H & R Block - Mercersburg, PA. 17236

H & R Block - Mercersburg, PA. 17236

March 6, 2006

I decided to file my Federal taxes with H & R Block this year (2006) in order to get a rapid refund. I went to their local branch on February 3rd, 2006. I dropped off the paperwork, and told them I wanted to file "Rapid Refund". I was told that it would be a week or more before they could get to them, but they said "leave the paperwork, and as soon as we can, we'll do it and give you a call. On February 9th they called me, and I came into the office to sign everything. I was to get $465 back. The fee was to be $75 for the paperwork preparation and $29 if I wanted direct deposit of the refund, the amount of the refund would be about $360. I told them that I did not want to have the funds direct deposited, just have the check sent to the office and I would pick it up. By March the 3rd I had not heard anything from them. I went on-line to IRS.gov and looked up the status of my refund. It said that the funds had been direct deposited on February 24th, and that the amount deposited was only $70. I did some quick math, and realized that the IRS had withheld an amount that I had previously owed, and that the net remainder was $70. I immediately called the Block office and spoke with the manager. I explained to him that it had been over a month since I filled for a "Rapid Refund", and had not heard anything from them, and that the IRS says my refund had already been "deposited". I told him that I had never provided a routing number for any deposit, so how did they direct deposit it, and where was my money? He said that by "deposited", that meant it had been deposited in THEIR account, and that I was responsible for the fee ($29), and that rather than receiving a refund of $70, I actually owed THEM $45! I told him that first of all, I was verbally told by two of the preparers that had worked on my taxes, that since it had taken soooo long for them to do my paperwork (was just a standard return), that there would ONLY be a $25 charge for everything. I told this to the manager, and he basically called me a liar, since he "knows" his employees would never have told me that. My wife and I had BOTH heard the same thing from both preparers! I asked him how he could possibly be charging me $75 for a "Rapid Refund" also, when it took over a month to get a resolution from the IRS, and then had never bothered to call me? This is HARDLY RAPID!!! He got very nasty with me, and said "Sir, we WILL bill you for this $45, and you WILL pay it. You are wrong and WE are right". I told him that I would NEVER, EVER do business with ANY H & R Block office again, if this is any example of how screwed up an organization can be!!!!!!! Sincerely, Fred

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