Complaint Review: H&R Block Missoula - Missoula Montana

I used to like H&R Block, I even advocated for people to use them the past few years over any other tax service. However, this year they not only improperly filed my taxes, costing me about $575 in penalties for insurance that I had THE ENTIRE YEAR, and had proof of.

I called back and told the office manager (at the Brooks Street Location in Missoula) Mary, that two other accountants that work with my father said the preparer messed up and that's why I owed when I should have made hundreds back. I was also upset because my total cost last year was about $140-150, first time I did them it was about $110, and this year it was over $255! They added a bunch of costs without telling me preparing things like ONE SINGLE 1099 would cost $50, or that they were charging about $60 more on top of that!

So Mary offered to cut my bill back $40 for all my inconvenience, and that they'd be more than happy to help me get everything fixed correctly. Sounded alright to me, and convenient, so I agreed to have the preparer re-do them for free. Well....

Then, I got a call from the tax preparer at H&R who prepared my faulty return (A very salty old woman named Ginger, who apparently has been there 10+ years and I don't see how, who had someone walking out the door screaming and cussing at her for messing up his taxes right before I met with her the first time), demeaning me about how those 2 accountants and myself wrong and that she did them correctly, actually screaming over me while I was trying to keep a calm tone.

I told her I have had plenty of friends file with H&R THIS YEAR with less than half a year of insurance and proof, and the preparers elsewhere (AT H&R) would file it with the whole year of insurance selected, WITHOUT HAVING ANY PROOF, so there wouldn't be steep penalties (which is also an audit on the customer, not the tax preparer, so they have no risk in having to do this because people can just do it online). I also told her I could get a 1095 from my father when he has it, but I didn't know when he would, and could only provide proof for part of the year from DirecTV, even though I'm covered on another plan until I'm 26.

All she could say was:

"Well that's not how I do it! And if you don't have both 1095's I'M NOT FIXING YOUR d**n TAXES!" 

^^^(This is verbatum btw)^^^

So I politely said I'm not going to be paying them to file taxes they clearly messed up, especially if they are charging me over twice what an accountant would cost. Ginger told me they had only taken one stub of my W2's, 1099, and 1095-b's for insurance (When they had kept ALL OF THEM so I couldn't go elsewhere to have them prepared properly).

THIS IS WHERE IT GETS WORSE:

I found out this morning, called in, and it sound like Ginger purposefully kept all of my tax return forms and blatantly lied to me so it wouldn't be as easy for me to have somone else do it. So not only did she almost cost me roughly $600, and showed me what someone with absolutely no customer service rapport sounds and acts like, but has forever ended my business with H&R Block. All because of one salty old woman who works there.

I'm beyond appalled at the horrible change in direction that H&R is going in general. It seems they care less and less about their customers each year, and this year REALLY showed that they don't care if they lose a bunch of customers, as long as they make a quick buck.

DON'T USE H&R Block, AND IF YOU DO, DEFINITELY AVOID THE OFFICE ON BROOKS STREET IN MISSOULA.