it is operating properly.

While “Alex” was working remotely on my computer, I received and invoice # 2002197961 via email.  I became concerned when I saw that this invoice was from “QB Pro Advisors Help” and not from “Intuit QuickBooks.”  So, I telephoned QB at (800) 446-8848 and waited on hold for about 20 minutes until I could talk with a real person.  Finally, I talked with a lady “Ron” and described my situation.  I asked if “QB Pro Advisors Help” is a QB company.  I was informed that they are not.   I then discussed what the expense is for technical support from QB; I was told $299.95 per year, $89.95 per 3 months or $35.00 per month.  “Ron” informed me that QB does not offer any technical support in greater than annual periods, she suggested I immediately stop payment.  We discussed the possibility of this being a fraudulent transaction since “QB Pro Advisors Help” had misrepresented themselves as being QB.  She also suggested I report this instance to the QB fraud department at spoof@intuit.com, which I promptly did.  There is no telephone number available to contact the Intuit QB fraud department directly.  I am still waiting for a reply to this email fraud report.

To the beginning, how did this situation evolve?

I am having an issue importing iif files from my POS into QB Pro 2019.  I can import using my admin, but unable to import by my second full access user.  First I called QB at (800) 446-8848 and was informed there was a long wait time, but if I left my telephone number that my call would be returned.  I left my telephone numbers (541) 476-9646 (work) and (541) 659-2439 (cellular), expecting a return telephone call from QB technical support.

Then, I got online (while in QB) and submitted my problem on the QB technical user community support board as follows:

“Hello.  I am using QP Pro 2019 desktop.  I have two users.  When the second user attempts to import and iif file from my POS, he gets an error that he is unable to do this because he is not an admin.

My user is an admin and I can import iif files without issue.

Does this mean that for my second user that I must give him my user and password to allow him to import iif files?  We import iif file information from our POS daily.

I am hoping there is a work around.

Thanks

Jim Lefeber”

Next, I saw a suggestion to “chat” with QB technical support.  I opened a “chat” with “Jo Reyna Marilla”.  Shortly after opening this chat, I received a phone call from ST telling me she was calling about my QB technical support request.  I told ST that I had a QB chat going right now; “Jo Reyna Marilla” asked me if I would prefer to continue on the chat or deal with the QB representative on the phone; I responded I would prefer to deal with QB on the phone (more comfortable for me) and the chat was ended.  This is how the discussion with ST began.  At all times I thought I was dealing with a genuine QB representative.

Now I believe I may have been lied to about the 79% corruption and at 84% file corruption I lose all data.  Except for my above request concerning importing iif files, the software and data had appeared to be operating properly.

My second letter response on April 9, 2019 to Capital One:

This dispute is because of fraudulent activity by the merchant regarding misrepresentation of who they are.  This merchant is a predator.  This merchant contacted me directly by telephone stating that they represented Intuit Quickbooks.  I was given the impression that they were Intuit Quickbooks.  I was told that our company data files were immediately requiring repair, that there was substantial risk for 100% loss of company data (of which I had more than 20 years) if they did not immediately repair the situation.  Under duress, I agreed.  I thought I had no alternative.  While they were supposedly performing some sort of repair to my company data files, I contacted Intuit Quickbooks directly via a different telephone number and was informed that “QB Pro Advisors Help” was in no manner affiliated with nor approved by Intuit Quickbooks.  I was alarmed and believed I had been deceived.  These people were in my computer doing some sort of data repair right now!

Evidently, this company contacted me directly after I had posted an issue on the Intuit Quickbooks website which I had accessed directly from within Quickbooks.  I was having an issue sharing the company file with two licensed users.  Prior to their contacting me, I was unaware of any imminent failure of our data or file system.  The person “Susan Taylor” totally misrepresented this company.  In addition, she used subversive tactics in this misrepresentation causing me to fear imminent failure of our accounting system.  All of this turned out to be patently false.  FYI, this company’s graphic logo is very similar to the actual true Intuit Quickbooks logo.

I have not used this service nor contacted ‘QB Pro Advisors Help’ for assistance or use of this service since the day of this instance which was February 20, 2019.  On February 21, 2019 I sent a letter to ‘QB Pro Advisors Help’ demanding cancellation of service via USPS Priority Mail tracking number 9410 8036 9930 0105 9765 30.  I have received no response.

At the suggestion of the genuine Intuit Quickbooks, I filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission and the FCC.  There was no response by ‘QB Pro Advisors Help’ to the BBB complaint.; I have not yet received a response from the FTC or the FCC.

Similar complaints concerning ‘QB Pro Advisors Help’ at BBB:

https://www.bbb.org/us/tx/dallas/profile/accountant/qb-pro-advisor-help-0875-90897468/complaints

I have attached the following documents:

2019-02-20-QuestionPostedQB.jpg – The original post on the Quickbooks website (posted while I was in QB)

Shortly after posting the above on Intuit ‘”Susan Taylor” called me directly on my business telephone stating she was responding from Quickbooks to my support request.

2019-02-21-QB-KRP.jpg – Original concern which I posted on Quickbooks Website.

2019-02-21-QB-Pro-Advisors-Help-01.pdf – Letter mailed to ‘QB Pro Advisors Help’ cancelling service.

9410803699300105976530-Delivered.pdf – USPS Tracking notice letter delivered 02/26/2019.

2019-02-21-QB-Pro-Advisors-Help-02.pdf – Email sent to ‘QB Pro Advisors Help’ cancelling service.

To date I have received no contact or response from ‘QB Pro Advisors Help’.

2019-02-21-BBB-Complaint.pdf – Complaint filed with the BBB.

2019-03-22-BBB-complaint.pdf – Complaint non-response from the BBB.

2019-02-22-Intuit.pdf – Email response from Intuit Fraud Department.

2019-02-25-Intuit-Fraud-Team_ QuickBooks-License-Not-Valid.pdf – Email response from Intuit Fraud Department.

2019-02-22-Summary-FTC-Complaint-Assistant.pdf – Screen shot of complaint filed with the FTC.

Genuine-Intuit-QB-Logo.jpg – Genuine Intuit Quickbooks logo

QBProAdvisorsHelplogo.jpg - ‘QB Pro Advisors Help’ logo

https://www.qbproadvisorshelp.com/ - ‘QB Pro Advisors Help’ website depicting Genuine Intuit Quickbooks products.

Many of these items were submitted previously to Mr. Benjamin Monahan with Capital One.  Mr. Monahan’s contact is 888-262-6788 ext 2912958. benjaminjmonahan@capitalone.com .

I feel stupid and I feel like I should have been smarter and I should not have been duped and taken advantage of.  I always expected when using my Capital One credit card that I could be protected from fraudulent merchants.  I really hope that you will assist in this matter.  I was cheated by ‘QB Pro Advisors Help’.

I have not contacted ‘QB Pro Advisors Help’ for their services or received any contact from ‘QB Pro Advisors Help’ offering their services since that horrible day February 20, 2019.