H&R Block

Working with H&R block has been a nightmare — I went to the Jersey City office to file my tax returns. The tax consultant took all my information but the return was not filed — I received a notice from IRS after 9 months stating that my return has not been filed and I had to incur penalties of 1200 dollars.
After numerous phone calls, visits to the office they agreed it was their fault and i was assigned a legal representative who filed a claim for me — this was in July of last year. I have yet to get my penalty refunded back — Further the 300 dollars I spent for filing my return was also not returned.
I called up the H&R block customer services 2,3 times and every time they say either this is still being processed or now they are saying they have escalated this —
Extremely frustrated with this — If I could assign negative starts, I would have done so — since then I have been telling all my colleagues never to use H&R block.

My husband and I had sort of a bizarre experience here and opted not to go forward. We arrived at the appointment on time, but no one was at the front desk and the place seemed deserted. It was also a little shabby, with dirty carpet in the front window and a number of advertising materials stacked haphazardly against the walls. After a few minutes, a woman walked out with a couple, saw us, and ignored us. It wasn’t clear to me whether she was an employee or not: she wasn’t really dressed professionally and did not greet us. After a few more minutes, the couple left and the woman walked to the front desk; turned out she was an employee because she asked whether we had an appointment, and found my name listed. She did not introduce herself nor ask my husband’s name, just walked to the back and asked us to follow her.
We sat down in her cubicle and she just kind of stared at us for a few moments. Still no introduction. «Okay, so tell me your story.» We told her we’d just gotten married this year and needed to file taxes, but not sure whether joint or separate was better. She asked for our documents, which we provided. My husband’s W-​2 was a screenshot from his work computer because his work printer wasn’t working. She made lots of faces and disapproving noises about this, even though the information was legible and he told her he could get a better printout on Monday. She then started barreling into a discussion of tax brackets without actually going over what our options were for tax preparation services, how much anything would cost, etc.
I finally stopped her and asked for a rundown of the process and how much it would cost. Between my husband’s 1040-​EZ and my 1040, with one W-​2 each and no itemized deductions, she said the cost would be «starting at about $ 350.» At that point we said no thank you and left.
Between the messy appearance of the location, and the awkward lack of introduction and total failure to explain the process and the cost or put us at ease, I did not trust this company with my personal information or tax preparation. Who knows– maybe Unnamed Mystery Woman would have done an awesome job on our taxes. But I was too put off by the unprofessionalism to stick around and find out.

I tried this location for the second year in a row. I was just as satisfied as I was last year. Lily was my tax preparer this time and she was great. She was very genuine and helpful. Lily was meticulous with details and went above and beyond to make sure my taxes were accurately filed, while providing me with the best benefits.

While I was fairly comfortable with the Federal side, the NJ State was a mystery. Chose this office (close to apartment) & was treated very well; Staff were all very helpful & accommodating.
Down Side: My Federal 1040 was submitted with a huge error & instead of a 4-​figure refund, I paid an almost 5-​figure bill to Uncle Sam. Had the error been fixed, I would have owed Zero.

I’ve been to a couple other places in the past, they stated they could save me so much money, but some practices weren’t legal and after April they weren’t available.
But all of that changed 8 years ago after I met Lilly at H&R block. She’s been working at the Newark Ave office for almost 20 years. She loves being a tax preparer and she cares about the customers. She got me $ 900 more than me using turbo tax and is licensed incase I get audited by the IRS. But since meeting her I can say I feel like I’m in heaven. She’s a true great hearted person and now I know why she’s been there so long. She’s honest, loving, caring and perfect. Thank you H&R Block for having someone like Lilly I’d be lost without her!

Note: I haven’t actually been here (this review will most likely explain why)!
I had a tax prep appt scheduled for tomorrow evening (which I have to leave work early for and commute 1.5 hrs to make), so this afternoon I called hoping to receive an estimate of how much this service should cost me. I have done my taxes myself in the past or had them done by family/​friends for free, so I really had no clue what I should expect to spend. The person who answered the phone was extremely rude and said they don’t give prices out over the phone, come into the store. I explained that I was just looking for a ballpark, and it wasn’t possible for me to «just come in», I work in Manhattan. She then raised her voice and repeated that she wasn’t going to give me an idea of price. When I asked why she was yelling at me, she lied and said there was a bad connection and couldn’t hear me and hung up. I called back and got her again, and asked why she just hung up on me. She said she couldn’t hear me talking. This is a lie, I could hear her perfectly and there was no background noise to speak of. I asked her name and she was silent for a good 20 – 30 seconds. I said Hello? and she again pretended she didn’t hear the question. I repeated myself and she mumbled «Shawna» I believe (she clearly did not want me to hear her). I asked to speak to a manager and she said hold on and immediately hung up on me. I know the difference between being put on hold and hung up on. So I called back a 3^rd time, and «Shawna»? answered again. I asked her AGAIN why she kept hanging up, and she said she had a bad connection, and then proceeded to tack on a new lie and say I was screaming at her. I wasn’t, but even if I was, you don’t hang up on customers. I asked for the manager again and she said no one was there right now. So I asked for the manager’s name and after pretending she couldn’t hear me for about a minute, she said Simone. However, she could not tell me when Simone was expected back at the office, her last name, or a direct number to reach her at. Completely frustrating.
If there really is a Simone, I want you to know «Shawna» is a horrible representative of your company. She is rude and has no customer service skills. She should not be answering your phones, because she’s causing you to lose business (me, for one). GET RID OF HER!

