3 years ago
TLTR: The whole process of dealing with the tax pr...
TLTR: The whole process of dealing with the tax preparers in Savignano is a nightmare: they did not have an upfront and transparent pricing; they were late in giving us our tax return draft despite we had agreed on a due date; they made mistake when filing my tax return which caused a state Department of Revenue to come after me for the underpaid taxes; and they did not fix the mistake in a timely manner. If you looking for a tax professional who can do your tax returns right , I'd highly recommend you walk away from them and find someone who is capable and professional.
Here is my experience--
I found this place when I searched "H&R Block" nearby. For some reason this place showed up and I assume Savignano is affiliated with H&R Block in some way. I brought all the documents with me and came into the office to do a "consultation." The whole consultation was very short and basically what they did was to scan all the documents i brought. I specifically told them when I wanted my tax return to be done by a certain date and explained the reason, and was assured that the tax return would be prepared by then.
Surprisingly, the pricing issue was never brought up in the consultation, I asked Luciana how much we would be charged the was told we "would know AFTER the tax return was prepared."
I did not received my tax return by the date that was promised. But I paid in full, thinking at least I was done with the headache of tax filling. But I was WRONG.
In May, I got a letter from a state Department of Revenue, saying I UNDERPAIDmy taxes. The letter also showed I was charged extra interest and penalties. ??!!
Feeling embarrassed and concerned, I contaced Savignano immediately and asked them to check my tax return. Susan Kessler told me they would take a look at the letter I received and get back to me soon. She also suggested me to let them handle the letter, rather than calling the Department of Revenue. I called her on a Wednesday, and I heard nothing from her on Thursday. I emailed Susan again on Thursday night to ask for an update, but no response was received. I emailed on more time on Saturday, saying a response by Monday afternoon was expected because the more I waited, the more interest will accrue. Still, I got NO response at all until...next Tuesday afternoon. Finally, someone (not Susan) emailed me and asked me to sign a Power of Attorney (POA) to authorize them to talk to the state Department of Revenue on mybehalf. SERIOUSLY? They messed up with my tax return but finally decided to fix the problem 6 days after I contacted them? And they spelled my name wrong on the POA form....
I figured it would be very stupid of me if I continued to count on them to fix the mistake. I called the state Department of Revenue, and was told that their notes indicated my tax preparer mistakenly put a WRONG DEDUCTION NUMBER in the form they filed for me. WOW. Glad I called the Department of Revenue and the first thing I did after that was to pay off my owed tax.
Savignano definitely failed to deliver a competent service. With that said, I understand mistakes are inavoidable because tax prepares have to deal with many numbers and forms in their work. An honest mistake can be cured with quick response in solving the problem and good faith attempt to minimize a customer's loss. If all these corrective steps have been taken by someone in Savignano, I would not be this dissatisfied. On top of everything--during the whole process of contacting them to solve their mistake, no apologies were ever made to me.