Beware the "Maximum Refund Guarantee"

(H&R Block in Particular)

It's tax season, and as you're probably aware, all the DIY tax programs attempt to distinguish themselves by offering a "maximum refund guarantee." If you read the fine print, there are some things you should be weary of:

• The "guarantee" only applies to the cost of the tax preparation software, not any difference in the tax refund or liability. 
• In most cases, you can only have your money refunded if you've already filed the taxes. 
• To actually ensure that you're getting your maximum refund, you have to effectively do your taxes twice, using at least 2 different preparation software programs. Who does this? 

I do. Yes, I completed my taxes on both H&R Block and TurboTax's website. I started with H&R Block, but when the refund calculator kept doing funny things, I decided to input all the data again into TurboTax. I was vindicated to find a $1,200 difference between the two programs!

I've been filing my taxes with H&R Block online for almost 10 years, so I called to inform them of the $1,000 discrepancy. The first time I called, it took me over 15 minutes to speak to a human, who asked me all the security questions. I was relieved when she also asked me my phone number so that she could call me back in case we got disconnected. I gave it to her, and within a few seconds of me explaining my issue, we got disconnected. I waited patiently by the phone for her to call back, but to no avail.

I then called again, and able to maneuver through the phone menus more efficiently, I got a human in just 5 minutes. Before she even began to ask me the security questions, we got disconnected a second time!

The third time I called, I was livid, but was successfully able to reach and speak to a human customer service rep. When I told her that TurboTax was offering a $1,200 higher refund, she asked me what she could do about it. Not really sure of how or why I was supposed to answer that question, I suggested that (1) I be refunded the $60 tax preparation fee, and (2) I speak to a tax advisor who could find the source of the discrepancy.

She then put me on hold for 35 minutes, after which she reluctantly refunded the $60 tax preparation fee. But she did say that I would have to pay the $79 fee to speak to a tax advisor.

A fitting end to the event, I received THREE email customer satisfaction surveys – including two for each of the times I was disconnected.

Bottom line is, if you want to ensure a maximum refund, you better do your taxes twice. You can’t make this stuff up!


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Borders Update

Well, Borders officially filed for bankruptcy the other day, and I found this line amusing from an article in today's Wall Street Journal:

"Chief Financial Officer Scott Henry said in the court documents filed Wednesday that Borders aims to stay viable by enhancing its customer rewards program..."

I have an idea, Scott.  Don't "discourage" your customers from becoming Rewards members!
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Border's "Rewards"

I've been considering starting this blog for several months now, and with the impending bankruptcy of Border's, I figured there would be no better time to start than now.

If you haven't heard, Border's is preparing to enter Chapter 11 pretty soon.  This news was of no surprise to me after a recent visit to Borders in early January.  I frequently check for great online deals at http://slickdeals.net and came across a "50% off" coupon for Border's.  This coupon was available to anyone directly from the Border's website.  It required a Border's Rewards membership, but membership is free and you can sign up anytime.

The only thing I've been rewarded as a Borders Rewards member
is daily email spamming.

Because my in-laws were coming into town, I printed out 4 coupons so we could each treat ourselves to a fairly priced book.  (I say "fairly priced" since Border's books at 50% off is about equal to what you'd pay on Amazon.com.  Also, generally speaking, you should steer clear of the DVD section of Border's -- their DVDs are priced 2-3 times what you would pay on Amazon.)

After church, my in-laws, wife, and I ventured to the Border's in Chapel Hill.  My father-in-law was the first to find a book to his liking.  With book and coupon in hand, he approached the cashier who promptly informed him that in order to use the coupon, he already needed to be a Rewards member.  "Besides," she said, "that coupon was emailed out to particular Rewards members."

After hearing this news, I kindly but firmly approached the cashier and informed her that the coupon was in fact printed directly off the Border's website.  My father-in-law wasn't a Border's Rewards member, but I asked her what stopped him from signing up and then using the coupon.  Her response and exact words were, "We discourage that."  "You discourage people from using your coupons?" I replied.  After some more back and forth, she hesitantly responded, "well, I guess we can make an exception here ... but just this once."

My wife, father-in-law, and I ended up buying books (i.e., handing cash to Border's), but my mother-in-law was turned off and decided not to buy anything.  She's clearly not the minority: since Border's is filing for bankruptcy, many others like her have decided not to hand their cash over to Border's.

The overall ridiculousness was Border's alleged policy of discouraging customers from using their own coupons.  I'm not sure what's worse, providing a coupon which encourages customers to come in, and then not honor it, or providing a coupon with so much fine print you literally can't buy anything.  Case in point would be a common Sports Authority coupon: 25% off sounds like a great deal.  But when you read the exclusions in the fine print, there is literally nothing for you to buy!

Coupons should follow a general rule of thumb:
The fine print should not take up more space on a coupon than the coupon itself!

You can't make this stuff up!

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