FTC Slams H&R Block for Deceptive Advertising Practices; Read the Complaint (FREE!)

For a limited time only, you can read the FTC complaint against H&R Block for deceptive advertising and overall sleazy sales tactics for FREE… Zip… Zilch… Nada… But act fast because these free downloads won’t last long!   by Sean Kelly, Founder, Franchise Truth Initiative

(UnhappyFranchisee.Com)  In January, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued an opinion and final order that calls TurboTax’s deceptive advertising “egregious.”

The FTC ruled that Intuit engaged in deceptive practices by running ads telling consumers they could file their taxes for free using its TurboTax software, even though many people did not qualify for free filing.

“Intuit blanketed the country with deceptive ads to taxpayers across multiple media channels” according to the FTC commissioners’ opinion, which details years of Intuit ads across TV, radio and online.

Now the FTC is releasing its investigation into allegedly deceptive advertising by TurboTax competitor, the franchised H&R Block.

H&R Block Accused of Dirty Tricks & Deceptive Advertising to Mislead Consumers

Read the FTC Complaint Against H&R Block.

According to the FTC Complaint against H&R block:

H&R Block has designed its online tax preparation products (“Online Products”) to unfairly encumber consumers attempting to move from a more expensive Online Product to a less expensive or free product, or “downgrade.”

First, H&R Block has an unfair customer service contact requirement that does not permit consumers to downgrade without first contacting H&R Block’s customer service department either by phone or online chat to request and complete the downgrade.

Second, H&R Block unfairly employs data-wiping, meaning that H&R Block deletes all information the consumer has entered to that point for then tax return after the consumer chooses to downgrade.

These two distinct unfair practices (collectively, H&R Block’s “Downgrade Policies”) coerce consumers into purchasing more expensive Online Products than they would have otherwise preferred. H&R Block’s unfair Downgrade Policies stand in stark contrast to its upgrade policy, which is completed at the push of a button and automatically transfers all the customer’s information into the more expensive Online Product to which the consumer has upgraded, without the need to contact customer service.

H&R Block-And-Switch Tactics

The Complaint states:

Separate from H&R Block’s unfair Downgrade Policies, H&R Block deceptively markets its Online Products by representing to consumers that they can file for free using H&R Block, when in fact, many consumers have tax situations that are not covered by H&R Block’s free Online Product…

From at least 2018 to 2020, H&R Block video advertisements touted Free Online as free with no limitations, disclosures, or disclaimers.

Other video advertisements purported to qualify the offer using small font and vague statements that did not let consumers determine whether the product was free for them.

For example, the following screenshots contain a Tax Season 2022 video advertisement on YouTube made up of five frames emphasizing in large, bright green text that consumers can file for “nada. . . zip. . . zilch. . . File for free.  H&R Block, Help is here.”

…The advertisements above purport to qualify the Free Online Product offering by stating it is limited to “simple returns.”

What constitutes a simple return, however, is not defined or explained in the advertisements and, hi fact, changes from year to year as H&R Block alters which forms the Free Online Product covers…

The FTC has scheduled a hearing on the charges set forth in the Complaint October 23, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. with an Administrative Law Judge of the Federal Trade Commission at the FTC offices, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room 532-H, Washington, DC 20580.

All companies & individuals discussed are invited to provide corrections, clarifications, rebuttals or points-of-view in the spirit of open and constructive dialogue.

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Tags:  H&R block, H&R block franchise, tax franchise, tax franchises, Federal Trade Commission, FTC, Deceptive Advertising, unfair competition, administrative order, TurboTax, Bait and Switch,