I got my income taxes done here. The housekeeping at this establishment is very lacking! The service is very well done. The receptionist David is very friendly and nice. The process of doing my taxes was complicated by another accountant using my accountants desk for at least 20 minutes . The little lady that did my taxes was probably 80+. I assume that she knew what she was doing. All in all I don't expect the IRS will be coming out to audit me. The process cost me $400+. I guess that's the average amount for a short form read more

I have been using Trina for tax filing for seven years, she is great and knowledgeable. Always review your tax forms after completion.

Please don't use this tax service!! They are so unprofessional and rude. My elderly mother had her taxes prepared there for the past few years and always set up payment plans to pay her tax liability. This year, Trina asked her if she would like to do the same plan as last year an my mom said she would. Unfortunately, either Trina or someone in her office actually paid the entire amount due out of my mom's bank account causing it to be overdrawn. After numerous attempts to contact Trina, and several emails later, it still has not been resolved! The receptionist is extremely rude and would not put my mom or myself through to speak with Trina and just said she didn't think there was anything to do to fix the error. I would not recommend this place to anyone!! read more

A Better Choice turned out to be A Wrong Choice. They charged us $795.00 for a joint married filing-long form. This was a complete robbery. I am a teacher and my husband works for the railroad. Two W2s, a mortgage, and kids to write off. We typically pay $175 each year for our taxes. We got nothing special, no IRAs, no 401ks, no investment properties. We have bought and sold a couple of homes over the years, and our taxes are easy. We don't have a lot of itemizations and we do the long form every year. We take the standard deduction and I get the educator credit. Jennie started our taxes and it was a slow process. I left the office feeling like I hadn't completed much of anything. From that point forward, she would email me instead of calling, and then not email me back for days. We called the office on the 12th, 13th and 14th, and no one would answer the office phone. We left messages and responded to emails because we knew that the tax deadline was approaching. I had emailed her all the extra paperwork that she needed by the 13th, and was ready to submit. It was exactly two weeks after the 15th that we got communication from her in an email. The office apologized and said that she got sick, and that was it. The paperwork was ready for us to sign. My husband went in to sign and he called me after and said it was $795.00, but we got a new client discount of 159.90 and it was 639.20 instead of 795.00! We paid $175 to Martinez Tax Company in Grover Beach the year prior, so there must have been a mistake! I immediately called them, and the gentlemen that answered the phone said Jennie was not in the office (not surprising) and that he would have her call me back "sometime". Well, that could be another 2 weeks from now, and it was now May, so I just went down to the office to sign. I asked to see a fee schedule, or fee breakdown of what we are being charged for. I noticed the fee section next to every description was blank. The only number on the page was a subtotal for $799.00. I asked, "Why are all the fee boxes empty or blank next to the description?" He put his hands up in the air and said something to the effect of him not knowing. He seemed really bothered by my question and I felt like he was appalled I was questioning the charges. He stormed out of the office and went upstairs to grab another lady I have never met before. She introduced herself as Trina and said "Well I own this place and I don't ever put down what fee form is, people will just nickel and dime me." I was taken back because this lady didn't do our taxes, Jennie did, and why was she sharing her practices. She added, "That's just the program I use, and I don't put the itemized fees in". That still didn't help me understand why I was being charged $799.00. Then, out of nowhere, Trina said "Well, you bought and sold a home last year too, so that was extra paperwork." I immediately responded with the truth, "This is the fourth home I have bought and sold! Every single time my taxes are $175.00!" Her face completely changed, she didn't know what to say. After a moment of silence, she said "Well MY prices start at $200." The pronouns throughout the entire conversation just added to the unprofessionalism. There should not be "my", it should just be "The price starts at $200.00". Still not clarifying what 799.00 is being charged for. They didn't even have my bank account information for my return. Trina said, "Just go ahead and write your bank account information on the back of this piece of paper, your account number and your routing number, and I will input it." For $639.20, there should be an itemized list of what we paid for. For $639.20, there should be a direct and quick response from the preparer. For the $639.20, I should not be writing my bank account information on the back of a paper. For $639.20, the office should be open and clean. The office in itself, is in disarray. It smells like they are making fish food upstairs, and kids are running around and yelling. Trust me, make a Better Choice and go somewhere else. read more

I highly recommend A Better Choice Tax. Trina has done our taxes since she opened her own business. She is honest and knowledgeable. She does everything in her power to ensure your taxes are done accurately and in your favor. She knows tax law and she knows about a lot of ins and outs that work in your favor that you may not get at other large tax firms like H and R Block and the like or by doing your own taxes. I know for some the thought of paying somebody to do your taxes seems silly when you can use turbo tax and do your own but trust me she knows what she is doing and you will not be sorry read more

