H&R Block

Just finished cleaning up the mess made by our paid tax preparer (Pitta Reddy). Mr Reddy forgot to include documentation of income on our tax return. We received a friendly notification from the federal government that our tax information was incorrect and we owed over $ 800 right before Christmas (nice present, eh?). I had to take time off of work to go back to H & R to find out what the problem was. I was greeted with accusations that it was somehow my fault that the tax preparer forgot to include the necessary documentation. I was given dozens of pages of documentation that I had to complete again and given the addresses of the government agencies that I needed to send these corrections to (shouldn’t that be their job since it was their screw up in the first place?)
After hearing many times in commercials about how H & R will guarantee customer satisfaction and cover and costs caused by a mistake they made, I was unpleasantly surprised to find out that they will only refund you the money caused by their mistake if you purchase «Peace of Mind Insurance.» Having to buy insurance to protect yourself from their incompetence? How ridiculous! Imagine if other industries behaved like this? spend $ 500 on an incorrect prescription from your doctor? Too bad, you didn’t purchase our incompetence insurance. Get food poisoning from a hamburger at the local restaurant and have a $ 2000 hospital bill? Oh well, you didn’t pony up the money for our screw up insurance.
I thought H & R Block was a respectable company but I will be doing my taxes elsewhere in the future. I’d gladly pay extra for the «peace of mind» of working with competent professionals who do my taxes right the first time.