O'Connor and Associates Review

Have used them for 11 years; so far, so good. BUT I am very concerned about some of the comments is the 1&2 star ratings.

It took them over year but did finally get me a reduction. Their website is glitchy and unreliable.

BELIEVE WHAT YOU READ!

Hired O'Connor and Associates in June of 2015 to protest our value in Ft. Bend (as you my know, Ft. Bend had the appraisal fiasco this year that altered the value of several thousand homes incorrectly). Filled out the application and supplied all the requested information. Received an email three days later asking for a document they had not received from our application. Replied and re-forwarded the email that contained the original application that had the document that I was told was missing. Two days later a second request for our closing papers on the house and I send that in within a few hours. Fast forward to September and I call and ask for the status of the hearing. I am told that Ft. Bend is still back logged and most hearing will not happen until October. Call October 11th to inquire again and I am told that the back log still exists and it may be December before the hearing takes place. I contacted them again on December 7th to ask AGAIN and I am told that there is an issue pulling up the records and I will get a call back in an hour. No call so I call back and am on hold for 40 minutes before another person answers with the same response and a promise of a call back the next day. Next day comes, I call and am told the hearing took place, they are unsure of the date, there was no reduction and they will email me the protest packet. Packet is emailed and the Final Evaluation letter from FBCAD is completely blank. I call FBCAD and they tell me (after verifyinh my propert three times) that O'Connor and Associates withdrew my hearing request on June 11th!!!! The deadline came and went and no one ever showed!!! FBCAD said that there is nothing that can be done this year and to take this up with them. I call and am told that since we purchased the home a little over a year ago that "there would probably be no reduction in value". I inform them the entire reason for my retaining them was to attend a hearing and ensure that our home was appraised properly considering FBCAD's computing error earlier this year. No one there is owning up to the issue. There were over 6 opportunities for them to tell me that I was not be represented but instead I was told every time that I called that "things were in motion" and "Ft. Bend is just really backed up". Everyone I talked to today at O'Connor and Associates is taking no ownership of this. I am being told why they chose not to proceed but informed all along that I was being represented. DO NOT USE THEM! They are no longer a member of BBB, I really wish I had seen these reviews and reviewed the lawsuits the State of Texas brought against them prior to retaining them. Now I have no idea if my value is in line with the actual value unless I do all of the legwork myself. However that would all be a waste of my time considering I can do nothing now to protest my value this late in the year.

O Connor & Associates is the best consultant firm. I was happy that I heeded to my friends suggestion. The consultant agents were really amazing to deal with. Got my taxes reduced to a fair an unexpected value.

terrible service. I wish I had read other reviews before I hired them. Same thing others experienced, O'Conner showed up at the protest (San Jacinto County), just agreed with the assessors and signed the agreement closing the protest. We spoke with the assessor afterwards and they told us the person from O'Conner was terrible and did nothing to protest our value and by them having signed off, we waived the formal protest. I called O'Conner to speak to my "rep" but they never called me. I got calls later wanting to talk with me only after I wasn't paying their $50 bill. I gave O'Conner a chance to just walk away from this fiasco and chalk it up to a bad day, as they had already done their damage. I discussed this with at least 3 of their call center collections employees live on the phone, but they have now hounded me for 2 months for their $50 invoice, so I paid them and am writing my review as I advised them I would. I am sharing my story in hopes that I at least save a couple hundred folks from making the same mistake. These guys are completely worthless if you need a real protest, they are just processors going through the motions. My tax bill had gone from $9000 per year to $18000 and they saved me $100.

Very satisfied with O'Connor and have used their service for many years. My only suggestion is that their payment on line system is difficult to figure out and though minor the amount on my statement was different than the online payment statement.

Crooks, nothing but crooks. They filed a protest without my consent then sent me a bill. I never signed a contract with them or signed any authorization.

Don't be deceived. These people do NOT do anything more than you could do yourself to appeal your case. If there was 0 star I wouldn't have given them 1 star. BTW, if you have received an email from "Data Analyst, Darren Smith" that is not a real person - that is an automated response. That is how they deal with your case. They don't bother to see each property's case individually.

