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SCAM ALERT - This is the story of Link & Associates.
One year ago, I received a letter from the IRS threatening to Levy my bank account. I was desperate so I answered a radio ad for tax debt settlement. The ad sounded good. I was connected by a secondary service to Link & Associates. I spoke with Tim Nelson, a well-spoken case manager. He said that they could reduce my tax debt from 40K to 12K (plus their fee of $3, 450).
They sent me a very professional looking questionnaire and papers to sign. There was no guarantee in the paperwork of their service, however Tim assured me that I would be protected from levy, liens and the settlement would be accepted by the IRS within a few months. Strangely enough, Tim would only contact me on the phone and not make any guarantees over e-mail. I filled out the paperwork and signed the papers (stupid me). I knew it was a risk, but I was desperate. I let them draft my bank account in the amount of $500 a month.
As the weeks went on, I would check in with Tim about my case. He would grow more and more evasive with direct questioning about my case. He also told me not to contact the IRS (warning flag). He said it might mess up the deal. I should have known then, but I am a trusting guy and he was very convincing. He assured me that everything was under control.
So six months pass and I get levied by the IRS. I was absolutely shocked and sickened! Thank God, the IRS didn’t levy me a day sooner or they would have gotten everything I own. This absolutely stressed me out. Can you imagine having a good chunk of your money taken when you are promised that it wouldn’t happen? I called Tim about it and he said “, It was the IRS that levied you.” I thought, REALLY?! Are you seriously thinking I don’t know that?! I already knew that, of course! That was the only information he had, like he was clueless. He then asked me to get him the order of levy from my bank and some other irrelevant information. He acted like he was going to try to get the funds returned, but that never happened.
I realized that they were powerless in this scenario and that scared me. It also scared me that I was being misled. Against Tim’s advice, I contacted the IRS to see what was going on. The IRS representative told me that Link & Associates had only contacted them one time when I signed up with them to check what my debt amount was. I was floored! Tim had told me that they had multiple correspondences with the IRS. So this makes the third time that things went way wrong. I was in too deep so I was hoping and praying that this would turn out good.
A few weeks pass and I contact the IRS again. They tell me that a payment agreement has been set up for me. I asked what the total balance was and they told me 40K. So basically, all they did was set up a payment plan for the original amount I owed. About this same time, my final payment to Link & Associates was withdrawn from my account. How convenient, huh? A couple of weeks later, I get a notice of Lien on my property. This means that everything I own will have a lien attached to it. It also goes on my credit report. It was a horrible blow to me. I have been struggling to improve my credit score so I could buy a house for my family and this just blew it out of the water. I called Tim about it in disbelief. He said, “This happened before I signed up with them.” Not true. I had received the first notice of lien 10 months after I signed with them. I called these guys to avoid this.
So, at this point, it has been a full year, I have fully paid for their services ($3, 450) and all they had done was get me levied, a lien on my property and credit report, and set up a payment plan with NO settlement. I could have done this all myself easily, working directly with the IRS and not been levied or spent the $3, 450 for their “services”. Wow, it just blows my mind how people can take advantage of desperate, hardworking people with families.
Moral of the story: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Of course, I checked them out online before I signed with them and they had no BBB complaints (at the time). Now they have multiple. You can see the responses to complaints are vengeful and heartless. Do not fall victim to this scam. These people are vultures in the truest sense of the word. I have lost so many nights of sleep worrying about this and the nightmare has come true.
If you have any questions about Link & Associates you can send them to my secondary e-mail [protected]@deckraleighnc.com. Also contact me to see the Scam website I am creating to help people avoid “companies like this”. It will be called LinkandAssociatesScam.com. It will include all audio conversations with Tim to back up my story. The attorney general will be contacted, along with any news channels, websites, and media avenues.
Lori marias, you are not alone. I know how you feel. I am so sorry this happened to you. They are good at scamming people. I advise you to contact the California attorney general. The more evidence we have against them, the less people they can hurt. Also leave a detailed complaint at the better business bureau. I did and it is going to post to the Internet soon. Follow through and help prevent others from being hurt by these heartless people.
I invite anyone who has been taken advantage of by Link and Associates to post a review here. Also, contact the California Attorney General and leave a review on the Better Business Bureau. Let's stand up to these people who think they can steal from desperate people and get away with it. News Channels are another avenue that we could pursue
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See this website - linkandassociatesscam.com
FALSE FALSE FALSE. Another person has posted ABOVE who was also RECENTLY taken advantage of by link and Associates. I am also talking with others who were RECENTLY scammed by link and associates and are sick to their stomachs. Just like I was. It is the worst feeling in the world. If you have been scammed by these people, you can e-mail me at nick@deckraleighnc.com for advice.
THE FACT IS, THEY GUARANTEED ME THAT I WAS PROTECTED FROM LIENS AND LEVY. THIS IS WHY I SIGNED UP WITH THEM. I was in a desperate situation and they took advantage by VERBALLY GUARANTEEING me that I was "protected from collection activity (among other things). This is how they got me to sign a contract. This companies' scam is based on the victims not having much time to make a decision and signing a contract, trusting that the company will do what they say. I got levied and liened while under their "protection". That is a fact Jack. When Scott Link said ", I was simply unhappy with the completed service because he believes he could have achieved the same thing with a cheaper attorney, or anybody else". That is a blatant lie. I was unhappy with their services because they DID NOT DO WHAT THEY SAID THEY WERE GOING TO DO. Here is the bottom line... ONLY USE A COMPANY WHERE YOU CAN GO INTO THEIR OFFICE AND TALK TO THEM. WHO KNOWS WHERE THESE PEOPLE ACTUALLY ARE? DON'T GIVE YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY TO SOMEONE YOU HAVE NEVER MET OR SEEN. $3, 500 was a lot of money for me to throw away.
