The district manager called me today, just as he said he would. He had someone look over my taxes again, and he looked over the bill. He is mailing me a check for $150 because he found something that they really only needed to charge me for once.
I'm glad to be getting something back. It makes the whole frustrating experience of calling to complain feel like it was worth my time. He told me that he really wanted our business in the future, and that I could call him to recommend an experienced tax professional next year. I hate to disappoint him, especially after he was the only person that I talked to who didn't treat me like crap, but I have a feeling we're going to be doing our own taxes in the future.
Author, editor, hiker.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Tax Update
I got a call from H&R Block today. The woman on the phone said that my story didn't match the one she got from the office where they did my taxes, and insinuated that I was lying. Since my taxes looked okay, there was nothing she could do. She did give me the numbers for the district managers.
Apparently, we could have just left without paying after they told us how much they were charging. I did not get that impression at all. I talked to the district manager, told him my story, got pretty damn upset, and he told me he'd look into it and get back to me by next Tuesday.
The whole thing makes me want to scream, cry, and hit things. I like being called a liar even less than I like being pushed around and taken advantage of.
Apparently, we could have just left without paying after they told us how much they were charging. I did not get that impression at all. I talked to the district manager, told him my story, got pretty damn upset, and he told me he'd look into it and get back to me by next Tuesday.
The whole thing makes me want to scream, cry, and hit things. I like being called a liar even less than I like being pushed around and taken advantage of.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The Taxes
I just got off the phone from filing my first official complaint about anything ever.
Paul and I made an appointment at H&R Block last night. The woman we requested had over 30 years experience and looked like she'd be able to handle the complications of me being an independent contractor and the stuff from the trust.
When we got there, they told us that she didn't even work there anymore. The guy we ended up with was painfully incompetent. He seemed nice enough, which is probably why we didn't complain last night. We spent more time helping him find the right places to enter things than he spent entering things. Eventually he called his supervisor over, and while she was better, I still had to point various mistakes out multiple times to get her to fix them. Then, she preformed their much advertised "second look" in about 90 seconds. (Can it even count as a second look if she'd filled out half of the forms?)
Eventually we were done.
And then they told us we owed them $500.
The supervisor must have seen the shocked looks on our faces, so she offered us a $15 coupon. I'd like to mention here that they didn't warn us that our return was going to cost us almost more than our taxes until they pulled up the total. We were totally blindsided. I almost wanted to cry.
Still in shock, we paid them and went home.
Today, I called to complain. Their website doesn't have anything remotely like a feedback area, so I had to phone their customer service line, which also didn't have an option for feedback. I had to wait after the computer voice asked me where I wanted to make my appointment four times before I was put on hold to talk to someone. Then, when I said I'd like to file a complaint, they hung up on me. I tried again, and this time actually talked to someone and got a reference number to track my grievance.
I did actually use the phrase "I felt like we were serviced by two incompetents, then charged $500 for the privilege."
My biggest issue is that they didn't give us any indication of how expensive it would be. If they'd told us, we would have walked out right then and figured out the taxes ourselves, and I'd be fine with that. Watching them do it made me pretty confident that we could have done them since we practically WERE doing them.
Last night, I felt stupid and ashamed of myself about the whole thing. Today, I feel angry. I'm hoping that they follow through, call me back, and refund at least a portion of the money we paid them. But who knows what will happen.
Paul and I made an appointment at H&R Block last night. The woman we requested had over 30 years experience and looked like she'd be able to handle the complications of me being an independent contractor and the stuff from the trust.
When we got there, they told us that she didn't even work there anymore. The guy we ended up with was painfully incompetent. He seemed nice enough, which is probably why we didn't complain last night. We spent more time helping him find the right places to enter things than he spent entering things. Eventually he called his supervisor over, and while she was better, I still had to point various mistakes out multiple times to get her to fix them. Then, she preformed their much advertised "second look" in about 90 seconds. (Can it even count as a second look if she'd filled out half of the forms?)
