Complaints
This profile includes complaints for Avalara Inc's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see
Customer Complaints Summary
- 130 total complaints in the last 3 years.
- 67 complaints closed in the last 12 months.
If you've experienced an issue
Submit a ComplaintThe complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. 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.
Initial Complaint
Date:10/14/2024
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Avalara's services are nothing as explained to me by the sales manager. I was told it was an "easy plug in" and "my taxes would be automated". There is nothing automated about it. Your software was sold to me as automating my sales tax collection process and every day I learn more and more that is nothing to do with automation and all inputting on my end. It is automatic for you, but not for the customer who is spending a ton of money on your software. I find it subpar at best. I was also told that I need to go into each of my 200+ items and add of tax code. I dont get why in the year 2024 I cannot connect your plug-in and have automatic solution pop-up - I have been filing my Florida State sales tax for six years and now from my perspective, it is now costing me $300 a month to file it. The portal is hard to use and the payment section of the portal is predatory. They do not let you remove credit cards when you need to change them out. I could not even pay my bill,; i had to contact the, because like everything else, **** pay did not work. Their support is not great either. I contacted their support and i got answers like this: "I see that you needed a solution for exempt sales documentation and our support team had provided you a walk around where you had to add them into file and import it, to reflect into the system." I am not paying for work arounds. I am paying for sales tax solutions. Their work around was for me to manually input all my data 200+ item into an excel spread sheet. Everything the sales manager sold to me has not been delivered. I requested to cancel because the contract was not as delivered and they said: "Your requested cancellation for Complete AvaTax Cancellation, Managed Returns has been validated and passed to Avalara Finance for completion at the end of your subscription term on 7/29/2025."If i delivered an unsatisfactory product i would be expected to refund. I am not sure what business model this is
Business Response
Date: 10/24/2024
****, thank you for sharing your feedback with us. We apologize that youve experienced challenges with the integration to our products as well as with the payment settings section of the customer portal. We have shared your insights with our product engineering team.
Regarding your cancellation request, our Customer Excellence team has reached out to provide updates on this and will continue to do so as they are available. We remain committed to supporting you through this matter and throughout the remainder of your term.
Customer Answer
Date: 10/27/2024
Complaint: 22419452
I am rejecting this response because:The email i received is just "kicking the can down the road" - i am not going to accept it to show that they did something as i feel they are riding out the 7 days i have to accept or reject. Their email told me absolutely nothing other than "they are working on it".
On October 23rd they said this (email attached):
****
"Hello ****,
Sorry for the delay! I apologize, that it's taken some time to get this resolved.
Over the week, I've reviewed the account and some of the cases that you've had and the experience you've had since you've been with us. I've put in a request to your account manager to review and process the cancellation/refund before the end of your term end (07/29/25).
I'm hoping to hear back late today/early tomorrow, in which I can give you more concrete details and next steps.
If you have anything in the interim, please let me know if there's anything I can do.
Best,
Cameron
Avalara Support
Avalara | Tax compliance done right"****
I have not heard back "late today/early tomorrow" and it has now been 4 days since receiving this email.
My resolution: Get out of the contract as they have not held up their end of the contract. I should not be stuck in something for a year when they missed the marl on their end. They are still sending me bills.
Sincerely,
**** ********Business Response
Date: 11/11/2024
****, we appreciate your continued patience as we are working to resolve your concerns. As communicated to you by our Customer Excellence team, we have submitted your account for cancellation and refund outside of terms. Our team remains committed to overseeing this matter to resolution and will provide updates as available.Customer Answer
Date: 11/18/2024
Complaint: 22419452
I am rejecting this response because:Every 7 days they answer this complaint stating that they are working on on rectifying this and they thank me for my patience. They are trying to get this case closed by me with a "non response". I will continue to reject this complaint until something is actually done. Right now they are kicking the can down the road hoping I give up or don't answer in time. I will not.
The screen shot from today, 11/18/24(attached), shows that they are still trying to collect money from me still. It also shows they are not connected to us so they are physically not providing a service.
I worked in corporate America for 19 years, at much larger companies than this with a lot more red tape. There are no excuses for this to be taking so long.
Sincerely,
**** ********Business Response
Date: 12/09/2024
****, the screenshot provided in your rejection that youve claimed indicates Avalara was still claiming payment as of 11/18 shows an email dated for September 30 which fell before the start of this complaint.
As shared with you in our last update, we submitted your refund for approval and our team followed up with you on November 13 asking you to disregard any invoice reminders you were receiving as they would be cancelled upon completion of the cancellation process.Our records show we have now completed the cancellation and officially approved the refund. Thank you and we wish your business the best.
