ComplaintsforFBC Farm and Small Business Tax Consultants

• Initial Complaint

  05/03/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  FBC was hired to complete my Corp tax return. They've had my file for * months. Sent me a return to sign with errors in January. I asked for corrections. They repeatedly ignore emails and calls. When they do respond they just say they thought this was dealt with or tell me they are tied up and will call me the next day but then they don't. They've sent me the * more returns to sign but when I receive them, they are for a different company.We do have a deadline to file and I can't seem to get the correct return to sign.

  

  Business response

  07/03/2024

  Hi *******,
  
  We sincerely apologize that the service you've received for your corporate tax return has fallen short of our standards. We understand your frustration with the delays and errors you've encountered.
  
  We have been in contact with you throughout the four months and we've escalated your file to ensure it's completed and delivered to you accurately and as soon as possible. Our team is in the process of fixing your return today, March *, 2024 and you will have it shortly.
  
  We value your business and deeply regret the inconvenience this has caused. We hope you will continue your Membership with FBC and give us another chance.
  
  Regards,
  *****

  Customer response

  07/03/2024

  They were very quick to respond to my complaint and sent a new return. This time the return was from a previous year which they didn't even complete, I had provided it to them for information purposes. 

  I asked them to send the current year return and they sent a new return, again which has errors. 

  I asked them again to fix the errors. They said they would fix and have the corrected return sent to me today. I'm still waiting 

• Initial Complaint

  02/06/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  August 2022 apx. We hired FBC to create federal and provincial corporation for **, and to handle any fine details that we were not aware of, as they claim to be a legal and accounting firm in one with tight streamlined integration. In short to babysit us through the process and take care of any fine details we were not experienced with. We paid substantial sum for this, nearing apx. *****. But we figured, they knew our situation over the last couple years of tax returns and how could anything get messed up when they are handling the incorporation, paperwork, rollover and tax returns, etc. We also confirmed with them that they will handle any partnership cancellations or loose threads for **.Fast forward to last month, all seemed ok, as FBC never really checks in with you. And we receive mail that our new corp has been stricken from the record after we had just transferred everything over and started a bank account. I immediately told FBC, and they said very little about it for a full week, I had to show up at there location until I got a meeting, where the supervisor I found out had not spent the time trying to figure out how to help us and keep us as a customer, but instead had spent her time trying to cover their actions and blame the whole thing on us. So that afternoon I looked into it myself and found out that they had never federally incorporated us, had failed to resolve a name issue with our previous partnership that they said we could keep and had even incorrectly filed one of the forms with ISC. I asked for a full refund considering I have not had my taxes or rollover done, and a federal corp has to be completely redone. And they responded by saying the membership is 10 months in and stopped returning emails. FBC failed to provide what we payed for and the rest of the services depended on that, so the late stage membership argument seems to only be a ploy to keep our money. We have been treated horribly, and we feel scammed. Legal action is next.

  

  Business response

  05/06/2023

  Hi ***,

  Please find attached our response.

  Thank you,

  *******************

  Customer response

  10/06/2023

   
  Complaint: 20133748
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  FBC assertions lack context or external review. The more I investigate, the more FBC seems to only have valid credentials in marketing. Reinforced, by this complaint being handled and signed by a marketing manager of all things. 

  See attached PDF for my response. 

  A full refund is due.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

  

  Business response

  13/06/2023

  Hi ***,
  
  A partial refund cheque was sent to **** for $3,000 on May 26th for the corporation rollover which was not completed.
  
  Our Membership agreement does not include any provision for cancellation, and we want to emphasize that we are fully capable and committed to fulfilling the terms outlined in the agreement. After carefully assessing the details surrounding his FBC Membership, we have determined that there are no circumstances that would warrant any deviation from the terms stated in the Membership Agreement. We regret to inform him that we will not be able to issue a refund for the Membership Fees that have been paid.
  

  Regards,
  *******************
  Marketing Manager

  Customer response

  19/06/2023

   
  Complaint: 20133748
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  You are not addressing any of my raised issues, and also do not seem to know what you are talking about. Sadly now a common experience with FBC staff that makes me call into question any work they have done up to this point.
  

  Cost of fixing all of FBC's mistakes aside..

  
  We did just receive a cheque from FBC for $3000, which states it is reimbursement for our membership, and asks us to remove FBC as our CRA representative. (So clearly you can refund memberships fees) Signed by *********************, the same regional manager that stated the rollover was worth only $1665 (including taxes) and that's all we were getting "firm and final" to be sent out the week of May 12th. Instead now arriving as an arbitrary amount, sent much later on May 26th for membership.

  Publicly you proclaim to be ready and willing to fulfill your obligations because you have done nothing wrong, but privately are trying to shut us out and have us take pennies on the dollar for the fee we paid without receiving any quality services in return.

  
  We have not agreed to or signed anything with this cheque, we expect the remainder our refund and we will not be stopping until we receive it. Its what is done as the bare minimum when company mishandles a client's trust and causes them harm like this.

