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H&R Block / HRB Digital

H&R Block / HRB Digital review: h & r block is a nightmare! 64

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Paid for Peace of Mind Guarantee in 2003, H & R made error on my tax return, they actually admit it but deny my claim due to time constraints. Letter from IRS explaining problem did not reach me in timely manner due to multiple moves... IRS does not forward mail. Have filed an appeal... what a nightmare... H & R Block owes me over $1,300.00.

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64 comments
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CJ
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Nov 29, 2008 8:34 am EST

I forgot to mention that when you are done collecting the information, you can send it to your congressional office along with a SIGNED letter explaining your problem and REQUESTING their HELP. This is a legal release that allows them to tackle the issue on your behalf. This is FREE and VERY EFFECTIVE. I be there Monday morning.

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CJ
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Nov 29, 2008 8:11 am EST

I agree with ALL of the above complaints. But I must say that our experience with H&R Block's bank or the "emerald card" has been even worse. Half hour waits on the phone are nothing, I have wasted much more time than that just to be hung-up on. I have been charged for these calls repeatedly. I have been lied to constantly. I have encountered the most extremely rude customer service people, "you are a rich American...who care if we steal hundreds of dollars from you..." They tell you to Fax them at bogus numbers, then say they didn't get it.
I must tell you all that we do have a case. Class action or otherwise. The thing we need to do (as I am doing) is to get a save records of everything. All phone calls, length, time, date, person spoken to if possible (hang-ups happen here), fax verifications, letters written by anyone involved (INCLUDING the POST-MARKED ENVELOPE!), and any other evidence you might gather. Some of these things may seem unimportant, but if you need to sue they are the winning information. I have had to do this before but it has never gone to court. I have gone to arbitrators who have informed the company that I have proof that will gain me triple damages plus legal expenses within moments in court. At this point, the company will pay to keep it quiet. Happy Hunting!

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Michael Fuzi
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Aug 18, 2008 10:19 am EDT

I filed my 2007 income taxes at a H&R Block office in Surprise, AZ. on Feb. 16, 2008. I thought the emerald master card would be a better way to get my money. What a "BIG MISTAKE". I have yet to receive my refund for $244.00...even though it's not in the thousands it's still my money. I have called and faxed the District office located on Union Hills in Peoria, AZ. The distrcit manger Susanne Bernadalli has given me excuses after excuses. H&R Block has sent me to collections to a company called HSBC. HSBC told me they are collecting $395.04 from me for a loan I took out on Feb. 22, 2008 and had given me a master card number ending in different numbers from the one given to me from H&R Block. I have being trying to resolve this and have gotten nowhere. The latest excuse by Susanne (District Manager) is that she and her boss said, I took out a loan in San Francisco in 2006. That was not so...I received my full 2006 income tax refund directly from the IRS. I had no problems for 2006...or ever had any problems until this year. I called the IRS to locate my 2007 income taxes and they said they sent it to me in Feb. 26, 2008 direct depositing it into my bank account and to call the bank if I did not receive it. I have no bank accounts...what bank would I call...so I have been calling H&R Block along with their collection agency HSBC. NO HELP FROM EITHER ONE OF THEM. H&R BLOCK SHOULD BE ACCOUNTABLE AND HAVE A PERSON IN CHARGE FOR ALL Of ARIZONA OTHER THAN THEIR DISTRCIT OFFICES...DON'T TRUST H&R BLOCK in ARIZONA.