Initial Complaint
Date:10/08/2024
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
We have been using Avalara since November 2021, when we had our website *************** on WooCommerce. During this time period, we paid Avalara for their services in processing all orders that went through our website for sales tax as applicable. In May 2024 we migrated to ******* Plus. Then on Sep 10, we imported our old orders (~80k of them) from WooCommerce into *******, so our customers could have their sales history available in their account.When we did this, every order that we had already paid Avalara for while we were on WooCommerce, was re-synced to Avalara via the Shopify-Avalara connector. None of these orders were filed for taxes; all that happened was that there were about 80k added API calls. And as soon as we found out about this, we went in and voided all of them. We reached out to our account **** and then had it escalated to his manager. I requested to be escalated to the **************** manager but it is being handled by a ******************* who is saying that all the charges are valid, and we need to pay them for a much higher tier of orders than what we need, due to all these duplicated orders. (Also note: on ******* Plus, these transactions are free - it is just the modifications due to voiding that we are being charged for).Our bill for the year based on legitimate orders should be $886.44 per month for the ****** order tier, for a total of $9707.88 (another problem: we tried to reduce from 15k the prior year to just what we needed, the 7500 tier, but our account manager didn't get this done in time so we are overpaying at the 15k tier for this year). Now they have hit us with an invoice for added fees of $16,898.99, all for these duplicate orders that got re-uploaded, orders that we already paid for them to process on our WooCommerce site previously! The invoice is due to auto-pay on October 25. We just want to have these added charges removed as they are extremely unfair. This is a very frustrating situation for us.Business Response
Date: 10/18/2024
*****, we appreciate your bringing your concerns to our attention. We understand how unexpected costs would be upsetting and we apologize if billable usage and tiered pricing was not clearly expressed.
Since receiving your complaint, our team has been in contact with you regarding the accuracy of the usage billing and our Terms and Conditions which outline that the voiding of transactions counts towards usage. However, we recognize that the communication on this could have been better throughout the numerous support cases you opened and so weve escalated to our account leadership who is working towards approving a resolution with your tier levels. We appreciate your patience as we work to resolve this matter. In the meantime, please reach out to the Customer Excellence team directly for updates.
Customer Answer
Date: 10/18/2024
Complaint: 22396989
I am rejecting this response because: what they have said is that they will look into this more, and they have escalated to higher level management. That is an important step but I don't want to close this complaint until we find out the result of their review, and ultimately get a confirmed resolution that we feel is fair.
Sincerely,
***** ***Business Response
Date: 11/05/2024
Thank you for your patience as weve worked to find a solution. As communicated with you directly, the Leadership team reviewed the case for your full refund request and made the decision to adhere to our terms and conditions as the usage billing, while unintentional, is valid. Please refer to the Service-Specific Supplemental Terms to learn more about what activity contributes to billable usage: ************************************************************************************;
However, in good faith efforts to continue our partnership, we did agree to downgrade your account to the 7500 tier at your renewal in February, in addition to offering the 30% concession ($6,243.03) on outstanding invoices for a credit. We look forward to continuing to serve your team.
Customer Answer
Date: 11/12/2024
Complaint: 22396989
I am rejecting this response because: I need to discuss this with my leadership team, but before I can do that I need to know what they claim we owe them. It is unclear how much we are supposed to be billed for this large overage fee in the first place - the discount % and $ amount provided is inconsistent with the amount we were originally told that we owed. Based on the communication I have received, it seems like we are being told that we owe a larger number than we did originally, and then we are getting a discount off this larger number. I have explained this to them an am awaiting a response - their billing system is very difficult for us to understand and it seems they are having some delays answering this as well.
Sincerely,
***** ***Business Response
Date: 11/27/2024
*****, we recognize the confusion around the billing and the concession offerings. We understand from your message on November 22 that your team was able to decipher the charges. We remain committed to supporting you should you have further questions regarding the charges on your account and the concession we have offered. Please follow up with our team directly.Customer Answer
Date: 12/04/2024
Complaint: 22396989
I am rejecting this response because: We did sign an agreement with Avalara to receive a 30% discount on the overage fees. Overall the overage is about $15k and we are taking the discount offered of $6243 USD. We still don't feel this is a fair resolution and we feel Avalara is unjustly profiting from us by making us pay for orders we already processed, which I will add, we imported to ******* and did not tag as processed, yet their connector went and processed them anyway. But it has already taken 2 months to get this far, and it doesn't seem they want to work with us to get to a resolution we feel is fair (which is to also credit us for a one-time $3238 USD "upgrade fee" they charged us as part of this). Since we have signed the agreement to accept the credit, I will resolve this complaint once we actually see the credit applied to our invoices. However, just to be clear, we will be accepting this because it's better than nothing, but not because we feel it is fair.
Sincerely,
***** ***Initial Complaint
Date:10/08/2024
Type:Status:ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I added avalara tax via *************** for my website in june 2023 and paid $110 annual fee. My website has very minimal activity and Avalara didn't seem to be an app that I would need. I took avalara out from my site from bigcommerce and forgot about it. I am not aware the auto renewal that avalara imposed on my account. It seemed like Avalara posted the annual renewal without my knowledge in June 2024 with a due of $896.66, which is ridiculous. I contacted them immediately after I noticed this unreasonable fee on my avalara account in oct, they insisted that I need to pay the annual due that expired on June 2025, which I am not aware and not going to use at all. The signed up for the app was easy but get out of them is tricky. Their price hike (more than 8 folds ) and business practice really put customer in a *********************** position. I would like to cancel this auto renewal term that I am not aware of and resolve the due posted on my account. Thank you!Business Response
Date: 10/18/2024
Hongyi, thanks for sharing your concerns here. We understand how unexpected costs would be upsetting and we apologize if renewal expectations were not clearly expressed.