We got a call today from "OConnor Associates" which was actually a call center in INDIA! How comforting to know that our personal, confidential information was sent overseas to an off-shore call center! When we attempted to return the call, as requested, I was told they they did not have either of our phone numbers on file and wanted a third number. They had our address wrong, and had no idea whatsoever why we were asked to call! I believe this company is fraudulent! Now how to we get our personal info back from them!!! There is no excuse for this!

Not bad if you don't have the time to deal with this process. Better than doing nothing. I wish my lazy neighbors would sign up with anyone to protest for them instead of allowing HCAD free reign on raising taxes uncontested.

I was happy with the rebates I was able to get in my taxes due to their efforts

I have been using O'Connor services for several years. They have helped to lower my taxes year after year

Absolutely infuriating! I sent them all the documents they need but they still claim they didn't get the appointment of attorney form. Then they decide to call me 3 days to go and say they still don't have it. So I send it them via email. Finds out they still claim they didn't have it. I will never use these idiots again. Also, there download method won't let on thier website won't take PDF! What the f#&k are you supposed to use?

The property tax system is rigged big time with (Vegas term) a "huge house advantage." It's worse than playing the slots in Vegas. Assessors cherry pick properties to support their opinions of value, and the average homeowner doesn't have a snowball's chance in Hades to get a reduction. O'Connor has achieved one 4 times for me, and I don't have the stress or waste of time fighting myself.

Glad they can help rescue us Texans from the relentless efforts of the State to tax us out of our homes. I only wish my home doubled in value every seven years like the authorities seem compelled to impute.

Considered using O'Connor a couple of years ago. Sold my house in the spring of 2019. They relentlessly continue to call me inquiring if I'm interested in their services. Stated explicitly about their services not being needed yet the continue to call... PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!

I have used this company for 10 years and they have saved me money. So why a 1 star review? Because they don't follow through on their promises. They offered me a $50 VISA gift card if I would reactivate my account this year and I accepted. The card never came after several calls with promises to send it. I then received a bill for their services but still no $50 gift card. I called SIX (6!) more times to ask about the gift card and offered to just take a $50 credit on my bill and pay the balance. Six more promises with no follow through. I'll use another company next year.

O'conner has always kept me informed of the process and when hearing are scheduled. I have never had any problems with them! They are GREAT!

This is my 1st year using O-Connor & Associate's and we will used them again! So we are very happy with our appraisal of our home. :)

I've used this service for approximately 13 years now. Other than this past year, they were able to successfully reduce the appraised value of my home, thus reducing the taxes I owed. Our home is worth approximately $375,000, so any reduction is greatly appreciated. Since the Houston/Sugar Land real estate market is so darn hot right now, we completely understood why they were unsuccessful in reducing our taxes this past year. We anticipate this year to be the same since so many houses in our area are selling for about $100,000 or more than what our house is appraised at. I recommend them. It saves me from having to prepare a case on my own, and appearing in front of the City, and having to miss work. If they don't save you any money, you don't have to pay for their services. It's a win-win!!

No reduction in my property value, Terrible customer service. Do not waste your time or lose your chance to protest on your own. This place is a joke

Fantastic service! We've been clients for over a decade. Without them, our property taxes would have been through the roof, literally.

We have used their services for 7 years and in the beginning were quite happy. The last few years have been very disappointing. We needed to have our sqft corrected last year and they told me to submit information to them so they could do this. Then nothing changed on our sqft. I asked them about it again this year and they said they would get it corrected, but again nothing happened. When I called to ask the reason I was told they cannot correct my sqft, that I have to do it myself through the assessor. Why no one told me that 2 years ago is infuriating. I am cancelling their services ASAP.

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY TO PROTEST YOUR TAXES. Terrible company. They missed the deadline to file a protest and then when I called to complain, they tried to turn it around. It cost me several hundred dollars per year in higher property taxes.

I have been a client for over 11 years with multiple residential properties. O'Connor & Associates has saved me a ton of $$$ and time representing me before the appraisal district year after year. To split the savings with them and they do all the work is absolutely worth it. Thank you O'Connor & Associates for the great work and keep on saving me money.

O'Connor has save me quite a lot over the years. Highly recommend.

do not use this company !!!!
I was recommended this company, by an old friend so I trusted it.
Big mistake!
you are unable to talk to an agent. only customer service, but you get NO real answer.
my taxes went up 100,000.00 from 1 year to the next they did bring it down 14,000. and charged me, for saving me money. but that is not saving when it is still thousands high.
you are better off doing it on your own, at least you know what is going on.

