Phillip S. Winslow, C.P.A.

brian schoenrock

Mar 18, 2014on

I am 6 months out from any interaction with Mr Winslow.I tried to temper my anger with time but our interaction together when reflected upon only conjures up anger and dismay. I was seeking some advice about withholding allowances as I recently separated from my wife. I tried to gage the cost of CPA's on telephone interviews by asking what a typical tax return might cost. His response to me was 700-800$. Preparing my taxes would seem more involved than asking him to look at my previous tax return and my current work stubs an making an estimate on what I should put for withholdings but after an hour meeting with him he charged 1265$. Yikes! What he produced was a simple computer generated form showing 3 different scenarios of filing and suggestions for withholding. I was flabbergasted. His bill included no detail on why this cost so much and what he spent his time on in deriving this bill so I sought further details on this. He stated in a telephone conversation that he didn't like to provide exact times spent on tasks as clients would ultimately challenge him on that. Really! After a subsequent phone call expressing my extreme dissatisfaction, I ended up paying the bill as I did not want to spend time with small claims court etc. I basically wanted to rid myself of this lowlife. Interestingly my in person meeting with him was cancelled by him within an hour of it taking place due to some emergency he had, however he managed to bill me for the next months 1 hour meeting 991$. What you weren't really to meet in the previous month and needed many more hours to prepare! Anyway, I feel sorry for those using his services at this time. I can't speak to his competence with issues but his professionalism is sorely lacking. BTW, I had my taxes prepared by someone else and they actually called me to apologize for the 'high costs' for Mr Winslow's work. They couldn't believe the charges though thought he had a good reputation in the community. All I can say is BEWARE!

Casey Sullivan

Jan 12, 2011on

His skills, knowledge, and excellent listening set Phil apart from other CPAs.