
Lee of Dallas, TX on Oct. 29, 2001
In a radio commercial on a Christian station, Tax Ready guaranteed that they will find $3000 worth of new deductions in your taxes. They also stated that they would send a copy of their book on how to pay less taxes to the first X number of callers (just for a small shipping charge).
On 5/30/01 I called the company in response to their advertising. They agreed to send the book and noted my credit card information so that they could cover the nominal shipping charge. At the time I authorized them to deduct $995 from this card so that I could review their service. On 6/27/01 I wrote to cancel my service. On 9/10/01 I called since my credit card had not been recredited. I was informed that it would be recredited within 60 days of 7/17/01.
On 10/4/01, still no refund had been made so I left a message. No return call was made so I called again on 10/5/01 and spoke to a rep named Aaron. I asked why Tax Ready had defaulted on a promise to pay me. Aaron informed me that Tax Ready had no obligation to pay anyone back before 90 days. However I would be placed on a "priority refund list" and my case would be "brought to the attention of top management". I would be getting a call "within three Fridays".
I asked Aaron who would be paying the interest charges for the outstanding time that they had my money. He responded that I should "look at this logically" and that if I had paid the $995 in full when my credit card bill first came in, I would have no interest charges! I asked the receptionist for the name of the customer service manager and she gave me the name of James C. I wrote him a letter outlining my concerns on 10/5/01. I called again on 10/19/01 since neither a refund nor reply had been received. A rep named Mark said he would look into this matter and call me right back. No call was ever received despite providing three numbers to them.
On 10/29/01 I called four times and each time was disconnected by the receptionist. On my first effort I asked her to put me through to James C to which she replield that there was nobody of that name working there. On my 5th attempt, I ended up speaking with the rep named Aaron again. I asked him why I hadn't received my call "within three Fridays". He mentioned that the refund department had to skip two weeks of refunds but he didn't know why. However he mentioned that he had seen a list somewhere with my name on it so I should be getting a call soon.
Tax Ready has fundamentally reneged on a number of promises: 1. Promise to refund within 60 days 2. Promise to refund within 90 days 3. Promise to call within a certain time frame 4. Promise to call back 5. Promise to send merchandise (still not received) It is now 104 days beyond 7/17/01. Tax Ready said they would firstly refund within 60 days of this date, then 90. Now they are just saying "soon".
I am very busy during the day and this ridiculous saga has consumed a sizeable portion of my time.
Lee had 60 days to dispute the ridiculously high charge with his credit card company. Instead he played telephone tag and got nowhere. At this point, there's not much he can do except complain to the Federal Trade Commission and the state consumer protection officials in Texas and Nevada.