Mertz International LimitedReviews of mertz-international.biz

The firm is unprofessional and unreliable, and its owner is a rude, irresponsible egomaniac! Their six-month delay in filing my return and lack of professional courtesy and communication has cost me substantial personal grief and aggravation as well as unnecessary penalties and interest. DO NOT TRUST THIS MAN or his firm. If you do, you’ll be as sorry as I am now!

We prepaid Mertz-International Limited in full in April 2022 (Invoices #5881 / #4675) for Hong Kong corporate maintenance and U.S. Form 1040 tax returns. In May 2023, the principal CPA refused to prepare two of the prepaid 2022 Form 1040 returns ($1,530.00 value after discount), stating in writing: "We will give you the 2022 1040's... back to find somebody else do to those. I don't feel like it." In February 2024, the firm formally disengaged in writing and promised: "We will pay out your credit to you in the near future." Despite acknowledging the debt in writing for over a year and a half—repeatedly telling us in 2024 and 2025 that our refund was on their "payable list" and would be "released soon"—they have never returned the $1,530.00 in unearned fees. At one point during our follow-ups, they also demanded $250/day late fees over a 4-day holiday delay while sitting on our unfinished prior-year work. Unprofessional communication and total failure to honor written refund commitments. Avoid paying this firm in advance.

I signed up for what was presented as a “free consultation” with Mertz International. During the process, I was then asked to pay €260, which was not clearly communicated upfront, so I chose not to proceed. What is most concerning, however, is the response I received after declining. I was told: “You are not a serious lead. Just wasting our time.” This is completely inappropriate and unprofessional communication for a company offering tax advisory services. Regardless of any pricing discussion, speaking to potential clients this way is unacceptable. Based on this experience, I would strongly recommend others to exercise caution and ensure full clarity on pricing before engaging.

I worked at Mertz for 3 months as a customer service representative. In my time there, we were told not to be too "nice" to clients. Mike himself and his partner Anne called me for a meeting that said, he didn't need a team leader who was soft and often told me to be rude to my colleagues. He was rude to clients. The review above, showing Mike communicating with a client, is just how he is and how he requires his employees to be. People get hired and fired in the same breath, but only people whom he and Anne can bully stay longer. Lastly, he never had anything good to say about his clients and treated them like they were stupid and irritating.

After a series of delays filing my 2023 taxes for his own convenience (which he told the tax authorities were my fault) until December 15, 2024, he finally filed my returns only to have them rejected by the IRS and the California tax authority because of rudimentary errors he made. I had to visit the IRS office in Honolulu with my wife and spend hours on the phone with the tax authority in California to fix his errors. He said he could fix them for an additional fee but I doubt he is actually capable of doing that. In the process, I had to put up with various personal attacks. I suggested to him that we should part ways. His response was to cut off my access to his website (and my personal information) and send me a nasty email telling me, along with several hominin insults, that he was terminating the contract. He did, however, agree to return the advance payment that I had made for the next 2024 year’s tax preparation. After delaying the refund for two months telling me he would pay soon or next month, he reneged, saying I had entered an adhesion agreement when I signed up for his services that said I could not get a refund after some date in 2023. That adhesion contract related to my 2023 return, not my 2024 taxes and, in any event, it had been superseded by his agreement to return my money for services he decided not to provide. Apparently, Mr. Mertz thinks he can enter into an agreement, take someone’s money, then terminate the agreement and keep the money.

This is my fourth time to write this review because SOMEONE keeps flagging it for removal. I will make this as vanilla as possible. Having an opinion and giving someone one star is NOT defamatory. --- After being recommended to Mertz and their Facebook page on my expat Facebook group, I sent a friendly and complimentary email to Mertz requesting an introductory call to assess his experience in handling our complex taxes in France from the US. Having had no interaction with them yet, and having not seen any pricing on their site, I asked if they were interested in doing an introductory call that would be paid full fees if we moved forward together. I received back a hateful response from a company representative telling me we were no longer in 2009 and they didn't work for free. I wrote back that I would not be moving forward with them, and need a team I can trust, that won't be condescending with what is sure to be many questions. Their boss Mertz himself was copied so I responded saying I was shocked he would be ok with his team talking to potential clients that way. His response was even more rude, and he wrote multiple emails each with something short and shockingly rude, it seemed he wanted to put me in my place. Regarding the original email response, he clearly indicated that he supported it. I also have strong reason to believe that the recommendation I received on the expat Facebook group was not legitimate. I was truly shocked to receive such a hateful response. It just makes the world uglier.

I hesitated at first because I wasn’t sure if hiring professional help would justify the cost. But looking back, it was absolutely worth it. They found credits I’d never heard of before, which lowered my tax bill significantly. More importantly, I didn’t have to lose sleep over whether I was doing it wrong. They also gave me advice on how to set things up better for the future, so next year should be even smoother. I walked away not only with a properly filed return but also with strategies to save money down the line. The peace of mind was priceless.

I experienced clear anger management issues. I’ve been getting spammed for months and asked for it to stop. Here’s the communication: From me: “ Hello, I canceled my account with Mertz International so that I would stop receiving these annoying messages (below), Yet now I can't access the account and I cannot seem to stop the messages. Can you please ensure that I don't receive any more notices of this type? It was the constant bombardment of emails that caused me to want to stop all communication with your company. Warm Regards, Shannon” From “customer care”: “ Maybe you have never been involved with Marketing. Sounds like it.” Me to “customer care”: “I am covered by European law. Take my name off ALL your lists.” Me to the owner: “ Dear Michael, Please see below the incredibly unprofessional communication l've received from your "Client Care" department. Regards, Shannon” From the owner: “ Lol that's from me. Look go away. We will take you off our lists but stop giving us shit. All the titles behind your name doesn't entitle you to act Ike you don't know how marketing works. Grow up. Mike”