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David L
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Jul 21, 2008 7:27 pm EDT

Company Address:
2464 West Clay
St Charles MI 63301

Country:
United States

Company Phone
[protected]

Incident
We used the services of H&R Block, Wentzville (falling under the St Charles, MO office) for our 2006 tax return. We purchased their Peace of Mind guarantee at the time. We were audited by the IRS for the tax return and it was revealed that H&R Block made substantial errors in the return totalling over $13, 840 which we were informed we now owed. When we filed in 2006 H&R we originally refunded by federal and state (California) authorities over $6, 300. So we now had to return not only the $6, 300+ we had been refunded but also an additional $7, 000+. We needed to pay the IRS $9, 712 - and we are told to expect, due to the errors, that the states of CA and MO will claim from us another additional $1, 900 when they are finished assessing the new filing. H&R Block admitted the very significant mistake (and in actual fact, in the process of determining the new, correct amount owed, discovered another basic but substantial error in their calculations and methods - while this resulted in less owed, it still underlines the fact that they made two very large errors). H&R Block honored the Peace of Mind guarantee by paying us (June 12, 2008) a check for $7, 330.47. This included their standard guarantee for penalty and interest ($2, 300, 47) plus the maximum allowed under the guarantee of $5, 000. In short, we still needed to pay $9, 712. H&R Block legal department has written to us (Regina Akers, Senior Paralegal) to inform us that they will not consider additional payments above and beyond what their Peace of Mind guarantee promises. Letter dated July 18, 2008. We believe this is unacceptable. Never in our wildest imagination, and I gather from discussions I have had with H&R Block representatives, that such substantial errors should ever be made by a professional tax prepare.

Damage Resulting
We are out of pocket to the tune of over $13, 000 when we cannot afford to pay.

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not lazy
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Jul 14, 2008 8:32 am EDT

it sounds like a lot of you are either lazy or lazy. If you've been getting your taxes done at the same company for years, then you might need to pay more attention at the tax desk rather than throw your unorganized papers on a desk and ask them to be filed. If they were done correctly the year before continue to use that person. Common sense bring common results. H and R Block is one of the only few tax companies that will allow you to follow their imput on your return line for line. If you have errors then stop being lazy and be more accountable for your information. You wouldn't go to a military recruiting station and sign anything without reading it first. Then there are the ones who just sign anything and then want to complain about there own actions. If you didn't want those fees, when the tax preparer stoped at that screen you had an option to pay directly out your pocket options 1-2 or have your fees witheld from your refund. 5 different options. Now it shows 3-5 in bold letters it states how much the cost is. You can do it yourself, go to a place that provides free preparations, or pay h and r block but either way, you are responsible for ensuring your information was done correctly. Do they need to brush for you also? Grow up people and stop the madness.

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angry
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Jul 03, 2008 6:46 am EDT

Just wanted to let you guys know H & R block messed up my taxes, they gave me back too much, when I only had 2 pieces of information to claim for income tax! How do u mess that up?... Now they are calling creditors since they claim I have to pay them the extra money back. I filed a reassessment to the government but I was rejected, with no explanation as to why...SCAMMERS!

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ashley
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May 07, 2008 6:06 pm EDT

I get my taxes done at h and r block every year. This year I did them online at h and r .com because my employer offerers a discount. Everything went fine... but i cannot get a copy of my 2007 taxes to save my life. I tried to login to my account its not there, I tried the local office i go to... they cant help me, i try to get someone to call me back for online help - i have to pay $30. So if anyone has a number... please i just want my taxes so i can fill out my.

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joe
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Apr 30, 2008 9:28 pm EDT

My 90 year father is very indepentent so he always goes and has the taxes done. He never wants me to go for him. This year i didnt make a fuss and he went but came back and could not tell me how much he was getting back... and NO hardcopies of the taxes. One red flag. since i do the bills i finally saw where the money was direct deposited... but it was... for state 48.00 and for federal 120.00. second red flag...because for the last 8 years he has got back at least a total of 1000.00. I called h & r... they said i could come and get a hard copy. If i do and i do the taxes over on turbotax and see they were wrong... will the irs listen to me?

