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We get all kinds of consumer complaints posted to our franchise discussions. Here’s on posted to our Is LIBERTY TAX SERVICE a Great Franchise?.
What do you think? Should Liberty Tax Service refund the woman’s fees for not honoring their hours and calling her a crackhead?
Or should the customer focus on her bigger problems – like the fact that she started looking for a tax preparer at 5 pm on April 15th?
All you need is cash! wrote:
It all started for me on April 15, 2009. I had gotten off work late (5:00 pm) and needed to get my taxes done before the midnight deadline time. While looking for an open tax office, most of them were closed. I started towards my house and thats when I seen a person dressed in a liberty statue costume.
I went into the office and was very pleased with my tax preparer. It didn’t take him long and he gave me a return time of eight to ten days. He also stated he seen them come back in as little as eight days. This was a relief for me because i owned on a debt and now I could call them and give the date I would pay it. This is where the horror story begins.
On Saturday, April 23,2009 I received a call from the office owner Debra M. to come to the office and pick up my check. I asked her when will your office close today, she said 1:00pm. I only lived a few blocks away. I arrived there at exactly 12:45pm. There were people standing in front of the office very angry about the office being closed when they got there at 12:15pm. The women called customers to come and pick up there check and then she left.
To make a long story short, she did not not get there until Monday at 5:00pm. Her office hours posted on the door stated Monday through Thursday 9:00am until 1:00pm and Friday by appointments.
This office manager never honored her store hours. When I finally pick up myhe check it was Monday after 5pm. She acted if nothing never happened and she never apologized for her unfair business issue. I was not able to meet my very severe financial obligation. they sent my check to collection on that Saturday April 23, 2009. I called to inform Ms.Debra M. what happened and that she needs to refund my filing fees back. She told me she wasn’t going to do that and she is not responsible for me not meeting my deadline.
I called and got corporate involved on April 23, so they were aware of what was going on.They sent her a email to explain what happened and in the email it also stated not to call the customer back but someone over her should return the call. She took it upon herself to call me anyway. During the conversation she started yelling and telling me how she wasn’t going to do anything and I could get any lawyer I wanted to. She also went as far as to say, her exact quote “YOU MUST BE A CRACK HEAD B$%&@ FOR WANTING YOUR FEES BACK.”
I was done talking to her and informed her I done with this conversation and she didn’t adhere to her office hours that i’m very displeased with her level of professionalism and poor business practice. So I disconnected the phone and put another complaint about this women that ONLY NEEDED CASH and no business code of ethics. This is a ongoing issue with Liberty Tax Service poor customer service. I want my filing fees and Im not going away, not that easy.
Signing off Customer Service Representative promoted to Team lead then to a Supervisor for 26 years.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.
Photo credit: January 25, 2009 by Brent and MariLynn Taken in Smyrna, TN License: Creative Commons
326 days ago
Ok, a couple things stood out in this post that I have to reply to. It appears everthing was done great all the way up to the point of picking up your check on Saturday.
First of all the office manager is not the cause of your collection from what I see. We have all been there before, at least most of us, and we are down to the last second to pay and if everything lines up correctly and everything in the universe is alligned we will be able to pay a bill. If the post man failed to deliver your check that day would he be responisble and would you want to sue the post office? Yes you should of got your check that Saturday from the way it sounds but if you would of filed 2 weeks earlier you also would have gotten the bill paid. If it was such a crisis and you were getting a refund why didnt you file earlier? Then the bill would of been paid in plenty of time and there would of been no collection. So I do not see where the tax office is to blame for your collection. You have to be willing to take responsiblity for your actions and realize that if you would of acted in a timely manner you would not be in collection.
Now if the office said they were going to be open and wasn’t then there is a problem. It sounds as if there is a customer service issue and I see every reason for you to be displeased about that. Now, when there is a customer service issue I think the first thing we need to remember is calling a company that has wronged you and berating them usualy is not a good way to get what you want. I can only guess but it appears that some things were said by you before the manager told you to “call any lawyer you want”. I could be off base a little but that comment would make it appear you threatened legal action when you called. If so, that is a huge lesson to be learned. I am a business owner and as soon as someone threatens legal action I shut down and tell them that the conversation has ended and that our attourneys can now speak because we no longer have anything to talk about.
Never threaten a lawsuit unless your serious because it does no good. Business owners hear that so many times and it does not scare them and you are not doing yourself any favors as a consumer.
Lastly this was the office manager who was rude to you and if I was in your shoes I would of politley ended this conversation with her and attempted to contact the owner. Once again if your plan is to call and berate people and expect them to give you what you desire then you will most always be dissappointed. If I am upset at a company and I want some action I go by this simple rule. If what I want is action then I give them every opportunity to give me what I want by being professional. If I want someones head and I am just mad and want to “go off”, I realize that I probably won’t get anything except the peace of mind of “going off” and letting them know how I felt.
Yes there is a huge customer service problem with what happened to you but its just that a customer service issue. I think there is just as big of a problem of a customer trying to blame items that were not the companies fault on them in an attempt to make the story look better and more in the customers favor. Also at the end you talk about ongoing poor customer service at Liberty Tax which confuses me a little. You said the taxes and the preparer were great?
There is no doubt there was bad customer service that took place here. I also think the situation was handled incorrectly by both parties.
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324 days ago
[...] the post LIBERTY TAX Service Complaint, all you need is cash! complained that when she went to her Liberty Tax Service after receiving a [...]
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316 days ago
Well, Liberty Tax locations everywhere are very unprofessional and suffer stupidity and very poor management. It’s all about “we do NOT do $100 tax returns!” just about making money not only from the poor folks who come in as customers but MAINLY by standing on the backs of their employees who have survived their “tax schools.” Clearly Liberty has these rules for those who wish to purchase a franchise: 1. be in possession of $49,000 and 2. MOST IMPORTANTLY be in possession of less than 4 brain cells to rub together. GO ANYWHERE ELSE – Prepare your own taxes EASILY and ACCURATELY – go to IRS.gov and choose one of their FREE tax prep programs – YOU WILL BE SORRY IF YOU GO TO LIBERTY…
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233 days ago
here is a tip. you can find out who owns the office (if you haven’t had any luck) by going to the IRS website and finding the link for “where to efile” that will give you all places in your area where you can file with the owners name and phone number because they have to register with the IRS
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