O'Connor and Associates Review

O'Conner and Associates has been easy to work with and they have produced consistent results. Based on our experience I would be very likely to recommend their services to any homeowner. They aren't miracle workers but they get the job done efficiently and dependably.

Positively horrible. I have made a huge mistake in letting them be my agent for the last several years. My home value is $200,000 more than some of my neighbors with similar square footage, we have same lot size and my house has not been updated in 15 years.
My next door neighbor s house is 2X my square footage, recently updated and on the tax roles for $225,000 less than mine.
Removed O Connor & Associates as my agent and will never go back.

I called to engage an assessor for a greenbelt appraisal on one of our commercial properties in Bandera County. I first went through an automated phone menu, then through an operator who tried to connect me to the commercial department only to be told that no representative was available at the time. The phone support system and linear customer service they offer is nauseating, seating this firm under a 'corporate' label that screams indifference rather than professionalism.

No hassle with great results. Leave it to O'Connor to protest your taxes!

O'Connor & Associates has successfully reduced my property taxes on more than several times. I am happy with their services.

Appraisal increase of 29%. Could have done better with a homeless person protesting for me.

I have used O'Conner & Associates since I purchased my first home in Houston, back in 2000. I was very pleased with his services. I was referred to O'Connor by one of his long time customer who has used O'Conner's services for the last 19 years. O'Conner & Associates does not only offer his services to large companies, but also specializes in small business and the individual home owner. The size of your portfolio does not matter, what matters is that O'Conner & Associates knows how to accommodate to each individual owner and organization. I highly recommend their services.

Always great service! We would recommend to anyone!

OMG. O'Connor & Associates wins the award for the most incompetent service provider I have ever worked with. They botched my very simple appeal. Terrible communication and absolutely no follow up. After weeks of me trying to just get this issue resolved, I finally was able to speak to the Chief Operating Officer and we ultimately executed a settlement agreement outlining what I would pay in fees for the current year's appeal and the next year's appeal. They did a terrible job year two then sent me an invoice for 4 times the contractual fee. I have had three conversations with the inept employees there who still have not sent me a correct invoice. Now they are adding late fees to my bill. Again, no response to my emails. I wish I had never used this firm in the first place, and I definitely wish I had just cut ties after the first complete debacle. Shame on me for giving them a second chance. There really should be an option for a zero rating because O'Connor would get it....

Never sign!!! You will regret it. These crooks belong in jail. They are con men

ATTENTION ALL - If you decide to cancel your account with O'Connor, INSIST ON GETTING IT IN WRITING from them that you are no longer a client. (I wish I would have done this.) I engaged their services years ago and all was fine for a bit. One year I decided to meet the agent at the hearing, and NO ONE SHOWED.
I represented myself and got a significant decrease in appraised value, so I immediately called to cancel their services. I was told to submit it in writing and I did so. A couple of years later I received a bill for their having gotten a decrease for me. I paid it, and again, went through the process of cancelling their service.
Fast forward a couple of years - I have received a notice from their "General Counsel" dunning me for payment for their services last year. My appraised value was lowered, and someone from their company probably did represent me, but I am extremely frustrated that I was still on their client list. I hadn't heard anything from them in years, and then I get a bill. I have been trying for days now to get this straightened out, and, as others have said, it's a nightmare - false promises of a return call from a supervisor, etc.
I rarely write reviews - I'm just hoping to spare someone else this aggravation.

Don't ever work for this company. I understand why clients complained about their services, and I have an inkling as to why they landed in hot water with the Texas Attorney General. I wasn't even with the company for 3 months, and they laid me off. That's not the part I am upset about, though. It seemed very coincidental that I didn't even receive my W2 until February 29, the day before I was able to notify the IRS that they were not giving me my W2. I had asked them where it was. They had my correct mailing address and I don't have any issues with receiving the mail. After being frustrated with email correspondence that seemed to be going nowhere, I called and left a message about their incompetence in mailing a single W2. I also mentioned my notary items that they claim they sent to me and I never received. When they laid me off, they would not allow me to go back to my desk to get my things and instead had someone gather my stuff. I realized that my notary items were not given to me. When I asked Kayla Ashby about them and asked if she could send them to me, she obliged. I wonder why she's not working there anymore, but she is no better. I waited a month and didn't receive my notary items, so I contacted her again. She said that she had sent to my address. I asked for a tracking number, but she states she sent it by regular mail (cheap bastards). When I left a message and referenced their failure to send my notary items, the current HR manager stated that she found them. This means they never sent them at all and lied. I honestly don't believe I did anything to deserve this. If I did they would've fired me or given me a warning, because it's obviously cheaper to fire someone rather than lay them off. I also highly doubt that they got an upgrade on their systems to better serve their clients. It is great that some people do report good services provided to them and maybe they have cleaned up their act. But I would never for them ever again.