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Jenny Laguna
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Apr 25, 2008 6:58 am EDT

WHAT A NIGHTMARE! For some reason we thought we'd spare ourselves time versus doing it ourselves with taxonline.com (as we'd always done), and pay H&R Block to do it for us. Here's the result:
- had to deal with someone who had NO idea of what they were doing
- charged us $460 to do our federal and two state taxes
- did not do our state taxes - sent them to another office, who then lost them, then refused to file and extension (even though we'd scheduled to do taxes the week prior to the deadline)
- made us go through hell - we had to call & visit many offices to try and locate our paperwork (unsuccessfully) and we had to scramble to file our own extensions (California one sucks)
- made us feel like idiots - giving away our money to waste our time and do (not do) a very [censored] job.

SAVE TIME AND MONEY - DO IT YOURSELF. DON'T TRUST THIS IRRESPONSIBLE COMPANY.

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jenn
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Apr 18, 2008 11:36 am EDT

i completely agree with all these comments towards hr block. i feel they are a ripe off. ti spoke to someone at the irs and they said they were a ripe off to me. i went to them this year to get my taxes done. i was trying for that ral refund and was denied so i waited the over 15 days and called the irs they told me my check would be deposited the next day. next day no money. hr block put the wrong account information in there. i called irs and they said there was nothing they could do from there end and when i called hr block they told me not to worry that i would get a check from the irs in3-4 weeks. ahhhhh not what i 300 and something dollars for and when i called them they gave me an attitude and ask what i wanted them to do about it! they were very rude. i will be doing my own taxes this year and hr block can go bankrupt for all i care.

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Danielle Dymon
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Apr 04, 2008 5:40 am EDT

I had my taxes done this year for the first time with H&R Block. NEVER AGAIN.
1 w-2 is all I had to be completed. No other paperwork or forms to complete. That's it. Had the money efiled and direct deposited. No problem. WRONG. I got my money from fed and state in 2 business days flat. Wow, I thought that's great. Not exactly. My deposited amounts didn't matchmy tax forms, so I took everything back in to get an explaination. My tax preparer, admitted that she made an error in the paper work and had applied me for the $29.95 RAC loan. She admitted that she thought it was necessary paperwork to have my refund direct deposited and that she, as the preparer, didn't know that she was applying me for a loan, but thought it was just more paperwork that had to be done so that my refund could be deposited. She admitted she made theeroor and that I never applied for the rapid loan. $29.95 is the fees for the loan, and I was told "to bad for you", I should have examined the paperwork a little closer before I signed it, to ensure what I was signing, was what I wanted. I didn't want this loan and the preparer admitted she didn't know it was a loan paper. So when was I suppose to ask about it and what was the preparers answer for it? The manager states that since the money has been recieved and no computer were committed in the calculations, I am out of luck. Never again, nor will I ever ask someone to go to H&R Block. Why is there no law regulations for consumer protection from these kinds of people?

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MikeV
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Apr 02, 2008 8:57 am EDT

To Holly, the original poster - Penalty and Interest starts accumulating from the time of the due date of the return, even if the IRS does not discover the error until years later. The P & I does not stop accumulating until the taxes are paid. H&R Block has a financial interest in stopping the P & I as soon as possible since they are paying it. There HAS to be a time constraint, and if you are so hard for the IRS to get in contact with due to multiple moves, that is not the IRS's fault nor H&R Block's fault. The IRS has a specific change of address form (Form 8822), which would allow them to contact you promptly.

Several of the other comments on here sound to me to be valid 'Peace of Mind' claims. To Doug McBride, you should take your complaint to a district manager as well as should Karen Moran. I have not known 'Peace of Mind' claims to take that long to process. To Henry Simpson, it was not apparent from your post whether the W-2 in question was brought in to the tax preparer. I've seen people 'forget' to bring in a W-2 or file early knowing that another W-2 still hasn't been received. A situation like this would not qualify for 'Peace of Mind', nor the standard guarantee as it was not an H&R Block error. Was it in the file, such as Doug McBride's unemployment form?

