I used Desert Tax Service for almost 15 years, from when they were associated with Jackson Hewitt,…read moreand always received good service, mostly because my taxes were done by Conrad Moss, Bob Bradach's main employee. He was always conscientious, reliable and friendly. Then last year, both he and Paula were fired or quit (not sure what happened), and Bob took over all the tax returns himself.
I took my taxes in at the end of March and he told me he couldn't complete all of them in time, so he'd file an extension. He didn't tell me I'd have to pay for that, or even that there were some extra costs involved. Then around April 15, he withdrew money from my bank account without telling me.
When I called him about this, he said I had to pay an estimated tax to prevent having a penalty if I owed money to the IRS.
I was already pretty steamed and when he finally finished my taxes in June, and I went in to review them, he'd increased his price by $100 in addition to the fees I was charged for the extension. He said I'd underpaid his company while Conrad was doing my taxes, so he was going to get that money back by charging me more.
He'd already done the taxes, and when he showed me the fees he was charging, it ended up costing me almost $600, even though I am retired and have only a modest income from that, and nothing complicated is involved. I was already convinced to use someone else the next year (this year).
Then, when I contacted my new tax preparer and looked for last year's return, it had been accidentally put in the stack of returns I was discarding. So, I had to call Bob and ask for a copy of last year's tax return. Remember, I had been his customer for almost 15 years.
He said, he'd be glad to do that, for $15 a page. My return was 59 pages. He said he could email the returns to me for only $75. Only. I had to have it to take to the new preparer, but I felt Bob was just soaking me for more money. I mean, all he had to do was attach the file to an email. He could have done that as a courtesy for a 15 year customer, but no.
I would NOT recommend Desert Tax Service or Bob Bradach to do any tax returns. He is arrogant, overcharges and tries to convince you everything he does that he charges extra for is YOUR fault, even if it's clearly his.
He may not be doing anything exactly illegal, but it is, at least in my view, unethical.
I would give NO STARS if that were available.