I am always amazed. I always come into these tax meetings nervous as heck and leave with a smile. Trina rocks! I know most of these people are just writing because they are pissed off or had one bad experience, but I've been with Trina for 12 + years and have never been disappointed! Sure, it's a family run business and there may be kids running around, but the JOB GETS DONE RIGHT EVERY TIME! Just prepare yourself for your tax meeting and let Trina do the rest. I'm not looking for "professional" in the sense of office environment, but I am looking for "professional" in tax prep, and Trina is that in spades. read more

Trina has been handling taxes for my family members for years. Great friendly service with a smile. I always chuckle at the southern accent when we talk. I recommend!! read more

Been using Trina at ABC since 2007. She's excellent at what she does! Trina and the rest of staff are such pleasant people to do business with no matter how busy they may be. read more

We have been going here over ten years, and even with the mess of this year, and moving out of state they made it so easy to do. 100 percent recommend! read more

The first appointment was not overpriced, so that was nice. Then last year it was a shockingly huge amount. HUNDREDS of dollars for a SIMPLE tax return...100% SIMPLE. I paid them and left and tried to forget it. Then had a small IRS payment, which I gave in cash to them. THEN: RECEIVED A BILL FROM IRS OVER IT! THEY DID NOT SUBMIT TO THE IRS WHAT I SUBMITTED TO THEM!!! Who cares about a few dollars, but WOW! I am not going there again. Just got a mailer and that is what reminded me to put this review up. I think their cost is way too high to get this type of error. read more

I've been going to A Better Choice for many years. Trina has been able to find more exemptions to help me on my taxes than any other tax preparer I've ever gone to & there have been a lot. Even though I have moved away, I still come back to have her take care of mine & it's a beautiful place to visit. I only want the best & that's A BETTER CHOICE! read more

We have been with Trina for a decade she is one of best places to go to get your taxes done! David is always welcoming when you enter the front door and we always catch up what happened over the past year! Great business and you won't regret going to them for your taxes!so go and make an appointment!! read more

Trina is AMAZING!!!! She helped us save SO MUCH on our taxes this year and I will be returning year after year and wont let anyone else touch our taxes. She is super experienced and knows what she is doing. She helps you in anyway she can, gets back to you in a timely manner, and helps you every step of the way. You all need to get your taxes done by her!!! Thanks again Trina!!! read more

This was the most unprofessional experience I've ever had working with an accountant. The reason I hired Trina was to reduce the stress behind doing my taxes. However this experience created more stress and frustration than doing my own taxes ever could have. I felt completely out of the loop on the status of my tax filing from the day I submitted my documents on February 8th to the time she finally contacted me on April 13th (less than 48 hours before the filing deadline). I had even emailed her mid-March asking for a status on the filing and found out she had not begun working on it yet. Once I finally heard from her again it was 2 days before April 15th and there were some major changes needed to be made. I could not believe that she had waited nearly 2 months to begin her communication with me and that she now expected me to pick up the ball for her lack of professionalism and procrastination. To make matters worse I also had plans to leave town to celebrate my 30th birthday and informed her that I would have limited cell/email access camping in the woods. Needless to say I spent the majority of my birthday weekend stressing out about the return being late, accruing IRS fees and just feeling overwhelmed and frustrated by the lack of care and professionalism. It wasn't until April 18th (5 days from her initial point of contact) that I finally received the documentation I needed to finalize my return and mail my IRS form and check. To top the experience off, I received an invoice from Trina quoting me for double the cost of her original price! A month later, I also received a letter from the IRS saying I was eligible for a tax refund because she had not completed a portion of my self-employment return. If you want to save yourself additional headaches this tax season choose another accounting form or take the time to do your taxes yourself. I guarantee it will be an overall better experience than working with ABC taxes. read more

Poor customer service and horrible job performance. We used them to file our taxes, including a rebate for first time homeowner. Filing the paperwork with them went well at first. They do not speak well and lack certain business etiquette. Now, you may wonder why we were here with these red flags. They are local, alphabetically-favored and this was our first time going through an accountant. We were promised a quick refund since our tax return was straight-forward. When their promised return date passed we called and were told to wait since "it's the government." We waited patiently and called again. Same response. The third time we went to the office. Our accountant was at the receptionist's desk. We told her it has now been three months PAST their promised tax return date. She was minimally apologetic and said that it was again, the government's fault. Now this is where it got really dodgy. She said she was going to pull up our paperwork, not on a computer. She had a tall stack of seemingly unorganized papers and randomly reached in to pull out one that was "our paperwork." I have great eyesight and it was not our paperwork! She says that she would call the IRS and have them put a "rush" on our return. She dialed an 800 number and after a brief self-satisfying smile starts to leave a message along these lines: Hi, this is so and so at A Better Choice calling about...How do you spell your name? Can you call me back on that. Thanks. 1- Why do you need us to spell our name when our paperwork is in front of you? 2- Why not leave your phone number or any other information so the IRS can pull up the return? 3- How many companies are called A Better Choice? Now, over six months later we get a call from A Better Choice. I'm certain it's not the fruits from the half-wit phone call. They apologized (not sincerely) and said that they just figured out why our tax return was stalled. They filed our return stating that we lived in an "apartment" NOT a house. Doofus! You can't get a first time homeowner tax return if you live in an apartment. They admitted that this had happened BEFORE too! Learn from your mistakes?! read more

