H&R Block

Had an awesome experience with one of the Employees at the Wilshire Location he was informative, pleasant, and created a seamless enjoyable experience. If you are ever in need of a Tax Specialist be sure to stop by 2930 wilshire office and request to be helped by Elwood Matthews he’s the Manager of this location. This guy is an expert!

How do I begin…
LOVE LOVE this office, Ruben Hernandez has been doing my taxes for years, I would NEVER go any whwre else.

Great service. Very efficent and fast. They know there stuff. Highly recommend coming to this location.

OMG I don’t know where to start, this office is so friendly and super professional. People at this location are pretty much up beat, the Supervisor knows her law and ethics about Taxes. I would highly recommend people to get serviced here. You can’t go wrong, these people would get you the maximum refund. Plus I didn’t have to wait, I got serviced real quick. A+++

I had an excellent experience with H&R Block on 2930 Wilshire Blvd in Santa Monica last night! They were available to help me right away. Elwood Matthews III and John Wilson were both professional, helpful and friendly. My tax return process was completed quickly and efficiently and I was out the door (with a chunk of my tax dollars returned to me!) within an hour. The price to have them handle my taxes was very reasonable as well. I will definitely be passing along a recommendation to my friends and family that this location should be their tax filing place… before April 15^th of course! A big thank you to Elwood, John and to Sumi as well!

DO NOT GO TO H&R BLOCK. I’ve been paying taxes every year, on time, without fail. I am a nice person! I do not deserve the treatment I have received since I used H&R Block by the IRS. Up until this past year I’ve used private, independent tax professionals. I have never used a big organization like H&R Block, until I ran out of time and wasn’t able to schedule with my private, independent tax professional. In a pinch, I went the day before the tax deadline of April 15^th, to the Santa Monica H&R Block. I brought past tax returns. I showed them and explained my rather simple life, my lack of a complicated tax return. The lady prepared my return and despite the annoyingly high fee, I left, feeling fine. But then I was contacted by the IRS a couple months later. I’m 41 years old and have literally NEVER been contacted by the IRS. They wanted $ 20 more. Ok, I paid it. Then I was contacted again, they wanted $ 20 plus late fees. But I paid it! I called the IRS (yikes — not an easy phone call!!), they said it takes a while to process payment, so I paid the $ 20 again, just in case. Then, today, it’s now September, I received a packet in the mail from the IRS. It’s an audit. I owe almost $ 2,000. It is SCARY to get a packet from the IRS. I’m in tears. But I had to post this because I wish someone else had — please please don’t use H&R Block. It’s a nightmare. I’m so sad. I’m a good person. I do everything one ought to do. I don’t deserve this stress. I’m so upset. It’s sad and scary and now I’m afraid that even if I pay that insane amount of money (that I do NOT owe), it won’t matter because now on the radar and the IRS is going to be watching me for the rest of my life. I’m seriously devastated and I’ve never written a negative review on Unilocal until now. Please be careful — it’s not worth it — go to an independent professional. Please!!! I’m so so so sorry I didn’t. How this can end up being such a huge mistake of my life is shocking to me, but it is. :-(
I only give one star because I have to give a star I order to post this review.

Worst $ 400 i’ve ever wasted.

Called to confirm my appointment today. Guy that answered the phone was a total D bag. Not stepping foot in this place.

Worst service I have ever received. I was in the hospital, so a family member took in my information to have them file for me, and explained my situation. She said that someone from H&R block would be calling me in a day or so to get any other information they needed. They did not call for weeks. And I had to call several times in between. They didn’t get anything done on time, and definitely not worth what I had to pay. Worst customer service I have ever experienced.

Granted the albino wook with the cornrows up front covered in Peanut Butter and Jelly while watching Fast and Furious on the work computer was a tad obnoxious, the guy I sit with (Skip is his name I think) is smart, knows his stuff and can take care of my complex tax situation with great ease. Far superior to the location on Lincoln in Venice, I see myself coming back here for many years to come.

I’ve been going to this H&R Block for years to do my mom’s taxes (she’s out of country and retired, but has an extremely challenging tax situation), and though I never thought I’d write a positive Unilocal review (I don’t write many) for tax services, it’s been so great working w/​Elizabeth and her team that I needed to repay her kindness/​awesomeness beyond their (extremely reasonable) fees by trying to spread the word.
I swear, they did not ask for this. This is long overdue.
What makes Elizabeth great?
Her care, attention — each year I saw her around tax season she could remember my situation, my mom’s situation, and we picked right back where we left off the year before. I don’t know how she does it. She’s either got superhuman memory or is extremely organized and prepared when seeing her clients, either of which would make her great at this occupation.
She also has a wealth of knowledge and experience in a range of tax situations. I know this from experience as my mom’s compiled so many edge cases (e.g., living outside of the US while investing heavily though a money manager with wildly convoluted tax reports) that Elizabeth has helped us through.
I’ve also liked the other staff. I’d consistently visit at the craziest time of year, and yet w/​all the stress, everyone was always so polite/​kind/​engaged.