Eventually we were done.
And then they told us we owed them $500.
The supervisor must have seen the shocked looks on our faces, so she offered us a $15 coupon. I'd like to mention here that they didn't warn us that our return was going to cost us almost more than our taxes until they pulled up the total. We were totally blindsided. I almost wanted to cry.
Still in shock, we paid them and went home.
Today, I called to complain. Their website doesn't have anything remotely like a feedback area, so I had to phone their customer service line, which also didn't have an option for feedback. I had to wait after the computer voice asked me where I wanted to make my appointment four times before I was put on hold to talk to someone. Then, when I said I'd like to file a complaint, they hung up on me. I tried again, and this time actually talked to someone and got a reference number to track my grievance.
I did actually use the phrase "I felt like we were serviced by two incompetents, then charged $500 for the privilege."
My biggest issue is that they didn't give us any indication of how expensive it would be. If they'd told us, we would have walked out right then and figured out the taxes ourselves, and I'd be fine with that. Watching them do it made me pretty confident that we could have done them since we practically WERE doing them.
Last night, I felt stupid and ashamed of myself about the whole thing. Today, I feel angry. I'm hoping that they follow through, call me back, and refund at least a portion of the money we paid them. But who knows what will happen.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Going to Gen Con!
Paul and I have been really worried about paying for a Gen Con hotel. I couldn't find a good deal, and we're really poor right now.
But William Shatner has proven once again that he is a god among men. Priceline finally came through for us, and I got us a hotel about a mile away from the convention center for $56.00 a night.
I'm super excited. I wasn't letting myself get excited before because I really didn't think we'd be able to go... but now we can! The hotel will end up costing us less than $200 because our friend Ben is coming with us and helping pay toward the room.
We're running games at the convention again, so we don't have to pay for badges. I need to start planning my games. I'm running two games of Best Friends, a GURPS game inspired by John Wayne westerns, and I don't even remember the fourth game because I wasn't letting myself think about it. Paul will have to remind me so I can plan for it. I'm not sure what all he's running either. He's doing mostly super hero games, I think.
So excited!
But William Shatner has proven once again that he is a god among men. Priceline finally came through for us, and I got us a hotel about a mile away from the convention center for $56.00 a night.
I'm super excited. I wasn't letting myself get excited before because I really didn't think we'd be able to go... but now we can! The hotel will end up costing us less than $200 because our friend Ben is coming with us and helping pay toward the room.
We're running games at the convention again, so we don't have to pay for badges. I need to start planning my games. I'm running two games of Best Friends, a GURPS game inspired by John Wayne westerns, and I don't even remember the fourth game because I wasn't letting myself think about it. Paul will have to remind me so I can plan for it. I'm not sure what all he's running either. He's doing mostly super hero games, I think.
So excited!
Monday, March 02, 2009
My eyes hurt.
Because the movie My Girl makes me cry. It's a very well done movie. I haven't seen it in a long time, and Paul and I just watched in from our instant Netflix queue.
My brother Matt came to visit yesterday. We had a nice time. Went out for Thai food and played some xbox. Drank tea.
Today, it was freezing at work, so I got my blanket. I've had it there for a few weeks now. I was worried that someone might say something at first, but everyone seemed okay with it, till this morning. My boss came over to me to tell me that my blanket was unprofessional and if I was cold I should wear long johns.
I think they should turn the fucking heat up. But I didn't tell him that. I just smiled and nodded and folded my blanket up. And froze my fucking ass off for the rest of the day. I was really pissed. I'm still pretty pissed about it. I can see where he's coming from--like I said, I was worried about it at first. But the way he went about it wasn't cool. He was smiling in my face and pretending to be nice while actually treating me like shit and saying some pretty mean things. Ugh. Then, later, he wanted me to come to his office to "meet his sister-in-law." That's code for "come give my sister-in-law a massage, bitch," but overlaid with all kinds of fake nice. He always asks me if I have time to do a massage. I feel like it's some sort of test or trap every time he does that. I'm paid to be there to do massage. It's WHY I'M FUCKING THERE. I never don't have time. It's not an inconvenience. It's my fucking job.