As per our Terms and Conditions, your account was automatically renewed upon completion of the previous years subscription and included a price increase. Avalaras mission has always been to serve global communities by offering the best tax compliance products possible, designed for use by customers of all sizes. In that spirit, while our largest growth segments have been in the mid-market of business sizes, weve historically priced our offering at the lowest tiers of service to meet the requirements of small businesses as well. Unfortunately, were now unable to sustain those prices while appropriately serving the needs of all customers in line with the economics of our own business.
However, while we are unable to cancel your subscription mid-term, we have decided in good faith to offer a one time adjustment for the annual pricing to $121 and credit the invoice for $895.66 that you received upon renewal. Additionally, our team has processed the cancellation request for a service end date of June 8 2025, confirming your account will not renew next term.
Please follow up with our support team directly for updates regarding this concession.
Customer Answer
Date: 10/25/2024
I am not completely satisfied with the resolution but I can probably live with it. I still prefer Avalara would void that anto-renew term that I was not aware of. I appreciate their understanding and effort to negotiate.
I have used many other online applications that have been designed in a way that are very much user friendly. When customers sign up, these sites give customers popup clear messages specified that customers are about to sign up for an auto-renew service but they can turn this auto-renew feature on/off any time they want in their control panel after signing into their account. When customers sign in into their account, the auto-renew feature is listed in the control panel, which can be turned off with just one click. This is very easy to implement with the technology these days. Obviously, Avalara does none of this and makes cancellation rather complicated and convoluted. What alvalara choose to do is waste customers' time, energy, and money on the one hand, and cost their resources, reputation, and customers on the other.
I believe If Avalara is working towards being respected for a superior customer service, they should have void this auto renew term for me and credit the invoice for $895.66 without any condition. With this solution they offer, I am probably still going to have a negative opinion toward avalara and this story is going to be told many times among my social circle, my family, friends, students, business partners.
One more thing, I would like to make it clear that I canceled the service with Avalara effective Jun 08 2025. No Renew Afterwards.Initial Complaint
Date:10/04/2024
Type:Status:ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Weve experienced quite a bit of difficulty with the teams we have talked to at Avalara and we only wish to cancel a contract completely due to the circumstances of Avalara cancelling the service we signed up for. Avalara cancelled a service and we were told that we would just need to fill out a cancellation form to cancel their servicesso we did. Now, Avalara billed us for a new service that we dont want and didnt sign up for and we discussed this with Avalara prior to cancellation. From our point of view, Avalara essentially terminated any contract when they End of Lifed the service we signed up for. They knew we were not going to receive any further benefit unless we moved up to the next tier of services. In order to get out of the contract, Avalara is asking us to pay for another year of service and connector we do not need. Can you please help us come to a reasonable resolution ? It is disheartening for us to continue to be pushed around over an invoice that could be settled in a number of ways. Our proposal is to pay the remaining $19 invoices because those would be fair to pay as long as we were actually billed correctly (there seems to be some confusion about that). Other than that, it is our position that we should not be forced into paying for another year of service since the service was cancelled on us with no realistic options other than to pay for a more expensive service. We just want to be made whole in this situation and since we are not going to receive services, why would we pay to receive nothing in return? That is just putting extra money in Avalaras pocket and not looking out for the best interest of the customer at all. Please take it under consideration that we are not receiving any service from Avalara at this time and that we want to walk away from doing business with Avalara because the service was terminated through no fault of our own.Business Response
Date: 10/14/2024
Michael, thanks for bringing this to our attention so we could assist. We recognize that our team was not consistent in communication with you regarding your cases, and we want to apologize for this frustration. The lack of response may have led your team to believe that Avalara canceled your services as stated in your complaint. Since we received your cancellation after renewal, per our Terms and Conditions we renewed your subscription for the 24-25 term and subsequently billed you for this service. However, our team recognizes that we did not express expectations clearly and we have therefore submitted a $925.18 refund request to leadership for approval. Please reach out directly to our team with any questions regarding the concession process. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to make this right.Customer Answer
Date: 10/15/2024
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 22379426, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me with the exception that there is an additional invoice attached for $25 dated June 2024 that we are also disputing since that is for Avalara services to file small business returns. We have not received the benefit of any of those services and had to file our own return recently. We will be happy to pay the other open $19 invoices that are due and owing.We also need written assurance from Avalara that our contract is terminated and we will no longer receive any invoices or services from them unless we were to choose to sign up with them again in the future.
Sincerely,
Michael DatelleInitial Complaint
Date:10/03/2024
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I received an invoice on 9/11/2024 for an automatic upgrade for my current year service from 11/28/2023 to 11/27/2024. The prior tier was 2000 transactions for $352.80 which equates to 0.17 cents per transaction. The upgrade to 2500 transactions is for $2912.45 which equates to $1.16 per transaction. The total invoice is for $3260.39 and they want me to pay for the total year even though it wasn't upgraded until 10th month of the service (it was not prorated). And the increase is HUGE and not affordable for a small business. When I contacted support they said that the increase was in the terms and it was just an increase. It is not in the terms and they can't show me on their website any pricing. Which means they can increase the rates to what ever they want. THEY ARE A HORRIBLE and ****************** I need help from the BBB to reduce the bill to a reasonable amount. I want it to go to Zero, but I would be willing to pay the $1.16 for the extra 500 transaction which would be and extra cost of $582.49. They also added another service that I cancelled last year so that should also be removed. That is the ******************************Business Response
Date: 10/12/2024
Erin, thank you for giving us the opportunity to address these concerns. We apologize if pricing expectations were not clearly expressed and we understand how unexpected costs would be upsetting. Our team has reached out to you since your complaint to schedule time to discuss more and find a solution for your business. We look forward to working towards a resolution with you.Initial Complaint
Date:10/02/2024
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
From the beginning, we were misled by the sales representative during the sign-up process and ended up being charged more than the initial quote. ******* through the contract, they abruptly canceled the services we had paid for in advance, claiming they no longer offered them. To continue, they demanded an additional $6,000 for managed returns. When we requested to cancel everything, they still continued to invoice us. Now, eight months later, they're attempting to bill us again. It's been impossible to reach the account manager or support team.Business Response
Date: 10/09/2024
****, thank you for bringing this to our attention so we could look into the matter. We understand how expected costs would be upsetting and we apologize that your experience has been more frustrating than anticipated. After receiving your complaint, our team looked into your account to resolve your concerns.
