I have opted for IBSN services this time, and am having the worst nightmares of my life. Initial response had been worst as they dont understand english, later on after repeated calls/emails, no response.I had called atleast 20-30 times in a day.10-15 emails, but still no one seems to bother about the issue once the money is paid.I was told that they would apply for an extension as I have to get ITIN applied for my spouse. Till now I do not have an update if the extension has been filed and its already 19th April now. I have no idea what I should be doing and finding myselves in a very helpless situation. Pls guide me if anyone has been through this situation. thanks in advance!!

Reproducing the text of an email sent to Laxmi Palaypu's email address:

==============
Dear Laxmi 4/16/2011
It is after an excruciatingly frustrating experience with your company that I am writing to you. My file # R11599

So far I have been charged 600 dollars and my taxes have not yet been filed! I have a question on my pdf which I need to get answered before I can approve. I have sent more than 4 emails and left AT LEAST 10 voicemails in the past 4 days and no one has responded to me.

I have been your client for more than 10 years and am thoroughly disgusted with the way I am being treated.

PLEASE PLEASE HELP. PlEASe.

A tale of how to lose a customer -
I have been using IBSN for filing my tax returns for last couple of years. Last year there were several mistakes in my tax return, which when i pointed out was attributed to a problem with software. I wanted to give IBSN one more chance and i am wondering why did i ever made this decision. It has been a case of poor customer service becoming worse. First my tax returns were only prepared based on W-2 when i had informed that i have interest income, rental income and capital gains from stock & real estate. It took me umpteen number of phone calls to get IBSN understand that these additional sources of income need to be considered. Then i received the notice that my tax return is complete and i need to make payment before i can see the 'PDF' file (draft tax return). When i checked the file, again capital gains from real estate was excluded and investment in traditional IRA was missed. After almost 15 calls, i was able to speak to someone in India and then i was told that person who worked on my file is on leave and nobody is working on my file. Given that i have been telling IBSN that i'll not be available from April 11th till April 20th, i am facing the prospect of missing tax filing deadline. What makes this experience worse is that guys rarely answer the phone at the phone numbers listed on IBSN's website and the responses to emails are not timely and meaningless. To give you an example, i have received responses like "i hope your problem is solved now". I came to this board earlier and saw Mr Palaypu's response and in fact i even sent an email to him but i am yet to receive a response from him. After this horrendous experience, i am definitely not going to use IBSN anymore and i recommend that you should avoid it too.

Do not ever go for your tax filing with IBSN.. They give you hundreds of calls before you make the payment and once you amke the payment will not respond to your calls or messages..
You will end up filing your tax return after due date and with penalties.. They also do not file it properly and my file got rejected 3 times.

They do not even know the reason for rejection though I have been asking for it.. ALL tax consultants in IBSN are fake and do not have any idea on tax filing.. Better you save your money and fiel it through some other trusted means..

I received the worst ever customer care from IBSN. I had to teach IBSN folks about the difference between regular tax filing (1040) and amendment filing (1040X). Though they have 10 different contact numbers and 5 mail ids for support, I never received response from any of them. If you are lucky enough to get hold of a folk on line, he will hung up that he will get back but they wont.
I have pasted my last mail communication to one of their senior official as escalation after months of follow-ups but even he turns out to be a dumb. Finally I had to call bank to dispute the transaction and get the money refunded back.
They are the WORST in customer care. I never recommend to any one and also I told my friends that I referred to hold off. I also attached the screenshot which shows the status that got stuck on 2/21 and no updates thereafter.

Mon, March 14, 2011 6:07:10 PM
Re: Unhappy customer - Need Refund of Fees - TC10767

From:
Karthick Nethaji <[email protected]>
View Contact
To: [email protected]

Wow, what an awesome customer care! Even after few escalations, there is no response. A perfect example to post for 'IBSN reviews' over the web.

I will make my own efforts to get my money back.

Thanks,
Karthick


From: Karthick Nethaji <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Fri, March 11, 2011 7:28:20 PM
Subject: Unhappy customer - Need Refund of Fees - TC10767

Hi Ramesh,

I am writing this mail to you after weeks of follow-ups for an update of my amendment. The customer care is very worse as they are not reachable most of the times and if reachable, they are not able to answer any of the questions. None of the mails sent to mail ids mentioned in 'contact us' are answered.

I have been dealing with Francis, Silambarasan, Rajan over the weeks and they just provide false hopes and nothing else. I also spoke with Deepak (who seems to be a Manager) but he also disappeared after the promise.

I also need to instruct and teach IBSN folks that the amendment is different from regular tax returns. And every time, I need to explain my problem to a different folk that answered the call and finally ending up in vain.

At this moment, I don't want to file with IBSN and I want my money (340$) refunded that I paid as part of tax summary fees on 2/18.

PS: If you would be interested to know the background of the issue, I have listed the summary in the attachment. Also, if I don't hear back for this mail as well, then I will not call IBSN any more, instead I will call the bank to launch a complaint to get the refund.

Please check and let me know.

Thanks,
Karthick