I have used O'Connors & Associates for years excellent results every time.

Dell & Denise Bryant

Prior to using O'Connor & Associates to assist in protesting my property tax increases I had to do all the leg work and research. I have found a significant value in turning this yearly chore over to O' Connor & Associates. They have been proactive and done a good job every year for the 12 years we have had a relationship. I think most of those years I have benefited financially. I have recommended O' Connor & Associates to my friends and neighbors many times over the years.

O'Conner has been very helpful in keeping my tax statements to a rock bottom low for over 5 years on my rental property. Thanks!!

Run away, run from doing business or working with these people

Repeat customer..Quick and easy. They also give me plenty of lead-time to give them any updates to fight on my behalf for a fair tax assessment by the powers-that-be.

A first class company. Just sign up sit back and they will take care of everything

O' Connor & Associates have been handling our homes and our business accounts for over 10 years. They have kept our multiple properties from being overtaxed. They have saved us money on property taxes every year, and how could it be better...if they did not save us money, their service wouldn't cost anything. They are great. Our family gives them an unequivocal 5!!

The first year I wasn t impressed as I provided tons of documents and information and got 0 reduction. The second year, 2020, they were able to reduce by $5k without anything from me. I had pictures ready to show condition of my home but never got noticed of anything. Everything was good except 0 notices via email or mail of the work being done. Not terrible and may try a 3rd time. Reasonably priced!

Love the service. I get information about my tax status, I'm informed when it will be reviewed. I'm informed about the outcome. If Oconnor is able to save me money, I get bill. And it's less than what they saved me. If there was no savings, I don't get charged. Can't get better than that.
I can pay the bill on the web, quickly, easily. DONE! I also get information about issues that will help when protesting taxes. Helps me understand what they are doing and I can forward to friends and family for their info. I'm a happy camper :)

I have used O'Connor for over 10 years with no real issues. However, recently I received a bill listing a property I sold 4 years ago. The representative told me that they knew I no longer owned the property and that the bill was not for that property, but for another property which I did own. I told the representative to correct the invoice to reflect my current property address and I would be glad to pay it. At this point, the O"Connor rep started arguing with me over THEIR error rather than agreeing to correct it! I couldn't believe it! Finally, after several minutes of heated debate, the rep finally agreed to correct the billing error. As soon as I received the corrected bill reflecting the CORRECT property address I promptly paid it. Wow, what a way to do business! At this point I would not recommend O"Connor & Associates services to anyone, even though I have in the past.

I've been a satisfied client for a number of years and I really appreciate their fee structure. If they don't lower your taxes, you don't pay. Extremely happy with my reduction this year, and I will continue to use them in the future.

I have been using O'Connor & Associates for over 11 years. I have been very happy with their results in lowering the appraised value of my home. I can look at the appraisal district website and see who in my neighborhood has been contesting their value each year because my value is considerably lower than my neighbors although our houses are close in real estate value.

I could have gotten better results protesting myself. This company did not help at all. They not only compared my house to what they thought were similar ones but didn't consider that the other properties had upgrades. They did not ask me for any details at all. They also did not take into account the needed repairs for which estimates were provided to them. There are a bunch of other things that could have been used to protest but were not. On top of all that, this company has terrible customer service. They missed the initial protest even though their website said it was held. I called and emailed for weeks and couldn't get an answer until the issue was escalated. In the end there were absolutely no savings and I have already removed them as an agent and will just go back to protesting myself.

They get it done when the "little guy" has a snowball's chance in the heat of Harris County.

Second year to use this company. First year they did really well. I was expecting them to go to bat for me this year but they took first reduction which was basically nothing and approved it without contacting me at all. I asked for an appeal and they just kept giving me nonsense reasons for not doing. STAY AWAY company is a joke.

Saved us $1000 a year in property tax (montgomery county). They did all the work. Took a few months, but I didn't have to do a thing besides sign up and answer a few questions. Well worth their 50% fee because I wouldn't have been able to appeal enough to decreased our appraised value by $26000

O'Conner is a racket. Ended up costing me more money than what my original protest was settled at. When I looked at the Better Business Bureau I found them rated the lowest rating with a minus in front. Jeez! Just do it yourself. This company will continue to try to represent you even without your permission. Crooks.

