H&R Block

So I have used H&R Block a few times over the years… This year I decided to go back because I had participated in an Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) and had sold some of my stock.
So I go into H&R Block and work with the woman there (ill leave her name out to be nice). Everything is fine until we get to the ESPP. She is unsure of basis for this because I get the stock at a discount (standard ESPP). Well she goes on to call two other people over to help her and finishes my return and we file it electronically.
I have some nagging doubt about how my «tax preparer» has determined my taxes for that transaction and around the 15^th I go back into my taxes to review them. The first thing I notice is there is a nice itemized summary from Smith Barney (my broker for the ESPP) with an entry called «Ordinary Income» apparently, the difference in what I pay and the street price is classified as «Ordinary Income» and Smith Barney even lists that on the statement. I review my taxes… I haven’t claimed that income and I have already filed and the government has given me a refund based on my incorrect filing.
I go back to H&R Blockk with screen shots from Turbo Tax that clearly show how my «tax preparer» should have handled the transaction. Even though its the 15^th– One of the more senior tax preparers (one of the two people that helped my tax preparer the first time) helps me create an amended return. Of course i now need to file an Amended Federal return by mail, wait for the federal gov to accept it and my payment. Then once the federal has gone through file an amended state return and wait to see if I get fined for it.
I did negotiate with the office manager about a discount. apparently they also sell insurance that would have actually covered all of their mistake — but I hadn’t elected to pay for that extra service. In the end they agreed to send me a check for half of my fee.
I would give 1 start but I have had good experiences with them in the past — and they were pretty good at helping me file an amended return on the busiest day of the year. Basically it comes down to a crap shoot. If you have ANYTING that is beyond a normal job, house, and regular deductions, its a crap shoot as to if your «tax preparer» will know how to do it. I am sure they have some great accountants, but they also have people that apparently are new and will just guess if they don’t know how something works. You might consider the extra insurance they sell to cover their mistakes on your taxes (which they don’t cover otherwise).