Ripoff Report Needs Your Help!
X  |  CLOSE
Report: #623122

Complaint Review: Amscot , amscot Tax Services - tampa Florida

  • Submitted:
  • Updated:
  • Reported By: Slighted2 — Tampa Florida United States of America
  • Author Not Confirmed What's this?
  • Why?
  • Amscot , amscot Tax Services tampa, Florida United States of America

Show customers why they should trust your business over your competitors...

Is this
Report about YOU
listed on other sites?
Those sites steal
Ripoff Report's
content.
We can get those
removed for you!
Find out more here.
How to fix
Ripoff Report
If your business is
willing to make a
commitment to
customer satisfaction
Click here now..

Sometime this year, 2010, I went to one of Amscot's Job Fairs.  I was very excited because the advertisement on television and on the internet for prospective employees were not only enticing but seemed like Amscot would have been a great place to work.  I went to the job fair on the day that was advertised and I interviewed with a man named Matt.  Matt appeared to not know what he was doing, had me waiting for quite sometime while he doodled away on a laptop in the back then he disappeared somewhere for another few minutes.  When he finally came back to the interview area, I sat with him and went over my online application which I filled out there on their computer.  He asked a lot of questions pertaining to my employment background, education etc, all of which were already on the printed online application I filled out.  He came across as senseless and insensitive while talking to me.  As the time ticked away and with the barrage of questions he came to the question of confirming what I had put on the application form which was time off requested for the end of the year.  He asked if I needed time off and I said yes.  Prior interviews I've been on, I never had a problem being honest by letting the prospective employers know I already had plans and needed some time off.  If it wasn't feasible for the prospective employers they would say so right there and then in the interview.  This senseless man Matt, did not elaborate on the time off I was requesting so to me it was not an issue.  So, finally the interview came to an end after about 25 minutes of teeth grinding with Matt.  He told me Amscot will do a background check, employer verification and whatever else they do and I should expect a call back the next before 6 p.m. if they considered hiring me.  I did not get a call back by 6 p.m. the next day so I decided to call the following day.  Amazingly, someone from HR/corporate picked up the phone, her name was Lisa.  I asked her for status of my application, she checked then came back to the phone and said unfortunately my application did not "move forward" those were her words.  So, I asked what does "move forward" mean she said I was not considered.  I asked her why she said because I requested time off.  So, I told her during the interview with Matt, he did not mention that it would have been a problem. She said he should have and I told her he didn't.  Bottomline, I wanted the job so I asked her if I unrequested the time off if that would change things in the direction of reconsidering me for hire.  She said it should.  She made a note on my application, told me she would resubmit it and I should hear from Amscot within 2 business days by the magic time - 6 p.m.  To my amazement, Matt, called me by the magic time 6 p.m. the following day.  I had a second interview with him.  I got to the AMCSOT location and of course he had me waiting again although the interview was a set time.  15 minutes went by after getting there before my scheduled interview time. I had no choice but to wait until he took his time and finally called me to his desk.  Mind you all this time waiting, I noticed with the nasty thunderstorm we were having that day, rain was pouring in through a crack and electrical gadgets on the floor was getting drenched.  To me that was negligence on AMSCOT's part because that is a security hazard which could have gone bad.  AMSCOT was aware of the rain leaking in because they had plastic covering the electrical components on the floor.  For such a "so called" big company they could have secured the area properly.By not doing so, their innocent customers and even AMSCOT's workers are at risk due to an electrical circuit malfunctioning.  