LIBERTY TAX SERVICE Franchise Complaints

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• Fine, name calling aside I agree Liberty did not "earn" the 19% this year.

  The little birdie told me they did not even begin testing software syncing up to esig pads and bank product forms until mid December. How can a company this size do this? We were mere days away from a huge disaster. The software/printers/esig pads have been horrible this year and literally a day or so before it got too busy to handle they got it somewhat fixed to where it only took 5 mins to print out (which is silly by the way) We were doing returns during peak in 10 mins and taking 10 mins to print and esign sign to finish up. It was taking longer to finsish up paperwork/printing than doing return.

  I am very unhappy with Liberty and let them and my DMA have it but what do you do about it. I have already made plans to have 3rd party software installed on all my computers next year and if they give me grief or can't provide me with an acceptable software to use, I'll cut them out of the picture.

  But still with all that said Liberty has been good to me and hopefully they have learned something this year about how to operate better next year. I would like to see more pressure put on them to get somewhat of a national advertising campaign going and to have better setup next year etc.

• PS it is a scam the way they do not count fully discounted as free returns anymore for your bonus.

  If these ain't "free" returns than what are they? Did you know Block actually pays franchisees a small amount for every fully discounted return they eat? How nice woudl that be?

  Liberty is greedy though and doesn't want to pay you out any bonus. They have convinced me not to expand anymore right now.

• Love all the discussions, so not following the system is the way to go? That's a pretty crappy system then:) As far as the brand goes, I for one can't wait until it is GONE! Have you ever seen John in a Liberty costume, even he is to embarrased to be seen with it, but let the zees look like morons?

• Wow. This is an eye-opener.
  I had almost made my mind to buy this franchise, until now.

  To everyone,
  I have a few questions:

  1. LTS manifests that their "system" works. What were the 3 major faults in their system according to you?

  2. Did you follow the "system"? Their marketing strategies, the weekly goals assigned to a franchisee, the business to business communication, etc?

  3. Why didn't their guidance work for you?

  And last, but not the least,
  4. Before leaving the franchise, did you try to meet the people above your district manager to discuss with them what was going wrong or not working?

  I appreciate your responses.

• sri :Here is response 1) avg 1st year store numbers around 300 returns ,hard to attract more than this even doing all they suggest, support is less than adequate 1st year if no technology or tax experience, Deception in expectations 1st year you learn Liberty will say or do whatever to further the brand at your exspense. 2) Yes I followed the systym .But keep in mind according to John noone follows the systym. It is virtually impossible to do all offered strategies due to the cost and staffing required. 3) Their guidance is very weak and when all is not going well just look in mirror you should be doing all tasks because after all you can do it better. 4 ) I am still a franchise owner 6 years I have emailed John myself regarding certain unbelievable situations and have gotten no response . This machine is all geared to sell franchises after you buy watch your back any plans of expansion etc must go thru AD or corporate all have vested interest in selling ,if your plans get in the way of their plans they will steal your plan and employees and sell to someone else.

• Sri;

  Please read through all of the posts on this board. You will find that everyone did what they could to establish and build their business. When you buy this franchise, what you will learn in the first few weeks of business is that you were scammed by all the promises of help and support. Don't believe a word. My suggestion, go back and read my most recent postings. I am making more with less headaches than I ever forecasted with Liberty. Find a good visible location where you can have good signage and your company vehicle that has a good logo on it, go on the internet and purchase a good brand of tax software, read the book Guerilla Marketing, and you will have everything Liberty would have given you without the cost. At the end of the season, if you don't like it, close up and get out at minimal cost. If rent in your area is high, find another business like payday loans or bill pay to go in with you. You can always go with Liberty later if you think it necessary, but can suggest most people who buy franchises find that they know enough after a few months about the business, the franchise is not necessary. There are a few franchises that do a good job of promoting their brand, and so walk in trade is very large. Liberty does no advertising, so your walk in trade is almost non-existent. You will be thankful in the end that you didn't spend thousands for nothing.

• Hello, franchisees-

  A lot of you seem, understandably, sickened by this buisness model.
  I am not a franchisee, but rather one of your underlings.

  Yes- I am that faithful employee, the one that comes in early, stays late then cleans the office for you every night.
  I'm the one processing hundreds of returns for you between January and April.
  I'm also the one getting shielded at because we couldn't offer an accurate quote over the phone.

  I'm not getting on here to write a rant, or post about how much I hate all of you. Because I don't.
  I love(d) my job...at first.

  This being my first year doing taxes, and a college student I remember the day I walked in to apply for any position available in my local liberty tax.
  It was pretty interesting sitting through all the classes being lectured on everything from the importance of providing free snacks, to the recriprocal force behind a bag of chips.

  I'm really writing this just to give you an insight about how embarrassing it is to tell your clients that their fees will be 2-300 dollars, just to file a simple tax return.
  A lot of you will never truly grasp the audacity of asking such large sums to preform such simple work. I'm not saying that you do not posses the capacity to understand- but lets face it, who owns the franchise?

  Truth be told, almost all of your clients do not need any person with a ptin to file their taxes. Simple 1040-EZ's , which would take them a maximum of an hour to file by themselves in exchange for a $50 bill and a free soda to me is taking advantage of people.

  Yes, I said taking advantage of people.

  Because this is what this franchisee does. It exploits those whom are frightened of doing their own taxes. It is no a service worth offering.
  Sure, we have posters hung on the walls, singing of the professional service offered with men and women waving at the general public, how professional can we be?

  I'd like to say liberty tax is the underdog in this fight, championing the idea of close and locally sourced labor put to use, the somewhat educated earning certifications two weeks prior to professionally preparing taxes and advertising localy.
  But the owners here know that's not the truth.
  You wish it could be but in all reality, all we do is charge exorbitant fees for a simple and what should be; a reasonably priced service.

  I do apologize for any grammatical errors, as I wrote this from a tablet computer- not known for their word processing.

• I currently have a franchise with LT and worked for other franchisees and corporate for 13 years. I bought a brand new territory and was told by all demographics, surveys, and ploys it would be successful. This year we hit the grand mark of 100 returns (87 paid). Just received notice to pay royalties...HAHAHA!!!!

  I will not stand by them when we constantly emailed corporate and the AD for help. All we were constantly asked is are you following the plan?! Yes I was open 7am-9pm, I did the CIF, I went B2B in costume, I called clients asking for referrals,Had a waver out all hours we were open, and I got no support. The AD came to the office once and said try harder. When he was in the office someone walked into the store to ask questions and after they were answered we asked if she would like to make an appointment to file. she sais "No I want to see if you will be here next year before I trust you with my taxes" And the AD left, now he is also trying to get out!

  I am getting out before this affects me anymore, I have already told them I am filing bankruptcy and so far they have stepped back but after 13 years of loyalty I am at a lost for words.

  DO NOT BUY A FRANCHISE!!!!

• I finished my second year with 182 returns and 8 free ones. I kept dumping my paycheck from my real job into this money pit again, but it doesnt work. Now I owe them minimum royalty fees, all i can say is f&*k them. I am going to try it one more season next year but i am getting my own software and they can kiss my arss. i am going to have wavers so they think its a liberty store and they wont know the difference. hahahahahaah screw corporate

• Good luck with that! I was in the same boat my first year and told my AD that I refused to put another dollar of my regular pay check in to this money pit. So the last few years I cut out B2B, Mailers, waver hours and prep hours. I was able to make it, but just barely! Wait until next year when the min royalty is $11K (not including advertising)!!!!