Yes, Virginia, there is one good H&R Block store out there.

Sven’s letter reminds of that part in Atlas Shrugged where they come across a scientist Hugh Akston who was forced out of the workforce as part of the global wave of (communist) mediocrity. With no where else to apply his formidable talents, the former particle physicist or whatever he was philosopher simply makes the most finely crafted and delicious sandwiches.

We wonder what Roy was before becoming Sven’s number one tax dude…

“Hey guys,

After seeing all the bad H&R block stories, I had to write in and defend our tax guy.

I get the impression that H&R Block is like any franchise; depending on how tightly the service procedure can be controlled, you can have good stores and bad stores.

Our tax guy Roy is brilliant in his own right; he runs an H&R Block storefront here in San Diego. He knows the ins and outs of the tax code, even the strange stuff like what to do for investment property or unmarried partners. We’ve been going to him for years, and he always knows what to look for, and what the IRS likes and doesn’t like. We’ve consistently gotten good financial advice from him as well, and sing his praises to anyone we meet who doesn’t yet have a tax guy.

Roy also makes sure the people who work for him are as knowledgeable as he is; I don’t know if that means he makes sure they know more than the standard H&R Block training procedure says to, but they all seem to be as knowledgeable as he is, and we always hear him trying to make sure the other customers (and us) are happy.

I don’t know what to tell people to look for when trying to find a good tax person; we were just lucky I guess. I don’t know if I’d choose another H&R block if we moved somewhere else right off the bat, but Roy is definitely a lucky find for us.

(Also, I did notice a lot of the H&R block complaints seem to be for their online tax prep service; we always take our pile of papers in to have the taxes done in person. Not sure if that makes a difference, too, but we’ve always been happy.)

-Sven”

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