Complaint Review: Wall and Associates

For the love of all that is holy and sacred, avoid these scam artists like the plague, lest you suffer an unfathomable financial disaster.

First, they will employ scare tactics to convince you (an unwitting client with little to no knowledge of complex IRS tax laws) that you are in desperate need of their services or the IRS will go after you leading to possible incarceration and/or increased penalities.  Their local "sales guy" will meet you in a "rented" office space,  and let me tell you, he is smooth and will use all of the used car salesmen tricks in the book/psychological games and hypnosis to scare you into signing that contract and forfeiting the exhorbitant "retainer fee".  I'm pretty sure this man must have worked at Gitmo deriving intelligence information from the most hardened terrorists with ease...

He will then convince you that you need to sign up for monthly services and that the situation could last from as little as 2 mos to as many as 8 mos, but most likely 2 - he'll say things like "we have helped clients in far worse situations, who owe far more than you do, with no problem at all - in fact, they ended up receiving a refund!! The paltry $500 a month we're asking you for is worth every penny!".  You will sign your rights away at that point because you're already sweating bullets and fearing the worst, because not only has the salesman convinced you that you're a horrible person and a tax cheat (and just for the record, both of which you are not), you only have so much time on your hands to make a decision before you meet with the big, bad IRS.

Shortly after you relinquish your power of attorney form and credit card information, you will receive a call from one of their "amazing tax consultants" from Tennesse. It will be a sweet woman with that southern charm, who assures you that she'll be taking great care of you.  She'll convince you that she's got your back and that everything is going to be ok, she just needs your information.  You will send her your information, days will elapse (and you only have days because you just received the audit notice) and you will hear nothing from the sweet lady from TN who showed you so much respect and concern in the days prior).  

That's when you start reaching out to her to see what's going on - when she finally returns your calls, she will seem perturbed that you contacted her at all and wonder who you are - it's like that scene from "Girl Interrupted" when Winona Ryder realizes that Angelina Jolie's character, who suffers from severe mental psychosis, doesn't even recognize her despite all that they had been through together.  You will pleasantly remind her who you are and then it will dawn on her. Her voice will become fraught with annoyance and her emails curt from that point on.  For every communication you make to her to find out what the status is on your case (because remember you only have so much time), it will be met with an untimely (usually 3-4 weeks) and terse response.

The IRS will finally have returned your audit paperwork, and since no one had contacted them (silly you - assuming Wall was doing their job) they will now take that money that you owe and double it! Yes double it!!  Just when you thought it couldnt get any worse, it just did. You see, you don't piss the IRS off by making them do any more work than they need to....that lesson was lost on Wall who continually pointed the blame at the IRS and claimed that it was their red tape and ineptitude that caused all of this and suggested that I sit and wait things out (never do that on an audit).  

You see, Wall was simply trying to extend my $500 a month payments as long as possible and by them taking their sweet ol' time and releasing the wrath of the IRS upon me like a swarm of angry bees, they were able to collect that money and create a festering financial wound of epic proportions which essentially cost 10s of thousands of unnecessary dollars.  Had they just employed some ethical practices and been honest and up front with me by saying that there was nothing that they could do for me in my situation instead of misleading, offering up absolute garbage and nonsensical advice - I could have saved myself the headache, heartache, and of course the 10s of thousands of dollars that I do not have.

I am now dealing with the IRS myself, and I can tell you quite honestly, that they really aren't that bad.  They will offer you an affordable payment plan and their agents are actually very friendly (at least the ones that I have dealt with) and willing to work with you - oh and best of all, their services are FREE!  Too bad I can't get the money back that I spent on Wall's service to give to the IRS....yes, I tried that, but because of the contract, it was hard to defined what they were and were not supposed to do. apparently they did what they were supposed to do - that was occassionally offering [poor] advice and [attempting] contacting the IRS when they were prodded to do so by the client.

Buyer beware!