Upon researching your account, our team discovered the following:
- The Small Business Returns contract lists the subscription dates as April 11 2023 - April 11 2024. We recognize the free-trial that started in July maybe have caused some confusion around the the subscription term lengths, but we have confirmed Avalara did not cancel a service in the middle of the contract.
- The cancellation request has now been processed and backdated. The billing for the ***** term has now been reversed.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to support these concerns. We remain committed to supporting you in these concerns should you have any additional questions.Customer Answer
Date: 10/09/2024
Complaint: 22369625
I am rejecting this response because:You cancelled Small business returns in the middle of my contract. Everything i was utilized Avalar for was for the same reason to fill out and pay all sales and use taxes. When you discontinued this product and told me to sign up for managed returns which was significantly more this interrupts the other services im using with Avalara. You guys went about this in a very deceitful way. in addition to this invoice you reversed there are several other invoices that need to be reversed as well since you guys charged me for managed returns which i refused to sign up for.
Sincerely,
**** *******Business Response
Date: 10/29/2024
****, we have reviewed your account and confirmed the charges for the ***** subscription have been reversed, as well as confirmed refund for all other erroneous charges. Please see the attached invoice log for reference. Though we have worked to confirm there are no additional concessions needed, our team has reached out to request proof of any additional outstanding charges that need reversal so that we can assist in case of oversight. Please follow up with this team directly so we can continue to resolve as needed. Otherwise, we wish you and your business all the best.Customer Answer
Date: 10/29/2024
Complaint: 22369625
I am rejecting this response because:There were other charges invoiced for "Managed Returns", which i never agreed to. I also received emails and calls from collections team. You guys have wasted a lot of my time with this. The invoices were invalid and no one is willing to help or get them figured out. Please confirm nothing is owed and i want to put this to rest.
Sincerely,
**** *******Business Response
Date: 11/15/2024
Our team has confirmed there are no outstanding charges that are owed by ***** Business. ***** All invoices billed after your cancellation request will be removed upon completion of cancellation.Customer Answer
Date: 11/15/2024
Complaint: 22369625
I am rejecting this response because:I want a refund for the services i paid for upfront for the previous year. I did not receive what i was promised and it was a headache dealing with support and the sales rep.
Sincerely,
**** *******Business Response
Date: 12/09/2024
****, we have processed a cancellation and reversed the charges for the current ***** subscription. Per our Terms and Conditions, we are unable to offer an additional concession for the previous ***** term.Initial Complaint
Date:10/02/2024
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Our company has been working with Avalara for a couple years. This past year, we got stuck with backfilling's and amendments due to incorrect filing status. When Avalara was notified of this, it took a couple months for them to even respond. It took a while for the filings to be prepared and they filed with the appropriate states. But did no follow-up, leaving us to handle any other communications when we thought we hired a tax professional company to guide us through this. I have recently contacted our account manager multiple times about setting up a monthly contract renewal and another notice, but no response. We have consulted with other companies to continue services, but with no response from Avalara, I would be left 60-90days with out a sales and use tax filing and compliance services, so I was forced to sign another year extension. We have put so much money in with Avalara and received no communication from our designated account manager, and the support Avalara provides as a company is far from good to begin with. I got stuck in a bind, and just stuck with them. I am willing to continue another year if all goes well, but haven't even received a thank you for signing the new year extension. No communication or help for the smaller businesses whatsoever!Business Response
Date: 10/09/2024
Jacob, thank you for bringing your experience to our attention. We apologize for the delay in communication that you’ve experienced and we appreciate you sharing this feedback with us so we can continue to improve our customer experience. We understand that your account manager’s extended time off has contributed to the delayed communication you’ve experienced and we apologize that we did not equip you with an interim contact. Following your complaint, our Customer Excellence team reached out to discuss more. This team also connected internally with your Customer Success Manager to express your concerns and had them initiate contact with you. We remain committed to supporting you and connecting you with any additional teams needed. Please reach out to us directly if there are more items to resolve.Initial Complaint
Date:10/01/2024
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I started an Avalara starter plan for my business to test out its functionality for a potential business. I never used it besides a couple tax calculations on small test purchases made by me, so I wanted to cancel the plan. They make it extremely difficult to cancel anything and do not clearly tell you how to cancel the services without doing a deep dive into their documentation. Because it wasn't clear how to cancel, I changed my business on the Avalara site from Active to Inactive thinking this would stop the service. It did not, they kept billing me. I put in a support case telling them that I did not use the service and needed to cancel. They did not reply for months until after auto-renewing the contract for another year, meaning I have to pay for yet another year for a service that I don't use. I would give you dates, but instead of closing the support case so I could go back and review it and get the exact dates, they have since deleted the support case altogether. So no evidence besides the email they sent saying they wouldn't cancel till 4/18/2025, which was sent to me on 5/15/2024.Business Response
Date: 10/08/2024
****, thanks for sharing your concerns with us here. We apologize if the cancellation procedure was not clearly expressed and we appreciate this feedback. After receiving your complaint, our team looked into your account to ensure there were not any missed cases or missed requests to cancel. We have confirmed we received a cancellation request on March 15 2024 which fell after the renewal date of April 18 2024, and unfortunately we were unable to find any written documentation that requested cancellation prior to renewal. We therefore must adhere to our Terms and Conditions. However, we are able to confirm that your account has since been canceled for the current term and your service end date is April 19 2025.
