H&R BLOCK BLOCK Tax Academy A true ripoff,H&R Block collects a materials fee for a course that is truly worthless. Hagerstown Maryland

A warning to all consumers considering the H&R Block Tax "Academy", don't. I had seen this so-called "academy advertised in the past and this year I decided to take the bait. I signed up for the course and paid the $149 registration fee. H&R Block states that the course itself if free and that the $149 fee covers the electronic materials used within the course. It stands to reason that they would say the course is free, such a disclaimer gives them some protection against having to issue refunds for a course that is truly a farce, it's worthless. I hold a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting, graduated Summa c*m Laude and at the top of my class. The latter in mind, when I say that H&R Blocks tax course is worthless, take my word for it, my free advice will save you $149.

On the first night of class I arrived on time at the scheduled location, a local Block branch office. The class was held in the back room, a very sizable room that had rows of tables that held approxmately thirty or more desktop PC's. All looked well at first glance but I was quickly told to sit at a PC marked as "working" , only six or seven of them were working on that first night class. Luckily, as the class started we only had a mere 4 students meaning the lack of computers would not be an issue. The second night of class, we were down to about five working comuters, two more had decided to stop working. On or about the fourth or fifth night of class, still only five computers and down to three students, one decided to leave. The student who left was very wise as the course was already a clear waste of time and money. 

The course instructor, nice guy and a IRS Enrolled Agent advised us that he was taking a short leave of absence and we would have a substitute instructor for two of the scheduled classes. The substitute also a nice guy and enrolled agent was handed the clasroom from hell. On his first night, again only five of the thirty plus computers available were usable, the overhead projectors had also decided to stop working. The susbstitute decided to wing it, not knowing what to do he simply picked three fairly lengthy exercises located in electronic course materials and told us to spend the evening in class on our own, working on those exercises. Finally the second night with the subsititute was about my limit. In the latter, I arrived for class on time and was told that a few more of the computers had quit working, I moved from computer to computer trying to find one that would work. The other two remaining students had chosen one working computer at the very beginnning and stayed with that PC each night of class. I had also stayed with one computer, unfortunately that first night the substitue instructor arrived and found the overhead projector not working, he instead took up shop at the PC I had been using all along which left me trying eight different computers before finally finding one that halfway worked. I had spent almost 25 minutes in my serach for a working computer. Upon my return for the second night with the substitute I found that his using the computer I had been using, rendered it no longer usable, it would not connect to the internet as required for the class.

I  finally walked away, opting not to return to the class for completion of the remaining seven weeks (three nights per week). I wrote it off as a lesson learned, I should have realized that given we only had four students, someone must have known something that I didn't but, I do now. Ironically, H&R Blocks states that the course is free but that they must charge the $149 fee to cover the electronic online material. I could not help but notice the significant similarities beween Blocks online materials and an educational textbook titled: Federal Taxation 'Individuals' by Pearon Publishers. I should note here that Pearson Publishers receives none of the $149 fee Block charges and in reality, that fee does not cover the online materials as H&R Block says it does. On the first night of class, the instructor (a Block employee) stated that the only pay he recieves for teaching the course is the $149 that each student pays to take the course. I say again, if you've been entertaining the though of taking the H&R Block Tax Academy course, DON'T.

Cordially,

Randy A. B