June 2019 by Julie L.
I will give zero star if I have the option. 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; they made a mistake regarding my tax returns; and they did not fix the mistake on time. If you are an honest individual tax payer, looking for a tax professional who can provide reliable assistance in this office, I'd highly recommend you to walk away and give you money to someone who is truly reputable, co-operative and professional. Here is my experience-- I found this place when I searched "H&R Block" nearby. For some reason this place shows 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 and explained the reason, and was assured that the tax return would be prepared by then. Surprised that 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 still owe them tax. The letter also shows I was charged extra interest and penalties. I contaced Savignano immediately and asked them to check my tax return. Susan Kesser 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 Revnue at the state level. 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 afteroon. 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'd be very stupid if I relied 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. I paid what Savignano asked for and they definately failed to deliver what I asked for. I walked in their office to get a stree-free/hassle-free experience, rather than the embarassment and hassle to pay the tax I owed. 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 (i.e. my penalty and accrued interest). If all these corrective steps have been taken by someone in Savignano, I would not be this dissatasfied. Savignano is still waiting for me to sign the POA but to be honest, I just want to pay off my owed tax and NEVER, EVER, deal with them anymore. I expect them to refund me part of my payment for the deficient service they provided, but highly doubt they would do so because after all, I have not heard a "sorry" so far...I wish they could at least apologize for their mistake, you know, just as a basic courtesy.
