Comments on: Property Tax Review Board (PTRB): Is It a Scam?

By: Andre Allen

Andre Allen — Mon, 03 May 2010 15:47:03 +0000

ken,

I just recieved my check back froom a comapany called Walkoutplan Inc

Andre

By: Ken Himes

Ken Himes — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:46:37 +0000

Yep: IT IS A SCAM.

By: Jasmin Rocha

Jasmin Rocha — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 08:09:44 +0000

I can’t believe how these people sleep at night, knowing they have taken money from hard working people. How far can a person go to steal money, if anyone files a lawsuit I’m in, unfortunately I too sent them money in good faith. But I do believe in carma.

By: Lucy

Lucy — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 02:09:37 +0000

Here is what we got in respond to a complaint with County of LA Dept. of Consumer affairs.

“We are happy to announce that The District Attorney’s Consumer Protection Division filed criminal charges against the suspect, Sean McConville. In addition, he also faces a civil lawsuit filed by the State of California Attorney General’s Office.”

If you haven’t filed a complaint yet please do it asap, the letter also states that we will be notified if our money is available for refund.

By: R. Thomas

R. Thomas — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 22:08:29 +0000

I lived in Los Angeles County, I received a letter from “Homeowner Property Tax Review Board”, Tax Reduction Review Division, last October 2009. I responded and I paid $189 understanding that PTRB would help me reassess my property so I wouldn’t have to pay my taxes or at least lower my property taxes. This Review Board did not do anything I want my money back. Actually, on the back of the form it state, “If, after our review, it is determined you do not qualify for a reduction, your service fee will be immediately refunded”. For past 3 months I have not heard from them. But, I received another letter from PTRB asking for another fee for $167.00 payable to Annual Property Tax Review that this evil person did not do anything or no action at all. It is a shame how you earn a living, “FRAUD and SCAM”.
Please, help me how can I get my money back. I am not rich person I work very hard to bring food on my table. I am a victim for this scam. PLEASE HELP…..

By: Charlie Walsh

Charlie Walsh — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:41:11 +0000

Thanks for bringing this issue to everyone’s attention. This so-called “service” is indeed, a scam. This company has been heavily active in the Southwest but thanks to a number of government warnings from offices such as the Nevada Attorney General and the California Attorney General, hopefully homeowners are being armed with the right information.

This type of fraud can be particularly dangerous because worries about scams may prevent people from using legitimate appeal services, which means that millions of people remain overassessed and paying too much in taxes. Here at ValueAppeal (www.valueappeal.com), we get calls and emails from consumers that are concerned – we’re glad they contact us so that we can help them, but it’s still worrisome that so many people are confused.

Here are a few things to look for in a non-scam service:

1) Make sure they have a money-back guarantee, but not a success guarantee. No company can guarantee you a successful appeal. If they aren’t prepared to refund your money if your appeal isn’t successful, you shouldn’t work with them. At ValueAppeal, for example, we simply refund our fee if the appeal isn’t successful.

2) Know your chances up front. Any legitimate service should tell you, before you pay a single dollar, whether appealing is right for you each year. At ValueAppeal, you simply enter your address and we indicate whether appealing might make sense and why; any service that doesn’t allow you to find out this information beforehand doesn’t deserve your money. Depending on which county you’re in, if you type ten different addresses into our homepage more than half will return a result of “You’re Not Overassessed”. We won’t tell you to appeal if you don’t have a strong chance of winning.

3) No obligation. After you’ve been told whether or not an appeal is in your best interest, legitimate services should contain no obligation to use the service. That is, once an appeal recommendation has been made, you should be able to choose between creating an appeal using the service or to try to gather the information on your own. We know from our customers that a ValueAppeal appeal has a better chance of succeeding, but once you find out that you’re eligible, there is no obligation to work with us – you can gather the comparable sales information on your own and file on your own.

Those three rules are a good way to determine whether a service is a scam or not, but if you’re concerned, feel free to give us a call here at ValueAppeal – we try to keep-an-update list of scams and good services around the office, and we’re happy to help you understand your options.

By: Teresa

Teresa — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 05:02:12 +0000

I was ready to sign a check and send it because it completely looked official. I thought this letter came from the Los Angeles County, but I am glad curiosity got the best of me and searched it online. What bothers me is that it looks very official.

Teresa, Los Angeles

By: Lori Anderson

Lori Anderson — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:36:02 +0000

RE: PTRB A red flag goes up when you cannot spell a simple word as Their or There. You spell it Thier!You should proof read your spelling when requesting homeowners hard earned money! Are you from another country? or are you just too lazy and greedy to proof read first?

By: Dale

Dale — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:32:29 +0000

FYI
I e-mailed good ‘ol Jerry Brown (AG State of CA) re this and got a letter in the mail today 11.12.09. Of course they say all such companies are scam because you can get the service free through the assessors office. On the end of the letter, however, is this infor which might be useful to others.
IF YOU ARE A VICTIM OF THIS SCAM, you can file a complaint with the Attorney General’s Public Inquiry Unit at http://www.ag.ca.gov/consumers or by writing to POB 944255 Sacramento, CA94244
dale

By: p. harris

p. harris — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:31:36 +0000

This is happening in California! And contrary to what PTRB posted on this blog, there is NO BOX ON EITHER THE ENVELOPE OR THE DOCUMENT THAT STATES THAT THIS IS NOT A GOVERNMENT AGENCY.