Our Customer Excellence team reached out to you regarding this complaint on Oct 1 and Oct 7 to provide an opportunity to discuss more and we understand this team has not heard back from you regarding the matter. Nevertheless, our team remains committed to supporting you throughout the remainder of your term. Thank you for your understanding.Customer Answer
Date: 10/08/2024
Complaint: 22362802
I am rejecting this response because: as the reply from Avalara Inc. said, "We have confirmed we received a cancellation request on March 15 2024 which fell after the renewal date of April 18 2024". March comes before ****** therefore my cancellation request was put in before the renewal date. How can you not honor a cancellation request that was put in before the renewal date?January, February, ****** ****** **** June, etc.
Sincerely,
**** *******Business Response
Date: 10/22/2024
****, apologies for the error in our last response. The cancellation request for your account was submitted May 15 2024, not in March as incorrectly stated in our last response. Please find the updated response with the correct date below:
Thanks for sharing your concerns with us here. We apologize if the cancellation procedure was not clearly expressed and we appreciate this feedback. After receiving your complaint, our team looked into your account to ensure there were not any missed cases or missed requests to cancel. We have confirmed we received a cancellation request on May 15 2024 which fell after the renewal date of April 18 2024, and unfortunately we were unable to find any written documentation that requested cancellation prior to renewal. We therefore must adhere to our Terms and Conditions. However, we are able to confirm that your account has since been canceled for the current term and your service end date is April 19 2025.
Thank you for your understanding.Customer Answer
Date: 10/22/2024
Complaint: 22362802
I am rejecting this response because: I want to cancel this service right now, not in April. Or better yet, I'd like if it was cancelled back in May. I do not want to pay for a service that I am not using and have not been using for some time. The cancellation process was not clear and quite hard to find, which seems like it might be done that way on purpose. Also, I should have received a response from my cancellation request immediately. I know that Avalara has cancelled other peoples services before the end of the term so I know that it is not outside the realm of possibility.
Sincerely,
**** *******Initial Complaint
Date:09/30/2024
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
My business has been a customer of ********************** since 2021 when I set up my E-Commerce business. When I set this up, Avalara was a low cost option for my small business and looked like a great option for growing my company and doing taxes correctly. Fast forward to this fall; I received an invoice from Avalara for nearly $900 as I had been charged for an upgrade for the plan I was on. I had never and would have never agreed to this upgrade, and have completed the cancellation of my Avalara account in its entirety. Looking at other resources online, this seems to be something this firm has just began doing to customers; I would have never agreed to this upcharge. I have talked to customer support and they are understanding of this need to cancel, but are they not receptive to my request of cancelling the invoice I'm being billed for even when I have not used the service since being upgraded. I am hoping to have this resolved as no value has been exchanged from Avalara to my firm since the automatic upcharge.Business Response
Date: 10/08/2024
Luke, thanks for bringing this to us so we could investigate. We understand how unexpected charges would be upsetting which is why our team works hard to provide a timely notification of any price increases. We understand you received a renewal notice with the updated charges in April 2024. We unfortunately did not receive a cancellation request until September 2024 which falls after your renewal date of June 28 2024. Since this request falls outside of the cancellation window per our Terms and Conditions, we are unable to offer a refund for the renewal charges. Since receiving your complaint, our team has been in communication with you regarding this matter and has confirmed your cancellation request has been received and processed. As communicated with you, you will have access to the system through 6/28/25 which is your current term end date. We remain committed to supporting you throughout the remainder of your subscription term in any way we can. Thank you for your understanding.Initial Complaint
Date:09/27/2024
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I have a small business and use ****** to process our state sales tax returns. Avalara has egregious business practices. 1) They bill for future use on inactive services. 2) take no responsibility for service malfunctions, and 3) have deplorable customer ********** July 2024, we moved from the Avatax service to the ************************* with the assistance of ***** *****, our account ****In August, the ***************** incorrectly imported ****** historical transactions and debited our account for $32K in sales tax in error. I immediately notified my new **** ****** **********, and customer service; I pleaded for assistance and asked that the returns not be filed. There was no response from either party for weeks, and the returns were filed anyway. August 18, 2024: I received notice of proposed future usage fees ($3K) for the inactive Avatax service; I immediately emailed ******.August 28, 2024: Meeting with ****** about the $32K Extractor error and the $3K future usage fee error. I asked Avalara to amend the tax returns at no charge (since this was their error), and I reminded her that we should not be billed for Avataxs future use.August 30, 2024: ****** said they wanted $6K to amend returns. I declined, and now my small team and I will manually amend 22 state tax returns to claw back the $32K sales tax. September 18, 2024: I received an invoice for the Avalara future usage fee that I had already discussed with my **** I emailed her again with the issue and asked her to cancel it and refund me. I received no response for over a week, and then she said she forwarded it to support.On September 19, I was charged $2,879.66 for "future use" on the old Avatax "to upgrade to a new 5000 Tier." There is no Avatax service, so there can be no additional usage fees!September 26: Support emails to say there is no refund.Avalara now charged $32K for erroneous tax filings and $3K for an inactive account and wants $6K to file the amended returns.Business Response
