Thank You Big Pineapple

Even with all the bullshit we were getting from Taxback.com,  and were stuck due to lack of cash we looked at the silver lining…We’re in Paradise!   It can’t be that bad!   The weather was amazing- except for the week it rained almost every day,  we could eat cheap; $10 or less a day for both of us to eat,  and really we had nothing to do but enjoy ourselves, so really life wasn’t bad, just frustrating. 

Dan’s cousin Beckie was in Bali so we spent time with her.  We enjoyed a day at a pool with a swim-up bar (my first one ever) where Dan lost his wedding ring and we had to rent a scuba mask for 5 minutes, it cost us $5.   We took a walk down to the black sand beach, which wasn’t as awesome as it sounds.  It was covered in garbage and there was sewage running along one side.  Even if it was clean a black sand beach just doesn’t have the same glow as white or golden sand beaches.

Most of our days were spent lounging around our pool, reading or watching tv.  We didn’t know what we were going to do with the whole money situation and had to come up with a plan.

One night the owners pulled Dan aside.  Axel, himself, is an ex-backpacker.  He asked Dan if we needed money for food or anything,  if we needed help paying for flights.  He said that he saw us struggling and he doesn’t like to see it as he understands the situation having experienced it before, if there is anything we needed to please ask him and Mia.  They were fantastic!  They were so good to us and really understood our situation.   We don’t have to pay them until our money comes in and then we can transfer it to them.   Axel and Mia are amazing and their hostel – Big Pineapple- has been voted best in Indonesia.  They love travellers!  They play cards with us,  they are an encyclopedia of information and they truly open up there hearts, and, once in awhile if you are lucky Mia has cooked something fantastic and lets everyone have some.  We really want to thank them for everything they have done for us.  We appreciate everything, you two are amazing people and I wish every hostel owner in the world were like you two. You two treat everyone like family and that’s why people stay longer than planned J

Well as I write this, we are on a plane to France.  Dan’s parents just moved back to France and paid for our flights for us to go and stay with them until our money comes in.   Angelic parents, just like mine.  So far we have been in transit for just over 29 hours!  We are exhausted and we still have  another 9 to go…but I guess you are going to have to read about that in the next blog.

http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Big-Pineapple-Backpackers-Bali/Sanur/52907

Misinformed

“Does the 6-8 weeks include the time it gets you to retrieve all my documents?”  “yes the whole process takes 6-8 weeks”  that was Dan’s initial conversation with the tax agent that had been assigned to him at taxback.com . Little did we know that she was misinforming us.

When our documents arrived at the offices of taxback.com we were both sent emails from our assigned tax agents (I had a different one from Dan) with information of what jobs at to be chased up and if we needed to get anything signed.

My tax agent was great.  She emailed me three times a day with information on the process and answered any questions that I had.  The only problem I had was that Club Med had shut down due to bankruptcy so I had to get a Statutory of Declaration signed by the police or the embassy basically confirming that I worked there and wasn’t lying.   Annoying but ok.  Rocking up to a police station with these papers and trying to explain the situation is not going to be easy.  One of the girls at the hostel had the same situation in Thailand and the police wouldn’t sign it because it was in English and not Thai.  Ok great!  Now what!  My embassy is in Jakarata which is on the Island of Java, a completely different Island from us, we’re in Bali!  This is just great.  I did some research – or rather I grabbed our Lonely Planet – the Australian Embassy here (in Bali)  shares a consulate with Canadian Embassy.  Perfect!  It was pretty easy to get the signature after we got checked for drugs and bombs.  We were in and out in less than ten minutes.  Oh ya I had to pay for a signature and a stamp!  And the cab driver ripped us off big time to get us there.  The whole thing cost me $50, so stupid and then the lady at the post office said she didn’t have any envelopes!?! 

Anyways while all this is going on Dan had heard nothing from his tax agent and there was no updates on his account.  She would go 7-10 days without updating him or replying to his emails.  I had to ask my tax agent (who was great)  twice to look at Dan’s file for him, and then and only then would his tax agent update his file and send him an email.

At about the 6 week point  I had just got my Statutory of Declaration signed and posted but Dan was still waiting.   He broke his leg last year and was on work cover for a few months.  “ Work cover has no documents of you ever working for them”  was the reply Dan got from his tax agent  “I didn’t work for them I was getting work cover because I broke my leg.” A few days later “we still can’t find anything saying you worked for them”  This went on a few times.  He had to keep telling them that he didn’t work for them that he was receiving work cover.  Then he is told that work cover is currently putting together a payslip for him (this is week 7 they started chasing up work cover week 4,  it was Dan’s only job that needed to be chased) .   Then once again no reply to his emails.  Then he gets an email saying,” we are having a difficult time getting the final payslip, maybe you can call them yourself and retrieve it?”  He was getting so mad!  He was paying taxback.com to retrieve this information,  it had been three weeks and they still hadn’t accomplished anything and now they were asking him to retrieve it himself.  Then once again no emails from his tax agent.  He looks at his online file “can not retrieve file it will be easier if we retrieve it after the tax year.”   Meaning,  they have stopped the process all together!  Why?  Because it was too difficult for them.  Please keep in mind this is an early tax return,  the key word here being EARLY.   So now we are being told that A.  they are being lazy and because its difficult they have stopped the process  B.  we are being told that there is a deadline for early tax returns that we were never informed of from the beginning and because they are not capable to do something that takes two minutes they have decided to put it on hold C.  They have also told us once the documents are in at the ATO it takes another 6-8 weeks. The last  7 weeks of them “apparently” trying to chase up Dan’s paperwork is not included in  the 6-8 weeks of getting an early tax return.  Their website states that “ and early tax refund takes 6-8 weeks and you can follow the process by logging into your online file”  this statement is misleading.  It doesn’t state that “an early tax refund is a 6-8 week process once all your documents have been retrieved and sent into the ATO”  when it comes to business you need to write your explanations and statements as if people don’t have the knowledge of your business that way no mistakes can be made or to make it easier “Lamens terms”  From reading that I think the whole process of retrieval and ATO time is 6-8 weeks all together.

