Ripoff Report Needs Your Help!
X  |  CLOSE
Report: #1120985

Complaint Review: Liberty Tax Service - Bronx New York

  • Submitted:
  • Updated:
  • Reported By: I've Had Enough! — Des Moines Iowa
  • Author Not Confirmed What's this?
  • Why?
  • Liberty Tax Service 1032 Westchester Avenue Bronx, New York USA

Liberty Tax Service Liars, Cheats and Cowards Bronx New York

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..

For the life of me I cannot believe this Liberty Tax Service company or its franchisees around the country haven't been sued. It's outrageous how they've taken advantage of mostly low-income people with not only their outrageous tax filing fees, but they are notorious cheats as employers. I would think the Attorney Generals of the respective states where many complaints have come from would have had a class action filing by now. It's incredible. It's like they do what they do because they can without penalty.

My situation isn't unique after reading the countless complaints on this site. My situation is the same as many. I trusted the proprietors to honor their agreement (and signed a contract) along with the agreement of a weekly salary only to have them pull the rug from underneath me out of the blue and avoid me ever since. I was hired as part of the management team for one of its locations in my area. I never knew why I needed to sign in and out for training if they weren't going to pay me. As well, no one else got paid as far as I know for training.

Right after the New Year, I was to open the store location in which I was assigned. I worked the short week after the new year and was scheduled to work the following week, Mon - Sat, 9-5. Schedules were created and emailed by Mrs. Rivera, the wife of one of the proprietors, Mr. Rivera.  I couldn't understand why I needed to log into their ADP system to clock in and out when I was hired a salaried worker. Nevertheless I did because Mrs. Rivera stressed that everyone must clock in and out. In spite of being out sick, when I got paid I was still paid based on the salary pay that was agreed upon, at least that was the case on my first check.

During the following week, I found myself alone and stranded most of the week at the store location where I had opened daily. I was only able to open the gate to the location but the front door didn't have a lock except to lock the door from the inside. I had colleagues who were told to stay home because business was slow at my location. That left me alone all day until my relief at 5 PM. Then I discovered that my colleagues were later transferred elsewhere without my knowledge. This happened all of that week. I had asked Mrs. Rivera for relief, but none would come. I wasn't able to go out for lunch or on a break since I couldn't lock the door from outside. I could only pull down the store's gate. Mrs. Rivera stated in a text to me that since my location was only generating one tax return a day (bear in mind this wasn't even mid January!) that didn't warrant having another person there. It's all about the money with them! Basically that meant no one would be showing up. She stated she'd relieve me the following day at lunchtime, but she never showed up until the following day, close to when I was scheduled to leave. I had called my sister and told her that I was stuck at that location until relief. None of the owners would come out to check on my well-being. Their only concern was how many tax returns I had done. I'm sure I lost some weight that week because I could not go out to eat or if I had brought lunch from home (no fridge at any of their locations), I had no time to eat it. I was preoccupied with busy phones, disgruntled callers,  addressing walkin customers, working on a tax return, and basically operating the location all without proper relief or help. I do hope the Dept of Labor is getting this.

During my last week there, I had a schedule from Mon - Sat, 9-5. Business had been slow for tax returns in that location and the proprietors had anticipated more business since they'd had great expectations this season based on how successful that location had been the previous year. One of the owners, Mr. Ramos, approached me early in the week and told me he was transferring me to another location less than a mile  away. He said I would have a better opportunity of getting commissions (I was salaried, not hourly) with a busier location. He said it wasn't a demotion (which I didn't believe) and he told me my pay wouldn't change nor would my hours which concerned me because none of it made sense. He told me he'd get back to me later that evening (this was close to my time to leave for the day) with a time when I could report to the next location. When I didn't hear from him later that evening, I texted him and he texted back that he'd send me a schedule in the morning which basically meant I wouldn't be working the following day. I followed-up with Mr. Ramos the next day and he texted a schedule for the new location which meant reporting there the following day thus being forced to miss a day of work.

I went to the new location on a Thurs and Fri as scheduled, but when I stepped out to get a bite to eat after being there for over 5 hours on Friday, when I returned the manager of that location told me that "business was slow" and that I could leave 2 hours early. That was suspicious as the news came after I stepped out and returned. I went home and at close to 9 PM that evening I got a call from the same manager who said not to come in on Saturday because business would be slow. I was transferred there because business was better now I'd been told just the opposite. When is business ever slow on a Saturday when everyone is home from work? It was a lie. I asked if Mr. Ramos knew and the manager confirmed that he did. He basically had his manager do his dirty work. The manager then told me to wait for a schedule on Sunday which never came. Mrs. Rivera never sent me a schedule so in a matter of speaking I was terminated without a reason. I was now in limbo. She refused to return my messages and Mr. Ramos ignored me as well when I had texted him about the schedule. 

Mr. Ramos returned my text the next morning and stated he'd get in touch with Mrs. Rivera and get back to me, but he has avoided me ever since. I realized I was out of a job and this is the cowardly way in which they've "terminated" me. By the end of the week I was concerned that I wouldn't get my last check when I visited one of their other locations of Liberty Tax where all the owners hang out all day in the back since it's the one location that makes the most money for them with those outrageous tax filing fees that are greater than what CPAs charge. I got my check and left but I hadn't opened it until later in the evening. My heart sunk to learn that they've changed my salary into an hourly wage somehow and I have no idea what hourly wage it was based on. I had grown concerned when they kept telling me to stay home and I'm thinking they've used that against me. I should have been paid for 2 weeks on a salaried pay and now my paycheck was less than one week's pay. They've robbed me of more than 50% of my last check. As a result, they've made it impossible for me to pay all of my rent. How could any franchise in any state have a franchisee that could get away with this? This is a travesty! The proprietors Ramos, Rivera & Rivera prey upon the poor and entice them with the $50 cash in a flash with all of its cheesiness when the tax payers get charged in upwards of $400-$700 for simplest return in order to qualify for that $50. There's nothing complex about a low income person's tax return. Period! It's simply abusive.

These proprietors are only in the business to make as much money as possible between January - April so they can live their lifestyles the rest of the year and do it all over again next season. They stress sales all of the time! It's all about sales and the employees are there to be used just like the tax payers who do their taxes there. Once they are done using you, they'll go back to their homes where I'm sure residents wouldn't tolerate their scheming ways in their neighborhoods. They are simply unprofessional; they are liars, cheats and cowards.  In my opinion their company is nothing more than a front to defraud the poor and innocent.

My advice to all who wish to work for them, beware! Get your taxes done by an accountant or CPA who are open all year long, not seasonal. Chances are their rates will be fair and fully disclosed with no sticker shock. If you're an accounting student/grad, skip this place for experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 02/04/2014 08:54 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/liberty-tax-service/bronx-new-york-10459/liberty-tax-service-liars-cheats-and-cowards-bronx-new-york-1120985. 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?
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