Ok, back to my callback interview with Matt, another teeth grinding experience.  He told me the background check came back and all was good then asked me if I had called corporate and gotten everything straightened out.  Can you imagine that stupid question?  Had it not been for his inefficiency I wouldn't have to had called corporate to straighten out the issue of the time off.  That was his job to elaborate on the pertinent points during my interview. I wanted to tell him that but of course I couldn't - hey I wanted the job !!!! Then he elaborated on how great AMSCOT is, blah, blah, blah and how they promote easily and if I aspire to be a supervisor that can come easily and an added plus is if I had supervisory experience blah, blah, blah.  So I told him I had supervisory experience, of course he looked shocked and lost when I told him that.  Mind you he had my resume in front of him which clearly stated that as well as my online application. So the interview ended and I was waiting for the last callback to secure the position.  He called me back the same day in the afternoon and left a voicemail to contact him.I called back but got his voicemail so I left a message that I was returning his call. He called me about 9 a.m. the following day to say I got the job and wanted me to meet with him in another one of Amscot's locations to arrange for a drug test which I did.  I signed some final paperwork and he told me the training started the following Monday. This meeting with Matt was on a Friday.  So here it is I have a piece of paper outlining the dress code and other pertinent details for the training session which would have lasted a week.  Monday morning came and I showed up at the training session in a blue shirt as they stipulated.  I got called out by Lisa telling me the shirt wasn't appropriate  because it wasn't long sleeve which she said was the stipulation.  I told her the list of things in the stipulation Matt gave to me said long sleeve shirt but nothing about how long and what was not acceptable.  She said it was there, so I pulled out the sheet and showed her, she looked at it then said "well it's in the handbook".  I told her I didn't have a handbook so I don't know what she was talking about.  The shirt I was wearing had sleeves which were about an inch or two above the wrist.  In their stipulation they said long sleeve shirts should be worn - nothing about the non-acceptance of an inch or two above the wrist, actually nothing defining exactly how many inches above the wrist that would be unacceptable.  The other thing was, I was a few minutes late and I had a valid reason why.  So, after filling out a gazillion paperwork, then giving it to an Amscot gentleman in the training room, the video was ready to be started for us the trainees to watch.  About 3 minutes into the video when they dimmed the lights, Lisa came back and got me.  She told me to follow her.  I did.  She closed the door behind me then I was met by another woman who looked like she came straight from hell - no apologies for the description, that was my honest opinion of her when I first saw her.  So she didn't give me a chance to explain myself just told me my whole performance was unacceptable and my recruiter (Matt) stated to let me "go".  I asked what performance was she talking about then she said I was late and I wasn't properly clad meaning the length of the sleeves.  I tried to explain myself and she wouldn't listen and told me to clock out and leave the building. Lisa chimed in that I was lieing that I wasn't told about the dress policy.  I tried to explain myself that I was lieing, it was not properly outlined in the sheet I was given. Regardless, their minds were already made up.  The other woman (not Lisa) asked another gentleman to escort me out while Lisa who was just standing there went and retrieved my personal property - pocketbook etc from the training room where the video was still showing.  I felt so violated and felt like their action was quite drastic, especially for the first day of training.  Isn't that what training should be about? Coaching prospective workers?  I guess not. AMSCOT is almighty and it is AMSCOT'S way or the highway. It is what it is !!!! I felt like a criminal being ushered out or like cattle being herded out.


