Dunham Associates, CPAs
Customer Service
I’m really sad about my experience Dunham Associates, CPAs. About 4 years ago I decided to get a CPA, and interviewed a few folks.
Jon Mills here answered my questions fairly well, and better than the other folks I talked to. They came well recommended.
Also they have a very professional looking setup, right down to snarky receptionist… So even though they were a tad more expensive than my friends’ CPAs, I thought I had a good setup… till recently.
For the last 4 years, Jon would do my taxes. I would give a cursory glance at them, and approve. My fault here is that I didn’t go over my taxes with a fine tooth comb.
But then, I figured the reason I’m paying my CPA hundreds of dollars is that he does it right!
April 2015, I get Jon to file my 2014 Taxes
Jon emails me the returns.
I notice 2 errors right away:
– One accounting error which would result in my taxes reducing by a few hundred $$,
– My address being reported wrong
I email and ask him to correct those two errors.
He replies stating that the 2 errors have been fixed and new returns filed, and emails me the updated returns.
November 2015. I get a notice from the IRS collections asking if I have moved.
I call up the IRS
Jon NOT filed the updated returns. He filed the original ones even though he told me otherwise.
I had paid my taxes as per the updated returns (the lesser amount)
The IRS had sent me lots of requests asking me to pay the balance. Well guess where they went? To the wrong address in the return filed!
My taxes went to collections, with fees tagged on. I shot an email to him. No response. I shot an email to his supervisor (Rick Dunham). Now I got some movement.
They didn’t apologize, or even own up to their mistake. However, they offered to send amended returns for free, and call up the IRS on my behalf to get my taxes reduced.
I reviewed the returns (this time really well!) and sent them. That issue got resolved.
Fast forward to April 2016. I decided to do my taxes myself this year. Rather than paying a CPA hundreds of dollars for costly mistakes, I might as well make them myself! :).
Here’s the final piece. In doing my 2015 taxes, I had to go through my 2014 taxes really well. Guess what? Jon has omitted a lot of deductions on my rental properties, which could have saved me taxes….
This isn’t negligence now, it’s just being really bad at math…. like my neighbor’s 5th grade kid who I help out in math can do better than Dunham CPAs….