This company is demands money for no proof they did anything for you. They can make up all the numbers and demand payment.

Horrible- they did not file a tax protest in time despite multiple interactions with my local agent. I was told that they had plenty of time to file and everything was completed on my end and they would take care of the rest.They are too big and do not care about individual clients. Find a more smaller more personal company. DO NOT use this company.

Unbelievable the incompetence. You cannot get a competent person on the phone. Customer service is obviously out-sourced and there is no one capable of moving beyond a script. They calculate your taxes on a simple cookie-cutter math basis which may cover the vast majority of client solutions. However, a jurisdiction within my calculation is not applied to my improvement value. They cannot understand this and continue to apply rate against my entire assessed value. They try to circumvent this through offering a home exemption credit that has no correlation to the math error they are making. I finally got a supervisor on the phone last year regarding this problem after about 10 iterations and he resolved in a matter of 30 minutes. Here we are in 2020 same issue, 10 calls in with incompetent outsourced customer reps and no resolution. I will be filing paperwork to withdraw their representing on my behalf next year. Protesting myself would be more painless than dealing with these yahoos. Now, to deal with this year, guess I'll just have to end up paying more money for their math error than I would have paid the county. Gotta love an organization that's moved beyond customer service into profit margins as paramount!!!!

I found this company to be very efficient and effective. My appraised value was lowered by $38000. Very pleased

They are inconsistent in achieving results. One big complaint is if you let them they will disregard the homestead exemption in calculating the tax savings which overstates the savings and thus your bill. I have to call them out on this each year.

Effortless year over year. Really, they work for you and there is nothing you really need to do.

Was called for a small past due bill. I was at lunch and told i forgotten about it would take of it. I don't think the person knew english couln't get him off the phone.

Two years in a row and saved significant dollars each year. Also, after signing up this program is hassle free as O'connor group handles all processes each tax year. Highly recommended service !

Donald Johnson

My husband was very skeptical this company could do anything to lower our property taxes. He used a different company in the past with no results. I thought it was worth a shot since they do not charge a dime if they can not save you any money and then you only pay a portion of the money they actually save you. It worked and O'Connor saved us a significant amount. I'm very happy. The process was easy and painless. I will be using them from now on!

This is now the 2nd year in a row that O'Connor & Associates has helped us save on our property tax. Mahalo nui loa!!

Wow is all I can say. O'Connor & Associates got a massive reduction in my property taxes. I don't know how they did it. And the best part is they are such nice people.

Hello, I emailed them to inquire about their services. Once i was in their system it was a horrible 3 months long battle to stop them from contacting me. On June 21st, they illegally added themselves as TAX disputers on our file. They forged documentation and they are now sending me a bill for $45. They haven't been able to produce any documents that are signed by me. they are horrible! Its not even safe to inquire on their webpage!

Find someone else. This company is highly unorganized, bombards you with needless paperwork and has poor English-speaking reps from India call you relentlessly.

Signing up was easy. They just keep saving me money. Thanks O'Connor& Associates.

Could not reduce the Tax much, only saved $24. Not worth it.

Update March 2021 - I have continued to use O'Connor for my property tax reduction service every year. Over the past 5 years HCAD has tried to increase my value by 5-10% each year, but today my value is only 2.3% higher than it was in 2016. Still a 5 Star experience. Over time, the O'Connor process definitely pays off! I appreciate the improvements made to the client portal and accessibility of information that O'Connor provides. Take advantage of the client portal for management of your properties, invoices, viewing status of hearings, etc.

O'Connor & Associates has protested my taxes for more than 5 years. I have received a reduction 4 out of those 5 years, even one year when HCAD had actually reduced my value before even protesting. O'Connor still was able to achieve even further reduction in my assessed value. The only year I didn't receive a reduction was last year and I didn't think even O'Connor could have reduced my value any lower than HCAD did on their own. This year my value has been increased by about 24% and I am definitely having O'Connor & Associates protest for me. I have been very impressed with the staff and support I have received when ever I have had questions. I would definitely recommend O'Connor & Associates.

