PKFS Group

Mike was recommended to me by a friend who used his services in 2010. I had a complex return for 2011 and I thought using a professional to do my taxes would be better than using TurboTax (which I had been using for the last several years prior to that).
Mike seemed like a nice guy, answered my questions and since he came recommended, I decided to have him file my taxes. On hindsight, while I was there at his office, there were some warning signs which I should given some thought and taken seriously. For e.g, I felt his office tardy and extremely disorganized. At the end of the session, it looked like I was getting about $3000 more in return than what Turbo Tax came up. I continued with Mike for my 2012 return.
In October 2013, I received a notice from the IRS (form CP2000). Its a notice that you receive if there is a mismatch between data in your 1040 and returns that are filed by businesses that you worked for. In my case I had a Flex spending account at work which I used to fund my son's after school care costs. It seemed Mike claimed the $600 credit (which cannot be claimed if Flex spending was used). I had asked about this to Mike when we were doing the taxes, but he brushed it off saying they are different and not to worry about it. The notice was pointing this error and suggesting I pay back $700 or appeal in about 2 weeks.
I brought it to Mike's attention and after a few mails and phone calls, he said he needed some time to think about it. After waiting a week, he refused to answer my emails and calls. With about hardly a week left to respond, I took the matter to another Tax accountant local to the area and this time did my research on Angies list and other contacts. In addition to the mismatch detected by the IRS computers, there were several other things wrong with the return E.g he had taken Real estate deductions putting me as a Full Time Realtor which in my case according to IRS guidelines cannot be done. I was given the option to just pay the amount and hope the IRS does not find these other abnormalities or do the right thing and file an amendment. I did the latter. I paid around 2500 in back taxes for the mistakes on my 1040.
While its human to err, it was inexcusable and unprofessional of Mike to hang me out to dry in a situation like this. I paid him for his services and the least he could do was to accept his mistake and correct it.