The 'Peace of Mind' program includes more than mistakes from 'the ### who did my taxes'. It also includes possible computer bugs or application of tax theory. Karen Moran, if you did actually purchase the 'Peace of Mind' you should receive the full $2000.00 - not only P&I, but the original taxes too. The 'Peace of Mind' program would have cost you an additional $30 in fees. However, H&R Block's 'standard guarantee' which does not cost anything extra, only pays for the P&I, not the extra taxes. Maybe this is why you only got $147, or maybe they are splitting up the amount into multiple checks and you will get the rest in another check.

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Tracey
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Feb 20, 2008 7:24 pm EST

My husband and I have gotten our taxes done through H & R Block for many years with no problems. This year we made the mistake of putting our refund in the emerald savings account. When we could finally access our money, my husband tried to transfer the money from the savings to checking(the debit card). The ATM wouldn't let him so I called the 800 number. The rep said to do a withdrawal directly from savings. Well the ATM wouldn't let us take out the full amount, so my husband figured we'd take out what we could and do another withdrawal the next day. So he went to the ATM today and tried to take out the balance of what should've been on the card (about $1500.) It said "Insufficient funds." so my husband called the 800 number and it tells him our balance is $490 some dollars! Where is the other thousand? Now I have been on hold for over an hour and am still waiting to talk to a live person!

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Victor Avidor
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Feb 17, 2008 5:14 pm EST

Oh Lord - I made a terrible mistake by going to those crooks too. I had computer problems at home, so I assumed I could fork over a few dollars for them to process my refund. A few dollars, eh? Try $460 in fees! I was thinking of suing them as they did not disclose any fees and I am disabled. They also prepared the return without my wife being there. Once they had performed the "service" how could we back out? Now I called to activate the debit card - when I enter a PIN the system does not recognize "security." An agent takes about 30 minutes to get a hold of and I found out they charge $1.50 per ATM transaction. (which of course they did not say anything about). Can a bunch of us get together and initiate yet another class action lawsuit? If I go arbitration, I cannot, but you guys sure can - and should. They are a bunch of no good crooks, period. What is disturbing is that they are engaged in all kinds of shenanigans which I believe will result in them being punished by the US Government, but for now they are showing a real contempt for operating with honesty or integrity.

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wsi employee
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Feb 04, 2008 9:57 am EST

Well, my sister went through H&R Blocks tax preparation course and passed with one of the best grades within her class. She completed the class in Arizona in December. All 1st year tax preparer's are not hired by H&R Block but by a staffing company. She has been in the field at 4 different branches within a district in hopes of getting 40 hours of work. Her phone calls to me daily are a nightmare and horrendous in regards to how all of the 1st year tax preparers are treated by the branch managers of H&R Block. All are atleast in their 60's! They are very unhappy people! They are rude to the "NEWBIES", tallk to them like they are children in school being scolded. They never seem to pay them the hard earned $ according to their time card and lets be real... at $10 per hour, surely they need every hour they are punched in for. Would be nice if this company would send out a Corporate HR person to speak to these individuals that pay to take the tax course only to be treated like DIRT!

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Mcdonalds12
, US
Feb 25, 2017 3:21 pm EST

The managers I have had are great! I am so sorry for her bad experience.

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Doug McBride
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Jan 29, 2008 7:12 pm EST

Well H & R Block forgot to file unemployment income on my taxes and the IRS sent me a letter saying I owed $937 with penalities. I tried to contact the local office filing the taxes during the summer and they were closed with no phone number to contact anyone (which they argue they had posted but did not). So the "Peace of MInd" was not filed in a timely manner (according to them even though they held in office for 2 months also).
When I finally did catch them at the office they discovered the unemployment form (Form 1099 G - state tax form) in the file. The rep had not includeded it even though I gave to her on preparation.
If you think H & R Block stands by their mistakes then you are wrong. And if this is "Peace of Mind" then I would rather lose sleep at night.
I use Tax Cut and it is more accurate and is free to file federal taxes and only charge for state returns. They are fast and simple to use and hassle free.

