H&R Block markets products as free then pushes customers to pay, FTC claims

H&R Block FTC complaint overview: 

• Who: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sent an administrative complaint to H&R Block.
• Why: The FTC says H&R Block deceptively markets its products as free when many customers are not eligible and it creates unnecessary obstacles for customers to downgrade to less costly services.
• Where: The complaint came from the FTC’s Washington, D.C., office.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sent an administrative complaint to H&R Block over the company labeling its products as free when many consumers are not eligible and creating unnecessary obstacles for those looking to downgrade to less costly services.

H&R Block leads customers into higher-cost products than necessary and then makes customers who are looking to downgrade to less costly products contact customer support via chat or phone; all of their information is deleted, and they have to restart the tax-preparation process.

“H&R Block designed its online products to present an obstacle course of tedious challenges to consumers, pressuring them into overpaying for its products,” Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement. “Today’s action demonstrates that companies using coercive techniques that harm consumers can expect to hear from the FTC.” 

H&R Block does not explain necessary services at beginning of process, FTC says

The H&R Block website leads customers to purchase more expensive products than they intended when they went to the site for the promised free services, the complaint says.

The FTC says that happens because H&R Block does not properly explain what services are offered or needed for customers at the beginning of the process.

If a customer chooses a more expensive H&R Block product, the data moves seamlessly from one product to another. However, if the customer wants to downgrade, H&R Block allegedly puts obstacles in place to make it difficult for them to use free or less costly services.

H&R Block recently asked a federal court in California to dismiss claims it conspired to share private user data with Meta and Google, saying instead it had a normal business relationship with Google Analytics to measure user experience and used an appropriate disclaimer.

Have you used H&R Block for taxes, believing it was free, then been pushed into paying the company? Let us know in the comments.

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