Date: 10/04/2024
***** thank you for sharing your frustrations with us here so our team could jump in to assist. We understand how expected charges would be upsetting and we apologize for the inconvenience. Following your complaint, our Customer Excellence team has stepped in to research and provide updates to you on the matter. We recognize that you communicated to Avalara that May/July would be the last time we would be receiving transactions. However, weve discovered that since the subscription was not canceled therefore remaining active on your account, the voided transactions have been contributing to the billable usage which pushed your account tier to upgrade. We understand how this is frustrating after communicating you would no longer be using the subscription, and so our team is working with other department leaders to see what can be done for you. We are also in communication with leadership regarding the Returns amendments and what actions Avalara is willing to take to support you in this concern. Since there are many moving parts to this complaint, we appreciate your patience and cooperation as we work towards an appropriate resolution.Customer Answer
Date: 10/04/2024
Complaint: 22347100
I am rejecting this response because: there has been no resolution at all and no communication besides the note above on October 1.There are two massive issues here:
1. Avalara Connector misfired and imported ****** historical transactions and an erroneous debit of $32,000 from my small business checking account. I alerted both my Avalara rep Alison Woloszczuk + customer support of the issue PLEADING to NOT FILE these returns, as there was still 3 weeks to file!! I must have sent a dozen emails and messages and NONE WERE RESPONDED TO, resulting in 22 STATES RETURNS BEING FILED IN ERROR. And then Avalara asks me to pay another $6K for them to fix their filing error due to their own integration/technical problems. To make matters even worse, the *** states are unwilling to amend the returns because AVALARA is the payor on record! I have also brought this new and related issue to Avalara support, and no response. 100% of this nightmare could have been avoided if someone actually responded to my original request on a timely matter. This entire experience, and lack of response is unacceptable.
2. On top of this issue, Avalara then charges me $3K for an unused service!! We do not use Avatax, we use the Avalara Connector and we have PAID for our use. When Avalara sent me a notice of a future Avatax use bill, i immediately reached out to my rep, Alison **********, and had a live video conference where we discussed the issue, and that the invoice was an error. Then.. the ***** MY ACCOUNT ANYWAY. And again, not response from anyone. Additionally, I book another video with Alison ********** to review the issue, and she CANCELS the meeting, and says to work with support, who does nothing. 100% of this nightmare could have been avoided if someone actually responded to my original request on a timely matter. This entire experience, and lack of response is unacceptable.
AVALARA business practices are egregious, and unacceptable, and consumers and small businesses should be warned.
Sincerely,
**** ********Business Response
Date: 10/23/2024
***** we appreciate your patience and understanding as we work to resolve. We recognize that this resolution is taking some time as there are many moving pieces and we do apologize for the inconvenience. We understand that our team is working on scheduling a meeting with you for next week to work through the amendement details. In the meantime, we remain committed to supporting you and updating you on the matter. Please follow up with our Customer Excellence team directly.Customer Answer
Date: 10/23/2024
Complaint: 22347100
I am rejecting this response because I have new information and this should be publicly posted so that other customers are aware of ********************** business practices.This complaint has two issues:
1. Import Error on ****** documents for July ****************************************** 22 states and a debit to my account for over $31K.
UPDATE: I had a call with ********* ******** at Avalara on October 17, where she communicated that Avalara would not file amendments for my company without compensation. This is in spite of my attempting to contact my *** and support for weeks before the tax filings were even made. It's important to recognize that Avalara had ample opportunity to resolve this before it exploded and failed to do so.
Stephanie's communication to me October 17 was that Avalara remained firm that I would have to pay them to amend the tax filings due to the import error and due to their failure to respond.
I then attempted to file returns in 14 *** states and was not able to do so. I spent hours upon hours researching this, holding on state sales tax support lines, booking appointments with various state entities to attempt to file these amendments. Finally, a NJ state employee introduced me to the Streamlined ************************** and I had an enlightening email exchange where they stated:
"Avalara is the current *** with a ******* first filing period date. The seller is a ***-compensated (Volunteer) seller for NJ, and it is my understanding that the *** will also file amended returns at no charge for a ***-compensated seller for periods while they were the current *** ."
***** ******, Director of Tax Compliance responded: " it is correct that we will file amended returns at no charge to the seller, if we filed the original return within the *** Model 1 program."
BOOM. Avalara has been attempting to collect funds for amending *** returns where they should be offering to this at no charge. I am three months into this journey with Avalara and was astounded to learn this.