In the end, I am glad I didn't get the job because if AMSCOT's personnel can act so unprofessional, uncouth, insensitive, misleading, and most of all employing recruiters like Matt who are the forefront for AMSCOT who cannot conduct a simple interview correctly, that says a lot about AMSCOT'S reputation and what an unpleasant working experience an employee would undergo when working with them.  If AMSCOT is so frightfully rigid at the first day of training, I would shudder to imagine the uncomfortable work experience I would have had had I gotten the job.

Lastly, I honestly, don't like to see the world in just "black and white" but I noticed at the job fair there were several minorities there trying to seek employment but in the training class I attended there were the "prized" 2 minorities AMSCOT chose as prospective employees.  That left me thinking ???????

All in all the experience of seeking employment with AMSCOT was very unpleasant.  I felt like I had to fight for that spot without any help from the recruiter Matt who I will reiterate to be someone who seemed as if he didn't really care.  The end result being herded off AMSCOT's premises left such a pungent taste in my work life that I would not wish this experience on anyone after me seeking employment with this so-called "great company" as they advertise to be. 

Stay away from AMSCOT if you can, the job is not "all that" and the employees look so bored each time I visit one of their locations.

Keep striving for the best AMSCOT, you'll get there one day.  No hard feelings at all, just slighted.  I'm very resilient, so AMSCOT is erased from my CPU !!!!!

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 07/14/2010 11:56 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/amscot-amscot-tax-services/tampa-florida-/amscot-amscot-tax-services-misleading-appears-to-be-professional-they-are-not-long-623122. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

Search for additional reports

If you would like to see more Rip-off Reports on this company/individual, search here:

Report & Rebuttal
Respond to this report!
What's this?
Also a victim?
What's this?
Repair Your Reputation!
What's this?

Updates & Rebuttals

REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
1Author
2Consumer
0Employee/Owner

#3 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Amscot training procedures

AUTHOR: marvin - (United States of America)

POSTED: Thursday, March 15, 2012

I had a very similar experience with Amscot training.

I already had a new job and Amscot offered me one at a 25% higher salary, so I was excited. My wife is pregnant, so a raise like that would come in very handy. I also interviewed with Matt and he actually saw me in a decent amount of time. I talked with him for a short while and he asked me if I owned my vehicle. I stated yes we did (my wife and I). He asked if I rely on anyone else to get to work I told him "no". I told him that I have a job overnight and would like to keep working there as well. He told me I needed to quit it because I had to have an "open availability".

It seemed to go well and he said he'd get back with me if they chose me. The next day he called. He said Amscot wants to go ahead and hire me. He emailed me the paperwork and we went over it. We wondered if I should quit my steady job for this, and decided to go for it. There's no room to stand still when an opportunity arrives, or so we thought.

My wife pointed out that there's a thirty percent failure rate in training. I saw that the paperwork also said as long as I pass the quizzes and final test, I would move on to week two (at a branch). I told my wife that I'm great with numbers and shouldn't have a problem.

She agreed and I called back Matt and told him I'll take the job. He told me to do the drug test and follow the instructions on the paperwork.

I went to training in Tampa (over 40 miles from my house) on a Monday. I was so excited about doing all the modules, I was finishing one while the trainer, misty, was speaking (so were two other trainees). She said how rude it is was to do modules while she was talking, even though she also said we need to multitask earlier in training!

After class I apologized for doing the module while she was talking and would not do it again.

The next day we watched a video. She dimmed the lights and it ran for about an hour. Because I had a job that was graveyard shift, it was hard for me to keep my eyes open for the video at the end because that was the normal time I would be sleeping. This happened twice more during long videos.

Throughout the week I took all the quizzes and passed them all. All this time, the Russian girl that was also in the class was having a hard time with them (probably since her first launguage is not English). They repeatidly took her to the back and coached her. They eventually gave her the modules to do on paper to help her.

They hired someone for IT and he was doing a little better on quizzes than I was.

On Thursday, misty pulled aside one of the people after class. She was gone from training. She also pulled me aside. She expressed that they were unhappy with me dozing off during videos. I told her I'm sorry, I was recently working overnights and had to adjust to staying awake during the daytime. She also said that I was leaving as soon as 4pm rolled around. I told her that I had to pick my wife up. She didn't like that. She said that Matt told me I needed to be the only one to use my car. I told her Matt only asked me if we had a car and if I can get to work without relying ob anyone. I told her I took that question as "can you get to work no matter what?"

I told her I will be sure to use the car to get to and from work, and I'll have my pregnant wife use the bus (since I already screwed myself out of my old job). She said she'll have to speak to "HR" about it and let me know.

The next day was the day of the final. Before class I asked her what the answer was and she said she didn't know yet. Later, i noticed a result of the class' performance in the break room. I had a 1.95 (2.0 is meeting expectations). IT trainee had 2.01 (I believe). He three remaining females all had 2.17! How did all of them score the same exact odd number?! I smelled a rat.

The day went normally. I took the final and finished before anyone else (I don't believe in stretching things out if I know the subject matter) and passed with a 95. She saw this. She went to the IT trainee and said "excellent" when he scored a 96. I knew it was bad news for me. I filled out all the paperwork, seemingly finalizing my training when she pulled me aside again.