Maria Flores is INCREDIBLE!
I’ve been searching for a new Tax Person since my last one is no longer in the business and let alone in the state so finding a new one was a bit difficult and after a recommendation from a friend could not take me on due to them being over-​extended I decided to use Unilocal and found this location and Maria Flores.
Taxes are always difficult for those of us who are self-​employed, the paper work can be incredibly difficult but Maria made the process exceedingly easy, leading me by hand and explaining all the details, which I must admit has always been really foreign to me and what I expected to be a several week process, literally took several hours.
In the end, I walked away with a great return.
And that is what is most important.
I could not be happier.
I absolutely recommend Maria.

When I am in a good mood I like to come here to reverse my state of mind.
Feeling cheeful and dont like it? Come to H&R Block.
Had a great morning and tired of smiling? Come to H& R Block.
Got too much money in your account and need to quickly change that? Venture on down to the olé H&R.
Like they say: You are guaranteed 2 things in life, DEATH and TAXES.
At least the employees here try to make one of those experiences as painless as possible. Sort of like hospice for your funds.

2 countries, 3 states, 2 nationalities, 1 new marriage and time for taxes. EEP! We worked with William L. here and he was just excellent. I’ve had my taxes «done» for me in the past and paid a lot more for far far less service. We were asked good questions, had things explained to us in plain terms when we had questions, and basically just were given great service and a stress-​free tax season. Did it cost? Yes. Did it cost more than other places? Nope. Less. Far less. For the amount of work done and the guarantee given, we were happy to pay the fee. AND we’ll be getting about double back what we had anticipated. DOUBLE. Woohoo!

My tax accountant Tereza hit the nail on the head: «You waited so long to come in because you knew you owed, didn’t you? Next time, don’t wait so long!»
Yes, I was holding out until the very last moment this morning. Last year I owed more than a grand to federal which explains my reluctance to come in. So, why do I keep coming into H&R Block? I had my doubts this year because I know how expensive they are. However, working with Tereza this morning made me realize why I keep going.
1. The hefty price tag is a lot. Like Giselle says, it’s not cheap if you need to file anything else besides the basic 1040 ez. For me, it’s worth the money to me to pay the fee and the $ 35.00 «Piece of Mind» service (It puts H&R Block at fault if they mess up with your paperwork) they have though, because it saves me the stress of sifting through my files, receipts and number crunching by myself and if they make a mistake, it’s their fault, not mine.
2. H&R Block seems to get more efficient every year. This year they introduced electronic signatures, so I didn’t have the experience of my accountant walking to the printer every 10 minutes to give me a stack of a million papers to sign this year. I also don’t have to send anything in the mail this year, so for once everything is officially done when I walked out the door. Also, if you file every year with H&R Block, they have your information saved. They were able to pull up my information from last year when I lived in Rhode Island and it’s nice to see comparisons from last year.
3. Working with Tereza was great. She noticed some errors with my tax claims that no one has bothered to point out to me until now. She was relaxed and gave me ample time to calculate my deductions, and gave great advice on what would be in my best interest.
It was a good experience, and this year I’m actually getting money back! Thanks Tereza and H&R Block, I will be seeing you again next year.

I, like every other tax payer, needed to get them done before April 15^th and decided that doing them myself like I had done before was not worth the hassle and mind numbing torture.
I won’t lie, it’s not cheap if you have to file anything other than a 1040 ez. Seriously, NOT CHEAP. And they charge for everything.Everything. $ 36 dollars for their emerald card that allows you to use a debit card for your refund. Really? $ 50 if they receive it for you. Huh? The only cheap option is direct deposit but if you don’t have a bank account its mighty expensive.
So why use them?
Well if you luck out like I did you get someone like with Ms. Thereza who has been doing taxes for over 20 years and made the entire process easy peazy. Fast and efficient and hassle free.
You leave your paperwork and then come in and sign on the dotted line.
Ok, I’ll pay through the nose for that.