Pacific Northwest Tax Service

I had Pacific Northwest Tax Service do my 2020 taxes. If you remember, that was pandemic times. The service at the time was great! We were able to to meet online and do everything mostly virtual.

Fast forward to 2024. I got a letter in the mail that I was getting audited by the State of Oregon (for the 2020 tax year). It had to do with a mistake where more taxes were paid to California and less to Oregon. (I'd moved states that year).

The person who prepared my taxes in 2020 no longer worked at the company but PNW Tax Service did everything to correct the issue. They promptly amended my California return and requested a penalty waiver from the State of Oregon. While it was a headache, everything ended "net 0" on the money side and I was really satisfied with how the company handled the situation.

It's when things don't go according to plan when people really show themselves.

Will never take any business here. Terrible communicators and unable to perform even the most basic of customer service interactions without being extremely petty/condescending. Here’s the TLDR of my interaction with them and the full run down below that.

TLDR - Made an appt on their portal 10 days in advance, paid $300 retainer. Realized I made a mistake, called the next day to politely request a refund (9 days out from appt). Got the run around for a MONTH and they retained $75 because apparently occupying a slot on their not-busy calendar for less than 24hrs and failing to provide even basic answers means they deserve money.

Here’s the full summary in the form of my last email to them and their office manager’s response:

Hi XXXXXX,

Thank you for finally giving me a definitive answer. I must say I’m pretty disappointed in the outcome here, but thankful that we are moving towards a resolution.

Here’s my experience with your company:

I made an appointment 10 days in advance (3/25). I realized I made a mistake and needed to cancel this appointment, so I called the following morning (3/26). I requested a cancellation and a refund of my $300 retainer. At the time of booking, your online calendar had many open slots for the same day and the rest of the week. Note this was still 9 days advance of my scheduled appt. The person on the phone told me they needed to escalate this request to management as these retainers are “non-refundable” and they would call me back when they had an answer. I agreed and several hours later that day I wrote them an email summarizing my request and clarifying my contact information as I had not heard back from them yet. I never received a response to this email.
Having still not heard any response(written or phone) by 2pm the next day (3/27), I called again. This time I’m put on hold for 5 mins and then told that it will be at least a week before I am refunded and it will be less “50 or 75 dollars” in fee. I asked at this time for a follow up with an email summarizing their intended resolution - again, nothing sent. By the end of the first week I realized your team had failed to even cancel the appointment as I had requested to be done when I called. So at that time I canceled using the portal.
At 2 weeks (4/9) I called for an update and the person who answered asked if I had spoken with XXXX previously. I said yes and I was told she would call me back with an update (and confirmed my call back number). I called again 2 days later (4/11) after still receiving no call back and they told me they would know more “next week”. I called back the next week (4/17) and finally got through to you, who let me know that apparently “after tax day” was the intended action time all along and that the $75 for was “payment processing fees and also staff time it took to create your file, and correspondence”. Pretty hilarious given that I had to call 5 times over 4 weeks just to get a straight answer. What is my time worth for simply trying to understand what your intention is?
This was just a really unpleasant experience around such a simple business function. Sure if I’d canceled the day before my appt or even inside of a week, charge me a fee for opportunity cost...but $75 for this? For occupying less than 24hrs on your calendar? File creation - when I never even discussed or shared information with you? So a template was generated with my name on it? I’m sure I’ve been an annoyance in my quest to get a straight answer, but that is a two way street.

I am very much looking forward to concluding our business. I will look for the refund as specified next week.

Brian Howell

THEIR RESPONSE:

Hi Brian:

Yes, our time is valuable, especially during our busiest time of the season. You booked an appointment and agreed to the terms, which included the retainer being

My initial consult was ok. Then I was ghosted for 2 months with no response to phone call or emails. Ultimately my time and money was mostly wasted as I got few answers for the $275 consultation fee I paid.

Spent $1250 for a married filing jointly + sole proprietor. Caught and corrected several obvious errors myself in the process. Reps were pushy, lacked empathy, and cost me an extra $6k in tax payments.

They Came Through for me in a Time of Need and addressed an Issue I had.