Have used O'Connor & Associates for years and have always been happy with their service and results.

Very disappointed with the results O'Connor & Associates were only able to reduce my taxes by $1140 on a house that is literally in very poor condition. When i asked about appealing and binding arbitration i was told they elected to have an informal hearing with the appraisal district and so the results are final for this year. Their efforts were clearly limited and although it generated very little income for them, on hundreds of customers that adds up to big money which is why its a recurring process annually unless you terminate their services, which i did.

The past few years our appraisal has gone way up, so I contacted O'Connor and Assoc. This year they were able to get our appraisal reduced by $21,630 saving us $498. We paid them half of that which is a great deal in my opinion for doing nothing but contacting them. So quick and easy. Would highly recommend

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

I have been using O'Connor and associate for a long time and I'm very pleased with the service. Thanks again Aaron

Despite the difficulties working with the appraisal district and the time it took to resolve my appraisal issues, O'Connor dedicated personnel involved were able finally resolve my tax problems and saved me money

This was the easiest way I have found to save money. I signed a paper, O'connor went to court, and I got a new appraisal value on my house. This is the third year I have used O'Connor. I am very pleased with them.

I have contacted this company at least 5 times informing them to stop sending a bill for a man that is dead. This was my ex husband, he passed away on Sep. 10, 2016. I have sent a copy of the death certificate also. Somehow this company has my address and continues to send bill after bill. Seems no one knows what the other is doing there.
RE: Donald W. Mc Creless
Linda

I have used them for 11 years. Lately they have not been successful is lowing my residential home's appraised value. I supply them with a notorized list of issues with my home. I don't know if it is HCAD that won't agree to lower the value or a lack of effort on O'Connor & Associates. Anyway it is hit and miss.

I've used this firm for 3 years now and am satisfied with their services. I get an email notification each year reminding me about upcoming board reviews. The dollar savings has declined each year, along with there fees of course, but I attribute that to the fact that I didn't have a lot of issues with my properties (3 total) that warranted me sending in condition photos.

Those considering hiring them, be aware that work is needed on your part if you want significant reduction on your property tax. You have to take photos and fill out a condition form. The more details you provide, the more they can help you.

That said, having a professional services firm send someone to argue the stupid level of tax increases is worth what they get as payment.

Some years we go forward, some years it is the status quo, always worth the effort.

I have used O'Connor & Associates for over 12 years. I am extremely happy with their service as they have saved me significant tax dollars. I have no complaints with service or costs of their service.

I received their mailer and think people should be aware that the language used in their ads is deceptive. Check out all of the bad reviews before doing anything with these people.

It was like trying to get an angry honey badger off my foot.

O'Connor overcharged me. They threatened me with court, they added interest and threatened to add lawyer fees. I filed a complaint with BBB. O'Connor never provided evidence for their inaccurate fee. I finally did the math myself, proving them wrong. They withdrew the entire charge without apology.

I never would have gotten service from them without my BBB complaint.

As stated, It was like trying to get an angry honey badger off my foot. I'm with Five Stone now.

Great folloup and communication. I was aware of each step in the process.

This company FIGHTS for you! I have been using them for 6+ years. I have also recommended them to multiple people and all are impressed.

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

Wonderful place to do business with ,The people work there very nice and very helpful so far I have no complain

How does one prepare for a formal hearing by requesting info from the owner late the day before your hearing? Then they send me a 'we didn't agree with the formal board decision (although now you're obligated to pay those taxes) so we're going to sue on your behalf. Sending your file to our 'litigation team' if we win you must reimburse us our litigation fees plus reduction. If we don't win you don't have to pay. I say you do your job and prepare correctly maybe a week or so before going to a formal don't you think? Incredibly disappointed.

DO NOT USE THEM!!! I would give them zero stars if I could. I have used O'Conner for five years and they were fairly good at what they do. However, this past year, they did not do the proper research for my area and allowed over 35% increase in my home value. If you have any complaints, the phone number sends you to INDIA!!!! I requested a supervisor on several occasions but was told they were in meetings and would have to call back. Of course, no one ever called.

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!

Was amazed by how much they were able to drop our value - will use again next year!

My neighbor was able to submit a request to protest her taxes with the county directly and they took off $30k of accessed value. Oconner and Associates went in and claimed to lower it by $644. Great work guys....so happy i hired hard working professionals. Next year i'm going online and doing it myself.

