Elissa Schulman
Somerville, MA
I am not sure if this is the right place to write a review. It is about an awful experience that I had with the income tax volunteers in 2025. I was assigned two volunteers, a male whose first name begins with A and female whose first name begins with S. Both of them omitted an important credit which would have resulted in my getting a large refund from the state DOR. I found this out after the tax forms were completed. I called back a few days later to have another appointment to get the forms corrected and was told to come back on the next Sunday at 11:30 am. I arrived on time and rang the bell in the lobby. No one answered and I rang several times, I thought the volunteers were busy and didn't have time to respond. There was a male in the lobby, we didn't have contact. I wasn't sure if I was there on the right day and I hadn't received a confirmation. One of the volunteers (S) arrived 20 minutes late and she asked me if I had an appointment. I told her yes and I had been waiting. At that time the male in the hallway came over to me and yelled at me several times. I tried to move away from him but he came very close to me with an angry expression on his face. I told him it wasn't his business. He was a volunteer. Then we went upstairs and he made some unnecessary and rude comments to me. He was quite disrespectful and beligerent. I didn't get his name, I didn't want to know anything about him. He was in violation of the rule that volunteers must be courteous and respectful to clients. Then other people came into the room, including Mr. A. I should have told him about the incident but I didn't because other people were in the room. The correction was made but it had to be done manually. I was not able to have direct deposit. I had to go to the Post Office and pay for extra postage. I knew I would never go back to CAA Somerville. It is now a year later and I am still troubled by the incident that never should have taken place. I recently had my tax forms completed at ABCD Opportunity Center in Malden. It was a very smooth process and everyone was courteous and professional. I contacted them in.2025. I was too late, there were no appointments available. I will look at their website to post a positive review I want to make it clear that this review is only about the VITA tax program and not about any other services at Somerville.