Tax Ninjas!

I am extremely disappointed with the service I got from this company. After feeling forgotten by them for weeks, I ended up being charged a ridiculous amount of money to file my taxes. There were mistakes made, they were unresponsive to my communications and inconsistent with the way they handled my personal tax situation... every time I actually was able to talk to my tax preparer (April), she changed her story about how to handle my taxes. I am disappointed with the way April does business and strongly recommend that you find a different service.

I am extremely disappointed with the service I got from this company. After feeling forgotten by them for weeks, I ended up being charged a ridiculous amount of money to file my taxes. There were mistakes made, they were unresponsive to my communications and inconsistent with the way they handled my personal tax situation... every time I actually was able to talk to my tax preparer (April), she changed her story about how to handle my taxes. I am disappointed with the way April does business and strongly recommend that you find a different service.

I'm just not sure if the negative issues I encountered were due to lack of staff communication, or an issue with my individual tax preparer. Maybe both. My taxes are relatively simple - single female, renter, basic 401k, etc. But I had just moved here from NY in the summer of 2020, and did not want to do anything incorrectly. I chose PNW based on Yelp reviews & convenience. They requested the documents that they needed be dropped off - everything was done over the phone due to COVID. Cool, no problem. The day of my phone consult, I get a call from the staff asking about the documents required, saying they didn't have them. I had dropped them off as requested prior to my phone consult date. My stomach dropped - I'm thinking my main tax copies are gone. They called me back later saying they had located them. Phew ... I then did a brief phone call with my preparer, Ryan. It took about 10 mins & the only sticky topic was how to address the fact that I didn't get any stimulus when I should have. He was nice & seemed knowledgeable, so I felt good about everything up to this point. I'm told to let him know when I'm ready for him to submit everything & it will be done right then via e-sign. Now, to be fair - they do inform you that the cost of your taxes being done is based on the NUMBER of forms they have to fill out. You're to look at their website & figure out what your total will be. Unfortunately for me, I was personally not sure what I should anticipate since I had both NY & OR forms. I will say that I was completely freaking floored when I was charged close to $600. I had my 2019 & 2018 taxes professionally done by a CPA when in NY - both times less than $200. Moving forward - It took me 3 separate phone calls over the course of a couple of weeks to get the message through that I was ready to submit the taxes & ready to pay. Each time I was told it would happen by whomever answered the phone, & that I would get an email confirmation for e-sign & CC payment. Each time I waited ....waited ... called back ... waited. Each time I had to re-explain the situation to whomever answered the phone. Finally after the 3rd call, this got done. I e-sign & put the (what feels like outlandish) preparation fee on my credit card. I was then told I needed to pick up my completed tax booklet & forms from the office & that I would get a call when it had arrived within the next few days. Two weeks later I call them, as nobody had called me ... am told it's there ... so I go to sign & pick them up. Again, lack of communication. Next, I get my refund & it's a little under $500 of what my preparer had told me I would get back. I called his office 4 separate times, leaving a message each time, before I finally got to talk with my preparer to ask what had happened. I'm told he doesn't have a way to know that because he can't access my tax info. I contact the IRS like he tells me to & get a letter about them adjusting my refund. I was told to let him know what the IRS says & to send him a copy of any info I get from them. I emailed him a copy & wait 2 weeks. No response. I then start calling the office. Again, 3 separate messages left with no call or email back. Seriously, guys?!! Today, I called again & explained the situation - my preparer wasn't in the office. BUT ... I FINALLY had the luck of speaking with a lady who actually took initiative, looked into my file, looked at the letter the IRS sent me about the adjustment, AND got back to me right away. She explained what had happened and actually seemed like she cared and wanted to help me. So - thank you Julia T - I almost considered giving 2 stars because of you. To summarize, I work in a professional service industry. It would never, EVER be acceptable to ignore my clientele after they had paid for my service. If I have to stay hours past close to answer my client emails & phone calls, I do it. Never in my wildest dreams could I feel okay ignoring mes

Amazing, high level of service. Content expertise and firm grasp on tax trends and emerging change in laws and code. Over ten years Ms April and her crew take care of me, teach me.