She told me that "HR" decided to let me go. They were unhappy with my performance. I asked her "Even though I passed all the quizzes and final with no problem?" She said it didn't matter. She gathered my things and I asked her, "Remember yesterday when you pulled me aside and questioned my devotion at the end?" She said yes. "I drive over 80 miles round trip to get here, if that's not devotion.... I don't know what is."

Respond to this report!
What's this?

#2 Consumer Suggestion

Helpful Hints for future job requests

AUTHOR: lnj4ever - (United States of America)

POSTED: Saturday, May 07, 2011

While I do not work for Amscot and/or was not present during any of your interactions, I can deduce from your post that it felt like you had a sense of entitlement. While I realize you may disagree, I ask that you please look at your post and read it objectively (similar to the way you were interviewed). When you are asking a company to hire you, it is just that. You are asking someone to pay you to work for them. You are asking them to trust you to represent their brand/service and to interact with their customers in a positive way as well as work well with the other employee's. When you first interview for a job, while it is honorable to be honest, telling your prospective employer you cannot work during the winter holiday, despite no seniority and wanting to have the employees who have already been working and likely have worked previous holidays as they were the "new guys/gals" then, is a bit unfair. I realize you felt it was not an issue, but obviously it was as this was the reason you did not initially get the job. You then state when you met with "Matt", he asked you everything you had already reported in your resume and online. As you noted, "Matt" was interviewing many potential candidates, as he was at a Job Fair (the first time). Also, the interview is used to deduce how you will respond to customers, how you carry yourself, and how you interact with fellow employees. It is hard to understand while you felt this was inappropriate, that you future employer wanted to hear in your own words, what makes you a good fit for the company. You then noted on your second interview that you had to wait 15 minutes to be seen for your second interview (the one given to you after your called the HR rep and state you no longer must have the holiday time off). "Matt" felt that you were good enough to spend more of his time to sit with you again, despite the initial rejection. Waiting 15 minutes is really not rare, and in the future, patience would serve you well, as even if you did not voice your frustration, I am sure your body language might have given him some clues. Again, despite all of this, he still hired you. Finally on the first day of work, after being told to wear a long sleeve blue shirt, you choose for your first impression to show up late and to wear a 3/4 sleeve shirt. (I realize you noted you were not told exactly how long a long sleeve shirt is, however common sense would be that a long sleeve shirt is a long sleeve shirt, and anything above the wrist is not a long sleeve shirt, rather would be a sleeve or short sleeve). You then proceeded to argue with your future employer, and instead of just being humble and apologizing for your misunderstanding and tardiness, especially on your first day, you again became frustrated and confrontational (again this is inferred by your own words, as I was not there). Only then were you asked to leave the building. Obviously there was a bit of a confrontation, albeit they contributed, it was there place of business, and you were the guest. Had it been your "home/place of business", I would guess you would have done the same. Finally, your inference that only a few minorities were in the training, I have been to Amscot on multiple occasions and always see a pretty equal distribution of minorities to non minorities. I believe your statement again gives a clue to your attitude and presentation during your interactions with Amscot. It is extremely uncalled for to "play the race card" when clearly you are just using this to boost your point. Please note in these difficult times, with a high unemployment rate, many people would love to have been offered a job like you were, however I would be willing to bet they would have shown their gratitude and would have been much more flexible in their interactions. Please do not take this the wrong way, I believe you feel you are right and are just venting your frustrations, however if you continue to responded to potential employers in the same manner, you will likely receive the same outcome. It is important to step back and look at ourselves, only then can we reflect and learn the error of our ways. Good luck in the future.

Respond to this report!
What's this?

