Preferred Tax Relief Mislead, belittled and lied Los Angeles California

My husband and I opened a restaurant in feb of 07, we closed the restaurant in Sept. of 07. We had to file bankruptcy and lost not only the money we'd put into the business, which was our life savings of $40,000 but we also lost our family home and our faith in hard work.

The business owed taxes and we knew we had to pay but did not have the money. We wanted to work with the IRS to find a solution. We were told by Robert (Bob) Hanna of Preferred Tax Relief that his company could get the late penalties and interest dropped so we only had to pay the original principle. We'd have to make payments but we'd find a way. Mr. Hanna said the process should take 3 months to complete.

Mr. Hanna wanted $6500, $3500 up front and $3000 in a month. Since that was 1/5 of the interest and penalties we figured it was worth the money. That was 5/16/08. It is now 8/7/08 and they have done nothing for us except send the IRS our power of attorney we gave them. I filled out pages of paperwork, and provided them with copies of everything they requested.

Yesterday they sent me a 433A and 433B they had filled out-which I had already from when we were going to deal with the IRS ourselves, and they had some things wrong so I sent them the correct information this morning.

They have told us that there was a delay because we didn't give full payment up front-we were told my Mr. Hanna that they would work on it as soon as they got the first payment-someone is lying. Mr. Hanna the office manager or Mr. Dillon the "attorney". I have checked California's bar association and there is no record of a Malachy S. Dillon being an attorney in the state of CA.

I now have no way of getting my money back so I'm out another $6500, which is 25% of the original balance so it would have gone a long way to pay off the IRS and they are dragging their feet getting things done.

I would never, ever, ever have anyone use this company again. They do not tell you the truth, if you call they will yell at you and tell you that it is your fault. They will threaten you by saying they are considering dropping you as a client and keeping the money. They are not good people, they are not a good company and you could do yourself what they do.

I would like to talk with the IRS myself and work it out but I called them once after receiving a letter that they were going to come take all my household stuff and Preferred Tax Relief wouldn't answer or return my calls so I called the IRS myself. That was 2 1/2 months after we'd given them all our information and the only contact they had made with the IRS was to send them the power of attornery for us. When P.T.R. found out I had called they literally screamed at me that if I didn't trust them they could help me. How can I trust someone who doesn't answer or return my calls? If you've never received a letter from the IRS that they were placing a lean on all your personal belongings then you can't know how unbelievably scary that is.

I've bit my tongue, been as nice as possible, as has my husband but we can't anymore. This company is not helping anyone but their own pocket books!

Simply furious
Daphne, Alabama
U.S.A.