annoyedI went to H&R Block's website to e-file my taxes. When I plugged all the numbers in I found that my return would be about $300 less than it was last year, so I wasn't sure if I wanted to do it, but after thinking about it I decided to go ahead with it. I got to the state filing section, which gave me three options: Pen & Paper which didn't have a cost, then two other options you could choose for a fee. The $19.95 one was the standard and then they had a premium for $10 more (I think). It wouldn't let you choose the Pen & Paper method, so I chose the option to let me file my state taxes on my own, but the site came up with a prompt saying that if I chose that option that the government might not let me file for state since they want state and federal to be filed at the same time. Urgh. So I was pretty much forced into the $19.95 option, which I assumed was a fee to e-file for the state refund.
I chose it, and put in my CC information, and went to the next step, which told me I needed a PIN from my previous year's refund or electronic signature. I didn't have last year's refund paperwork on me, so I picked the option to print and mail the forms in myself, and then I got to the refund method (direct deposit, IRS check, and a third option), but I didn't have my checking account information with me either so I just decided I was going to do it in person at an H&R Block, and closed the window, thinking that I had entered my CC info for an e-filing fee and since I hadn't actually confirmed e-filing, I wouldn't get charged.
About 30 minutes later I received an e-mail with the receipt of my payment! WTF? So I went to their webpage again and looked through the FAQ's and didn't see anything that helped me, so I was going to just call them but it's a long distance call PLUS a fee on top of that! The only two other options were e-mail and a live chat, so I picked e-mail, and when I hadn't received an e-mail back after three hours, I went back and chose the live chat. WELL, upon getting into this chat I was told that I didn't pay for the e-filing, I paid for the "software that was used to calculate the refund." What bullshit! I tried to reason with the person and tell him that it was a mistake and that I thought I was paying for something else, and since it was only three hours ago I asked if I could get the payment cancelled or get a refund or something. The guy wouldn't budge! He just kept on saying, "you're not entitled to a refund because you paid for the software used to calculate the refund," as if it was a robot programmed to input a generic response, and I couldn't reason with him at all!!
I ended up caving and printing the damn forms to mail myself, and chose to get an IRS check in the mail instead of direct deposit, because since I was already paying $19.95 for this shit I might as well just do it through them. I hope they're happy they lost a future customer over 20 measly bucks. Screw them, I'm not using H&R Block again and I'm not referring anyone to them either!