We appreciate your ongoing efforts in reducing our annual tax bill. I highly recommend your services often.

Seems to be only willing to work on very easy reductions. If your property is not very cookie cutter don't expect much effort. They also make it very difficult to leave their service if you aren't satisfied no easy way to un-signup online and no one seems to answer the phones - definitely would not reccomend.

Was good for 2 years back in 2013 and 2014. Now it seems that they only want to do the minimal to save me money. I told Occonor that my house was bought for an amount lower than the appraised amount and it should be easy to at least get that amount lowered to the selling price I bought it for. They were unable to get it and only used basic law of homestead exemptions that I could have done myself. When questioned on why they were unable to get a lower amount NO ONE could explain to me what happened in the meeting. I called three times and had to terminate service. I am extremely disappointed with their current service and advise other people to go with someone else. If this wasn't enough I have been waiting for mailed invoices for tax purposes since August. I have not received anything.

I hired O'Connor & Associates to protest my taxes. Although I am not sure what that entails, all I know is they were able to have my taxes reduced on my property on time. So, for that, I am grateful and satisfied.

I have used O'Connor for 11 years to contest my appraisal with HCAD so I could quit doing it myself. O'Connor is successful in lowering my appraisal about every other year, which matches my own success rate when I was doing it on my own. Their attention to detail has kept our appraisal in line with the neighborhood. I have recommended them to my sons-in-law and they too have benefited from the service.

Extremely disappointed with my results. I chose O'Conner and Associates because I felt that they could represent me at least as well as I have represented myself. Terrible mistake. I called into their office and spoke with their representative. When I asked for him to review with me the material they used in my protest it was abundantly clear that they had spent little to no time actually researching comps. I have since asked to have them not represent me in the future.

Don't waste your time or money.

We have been using O'Connor and Associates since 2008 and they have always worked hard for us and delivered the results to keep our property values lower. We now have a few properties and all of them are being looked after by O'Connor and Associates; they have always treated us great, done what they said they would do and we will continue to use them going forward.

The process was very easy and the people at O'Connor were very responsive when I had a question. I have never used a firm to lower or challenge my property taxes before but in this instance I am very satisfied with the results.

For years, I am always have had a very professional help as expected.

O'Connor & Assoc have saved our family much $ and efforts - by representing us at the County office; they have often gotten our initially appraised taxes reduced. Recently got a refund check for 2013 taxes...which they further fought to get reductions.

Scam! You can get better results with just a 5 minute phone call to your tax assessor . I fight my taxes every year, O'CONner got less than half of what I normally have my taxes reduced.

I've always been very happy with O'Connor & Assoc and have recommended them to several friends. I have experienced reduced tax-basis value on my home for several years. It's seemless and I never even know they are working for me until I get the notice of reduction.

I have used O'Connor & Associates for over 12 years. I am extremely happy with their service as they have saved me significant tax dollars. I have no complaints with service or costs of their service.

Great service!! good company to work with. very professional and helpful!

I have used O'Connor & Associates for 10 years. They were able to reduce my tax appraisal 9 out of 10 years. This year it was reduced $30,000. I literally do nothing but sign my name. The one year my tax was not reduced I paid nothing. Highly recommended.

They are the worst on dealing with clients and are rude and overcharge and then bill you for years continuesly for services that they don t provide and file lawsuit if you don t pay. Don t even use them if they are the last people on earth.

Update: they would say they will review ur case but never hear back from them. I contacted them with all the details and still did not get my money or any response back. WORST PEOPLE EVER

A complete scam. I wish I'd done my research before ever contacting these people. I secured O'Connor and Associates last summer for my Brazoria County property dispute. I had already initiated my online dispute prior to contacting them. The week prior to my court date, the county offered a settlement to me that I found accceptable. I accepted the offer online and called O'Connor that same day to cancel. I informed them that I no longer needed representation at the hearing date. I was told "ok, I will get this canceled out for you " by the rep and thought nothing else of it. Fast forward a few weeks and O'Connor sends me a slightly lower total tax assessment bill than my settlement. I think: 'ok well maybe they still attended the hearing and got my taxes down a bit lower.' The very next day, I get another letter from O'Connor confirming my request for cancellation with the date that I called. The day after that, I received yet another letter stating that they secured the same amount that I settled on with the county.... only now O'Connor is requesting half of the savings! Attempts to get clarification through O'Connor have been useless. I speak with someone who is supposed to "look into it" and never hear back. I just keep getting calls from their foreign call center.