2. The second issue is the Overage Fee charged for a discontinued service. I had a call with ********* ******** at Avalara on October 17, and she communicated that Avalara accepted liability for this issue and acknowledged a failure in their process and communication regarding platform migration. Avalara offered to refund this erroneous fee of $3K and cap usage. I accepted that resolution.
Sincerely,
**** ********Business Response
Date: 11/08/2024
***** thank you again for your cooperation as we continue working to resolve. We understand your frustration and are working to expedite the process as we acknowledge the time and effort you have already spent with these concerns. As our team has updated you, we have submitted a refund request for the overage fee of $2879.66 that is pending approval from leadership. We will continue to update you as this concession moves through the approval process. As for the import error cited in your complaint, our team is working to file the amendments on your behalf and we are again speaking with leadership to establish a fair billing practice for this. As mentioned, we remain committed to supporting you throughout this process and we appreciate your understanding and patience.Customer Answer
Date: 11/09/2024
Complaint: 22347100
I am rejecting this response because this has not yet been resolved, and there are more issues with Avalara:1. IMPORT ERROR SST STATES: Avalara has filed the 13 SST state amendments on our behalf for a total of $10K in money due to to *************. That is the easy part. Avalara has now informed us that we must contact each state to understand how that amendment will be credited and file additional paperwork. Some states will give this money to Avalara, some will apply as a credit, and then we have to request a refund. This will take at least 50 hours of work from my team and 3-6 months to claim these refunds.
2. IMPORT ERROR NON-SST STATES: I requested Avalara to file the remaining six Non-SST state amendments for a total $10K due to *************. They said they would get back to me in two days. It's been two weeks, and I have emailed them several times about it.
3. REFUND ISSUE: The Avalara Extractor does not calculate tax credits on refunded transactions. I have submitted this issue to support, who cannot provide a solution. I have raised the issues with the customer support team that has been assigned to us, and the answer was to manually upload your returns for 22 states every month! I spent 4 hours trying to do that, and the Avalara import system overrides the data and applies incorrect values. All of this is documented and submitted to support.
4. NON-TAX STATE ISSUE: The Avalara system overrides tax values from Shopify Extractor and applies taxes for non-taxable items, where no tax was collected. I have raised this issue with support many times. They advised that we need to change the tax code for the items. Well, that does not work. Even with the new tax code, the system applies sales tax to the non-taxable items in these states, e.g. **********. Based on this reporting issue, I have asked the *** team to file amended returns to correct the data from **************************************************** ********
Business Response
Date: 12/12/2024
***** we appreciate your patience and cooperation as weve worked to address the concerns youve outlined. As communicated, Avalara has approved the backfilling for SST state and non SST states at no cost to ***************
While Avalara is unable to file a claim for refund with the states on behalf of *************, we understand the process can be cumbersome and so we have communicated the steps needed to contact the states directly. We remain committed to supporting you through this matter as much as we are able.
We have created a case for the ******************* (Project ID# ********** by which the backfilling team has been in contact with you regarding next steps to complete this. Please continue to follow up with this team directly so we can expedite the project. Thank you.Customer Answer
Date: 12/14/2024
Complaint: 22347100
I am rejecting this response because:1. NON-*** STATES:
The backfiling on non-*** has not begun. I have been requesting that Avalara file the amendments for the non-*** states since August. Although you final, after four months, approved the request, there are no amendments that have been filed. These amendments represent $10,700 in refunds.
2. *** STATES:
We are still attempting to collect the $10,000 in refunds from the *** states, and have spent over 100 hours calling states. There are NINE *** states that owe refunds to us. Of these nine remaining *** refunds, approximately $2000 will be sent to Avalara, not us. We have requested that Avalara refund these monies to us, but there has been no action or resolution here.
3. AVALARA CONFUSION and CONTINUED RISK TO MY ACCOUNT:
Additionally, I had a call with my rep ******* ***** on Friday, December 13. He thinks KIRAGRACE is still on BigCommerce using the Avatax app. I reminded him again that we are on ******* using the Avalara Extractor and ******* Tax. We made this transition in July, which started the entire fiasco. We have managed returns through February, but he thinks we need to pay for Avatax for BigCommerce in order to file the returns for December and January. I sent him copies of the invoice for the Extracror, and snapshots of our Shopify using the Extractor, and reminded him again and again, that KIRAGRACE is not on BigCommerce.
I am very concerned that the continuing lack of communication within the Avalara support community will cause additional harm by not filing our returns. ******* ***** said he is elevating this NEW issue to the Customer Excellence team who will need to review this and somehow align their team. My faith in resolution is very low.
Sincerely,
**** ********Business Response
Date: 12/26/2024
***** we understand our backfilling team reached out regarding the amendment project, please continue to follow up with this team directly so we can resolve. We acknowledge that you may experience a delay throughout the holiday season and we appreciate your patience in this time. Nevertheless, our team remains committed to supporting you.Customer Answer
Date: 12/26/2024
Complaint: 22347100
I am rejecting this response because:1. NON-*** STATES $9,000 in refunds due:
After four months, Avalara finally approved my request to amend the NON-*** states due to their import error. I sent the information to the backfiling **** on December 9. It has been three weeks, and there are NO AMENDMENTS filed. Due to this issue, I have filed several amendments, including FL on this list, and this takes only a couple of hours per state.The fact that it has been 21 days and nothing has been filed, continues to illustrate the low priority Avalara places on this issue. These amendments represent $9,000 in refunds since we filed FL ourselves.