While I'm ranting, I want to mention that there's exactly one person that I work with there who treats me like an actual human being. I do appreciate that at least one person does. I'm trying to get to the point where I'm okay with the fact that none of the people I work with are going to become actual friends. It's sort of a relief to stop caring about it--to just treat them like they treat me and not give a fuck what they think.
Also, it pisses me off when people ask if I had training. Of course I had fucking training. There's a fucking diploma on the fucking wall. I have over 1000 hours of training. Some days, I'd like to print out a little list of things for people to read so I don't have to answer the same stupid questions. "Yes, I went to school." "Yes, I can feel how tight your shoulders are." (How could I not?? My sense of touch works. My hands are not numb. Ugh.) "No, you're not the most tense person I've ever worked on." "Actually, most people are pretty stressed." "No, no one has actually fallen asleep in the chair." "Yes, massage is relaxing."
O_o
I know, I know. There's a lot of great things about my job. I'm done at 12:30 (but that good is, I feel, more than balanced out by bad of having to be there at 7:30) and I can sit and read if there's no one to massage. I usually get to watch Ellen. Some of the clients are nice. Sometimes people tip. I'm not quitting anytime soon. But sometimes the place drives me nuts.
Also, note to self--never give out blog info to coworkers. Don't know how the temptation would ever come up, but just in case.
My brother Matt came to visit yesterday. We had a nice time. Went out for Thai food and played some xbox. Drank tea.
Today, it was freezing at work, so I got my blanket. I've had it there for a few weeks now. I was worried that someone might say something at first, but everyone seemed okay with it, till this morning. My boss came over to me to tell me that my blanket was unprofessional and if I was cold I should wear long johns.
I think they should turn the fucking heat up. But I didn't tell him that. I just smiled and nodded and folded my blanket up. And froze my fucking ass off for the rest of the day. I was really pissed. I'm still pretty pissed about it. I can see where he's coming from--like I said, I was worried about it at first. But the way he went about it wasn't cool. He was smiling in my face and pretending to be nice while actually treating me like shit and saying some pretty mean things. Ugh. Then, later, he wanted me to come to his office to "meet his sister-in-law." That's code for "come give my sister-in-law a massage, bitch," but overlaid with all kinds of fake nice. He always asks me if I have time to do a massage. I feel like it's some sort of test or trap every time he does that. I'm paid to be there to do massage. It's WHY I'M FUCKING THERE. I never don't have time. It's not an inconvenience. It's my fucking job.
While I'm ranting, I want to mention that there's exactly one person that I work with there who treats me like an actual human being. I do appreciate that at least one person does. I'm trying to get to the point where I'm okay with the fact that none of the people I work with are going to become actual friends. It's sort of a relief to stop caring about it--to just treat them like they treat me and not give a fuck what they think.
Also, it pisses me off when people ask if I had training. Of course I had fucking training. There's a fucking diploma on the fucking wall. I have over 1000 hours of training. Some days, I'd like to print out a little list of things for people to read so I don't have to answer the same stupid questions. "Yes, I went to school." "Yes, I can feel how tight your shoulders are." (How could I not?? My sense of touch works. My hands are not numb. Ugh.) "No, you're not the most tense person I've ever worked on." "Actually, most people are pretty stressed." "No, no one has actually fallen asleep in the chair." "Yes, massage is relaxing."
O_o
I know, I know. There's a lot of great things about my job. I'm done at 12:30 (but that good is, I feel, more than balanced out by bad of having to be there at 7:30) and I can sit and read if there's no one to massage. I usually get to watch Ellen. Some of the clients are nice. Sometimes people tip. I'm not quitting anytime soon. But sometimes the place drives me nuts.
Also, note to self--never give out blog info to coworkers. Don't know how the temptation would ever come up, but just in case.
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