The gist is this. I spoke with my Brazoria County appraiser who informed me that O'Connor canceled my self-initiated protest AFTER I called to cancel my representation with them. Despite verbal request to end representation, they still reentered my dispute with their name attached and accepted the exact same dollar settlement! Because my request for cancellation was not written and submitted 30 days in advance (impossible if the county only offers a settlement the week before hearing) O'Connor wants half of my savings for doing no work.

DO NOT HIRE THESE PEOPLE. Take it from a first-timer, they will not do anything that you cannot do on your own. Do not pay them for nothing.

First time using them reduced the taxable amount by 5.46% savings .
I'll use them again next year.
Thanks.Dan
P.S. Nothing personal only God is a perfect 5 Stars.

They do an okay job on protesting my taxes on my behalf and normally I get a reduction. Nothing sufficient enough to really see a difference in my tax bill. My issue is with the new client portal to submit payments, the portal doesn't provide a receipt or confirmation number. I tried going back into to check the status and it still did not provide me with an update. So I had to call the office directly and they informed me I will see a confirmation in 24-48 hours!! That's ridiculous!!! No one has time to remember to check back with your office. You need to either change payment options or fix your client portal to give customers an instant receipt/confirmation.

Incorrect rate charged and incompetent agent was not able to help. I tried to best explain and also advised that I have had the bill adjusted for the correct rate in the past. Forced to pay the amount in order to avoid late fees and interest. I have two properties with O'Connor Associates, because of their shoddy practice and willingness to not listen and basically trying to tell me I am an idiot, I will not be re-signing going forward. Crooks.

I have used O'Conner for over ten years to cut my taxes and would recommend their services. This group a is very professional and have done a good job in representing me.

Many Thanks!

Gaylon

Why has your customer service gotten so bad? I have been a customer since 2009, and each year your service gets a little worse and a little worse. Your employees do not reply to emails. Your employees do not do what they say they are going to do. Even your managers do not respond to emails or do what they say they are going to do. You have a great service offering, but your customer service has gone in the toilet.

Last year I protested my property taxes at Fort Bend Central Appraisal District. What a scam.They do not give a property owner a fair chance.This year I hired O'Connor and they were able to get a reduction of over $500. If you live in Fort Bend, try O'Connor.The other tax consultants were not even willing to take my case because Fort Bend is such a rigged job.

I made an initial inquiry into their services and did not sign anything or give them any permission to represent me after reading their onerous terms. Yet they made an appt. for a tax protest hearing on my behalf without even informing me! Today, I get an email from them telling me they made an appt with the Country tax office, but would not be attending because I did not sign up for their services. Their email didn't tell me the day or time either. Totally unacceptable!

Property taxes are a killer in Houston. I used to do my own protests but the HCAD people are horrible. I called O'Connor & Associates and they got a good reduction and it was easy.

I have been with O'Connor for 13 years and have never had a bad experience with them. They contact me so I do not have to remember to do so each tax year. They have been to fight many battles when "comps" appeared out of line (I live in an area that is restricted but on acreage) . While they have not always been able to win the battles they at least fought for me. I have had several neighbors use other companies and also dispute the tax appraisal by the county on their own and believe me, their results were either the same or not nearly as successful. I will remain a loyal customer with this company.

I have been very pleased with how well O'Connor & Associates have taken care of getting the annual assessments of my property reduced for over 10 years now. I highly recommend their services. They are very professional and know what they are doing.

After printing my 2018 invoice, I tried to pay my bill online. But I couldn't log in using the invoice's Client # and my long-time saved password. I then phoned O'Connor for assistance and got some wonderful assistance from your rep. Such as a different PW from that which I had saved and very competent advice and information. I then was able to pay my bill online which your rep stayed on the phone with me with her friendly advice. My many thanks to O'Connor.

If I could give them a O, I would have. Telephone ONLY answers in India or Pakistan and they get EVERYTHING WRONG! Worst service I have received in years. Agent REFUSED to put the property addresses correct. Kept insisting that the property did NOT exist. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!!

Used this service for many years and it has saved me hundreds of dollars. All you have to do is sign up and they do the rest. Very easy. If you want to save money on property tax, this is the place to do it.

Easy to use service overall. I've heard people mentioned you can save more by doing it yourself, but this is our first year so it's fine for now.

I made an initial inquiry into their services and did not sign anything or give them any permission to represent me after reading their onerous terms. Yet they made an appt. for a tax protest hearing on my behalf without even informing me! Today, I get an email from them telling me they made an appt with the Country tax office, but would not be attending because I did not sign up for their services. Their email didn't tell me the day or time either. Totally unacceptable!

