Rapid Tax, Inc.

I used this company to get my refund last year. I needed some cash in a pinch to pay some moving expenses so I figured I will sacrifice what would be about $150 of the refund in order to get it in 2-3 days vs. 2-3 weeks as the company promised. I waited 2,3,4,5 days for nothing. There was no communication, no deposit. I called and there was no answer. I emailed and got a response saying that IRS indicated that there might be some problems with owed taxes and that rapid deposit service, for which I paid, was not going to happen! I called IRS directly and they informed me that there appeared to be no problems with my return, as there should not have been by all means, and that there really isn't an indicator available that early to say that there might be.

I emailed the company again but all they said was that their bank was unable to approve the "loan" prior to deposit and that I'm out of luck. Lo and behold, 2 and a half weeks later, I get the full refund deposited to my account by IRS, minus the "fee" Rapid Tax charged me of about $150. So basically I got my full refund by IRS without any problems in the same amount of time I would have gotten it by e-filing 1040EZ for free, but minus the bogus "fees" this service charged me for filing. When I emailed to complain (emails are answered through a "no reply" email address and cannot be followed up so every time you have to re-explain everything) I was told that because I did not get the loan, they waived some processing fee of like $25 or so. It's absolutely ridiculous! If you did not provide service you promised you should not charge someone for it. I would not recommend this service to anyone! It's absolute scam!

For the first time, I decided to use an online tax preparation service. I chose rapidtax.com because I would be able to get a refund in 1 or 2 days. Their system is supposed to provide you with an update at several stages of your submission of your filing. Their site lets you log in and see which stage your refund is at, from being submitted to either acceptance or rejection by the IRS. I filed nearly 30 hours ago and the site never updated my status. It has been saying processing since yesterday morning.

I called the IRS and found out that there was an error in my filing so I had to re-submit. Rapid tax never informed me, so I called their 800 number. For the first hour I tried to get through, the line would ring once and then hang up. After finally getting through and waiting on hold for 30 minutes, I got a person. There was a 20 second lag in their system, so it was impossible for me to communicate with the girl on the other end. Every time I spoke she would have to wait to hear what I was saying and vice-versa. Finally, she was able to understand that I needed her to reset my forms so I could correct the error. After I submitted my corrections, I sent them an email via their live chat. That was 8 hours ago and I have sent several messages since. I have not received a response.

I have been calling the 800 number for hours, it rings once and goes to a busy signal. I am expecting a large return and I am afraid that this is a scam. I am very worried that I will not see my money form my tax refund.

I filed my taxes through Rapidtax.com and my return was accepted by IRS as a valid return. I was supposed to get my money from Santa Barbara Trust and they are holding up the money because their might be errors. This is a scam and why is it that Rapid Tax already has efiled my return, they have accepted my return and now they are holding up my money.

I searched the web for a company where I could e-file my taxes on-line and then apply for a rapid refund, 1-2 days. I needed to pay tuition by a deadline and wanted to use the refund money for that purpose. Everything went through fine, but the bank used by RapidTax.com denied the request for a rapid 1-2 day refund based on personal information given. I assume that means my credit wasn't good enough for a loan, but there are hundreds of other places I could have applied who don't check credit at all for this purpose. Needless to say, they're still deducting fees--at this point for doing nothing--AND now they tell me I must wait 1-2 business days AFTER they receive my refund from the IRS (on the date I would've received it direct from the IRS had I never used this service).

So not only am I out some money for fees, they've delayed my refund by a week-and-a-half from when I needed it. I've complained on their website about it, even asked someone to call me and gave my phone number and e-mail address, and they never responded. Please, please, please do not use Rapidtax.com if you really need your tax refund right away!

I had to delay paying tuition.

E filed my taxes. I got to the agreement part but couldn't back out of the program so I proceeded. Now I am terrified that this contract is legally binding without a signature and I've lost my tax return. They have all my info. I want out of this contract yet they provide no phone numbers and response on their online service.They don't tell you it is a loan and there are additional fees until it's too late. Furthermore the contract states they have the right to pursue as a debt collector even if the law states they can't go after you. Is this legal?

It's 3am and I can't sleep. Tomorrow I will cancel my bank account so they can't provide me with a loan I didn't want. Hopefully I can contact the IRS and have the check sent directly to me instead of them.

I visited www.rapidrefund.net, and using their refund options I selected the 1-2 business day option for $200. After I filed, the 1-2 changed to 1-2 days after the IRS approval. This upset me because the whole idea of a LOAN is they give you the money right away, and then they get the refund after the whole IRS approval deal. It upset me that they didn't put this on their main page, but it was better that what came to follow. I waited; 8 days later the IRS approved it. So I waited another 2 business days with nothing. I emailed them 3 times and left 3 messages with tech support online. I waited on live chat for 30 minutes, and no one showed up.

It's been 14 days since I filed and I haven't received my refund. Rapidrefund.net lies. And now I have to pay $200 for a refund that I haven't even been given when I could have already paid my bills on time had I filed with the IRS free online refund.

I learned the hard way so I warn you, dont use http://www.rapidrefund.net/ or any of their affiliates: Rapid Filing Services, LLC. 6929 Queens Blvd Suite 2 Woodside, NY 11377 www.rapidtax.com www.priortax.com www.rapidrefund.net www.rapidtaxrefund.com www.taxpack.com

Obviously everyone says don't rely on your refund, but when someone says 1-2 business days in big bold letters, 5 times, and I pay $200 I EXPECT IT IN 2 DAYS!

lot of problems with the preparer.

Not sure yet.... I should find out this month. I'm guessing I owe in the $20,000.00 range with interest and penalties.

On April 12th, I filed an extension of my 2006 taxes w/ Rapid Tax on their web site. They took my money, and sent me an email telling me to periodically check back on their web site, to see the status of the filing, but the link they sent in that email didn't work. So, I emailed them that the link was no good, and they sent me another link the following day. I logged in and saw that it showed the extension had been transmitted. However, I was not able to get online using that link ever again. I emailed them again yesterday, asking if they could give me a status. I received the following response today (April 24th):

Hello Pam, I regret to inform you, the extension did not process when you submitted due to technical issues we were experencing due to heavy traffic on the website. We have refunded your credit $12.95 although it may take a few days to post towards your account. To accommodate this inconvenience, we can still offer you a $8.95 discount on your 2006 Tax Return if you decide to file with us at www.rapidtax.com . You can use the same username and password to submit this return. Thank you for choosing RapidTax,

I AM FURIOUS, because they have caused me a delay filing my tax extension, AND if I hadn't contacted them, I don't think they were going to even notify me that it hadn't gone through. The email apology I got is not acceptable or adequate! I don't know what problem I'll have with the IRS now that my extension didn't get filed, but I'm sure there will be a penalty involved. I think Rapid Tax was negligent and I would not suggest anyone do business with a company that, in my opinion, is so flagrantly inept. I will be contacting my attorney to see if I have any recourse. Rapid Tax, to me, is useless.

The company responds:

After being in business over 10 years and having prepared over 40,000 tax returns, I am sure that one or two people are going to be disgruntled. Nobody can please everybody. But we will try. We do deal in a complicated service industry where financial matters are not understood by everybody.

If we have made a mistake, it is our company policy to fix it for "No Charge". Please have the customer contact us at (210) 657-0000.

San Antonio, TX 78218

Preparer cost $118. Lost (unclaimed refund money - didn't use deductions) $200. Will try and do an amendment cost approx. $50. TOTAL ESTIMATED ECONOMIC DAMAGE $368.00