Tax Defense Partners Sloppy; Unprofessional; Misleading; Bait-N-Switch Encino CA

I contacted Tax Defense Partners in October 2014. They connected me with an 'agent'. He did contact me that very day but it was January of 2015 before we finally had significant contact. It seems to me that their 'agents' are more you can earn money at home employees than individuals geared to the specific work. The fax number this agent gave me didn't work and it took a month and a half to get the materials to me. His excuses over that 45 days ranged from: I was out of the office to having fax problems to Oh that fax doesn't work anymore. They charge you $1500 to just find out how much you owe the IRS- even though the information they insist on you sending are the official letters from the IRS detailing how much money you owe. They have the IRS information detailing your penalties, interest, and outstanding balances. Then they send you a letter saying you qualify for a reduced rate. In my case it was $1500. But that is a scam because everyone gets the  IRS information 'finder's fee' taken off. Once again understand that they are going to charge you 10% of what you owe before they research your taxes but somehow they know what you owe already because they bill you for that amount. That's the bait and switch. There is a flat 10% fee with no guarantees of anything including reduction in penalties or interest. "We will do our best to get that reduced for you."

I don't see how dealing with the IRS is a bad deal compared to Tax Defense Partners.