I have been using O'Connor & A for several years. Not really sure how much real work they do. My guess is they bundle a group of properties and take it to the protest and get blanket agreement. Makes it a lot easier for them and the county. My issue is about exemptions. I've spoken to two different people answering the phone. Neither on is Englush their first language so understanding them was difficult
Can an English speaking knowledgeable person call me?

You are better off protesting for yourself. In my opinion, these guys are into volume and not quality. All you need to do is get replacement receipts for things like your damaged roof or fence and driveway... all of this and more can reduce your tax liabilities. These guys are not going to do this for you or at least I haven t seen it. Good luck.

It s like talking to someone from another country that does not understand the process. Please hire better workers instead of sourcing out.

First time we used O'Connor & Associates and are very happy with their services. Quick and easy to supply the information they needed and they saved us almost $700. I wish they offered a discount for those with a Veterans exemption the way they do with over-65 exemptions but that's just a small quibble...

We have been with O'Connor & Associates for at least 5 years and they have been able to lower my tax value all but 1of the years. I would definitely recommend - Great service!

Not only I am disappointed with assessment price but what I am shocked about is that on my own I was able to get lower assessment price for my house in initial hearing but I disagreed and hire O'Connor services and I was kept asking about agent who will represent me in ARB hearing but Support team always said they are not aware of agent. At last I got bill to pay with 6k more assessment value to what I was offered. Lesson Learned.

There should be an option for NO stars! This company is a complete joke. Do not waste your time or energy. The first year, they literally forgot to do our tax protest. On both properties we own! I should've known then... So this year as a favor to us for screwing up so badly last year, they were supposed to do it for free so we allowed them to try again. I spent as much time sending them photos of the property and filling out paperwork for them to bring in to the hearing as I would have if I had done it myself from half way around the country.

I've been able to bring our taxes down thousands of dollars before, and this year- drumroll please- a whopping $128! On just one house. This company is not worth the trouble. My dog would have done a better job handling this. Abysmal- you should be ashamed of yourselves.

We can always rely on O'Connor & Associates to do a great job for us!!

Very nice company and good service. Nothing to lose. I recommend to everyone. They do the work that we do not have time to go to protest, you only pay 50% of what you save, if you do not save anything you do not pay anything.

I have used O'Connor & Associates for years and have never had a problem. I depend on them every year to fight for me and they have never let down. I really appreciate them looking out for me and helping me reduce my taxes.

I used them in the past and did not get good results. They do not give you updates on the status of your protest. I still considered giving them another try and read the reviews here. Look at them carefully. Most, probably all, of positive reviews are fake. If you see other reviews left by these accounts, those are for businesses in multiple states and sometimes multiple counties. And these fake accounts have nothing but positive reviews.

They make it easy to protest the value of my property which lowers my property taxes.

They are very professional and work to do their best for you
.

They are terrible; they did not follow up; they missed the rescheduled hearing date; they lied about the reason. I am left with no results.
Worthless !

Saved me $200 & lowered my property value by 8K, felt I could've done better myself.
And good luck getting their service stopped. Indian cust service lady said to just send them an email to which they replied that for an update on my status to call cust service so round & round we go.
My biggest gripe is the scam they're pulling on seniors. The pdf invoice comes via email, no paper bill. They are charging everyone 50% of what they save you. So you'd pay it unless you read the fine print which I've attached here below.
In very fine print, it says if have an over 65 exemption you should ONLY be charged 25%.
So they're charging seniors at 50% rate hoping they can't/don't see well enough and pay DOUBLE for their services. Sorry folks, that's a scam!!!
"Should this invoice be for a Residential Homestead Property with an over-65 exemption, you may be entitled to an adjustment. If your contingency fee as stated above is NOT already 25%, contact our Customer Service Department."

They missed the court dates, dont take the data I give them. Definitely not efficient, not using this company again. My neighbor who has the same exact house and space went to appeal his personally and got his lower by 20,000 than what mine is appraised.

Very convenient and hassle free appraisal protest, year after year.

They have been able to save me on taxes without the hassle of having to do this myself.

I have used O'Connor & Associates for years with excellent results. I think the automatic annual protest really helps keep the assessments down over time. I highly recommend this service.

WOW! O'Connor got an incredible reduction in my property taxes and they did all the work. All I had to do was call and ask them to reduce my taxes. And they were easy to work with and responsive.

Unlike some of the other reviewers, I actually READ the contract with this company, and I actually CHOSE to appoint this company in 2009, as our agent indefinitely for properties in Harris and Montgomery counties. They have always done a great job for us.