Opportunity?

[erchess]

I got a phone call today from representatives who gave me their names but (and this didn't hit me until after we hung up) not the name of their firm. The representatives said that they are with one of the firms that advertises on TV for people who are having IRS difficulties. Their NC affiliate just retired and I am being invited to replace him or her. There will be no up front cost but each time the phone rings (from them) will cost me $250 but if for some reason I do not make a profit on the call I will get one or more free calls until I have been reimbursed for my loss. I have agreed to receive a contract from them but I wondered if anyone on this board has any advice about potential pitfalls I should watch out for.

[DTS]

Erchess

Does NC have an Attorney General?

[dyne]

I suggest that you enter the name of the company (when you get it) into Google.
I have done so for the three such organizations which I have seen advertize on TV.
Google lists MANY complaints from customers and it has been reported that IRS
or some of the states have brought charges against some of these organizations for
committing fraud, etc.

[erchess]

Responses

DTS - North Carolina has an Attorney General. The current occupant of that office is named Roy Cooper and I despise him but that's another story. What's your point? By the way NC has a lot of other things that other states have including hot and cold running water, a Governor, Legislature, and State Courts as well as county and municipal governments.

Dyne - that's a very good idea and I will do it. Furthermore if their name is JK Harris or Roni Deutsch I already know that I don't want to do business with them.

By the way they were going to email and followup call by now and have done neither. I can't say I am terribly impressed with them at this point.

[DTS]

DTS - North Carolina has an Attorney General. The current occupant of that office is named Roy Cooper and I despise him but that's another story. What's your point? By the way NC has a lot of other things that other states have including hot and cold running water, a Governor, Legislature, and State Courts as well as county and municipal governments.

My point was not whether NC had hot or cold running water! My point was not to belittle you or anyone else in NC. You are the one that took it there, so do not paint me as doing so.

My point was similar to dyne's, which was to check with the AG (or Google) for the legitimacy of this company, which does not give out the name of their org. Also, I'll wager a small bet that you are not the only person they contacted.

[erchess]

Dts

I apologize. I did not take offense at what you said. I thought you were joking and I joked back. I hope we are still friends.

Your points are all well taken. I probably am not the only person they have contacted and are contacting. I will contact the Atty General of NC and of their home State in addition to Googling them before I sign up. There does seem to be consensus that I am mltn in contact with a firm I really don't want to do business with but I think there is just enough chance they are legit that I am not rejecting them out of hand.

[RLymanC]

My quess

on the odds of loosing $250.00 is 100%

[Black Bart]

I don't get it.

...There will be no up front cost but each time the phone rings (from them) will cost me $250 but if for some reason I do not make a profit on the call I will get one or more free calls until I have been reimbursed for my loss...

Are they saying the phone calls are from potential clients they've steered to you and if you sell them then you get a commission less $250? And if that's it, then are you agreeing to be liable for each failed call for $250 from now? If so, what if you NEVER sell anything and they call you ten times a day for a month? Would there be a clause saying if you don't produce, then eventually the loss reimbursement agreement goes away and you have to cough it all up?

Maybe I've completely misunderstood, but if not, then this takes "commission only" sales to an unprecented level. It sounds like if you sell something, it's okay with the company and then if you NEVER sell anything, it would STILL be okay 'cause you would be their fallback income.

I don't know what the angle is, but I wouldn't touch something like that with a ten foot pole.

P.S. I'd bet there are another hundred tax preppers they are "inviting" to be their "NC representative." Ask them the name and phone number of the rep who's "retiring" so you can check out his/her experience. Odds are they won't furnish a scrap of info about that.

[JohnH]

Speaking of odds and NC agencies, maybe you'd be better off spending that $250 on an NC Education Lottery Ticket. You'll still lose it all, but at least you'll be able to take comfort in knowing that maybe a couple of dollars of it will go for an educational purpose.

[erchess]

Reactions

BB I totally appreciate the suggestion that I ask to talk to my predecessor. If they are legit they shouldn't have any problem with that. If they are not legit there are a lot of reasons they might not give me his information including the possibility that there is no such person.

The way it supposedly works is that they will talk to me about what sorts of situations I want to work with and give me only those. For example if I didn't want to work with entities that would be ok or even if I only wanted to work with clients in a particular industry that would be fine. Each time I am able to speak with a potential client who has called their advertised number and been deemed suitable for me the call will cost me $250. However, if my fees from that person do not amount to at least $251 plus my other expenses of handling the case I will be deemed to have lost money and my cost for the next call or calls will be reduced accordingly. I will not get paid by them for handling the taxpayer's case. We didn't get into who sets my fees.

My biggest concern is that I am pretty sure that the answer for most clients will be an Installment Agreement and it doesn't make sense to me to pay $250 each for a group of clients for whom I will normally charge $75. And I do not believe they will go $250 payment $ 75 fee therefore $175 loss therefore $75 fee $75 payment back to the $250 fee....... for very long and for that matter neither would I just in the hope that occasionally there would be a real OIC that would justify the $250 fee for that client. Of course if they are taking the time to screen out the installment agreement majority and handling them from the central office and only farming out the ones that appear on the surface to be good OIC Candidates that would be cool with me.

[dyne]

Also insert Masterstax or txmstr.com/ in Google.

[Roberts]

I signed up for a firm that would refer clients to me but the bill was about $30 per client. These were supposedly interested in tax prep or planning so the fees were less than tax problems.

The reality was that 4+ people were getting the referral - not just me. Just because you didn't sell didn't mean they would refund the money. It had to be a fraudulent referral which there were plenty of.

My experience was that for every 10 referrals, 4 were relatives calling because their family member wasn't interested in doing their taxes and wanted me to talk them into it. 3 out of the 10 were completely broke and hadn't filed their returns in 20 years. 2 out of 10 wanted to see if I'd do their taxes for $40. 1 out of 10 were reasonable leads and were literally bombed with 5 other preparers who were calling them 2x per day until they agreed to a meeting.

Just be careful. Can you afford to receive a $5,000 bill for a month or two? It could easily happen.

[DTS]

I apologize. I did not take offense at what you said. I thought you were joking and I joked back.

Your apology is accepted. Sorry for the misunderstand, as well.

[erchess]

Update

These guys called me Monday Morning. They were going to send me an email within the hour and follow up with a phone call Monday afternoon. They have done neither. I'm not sure what their game was unless it was to harvest my fax number (which I didn't give them) or as a second choice my email. In any event I think it is unlikely I will hear from them again.

[ChEAr$]

same call

These guys called me Monday Morning. They were going to send me an email within the hour and follow up with a phone call Monday afternoon. They have done neither. I'm not sure what their game was unless it was to harvest my fax number (which I didn't give them) or as a second choice my email. In any event I think it is unlikely I will hear from them again.

Monday morning, erchess.


"He" had a client on other line and wondered if I would be interest in working out an OIC
with IRS for roughly 17,000$. I said, sure, have your client call me, you have my number.
I asked him who was their previous tax guy in the area who he said had just retired, and
he couldn't tell me that, due to privacy considerations. Yeah; sure! I thought to myself.
He said hold on for him to talk to client.

Then Ira came on the line to explain to me how "they' work. I stopped him right there by saying "You sound like you're probably up in New Jersey, Philadelphia.. New York
maybe, and you want a referral fee, right?

Click!