Took me 4 times to finally talk to an admin - after leaving 3 voice messages over 3 days. I had heard good things about this company but it "appears" they currently cannot assist Brazoria Co residents for tax appraisal protest. And the admin, "Kalivia" could not determine when this "ban" would be lifted. Hopefully I can locate a company who can fight for us.

Usually gets my appraisal reduced which reduces my taxes. Automatic year to year representation is a plus. Only pay when there is results--what a deal.

I saved time and money !!! Great Service !!!
They reduced my Assessed Value by $44.370.00 for a tax savings of $1066.83

Horrible experience in 2019. In 2020 they were not engaged to protest for us; I filed one myself. However, they illegally took it upon themselves to go and protest for me. They did not ask me for any information, have no idea about what the property state was in on January 1st and subsequently got a bad deal. My own protest has now been cancelled and I have no further options to protest the value which is lower than what O'Connor arranged. This company should be put out of business. How dare they think it is ok to protest my property without factual and relevant information without my permission. I have referred this to my attorney and will be taking legal action on this.

Hey, they spam a UK-based Q&A website. That probably tells you all you need to know about them.

They have saved us several hundred dollars over the years of using O'Conner...It's never been large amounts, but every little bit helps when dealing w/ the government & taxes!!

I have been using O'Connor and Associates for many years. They have successfully reduced my taxes a few years out of the many, however, my taxes have not gone up substantially like so many people in my area and I think it's due to the O'Connor influence.

I have worked with this company for over 10 years. Suddenly their call center is now is Southern India. They have requested the same exact documentation 4 times, each time I have sent it and yet they can not match up the 4 properties I have to the forms sent in. I requested call from supervisor who did not follow directions on what phone number to call.
There appears to be a new level of gross incompetence with this company.

O'Connor & Associates has done a good job of keeping my home taxes down, and my savings have been substantial. I tried another company before O'Connor and had a very shady feeling about them. I heard the O'Connor radio ads and received mailings stating I could save money on my taxes, and am glad that I followed up with them. They are not cheap but I feel they are an honest company to work with.

Horrible Experience - They had the wrong mailing address and I never received communication and when I called they said the matter was with the court and will have to show up in court to pay the balance. Will never use this service.trying to save a couple hundred but ended up spending a lot more with court.

Zero communication from O'Connor & Associates, I have a property that the taxes were increased by 160% in Wise county TX, it is a really old rental property that is not even livable.

The appraised value went from 35K to 90K, I sent pictures of the property that included cracking outer walls, foundation and torn up kitchen. I don't rent it because it is unlivable and they did nothing to decrease the taxable value.

When I called, I was offered no explanation and they did not even offer to get back to be, just hung up on me. I was really hopeful O'Connor & Associates could assist me when Wise county increased the taxable value of my 3 properties from 150K to 312K during a major recession and pandemic.

I am not a rich person, I have family living rent free in one property, one is unlivable and the other is my primary residence. I will never recommend O'Connor & Associates to anyone!

-Mark

Effective company for managing property assessments

I've been using O'Connor & Associates for about 10 years. I find them trustworthy and reliable. It is reassuring to have a knowledgeable team handle this process. I would recommend their services to any property owner.

I joined O'Connor & Associates over eleven years ago, and I am completely satisfied with their service, that is truly defined as Courteous, Professional, Timely, Prudent, Reliable, Affordable, Result Oriented, and evidenced by Indebt Experience and Knowledge in their field of endeavor. I rate O'Connor a well earned five out of five, and hasten to recommend them to anyone that may need their services.

