ComplaintsforFBC Farm and Small Business Tax Consultants

• Initial Complaint

  10/06/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I joined FBC in February 2024. I paid for a membership for 2023 taxes of $**** on January **, 2024 and a future membership for 2024 in the amount $******* ( $**** on March *, 2024, $**** on April *, 2024 and $**** on April **, 2024.The Farm Business Consultants committed to providing me Business and Personal Tax returns/ tax services. They said they would help me with taxes and make my life easier. The nature of the dispute is that I provided all documentation to this company required by March *, 2024 and they submitted my taxes * months late which caused me penalties. I was ignored for months, after several attempts to contact them and having to speak with several phone agents and supervisors who at times also ignored emails asking for clarification and calls to try to get my taxes completed. The representative did not communicate with me, respond to emails or calls. He was not available for Tax help as was the service promised. He didnt do his job on time which cost me penalties. I dont want to continue to work with their company for the 2024 membership because of the poor treatment I received and lack of communication, explanation and guidance regarding taxes and tax submission. The company agreed to a partial refund but I believe I am owed a full refund for the future membership for 2024 taxes as I dont believe I should be penalized for FBC and their representatives poor performance and submitting my taxes late. They continue to report things and then the story changes and there are discrepancies they cant and wont explain. They have caused extreme stress and anxiety and dont believe they have done a proper job so I want my full refund back.

  

  Business response

  13/06/2024

  
  Hi ***, 
  
  ******, paid FBC a total of $***** + HST to complete her 2023 personal and corporate tax return and 2024 Membership which included her 2024 tax returns. While we served her, she incurred a penalty of $****** which we agreed to reimbursed her and she is aware a cheque is on the way.
  
  Since she did not want us to complete her 2024 tax return, we initially offered to reimburse her half of the cost she paid us ($***** +HST). Although we are not obligated to refund our Membership fees after ** days, we felt this was a fair solution. ****** said she would be more comfortable with a partial refund of $***** + HST refund which we agreed to, and this amount has already been refunded to her credit card.  
  
  After the completion of her 2023 tax return, we discovered a slip on the *** website which ****** did not provide to us. This resulted in her Tax refund amount being reduced by $*****. This caused ****** to contact our team and ask for an additional $***+ HST refund. She claims she did not receive the slip from the ***.
  
  Our contract terms and conditions state that we are not obligated to provide refunds after 10 days. We have been fair and accommodating in our dealings with ******, and we believe that no further compensation is warranted.

  Customer response

  13/06/2024

  Complaint: ********
  I am rejecting this response because I dont believe you provided the service you sold me & promised. I was ignored for months and had to chase FBC to get the work done. FBC filed my corporate submission late incurred penalties that I would not have incurred if FBC didnt file my taxes late. FBC is not reimbursing me for $*** of those penalties. I hired FBC to do my taxes and alleviate the burden/confusion surrounding taxes. I was left in the dark stressing.I wasnt provided help/ guidance which they promised to provide. I should not be penalized any portion of the 2024 membership cost. Withholding any portion of the membership when I was treated poorly and given such poor service is ethically wrong in my opinion. I am not using your services for 2024.Therefore, I should be refunded the remaining $*** of 2024 membership.Especially after the poor customer service and my taxes submitted late, not double checked initially by rep and the rep had full access to my CRA file since Feb. The form missed was for a program I didnt know about therefore since I am not a tax expert and hired them to provide professional tax assistance, they shouldve seen this form when it was on my CRA File in January 2024. This form shouldnt have been missed by rep and I shouldnt have been misquoted a refund much higher than actually was. This whole experience has been extremely disappointing. I sent several emails to FBC rep asking if I was missing any forms or needed to provide any further documentation. I was told to keep calm and then ignored for months. This is completely unprofessional behaviour. If FBC didnt deliver the service promised, I was mistreated with no communication and accountability by FBC for late submission of my taxes, I dont want to work with FBC again in 2024 year. FBC cannot be trusted to do the job properly, I should be provided the full refund.  Sincerely, ***************************

  

  Business response

  26/06/2024

  *****Hi ***, 
  
  We provide year-round support to our Members that begins when our service agreement is finalized by both parties. Tax return filing is only part of our service delivery and certainly does not encompass all of it. 
  
  We accepted responsibility for the late filing and reimbursed her for the resulting penalties. However, a portion of the penalties she was assessed was installment interest because she did not make payments in the 2023 tax year. She was not a Member of ours until January **, 2024. We are not responsible for her installment interest payments that were due by Dec **, 2023.  
  
  All of our appointments, phone calls and emails are logged, and our representatives spent extensive one-on-one time with ******, providing her with guidance and advice. The form that was uploaded to her CRA account may have not been available during  an in-person appointment, however, our agreement is clear that our Members do hold responsibility to ensure we are provided with relevant documentation, including communication from the **** Our representatives enter all the slips and business information that are provided to them, and our office staff double checks the slips when were finalizing returns.  
  
  Were sorry to hear that she feels mistreated. Our relationships with our Members are built on mutual respect and we want to ensure that were upholding our commitment. We will review our interactions with her as a team to see where we can improve. 
  
  Our team believes that the negotiated refund that ****** had previously agreed to is fair. 

  

  Business response

  26/06/2024

  Hi ***,

  Please use it to respond to ******'s reply.

  Thanks,

  *****

• 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,
  
  *****************************************

*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. ↩