I had tried to do my taxes with turbotax myself (I’m separated from my spouse). I mistakenly filed as single, and when my return was rejected, I decided to just go here and have them help me with it. The first guy who helped me messed them up (I forgot how, this all happened in march), and I had to go back to get his mistake corrected. The second guy who helped me was very polite, and he told me he was going to «cut a few corners, so to speak» so I wouldn’t have to pay an ADDITIONAL fee for them to fix the mistake that THEY made. I thought, «great, whatever, fees suck, thanks». Unfortunately, I got a call twenty minutes ago from that same guy, who either forgot that he helped me in march or is pretending to have forgotten, but by «cutting a few corners» he messed up my taxes further, they never got filed, NO ONE ever called me to tell me, and I owe them $ 98. This consultant (his name is Brian), who I had felt at our initial meeting was polite, came across on the phone as not simply apologetic but sniveling, saying things like «believe me, if I had $ 98 in my pocket I’d pay for it myself». The moral is: just never, ever go to this particular H&R Block. Their consultants are incompetent, slack-​jawed weasels.

H&R Block reminds of the 80’s and the movie Office Space, without the funny and in a rather bleak environment.
I’m not an American and I needed a few things explained to me, as this is my first time filing taxes in the U.S. The lady that helped me with my taxes was hellbent on getting me out of there in no time, she never asked me about any possible deductions (I had to bring it up), she couldn’t effectively explain simple concepts to me (we simply gave up on the topic), etc. Hardly inspiring of confidence.
The whole process simply felt horrible. I cannot recommend anyone using their services. Quite the opposite.

Seamless from the phone call to make the appointment, and through the meeting with Elizabeth. Lovely experience. Kind, gracious, helpful, and very knowledgable. Not only did she help me go over my figures, but going forward, she suggested the absolute most affordable option for my situation that I didn’t know about. You can feel very comfortable here.

Oh boy, dont’ go here if you have anything the least bit complicated. The term, ISO, (incentive stock option), drew a complete blank stare from my «tax professional» and it went down-​hill from there. I really felt like I knew more that he did from my previous experience of guessing at turbo-​tax. I guess if it sounds to good to be true, something good for cheap, it is. Only go here if your too lazy to do it on line, you have something really simple and you have a limited budget.

I know this isn’t indicative of H & R Block in Canada because their service was expedient and courteous.
This may not even be indicative of H & R Block all over the States– maybe just Los Angeles. But it’s enough for me to make up my mind about the place.
It always amazes me that when transparency is quickly becoming a valued commodity that separates good businesses from bad ones, there are still business who don’t get it.
I called avarious H and R Blocks in Los Angeles and was assured they would be able to do Canadian Taxes. One branch conceded they’d have to send it to a different location or I could take it there myself, and gave me the list of various people in various branches who spoke French and were «Canadian tax» experts, including the Santa Monica branch where i ended up driving to.
When I arrived, the person in question was not only unfamiliar with Canadian taxes, but wasn’t quite sure what a 2555 form was for the U.S. taxes. After a struggle, he figured it out, but told me he would need «a few days,» to do the Canadian taxes.
I guess by «I» He meant the Michigan office where they sent my return to. And by ‘a few days” he meant closer to two weeks.
The irony is that while waiting, leaving messages and never getting a return phone call, II received a quality control survey from H and R Block who wanted to know how my experience was. When I told them my frustrations, the only thing they said was «oh…sorry.»
I finally received a phone call saying my taxes were in, but I didn’t want to wait too long to come in and pick them up. Wait too long? I’ve been waiting eleven days dude. Who are you to tell me about waiting?
When I arrived this morning to pick them up, no one was even behind the counter to greet customers. I waited for fifteen minutes before a woman arrived late, only to tell me the guy I used was with someone else and couldn’t see me but would give everything to her to give to me. After not understanding it, he finally came out to spend a whopping five minutes with me.
And for this wonderful service, I’m charged 320 dollars.
When the woman said «sorry you had to wait this morning,» I let her know I’d been waiting eleven days for my taxes, because they flat out lied to me about being able to do them.
Her response? «Oh…sorry.»
So will I ever use H and R Block again? «Oh…sorry…»