They fight tax appraisers; only 50% charge if they win and save you money

They represented me for my property taxes for last 2 years. It was my first time experience in such matters. They never keep you updated at all on their activities about your property tax appeal. They never even sent me any documentation about the outcome of the tax protest. First year I had to call them several times inorder to get an email response on the tax protest results. During the second year of their service they were even worse. They caused me $50000 increase in my property value. I was again not informed by O'Connor about any decisions on my property tax protest results. I came to find out about it from my mortgage bank letter too late to take any action against the decision. Now when Im asking Oconnor to provide me details on how you handled my tax protest they are not cooperstive at all. They are not responding to my calls and my emails. Seems to me that they never protested my property appraised value and I was kept under the impression that everything is fine. They have no documentation to provide me about their protest on my property. They have caused me thousands of dollars in additional taxes due to lack of representation and mistrust. I will never trust them. I wish I had not hired them to represent my property. I would have done 100% better job myself and would have saved thousands of dollars of losses evey year in my taxes due to their negligence. They are not professional people. I will advise others not to put their trust in them at all only to find out later that you lost thousands of dollars. They will not return your calls neither they will show any interest to resolve the matter. SAVE YOURSELF FROM YEARLY LOSSES OF THOUDANDS OF DOLLARS AND UNNEEDED STRESS. DONOT GET THEIR HELP. IF YOU REALLY NEED A PROFESSIONAL TO ASSIST YOU THEN GET LOOK SOMWHERE ELSE NUT OCONNOR. YOU WILL BE MORE SATISFIED WITHOUT THEM.

If I could give them zero stars I would. This is an India based business with a fabricated Houston office. I submitted my tax protest to them. Signed their papers, and they did nothing because of a claim error on the forms. My hearing date came and went and not one phone call or notification. STAY AWAY!! These guys are hacks

Always get a reduction in my taxes! Have used this very good company for 20+ years. Received a 7% reduction for 2019. Thanks very much O'Connor & Associates.

I have used them for 10 or 20 years. I have rental property. There is no way I would file these protests myself. IF I could get my property manager to file these, I would have to pay a flat fee, whether my taxes were reduced or not. O'Connor takes care of this. The hardest part is remembering to pay them when they win.

Over the years they have done a very good job. Sometimes they need to have better communication with us (the customers) but they have reduced or kept my taxes from rising in most of the 11 years I have used them.
I appealed myself once after a flood year, and was successful, but the cost effectiveness the way O Conner works was much better. They got reductions in years I would not have tried myself.

The communication and informing me of procedures is their only weak point.

I hired O'Connor and Associates as I felt my time as a Realtor was better spent assisting my clients as opposed to fighting my CAD. After getting the results of their efforts, I felt I could have done a MUCH better job myself. I cancelled the service and gladly paid them per the agreement. However, the next following year I get a bill for O'Connor & Associates protesting my taxes when I never hired them. They took it upon themselves to protest my taxes without my permission and send me a bill for their services. I have had NUMEROUS communications with them both over the phone and via email, yet they continue to call me and send me invoices.

We have been using O'Connor & Associates to help us reduce our property taxes for several years. During that time they have saved us thousands of dollars. We have always been impressed with their professionalism and their ability to save us money.

My husband worked for O'Connor and Associates for several months protesting property taxes for their residential clients. At one point, he was working 100+ hours a week (yes, this is actually possible; however, it is definitely not sustainable) because of the case load. Most clients were nothing more than a number due to the sheer volume of cases. I believe they (the company) were an unethical in many ways and I would never recommend them to anyone. My husband was led to believe he would make tens of thousands of dollars during the "season" which was simply not the case. It was what I consider to be a sweatshop. One thing we learned through this ordeal- the property owner can protest on their own and have success. Oh, and always have pictures.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND!!! I think this company was probably a legit good service company. The way it looks now I feel it's been sold to an India company. Find another American U.S. based company or protest yourself...which what I'll do from here on out.

They're fair and dependable. They are professional and worth what they're saving you. Glad they are doing this service and fighting the man for me.

Complete SCAM!! they basically charged me for nothing and wasted my time arguing over their mediocre service! be careful with these people and I would not do business with them at all.

Easy way to save money on taxes every year. If they don't save you money -- you don't pay anything. What's not to like?

I have used their services for over 5 years now and never had a problem. I did had a year where they couldn't get me a reduction but they did not bill me for that year.

Courteous and Professional. They have saved me money every year I have used them. I have no problems recommending them to anybody!

My taxes went up about 10% which is near the maximum they could have increased under law. O'Connor failed to gain any reduction in my taxes. They asked me for a bunch of photos and documentation and then never followed up with me to build a case. I sent them emails before the case, and they never responded. I wasted this year to reduce my taxes. I highly do NOT recommend this company. They submit reductions in bulk and do not argue your case individually.

I have been using O'connor's services for over 10 years now and they have done an excellent job of fighting to keep my property taxes reasonable.