2. *** STATES $5,200 in refunds due:
We are still attempting to collect the $5,200 in refunds from the *** states, and have spent over 100 hours calling states. There are NINE *** states that owe refunds to us. Of these nine remaining *** refunds, approximately $2000 will be sent to Avalara, not us. We have requested that Avalara refund these monies to us, but there has been no action or resolution here.
3. AVALARA CONFUSION and CONTINUED RISK TO MY ACCOUNT:
Additionally, I had a call with my rep ******* ***** on Friday, December 13. He thinks KIRAGRACE is still on BigCommerce using the Avatax app. I reminded him again that we are on ******* using the Avalara Extractor and ******* Tax.
We made this transition in July, which started the entire fiasco.
We have managed returns through February, but he thinks we need to pay for Avatax for BigCommerce in order to file the returns for December and January. I sent him copies of the invoice for the Extractor, and snapshots of our Shopify using the Extractor, and reminded him again and again, that KIRAGRACE is not on BigCommerce.
I am very concerned that the continuing lack of communication within the Avalara support community will cause additional harm by not filing our returns. ******* ***** said he is elevating this NEW issue to the Customer Excellence team who will need to review this and somehow align their team. My faith in this is very low.
Sincerely,
**** ********Business Response
Date: 01/21/2025
***** thank you for your patience as weve been working diligently with the states to determine a timeline for the refunds. Weve been informed that the process requires a minimum of six weeks to receive a response from the state. For non-SST states, our backfilling team is actively working to expedite the amendment process for your account. We want to assure you that our team is fully committed to overseeing this process until completion. We encourage you to continue reaching out to our team directly for the most accurate and timely updates. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.Customer Answer
Date: 01/21/2025
Complaint: 22347100
I am rejecting this response because:We are still waiting for $14K in refunds.
This is the status:
SST STATES:
We are still waiting for refunds of $5.2K, of which $1.7K (from OH & IN) will be refunded to Avalara.
We have not received any payments/refunds from Avalara. I have been requesting these OH & IN refunds for months and receive no reply.
NON-SST STATES:
We are still waiting for $9K in refunds
After SIX MONTHS, Avalara finally filed CO, VA, and CA amendments worth $6.5K.
Sincerely,
**** ********Business Response
Date: 02/04/2025
***** thank you again for your patience as we continue working through this process. As mentioned in our previous response, we are still awaiting refunds from the remaining SST states and are actively working to identify a timeline. Unfortunately, Avalara cannot issue a refund until OH and IN complete their portion of the process. While we are closely monitoring the situation and will share updates as soon as we receive them, the timeline remains dependent on the states processing times.
Additionally, we have confirmed that Avalara has filed the amendments for the NON-SST states. Our team has been informed that ************* will need to reach out to the state DOR for further details on refunds associated with these amendments as refunds are provided directly by the state.
We remain committed to assisting you as efficiently as possible and appreciate your continued understanding. For the most accurate and timely updates, we encourage you to reach out directly to our Customer Excellence team, as responses through the BBB may be delayed due to the review process.Customer Answer
Date: 02/04/2025
Complaint: 22347100
I am rejecting this response becauseWe are waiting on $14,200 in refunds.
$9,200 is due from NON-SST
$5,000 is due from SST
NON-SST: $9,200 is due$2.7K KG filed, and we are calling the states to try to get our money back.
$6.5K in refunds is awaiting.
SST STATUS: $5,000 in refunds still due to us.
$2K in refunds from ** and IN will be refunded to Avalara, not KG. Avalara has refused to refund us for this, and forcing us to wait for 7-12 months to eventually get this money from the states and to then send this back to us. This is unacceptable since the entire mistake was due to Avalara lack of customer service, and I should not have had to bear the time and money to fix it all myself.
$3K is due from six other states. We have been calling the states, trying to get them to refund the balance to us. Very difficult to get them on the phone and to help. No-one is helping.
Sincerely,
**** ********Business Response
Date: 02/19/2025
Kira-- As weve outlined in our previous responses, Avalara is unable to issue a refund until the states have completed their portion of the process. Our policy does not permit us to issue payments on behalf of the states before receiving their concession. Our team has kept you informed of these expectations, including the estimated six-month timeline provided by the state. We remain committed to finalizing this resolution as soon as we receive the necessary approvals.
Regarding the refunds owed directly to KiraGrace from other states, Avalara has attempted to reach out on your companys behalf but has encountered similar delays in responsiveness. We encourage you to continue following up with the states directly, as we are unable to facilitate this portion of the process.
We appreciate your patience and will continue to provide updates as soon as new information becomes available.
Customer Answer
Date: 02/19/2025
Complaint: 22347100
I am rejecting this response because:We are waiting on $14,000 in refunds.
$9,000 is due from NON-SST
$5,000 is due from SST
Since our last posting, we have receive one $192 refund.This issue has been open for seven months, and Avalara is 100% responsible.
This entire issue is due to Avalara's data issues, inadequate customer service, and delayed amendment filing.
Sincerely,
**** ********
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