#1 Author of original report

Amscot, Amscot Tax Services, Misleading, Appears to be professional - They are Not, Long drawn out interviews with people asking the same questions, Tampa, Florida

AUTHOR: Slighted2 - (United States of America)

POSTED: Wednesday, July 14, 2010


Sometime this year, 2010, I went to one of Amscot's Job Fairs.  I was very excited because the advertisement on television and on the internet for prospective employees were not only enticing but seemed like Amscot would have been a great place to work.  I went to the job fair on the day that was advertised and I interviewed with a man named Matt.  Matt appeared to not know what he was doing, quite arrogant, had me waiting for quite sometime while he doodled away on a laptop in the back then he disappeared somewhere for another few minutes.  When he finally came back to the interview area, I sat with him and went over my online application which I filled out there on their computer.  He asked a lot of questions pertaining to my employment background, education etc, all of which were already on the printed online application I filled out.  He came across as senseless, arrogant, and insensitive while talking to me.  As the time ticked away and with the barrage of questions he came to the question of confirming what I had put on the application form which was time off requested for the end of the year.  He asked if I needed time off and I said yes.  Prior interviews I've been on, I never had a problem being honest by letting the prospective employers know I already had plans and needed some time off.  If it wasn't feasible for the prospective employers they would say so right there and then in the interview.  This senseless man Matt, did not elaborate on the time off I was requesting so to me it was not an issue.  So, finally the interview came to an end after about 25 minutes of teeth grinding with Matt.  He told me Amscot will do a background check, employer verification and whatever else they do and I should expect a call back the next before 6 p.m. if they considered hiring me.  I did not get a call back by 6 p.m. the next day so I decided to call the following day.  Amazingly, someone from HR/corporate picked up the phone, her name was Lisa.  I asked her for status of my application, she checked then came back to the phone and said unfortunately my application did not "move forward" those were her words.  So, I asked what does "move forward" mean she said I was not considered.  I asked her why she said because I requested time off.  So, I told her during the interview with Matt, he did not mention that it would have been a problem. She said he should have discussed that with me and I told her he didn't.  Bottomline, I wanted the job so I asked her if I unrequested the time off if that would change things in the direction of reconsidering me for hire.  She said it should. She made a note on my application, told me she would resubmit it and I should hear from Amscot within 2 business days by the magic time - 6 p.m.  To my amazement, Matt, called me by the magic time 6 p.m. the following day.

I had a second interview with Matt.  I got to the AMCSOT location and of course he had me waiting again although the interview was a set time.  15 minutes went by after getting there before my scheduled interview time. I had no choice but to wait until he took his sweet time and finally called me to his desk.  Mind you all this time waiting, I noticed with the nasty thunderstorm we were having that day, rain was pouring in through a crack and electrical gadgets on the floor were getting drenched.  To me that was negligence on AMSCOT's part because that is a security hazard which could have gone bad.  AMSCOT was aware of the rain leaking in because they had plastic covering the electrical components on the floor.  For such a "so called" big company they could have secured the area properly. By not doing so, their innocent customers and even AMSCOT's workers were at risk due to an electrical circuit malfunctioning.

Ok, back to my callback interview with Matt, another teeth grinding experience.  He told me the background check came back and all was good then asked me if I had called corporate and gotten everything straightened out.  Can you imagine that stupid question?  Had it not been for his inefficiency I wouldn't have to had call corporate to straighten out the issue of the time off.  That was his job to elaborate on the pertinent points during my interview. I wanted to tell him that but of course I couldn't - hey I wanted the job !!!! Then he elaborated on how great AMSCOT is, blah, blah, blah and how they promote easily and if I aspire to be a supervisor that can come easily and an added plus is if I had supervisory experience blah, blah, blah.  So I told him I had supervisory experience, of course he looked shocked and lost when I told him that.  Mind you he had my resume in front of him which clearly stated that as well as my online application stated that I had supervisory experience. So the interview ended and I was waiting for the last callback to secure the position.