  I have held off on further actions temporarily in hopes FBC will do the right thing here on the BBB.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

• Initial Complaint

  01/05/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  FBC tax is unethical. They hire unqualified accountants that don't know how to do taxes, and you can not get in touch with. They've had our book keeping since November of 2022 and we couldn't get in touch with our accountant until March of 2023. The work he did on our taxes is subpar at best. Our particular accountant admitted that he had too many clients and runs a horse riding centre and therefore is unable to perform his job properly. After he has completed out taxes there was a discrepancy which we asked for him to clarify and he wouldn't he just said he didn't know where the money went and when asked for an in person meeting said he's not able to as he is too busy. This company has multiple complaints about horrible treatments of clients, where they take your money and you are not able to get in touch with them for months. We asked for a refund of what we paid for as we are unsatisfied with the work they have done and they refused. They also didn't offer any other solutions to fix this situation. FBC is saying that they did our taxes and therefore that is the end, but how can we accept that when they are unable and unwilling to sit down with us and go over what we owe and why. At this point we feel we should be getting our money back considering that we are unable to file our taxes on time as we don't feel confident in the work they have done, we will have to pay penalty for filing late and will have to find and pay someone else to get our taxes done.

  

  Business response

  02/05/2023

  Hi ***,
  
  During the course of completing our work for our Members in 2021, our tax specialist uncovered a fairly significant tax implication resulting from transactions made by our Members. Unsurprisingly, our Members were disappointed with the result and asked for a different tax specialist for 2022, which we obliged. By mid-March 2023, their 2022 return was completed and the findings, details of which we cannot divulge, were similar to what happened in 2021. 
  
  Our tax specialist then met with them on April *** and again on April **** to go over their return and in detail, with appropriate backup, explained the reason for their results. 
  
  At this late stage, our goal now was to get their taxes filed on time so there would be no impact on their standing with the **** Unfortunately, they have refused.
  
  Our Supervisor have spoken with them again, and explained in detail what actions impacted their tax results and offered different solutions to have their tax return filed on time.
  
  Their refund request was refused as we have done the work required, our results are compliant and we do not offer refunds after *********************************** our contracts, nor do we offer refunds if a Member is unhappy with the tax they are obligated to pay to the **** 
  
  Regards,
  *******************

• Initial Complaint

  23/11/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Hello, I signed up for service with FBC early Oct and to date have received zero service. I received an email November 9th confirming that my contract would be cancelled and refund provided. To date November 23rd, 2022 this has not happened and no one is responding to my emails anymore. I have not received any service from them and paid of fee of $661.43 which I was told would provided services until Dec. FBC also needed a credit card on file for future payments. I ran into issues with my bank and it took them over a months to get the paperwork to me and mail my business credit card. I was transparent with FBC on this and at no point was I ever told services would be refused without a credit card. If I had been told this information I would have provided a personal card and switched it once my business came in. I waited weeks for someone to call to start service only to find out the ********** office was refusing until there was a credit card. I was told by ******************************* he would speak to them and get back to me. That never happened so I emailed asking my contract be cancelled and refund provided. Nov 9th I received an email from **************** that my contract would be cancelled and a refund processed. As of today November 23rd no refund has been provided, no one has contacted me and no one is responding to my emails anymore.

  

  Business response

  23/11/2022

  Upon being notified about *******'s experience, we escalated her request. Today, November 23rd, a representative contacted ******* and advised her that her refund will be sent to her by the end of month. Our team member provided her direct line to ******* to follow up with her personally if anything else arises.

   

  Customer response

  24/11/2022

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************************

• Initial Complaint

  07/06/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My husband and myself had used this company to do our income tax returns for us for the past few years. The only person that we had ever had do our taxes from this company was fired in September 2020. This company charges you a year in advance. We did not like the new person that they assigned us so we requested our money back. They told us they could not refund our money if it had been 10 days or more since we wrote them the cheque. They fired the guy who was doing our taxes months after we wrote the cheque. We had our paralegal write them a letter asking for the refund and we received nothing. They claim that because of the audit protection in the membership they can not refund the money. They have a membership for just getting the taxes done which is 75% of the regular fee. If they stipulate that 75% of the fee is for getting the taxes done and we did not let them do our taxes how do they legally not have to give us 75% of our money back????????

  

  Business response

  08/06/2021

  To summarize, this is indeed a yearly membership as is clearly stated in the "Membership Contract" authorized by both the Member and FBC. The Member has chosen to cancel their yearly membership, 11 months into the 12 month term... yet expects a full 12 month refund.  

  Per the attached, this has previously been addressed with the ******* (albeit not to their satisfaction). 

  ***** ******

  Customer response

  08/06/2021

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: I paid FBC to have one certain person come out and do my taxes for 2020. FBC fired that person and the person they replaced him with I did not like. In September of 2020 I told FBC I wanted a refund and wanted to cancel my membership, which would be 7 months into a 12 month contract. Why am I not receiving a refund for 5/12ths of what I paid? I immediately asked for the refund when they told me the only guy I have ever had do my taxes was no longer employed there. I did not use any of the fbc services other then calling the guy who did my taxes at home. If 75% of the fee is for completing the tax work and I am not having them complete the tax work I am entitled to a 75% refund. I have already paid someone else to do my 2020 taxes and when I paid FBC to do my 2020 taxes and did not have them do them because of a business decision they made I am entitled to a refund. Please publicly post this on the BBB website for others to see what a terrible company this is.
  o
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** ******

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