D & R TaxGuys

I am not one to write a review, mainly because I’m either busy or lazy, but this time the service was so incredibly bad that it’s worth taking the time.
In terms of tax preparation, they are good, they know their business and can be very helpful to a freelancer. However, due to the large amount I’m paying to get my taxes done, I expect friendly and excellent customer service. This is not the case here.
I needed to pick my taxes up after 7pm due to work, and when I called to ask if I could do that, the assistant told me on the phone that as long as I make it in by 8pm I should be set. Well, today I was supposed to pick them up after work and I call to confirm, only to find out they’re not taking in any more clients. All I needed was to come in, pick up my taxes and pay, 10 minutes at most, and they don’t have time for that.
Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, except that now I have a very demanding job that requires me to be in the office from 9−7pm, and D & R Tax Guys «Assistants» only see people from 9:30−7pm apparently.
This was a very very disappointing experience!

STAY AWAY. I’m going back to my old accountant. You guys cost me an arm and a leg. Not worth it.

First things first: when it comes to tax preparation, they’ve basically done fine by my wife and I. Their style, it seems, it to play fast and loose with your returns — Don and Rosael work quickly, hacking and slashing through deductions, ostensibly saving cash. I’m a freelance theater artist and my wife has a regular salaried job in health care, and D&R came recommended as a firm well-​versed in messy show-​biz filings. It felt a little like Russian Roulette… I doubt the returns would have withstood an audit… but we experienced no problems.
So why the low rating? Customer service, customer service, customer service. It matters. A lot. Especially when the issue is billing.
We had no real problems when my wife and I lived in NY, but we moved to the SF Bay Area recently and couldn’t find a good recommendation on an entertainment-​versed accountant there. We decided to stick with D&R via correspondence for at least another year or two, until we sorted something better out. Service tanked.
Scenario: in 2012, we received our bill for tax preparation and paid it almost immediately. A month later, we received an invoice detailing late fees. I asked Rosael why we’d been charged. Read the fine print on the invoice, she says; late payments incur fees. Got it, I replied. Only our payment was settled within days. Four or five emails later, she apologized and corrected our account. A month later, more late fees appeared.
Fast-​forward to 2013. We send in our payment for the year’s tax services, and wary of the previous year’s stumble, we decided to diligently follow-​up. May 3 — phonecall number one. Message left. No return call.
May 16 — phonecall number two. Message taken. No return call.
May 20 — phonecall number three. Message taken. No return call.
May 21 — phonecall number four. The receptionist attempts to help, herself. She explains that our payment was never received, and that our outstanding balance was unpaid. OH REALLY — interesting, given I’m out the cash.
I proceeded to follow-​up with my bank, who conducted their own brief investigation, contacting D&R themselves, to no avail. Finally, i obtained a photographic copy of the endorsed, deposited check, and I emailed Rosael to let her know and essentially ask, what gives? She promptly apologized.
Really, I can’t imagine a poorer way for an accounting firm to advertise their services than to mishandle their own accounts (so consistently) — let alone to communicate so poorly, so unreliably, and with such casual disregard.
These guys suck. Avoid.

Stay far FAR AWAY! I was audited twice! Last time it was a double audit! I’ve had to pay the government back over $ 4000 in all. I have MANY friends who have also been audited because of them. JUST DON’T DO IT! You have been warned!!!

Don’t bother. They made errors on my tax return, but I had to catch the mistake myself. They redid it, so I sent it in. Then I get a letter from the IRS saying it still wasn’t right and I owe them another $ 100. At this point it was more of a hassle working with D&R taxguys than filling out my tax return on my own…