http://taxmastersunfiledreturns.com/tax-masters-complaints/
I'll be honest -- they may have made this webpage -- to address what I have published!? It looks like they hired some English major at a P.R. firm to write and develop the web page.
A couple of important things to note:
They are NOT specific about why they receive complaints. And as I have shown through out this blog:
Complaints against a tax resolution firm are inevitable. As I have shared on this blog, Washington Tax Services gets a few complaints, but the important issues are -- 1. why do they occur, 2. how often do they occur and 3. how are they addressed?
In Taxmaster's entire spiel -- they do NOT take responsibility for one sheer fact:
they have 531 complaints filed against them at the BBB in 3 years -- that's 15 new complaints every month.
http://www.bbb.org/houston/business-reviews/taxes-consultants-and-representatives/taxmasters-in-houston-tx-60000056/
Why do they get so many complaints? Why can their clients get a hold of people on their sales line, but NOT on their customer service line? They don't address their BBB record in their slick-font webpage. Just as the Tiger Woods episode illustrates -- you've got to take responsibility for your garbage. Beating around the bush just deepens the concerns about credibility.
On my blog, I have spelled out in detail why the few customers of Washington Tax complain, and I will take responsibility for any case I take on and when it goes bad -- I will concede that point.
The tax resolution process is an emotional roller coaster ride, full of high highs and low lows -- even when you try to run an honest business and are vigilant in helping your customers. You hold people's lives in your hands. For example, on Friday, December 18th, I had a client whose bank account was levied right after his payday! $2700 was frozen. (This was partially my responsibility: I thought the levy cycle was off for Christmas,so I didn't think he was vulnerable. Last levies were sent out on December 7th, but this one took 11 days to get to my client's bank). Fortunately, two things worked out:
1. I got the IRS to release 100% of the funds back into his account.
2. My client was emotionally grounded. He was not mentally ill or fragile. He was upset that he got levied, BUT he trusted me that I would fix it.
This exact levy situation with a completely different client COULD HAVE turned into a BATTLE against my company. An irrational person can complain, and start to blame the tax resolution company for everything, making us the villain. Certainly, Taxmasters and many of these fly-by-night tax resolution companies have been incorrectly blamed. Human beings are emotional. BUT you have to explain why you get complaints.
SO, HERE'S SOME IMPORTANT PRINCIPLES TO FOLLOW WHEN HIRING A TAX RESOLUTION FIRM:
1. Is the person selling you and taking your money ALSO your customer service representative?
2. Do you have a direct phone line to this person?
3. Better yet, is this person a licensed tax professional -- Enrolled Agent, C.P.A. or Tax Attorney? Do they have an ethical obligation to tell the truth and serve you with care to protect their license, in other words?
If you can't get at least TWO of the above criteria, you are likely dealing with a company like Taxmasters or J.K. Harris or American Tax Relief -- companies with a huge staff turnover-- who keep hiring salespeople to handle the TV ad call volume. Avoid them.