I have been taken for 7, 000 and they have all my paperwork. I could have done a better job filing my taxes myself and creating a plan. Everything was turned in on time and now there are no numbers to call or send paperwork to. How is this legit. LETS DO SOMETHING! I only have a few bucks to my name, I gave all my paperwork to this guy John Davis, and Scott. These people need prison time.
We too have been taken to the cleaners. We have paid them $ 5000.00 and have not gotten any results. In October 2013 it will be 3 YEARS that they have been "working on our case". I cannot believe they are still in business...or are they...they don't ANSWER THE PHONE!
I too have been scammed by these people, how can we stop them. If we all contact the Attorney General maybe we could do something.
We too have been taken for the amount of $3, 500. Started dealing with Link & Associates in May of 2011. As of today NOTHING has been done. So sad that people can take our hard earned $$ and then lie to us. Not sure how they can sleep at night. I would not be able to. But then, I wouldn't do this either.
Our money was NEVER refunded. That is a false statement. If we were beyond their scope...REALLY? why were we not told. This is so terribly sad!
Hello, my name is Scott Link, I represent Link & Associates as a family owned and operated business. I know that it can sometimes be easy for some readers to automatically assume complaints include all of the important facts or that corporations can be (as some believe) a faceless, heartless entity. I just wanted to take a moment to assure you that this is not the case with Link & Associates. We take pride in our reputation, work, and results that have helped thousands of people with their tax debt.
We have only "1" other compliant from a client to date, we refunded 100% of their fee because their case was beyond our scope of service (tax protesting group). Unfortunately, they complained before discussing with management. With the damage already done, we still decided to do the right thing. If people cannot benefit from our service then we have no reason to take their money. It is our goal to communicate properly and offer a clear case outline to our prospective clients, as stated in our agreement before hire. We don't require fee's to be paid up-front, a true indicator of our clients best interest at heart.
CASE FACTS ID#10-1530X211:
According to our records, this client was substantially late in returning numerously requested documentation needed in order to resolve his case in a timely fashion. He also failed to disclose approximately $10, 000.00 more in IRS debt, with multiple years involved. He demanded that we include amounts owed for 2010 tax year before it was even due or filed. He had continuously threatened our employees if he didn't like what was said. He was also generally hard to work with, ordering us around as if we were his children rather than a professional service. We soon came to the realization that this client was almost certainly hiding something from us and/or the IRS that he didn't want exposed before completing his case work. He would consistently demand unrealistic deadlines (regardless of what the IRS had scheduled) while not complying with our requests. Demanding case completion, "OR ELSE" was a common threat while in the same conversation, "I'm waiting for 1099's to be sent from contracts" was a common stall tactic.
RESOLUTION:
Link & Associates had brought this client into compliance from over six years of collections. We ultimately stopped seizure from clients property and halted pending levy action. We had successfully negotiated an Installment Agreement with the IRS as well as a reduction in the originally stated amount owed. We feel that this was a great outcome for any non-hardship case, especially for a case that was not in compliance for such a long period of time. For prospective clients who would like to see proof of our work, Link & Associates will gladly provide a copy of case ID#10-1530X211 (and others) that were successfully negotiated.
Please understand that this was NOT an Offer In Compromise, hardship (settle for a fraction of what is owed) case. This was a compliance/Penalty Abatement case based on the IRS Reasonable Cause Provision. These type of cases are based on the information provided by our clients. Personal information regarding client(s) will not be released, only proof of performance with specifically referenced case ID will be provided.
PENDING CASE WORK, ID#10-1530X211:
Penalty Abatement paperwork (Penalty $4, 503.21) with 2010 tax year and additional amount owed to IRS has been completed and is in client file. Case on hold due to client threats.
THE REAL STORY:
In a recent phone conversation client had stated that he is simply unhappy with the completed service because he believes he could have achieved the same thing with a cheaper attorney, or anybody else. Our public response to this is; we price match any reputable attorney in the industry as long as they meat or beat our BBB rating. We're more than competitive when it comes to pricing.
COMPLAINANT INFORMATION:
If you read between the lines in this complaint you can see that this person lightly touches on a very important part of this story, his admittance to knowing what he was paying for before hiring us to do the job (before deciding to be a cheapskate):
"I filled out the paperwork and signed the papers (stupid me)."
We allowed this client to make small installments as a "pay as you go" option. He could have stopped paying us at any point if he were ever truly unhappy with our performance...
BEFORE WE TAKE ON NEW CASES:
New clients are required to sign a contractual agreement with our company before moving forward with us. In this agreement we clearly outline our roll in negotiating on your behalf, our refund policy, timeline, case variables, as well as performance requirements are all clearly outlined.
OTHER:
It should be noted that we have a handful of complaints from people (not clients) upset that we sent them an advertising mailer. We have since stopped this form of advertising.
Be so careful, there are low life people taking advantage like TIM NELSON from WE HELP TAX- LINK ASSOCIATES. THIS IS A SCAM DO NOT GIVE THEM A CENT. This is not a legitamite business.
I have been a victim of Link and Associates/We help Tax by TIM NELSON. Since I have given him over $3000 to resolve a tax issue and he has not I requested a refund and he has done NOTHING for us, we are in more fear and in a worse place...he must be stopped. Is there a class action law suit?