We try to apply for Priority Processing but because we are not a medical emergency we don’t qualify.  We budgeted for 8 weeks!  We are down to our last dollar and we can not work in Indonesia.  Plus our embassies are in Jakarta.  Now because of misinformation, lack of information, lack of communication and lazyness from a company representative we are suffering.

Still no email from Dan’s tax agent.

Dan is fuming.

He writes the company a letter stating how disgusted he is with the company and then goes to their Facebook page and leaves a big message on their wall:

 I am absolutely amazed at how bad the service is from Taxback.com. My wife and I applied for an "early" Australian tax refund back in March after being (wrongly) told that the entire tax refund process from start to finish would only take 2 months. It also rather ambiguously states on their website that the refund only takes 8 weeks (no mention of the fact they don't take into account time spent processing paperwork or retrieving lost payslips). We were only informed just the other day that it will take 2 months from when my application is filed with the Australian tax office. Amazing. It has taken Taxback.com over 6 weeks to retrieve one payslip and they still haven't even been able to do that, I would have done it myself in an hour (like I did last year when I used Taxback.com and they couldn't retrieve a payslip from the same company) if I had telephone access where I am in Indonesia. My "early" tax refund will now take at least 4 months to arrive due to sheer incompetence, misleading statements and terrible service.

My file also now says that "it is easier to wait until the end of the tax year to retrieve the final payslip document". Easier for who exactly? The Taxback agents? Because it sure as hell isn't easier for my wife and I. Why did I bother filing 4 months early for an "early" tax refund only to now find that Taxback.com won't even bother filing it until the end of the Australian tax year anyway. I bet I will also have to pay them extra for this service as well, despite the fact that my tax refund won't even be filed until the end of the tax year anyway.

You guys haven't even bothered responding to my complaint emails (no surprises there as I don't even get updates from my advisor, or responses to emails that I send her). It's completely unprofessional (also considering the fees you charge), very poor service and I could never recommend Taxback.com to anybody. My wife and I will not be using you guys again once our refunds eventually reach us. I will also be looking into taking my complaint further with regards to complaining to financial regulators and possibly taking legal advice as this is totally unacceptable.

Within an hour they had responded with a reply on their wall and an email.  Wouldn’t you know it? The documents that couldn’t be located miraculously appeared and he had an estimation – all after office hours.  He emailed them back with a few questions but they replied to him by saying that they had to make the deadline so he had to affirm it ASAP, once again no questions offered.  Plus he is only getting half of his money back!  They are a complete ripoff. 

According to a message left on their wall,  a  fee of $75 is taken for a Canadiann tax return of $150!  That’s outrageous.

I looked at my online file.  My documents had been received but I hadn’t been  contacted by my agent for 3 days.  I know that my agent is out of the office on a course but shouldn’t someone be looking after my file when she is gone.  Plus there is a deadline I have never been informed about.

I post on their wall:

Wow! It's funny how after my husband -Dan Willis- rights a complaint on your wall and his documents (which 4 the past 5 weeks could not be received) miraculously show up within an hour... After business hours! And now he is being told that he is getting less then half is taxes back?!? How can that be? It doesn't seem right! It's a little un kosher! You dont work to get us the best amount back that you can get for us. He wrote an email asking for calculations and he was told that it was illegal to claim money paid for flights to get to a job and that he had to approve everything right away as they had to get his documents in to the ATO before the deadline and none of what he requested in the email was answered. Deadline? What deadline? I was never informed of any deadline and My

documents still are not in the ATO (because I had to post something and u guys were waiting) but according to me file it has now been received! So why have I not been contacted? You guys were in quite a rush to ship Dans off without giving him a breakdown of what he asked for so you could meet the deadline. When is this so-called deadline an what happen if my stuff doesn't make the deadline? Who's fault is that going to be. My agent - who has been great and the only good thing about your company- has not repliedto my emails for the past three days (she could be out of te office) so shouldn't somebody be looking after me when she is not around? I am absolutely disgusted with your company, because of misleading information we are now stuck in a country with no embassies and broke and not only being ripped off but told we have to wait do another 8 weeks! Because of your companies mistake we are now suffering ! We should've gone with Taxback Australia like last year!

 Wow!  Miraculously I get an email and my stuff is sent to the ATO office in less than 24 hours!

Though it doesn’t help because we are still in Bali, with no money and still have to wait another 6 –weeks. We are down to our last dollars.  They got their stuff done yes, but they can't rectify the fact that they misiformed us, so now we have to suffer for their incompetance.  Thanks taxback.com!!!