Matt called me back the same day in the afternoon and left a voicemail to contact him.  I called back but got his voicemail so I left a message that I was returning his call. He called me about 9 a.m. the following day to say I got the job and wanted me to meet with him in another one of Amscot's locations to arrange for a drug test which I did.  I signed some final paperwork and he told me the training started the following Monday. This meeting with Matt was on a Friday.  So here it is I have a piece of paper outlining the dress code and other so called pertinent details for the training session which would have lasted a week.  Monday morning came and I showed up at the training session in a blue shirt as they stipulated.  I got called out by Lisa telling me the shirt wasn't appropriate  because it wasn't long sleeve which she said was the stipulation.  I told her the list of things in the stipulation Matt gave to me said long sleeve shirt but nothing about how long and what was not acceptable.  She said it was there, so I pulled out the sheet and showed her, she looked at it then said "well it's in the handbook".  I told her I didn't have a handbook so I don't know what she was talking about.  The shirt I was wearing had sleeves which were about an inch or two above the wrist.  In their stipulation they said long sleeve shirts should be worn - nothing about the non-acceptance of an inch or two above the wrist, actually nothing defining exactly how many inches above the wrist that would be unacceptable. The other thing was, I was a few minutes late and I had a valid reason why.  I understood the importance of being early and all but as I said I had a valid reason.  So, after filling out a gazillion paperwork, then giving it to an Amscot gentleman in the training room, the video was ready to be started for us the trainees to watch.  About 3 minutes into the video when they dimmed the lights, Lisa came back and got me.  She told me to follow her.  I did.  She closed the door behind me then I was met by another woman who looked like she came straight from hell - no apologies for the description, that was my honest opinion of her when I first saw her.  So she didn't give me a chance to explain myself just told me my whole performance was unacceptable and my recruiter (Matt) stated to let me "go".  I asked what performance was she talking about then she said I was late and I wasn't properly clad meaning the length of the sleeves.  I tried to explain myself and she wouldn't listen and told me to clock out and leave the building. Lisa chimed in that I was lieing that I wasn't told about the dress policy.  I tried to explain myself that I wasn't lieing and that the stipulation was not properly outlined in the sheet I was given. Regardless, their minds were already made up.  The other woman (not Lisa) asked another gentleman to escort me out while Lisa who was just standing there went and retrieved my personal property - pocketbook etc from the training room where the video was still showing.  I felt so violated and felt like their actions were quite drastic, especially for the first day of training.  Isn't that what training should be about? Coaching prospective workers?  I guess not. AMSCOT is almighty and it is AMSCOT'S way or the highway. It is what it is !!!!

I felt like a criminal being ushered out or like cattle being herded out. In the end, I am glad I didn't get the job because if AMSCOT's personnel can act so unprofessional, uncouth, insensitive, misleading, and most of all employing recruiters like Matt who are the forefront for AMSCOT who cannot conduct a simple interview correctly, that says a lot about AMSCOT'S reputation and what an unpleasant working experience an employee would undergo when working with them.  If AMSCOT is so frightfully rigid at the first day of training, I would shudder to imagine the uncomfortable work experience I would have had had I gotten the job.

Lastly, I honestly, don't like to see the world in just "black and white" but I noticed at the job fair there were several minorities there trying to seek employment but in the training class I attended there were the "prized" 2 minorities AMSCOT chose as prospective employees.  That left me thinking ???????

All in all the experience of seeking employment with AMSCOT was very unpleasant.  I felt like I had to fight for that spot without any help from the recruiter Matt who I will reiterate to be someone who seemed as if he didn't really care.  The end result being herded off AMSCOT's premises left such a pungent taste in my work life that I would not wish this experience on anyone after me, anyone seeking employment with this so-called "great company" as they advertise to be should be aware of AMSCOT's rigid, unprofessional, unrealistic, and misleading practices.  Stay away from AMSCOT if you can, the job is not "all that" and the employees look so bored and unhappy each time I visit one of their locations.

Keep striving for the best AMSCOT, you'll get there one day.  No hard feelings at all, just slighted.  I'm very resilient, so AMSCOT is erased now from my CPU !!!!!
Respond to this report!
What's this?
Featured Reports

Advertisers above have met our
strict standards for business conduct.

X
What do hackers,
questionable attorneys and
fake court orders have in common?
...Dishonest Reputation Management Investigates Reputation Repair
Free speech rights compromised

WATCH News
Segment Now