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Jay Jensen
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Jan 25, 2008 8:07 pm EST

We have gone to H and R block for the last 10 years and have had no issues...til this year! We went there in December to get the card that they give you early for Christmas gifts etc...they screwed that up at the time, denying mine and giving my husband one for 430 dollars that needs to be paid back at tax time..they told us our refund was going to be 1500 dollars etc. I got a denial in the mail as to why mine was denied, stating that I didnt use H and R block in the past...I have used them each and every year for the past ten years. I was upset so I called the 800 number, they told me I got denied because the girl that did my taxes messed it up and put us both under one social so it was denied because it was duplicated. I went to another h and r block office as we moved out of state and they told me I didnt qualify as neither one of us should have gotten it as we were only going to be getting 300 dollars back for a total return and it wouldnt cover the loan of the card that we got for 430.00. My husband was hot by this time, called the original office and they said, "oh well, too bad, its human error" . I thought that they are supposed to stand behind any errors that they make? Well, screw them, we are filing on our own with turbo tax ..why would we want to give all of our money to a bunch of crooks...we are never going back to H and R Block again!

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jessica carnucci
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Jan 25, 2008 7:51 pm EST

H&R Block scam i went to h&r block on 1-23-08 they tell us about the rapid refund (what a joke). it sounded good and all getting the money back the same day.so they tell us we will see it in 1 or 2 days so 3 days go by and we call H&R block to see why we have no money yet so they tell us that our loan was denied the only way a loan can be denied is if you owe money wich i dont . so they give us a number wich is a recording telling us we have to wait 8 to 14 days so i called H&R Block and asked for my money back witch i paid for the rapid refund, they owe me 282.95 and i have yet to see it. NEVER GO TO H&R BLOCK !

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john doe
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Dec 24, 2007 12:59 pm EST

100% agree!

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Karen Moran
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May 22, 2007 11:43 pm EDT

We have been loyal customers to H&R Block for 12 years, & we've been buying the "peace of mind"(what a joke). We received a letter from IRS mid-March 07 for 05 taxes. I took it to H&R that day, & was told by manager "OH, this was our fault, don't worry, we'll have to pay it." 2 weeks later, I get a rude voicemail from her, claiming she's been trying to get ahold of us. (my phone is constantly transferred to my cell, I checked my bill, she never called once.) So I was told to pick up papers that day, (I thought they had taken care of it)so when I get there, she says the deadline is tomorrow, WE need to pay the almost 2,000.00 and they will reimburse us in 6-8 weeks. 9 or 10 weeks later we get a check in the mail for 147.00! this was the H&R Block in Yuma, AZ Foothills office. WE WILL NEVER GO THERE AGAIN!

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Henry Simpson
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Apr 17, 2007 4:20 pm EDT

H & R Block has done my taxes since I turned the taxable age of 18. Each and every year I purchase the "Peace Of Mind" guarantee. Well, this year my peace of mind was rudely disrupted. Since my tax preparer forgot to do one of my W2's I now owe the IRS a 100 dollars. You may say, is that all? Well, what happened to Peace Of Mind? Oh... That's right... It only covers keystroke errors and coffee stains from the ### who did my taxes to begin with. So, my point being, why did I pay this horrible company almost 500 dollars (RaL Loans, Fee's, what not) to get my money back? I paid the express RAL, to where you get your cash the same day. Well, I received a 1/4 of it and had to wait 2 days for the rest. That's not too express, so why was I still charged the express amount?

This is for anyone who may live in the Ashland City Area of Tennessee. The HR Block on Hutton Place is totally unprofessional, and does not stick by their word. I also hope that god will have mercy on their scheming, knieving (spelling?) souls because I will never go there again. Rudeness is also in their policy. ###.

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Mcdonalds12
, US
Feb 25, 2017 3:16 pm EST

That is too bad about the rudeness. The office here has very nice people. They really do want to help as much as possible, especially the receptionists.