We had them file our tax return this year for the first time, that was a BIG MISTAKE. Everything was going good during our appointment. At the end of our taxes the lady Jennie had us double check our information and it was all correct. She then went and started doing the final things and then printed our paperwork and she filed electronically. When it was time to pay we were told it was going to be $200, but when we called and made the appointment they told us it would be $100. When we told them that, they just said no it is $200. What ever we paid it to get out of there. Less then 5 minutes after leaving we were looking over our paperwork and saw she had changed our street numbers, we called right away to have them change it. They said they would right away. THAT WAS A JOKE, we then find out on Tuesday the day before April 15 that they had not changed it and now our return is messed up. We have left over 5 messages on their voice mail and NO CALL BACK .We now have to go through someone else to fix their mistake. On top of everything when we were there they were not professional they were having a family BBQ and were more focused on visiting then working. They were drinking alcohol and even asking customers if they wanted some. I wish i had done my research on yelp before going here. This is not going to be a fun tax season fixing their mistake. Too bad yelp does not offer a rating of a zero star because that is what this company deserves. read more

I have used the services provided by A Better Choice for over 15 years. Trina and Dave are the best and always so helpful and welcoming. A friend of mine recommended them years ago and I have never regretted the decision to use them for my tax preparation and overall advice. Thank you so much for your endless care and kind treatment of my friends and family! Never thought I would say this, but I always look forward to tax season because I get to visit with some of my favorite people at A Better Choice!! read more

A Better Choice is completely unprofessional; they do not return phone calls or emails. I've even had them hang up on me. In addition, they said they lost our check for payment even though they cashed it, then they finally admitted to receiving it. I cannot discourage everyone enough from using their services. They should either close their doors for business or be shut down for unethical business practices. read more

Too bad at least 1 star is required. A few months after filing, I needed an electronic copy of my return for a loan application. After leaving 3 messages, I left a terse one, and got an angry call back, chastising me because I didn't know the person who did my taxes was having personal problems. There's a lot of choices. This is not one of the better ones. read more

Love love love a better choice have been a customer with them for years now. Trina and Dave rock . Super friendly and truly care about their customers , never a problem with any returns and there super quick . Worth my 20 minute drive to come here . I've even gotten My whole family to start coming here with them for years now. We're always referring new family and friends to them each year because we want what best for them and that is a better tax choice . read more

We have gone to Jeannie at Better Choice for three years. We referred several family and friends the first year and all of them found other services after the first year. I just kept thinking that Jeanne's skills would overcome the very poor customer service. This is a family business and what you will find is babies, a lot of shouting, a lot of disrespect for the customer and a whole lot of unpreparedness. We went somewhere else this year as I frankly just did not need the aggravation and the price was too high ( that is blamed on the new computer programs and government regs every year). On the positive side, we always received our refunds timely through direct deposit. read more

Went there for a handful of years due to what I thought were complicated taxes. Stopped going there after multiple incidents of not returning phone calls when my returns required more info from the IRS. When I started doing my own taxes with turbo tax and being 100% honest while completing them, my return nearly doubled compared to what Jennie got me. Plus turbo tax was much much cheaper! They are NOT the better choice. read more

We have been doing our taxes with A Better Choice for the past 10 years and have never had any problems. It was always efficient, professional and as painless as taxes can be. I highly recommend them to all my friends and family. read more

family member had taxes done here and now got a letter from irs saying she owes when this place said she got a refund ... re-checked taxes, they omitted stuff and put wrong information as well ... went to someone else and she got a refund for last years but now its being held up because of these people making a mistake ... new tax person is re-doing taxes ... so she has to double pay now to get her taxes fixed .... and i will have to have my taxes re-checked again as well to see what other mistakes were made on mine -- as the irs did catch some and let me know and fixed those .... do NOT recommend this place! :-( read more

Overpriced. You can pay almost the same price by going to better and well known company. Please don't go to this office