Belt Drive Betty's Blog

Buyer BEWARE - not all Disability Tax Credit Companies are created equal

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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>Versus</b></span></h3>
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Today we are going to do a comparison of two companies that offer help to get your disability tax credit from Revenue Canada approved.<br />
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Through a good friend and colleague of ours, my husband and I recently found out that he qualified for the Medical Disability Credit from Revenue Canada. (I can't believe that through all of the years working with Chartered Accountants not one of them determined that he should apply, but that's a whole different story.)<br />
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Our friends went through <a href="https://tnds.ca/" target="_blank">True North Disability Services</a>, they charge 20% of whatever you get for a refund cheque from the government.</div>
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We went with <a href="https://disabilitycreditcanada.com/" target="_blank">Disability Credit Canada</a> at 25%.</div>
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Now the gal I dealt with there, Rose, explained that while their fees were a wee bit higher than True North's, we would get the best and most personal service. <br />
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Wow, that was one expensive decision that burned us badly in at least two ways.<br />
Poor customer service and a $1,300 hit on the refund.  </div>
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The customer service with Disability Credit Canada was anything but good.</div>
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In fact, they kept spelling my husband's name Marc instead of Mark or calling him Michael, I had to get darned right pissy about it before they finally got it fixed. I was Mary, not Marie.<br />
They failed to communicate with us the way we were promised they would. I in fact have emails that Rose never responded to. Just totally ignored, which is why I ended up having to call them all the time.</div>
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Now our friends applied two weeks before we did. We both got letters from Revenue Canada that we were approved on the exact same day. The difference is that they knew they were approved about 10 days before we did, because True North called them and told them so.<br />
Our friends got their cheques, both husband and wife in September. <br />
We are still waiting on ours. For only my husband. He is the only one who applied.<br />
We got told by Disability Credit Canada that hubby's cheque would be direct deposited to his account on November 14th, but my husband does not have direct deposit set up with Revenue Canada and therefore, after three days of looking for a cheque they said would come and hadn't I emailed them again and got told sorry, it will be mailed on the 14th.<br />
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Oh and we already have their invoice, not just by email but by regular post as well.</div>
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I bitterly complained about the service throughout the entire process but the answers were always to blame Revenue Canada.  </div>
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<b><i>What I have learned:</i></b><br />
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If your doctor fills out the forms properly, and uses the words that Revenue Canada likes and your disability hampers your day to day life, you can qualify, often on your own. <br />
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Disability Credit Canada would have you believe that they are there to help you and to a degree they are I guess, they do check on the file periodically, especially if YOU take the time out of your day to question them as to the state of your application but beyond that they truly do nothing.<br />
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The only benefit to working with a tax recovery company from my perspective I guess was that it is one less thing that you do not have to think about, at least if you work with the right company, which my hubby and I were clearly not.<br />
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<b>"You get what you pay for" is NOT ALWAYS A TRUE STATEMENT!</b><br />
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At least our friends who only paid 20% commission got great customer service.<br />
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They got a phone call/email every couple of weeks just touching base, they got told when their claim was approved before the government told them. Not us. We found out from the government first that we were approved and later got the call from Disability Credit Canada.</div>
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There was nothing about the service we got from Disability Credit Canada at 25% that was any better than True North's at 20%, in fact, right across the board Disability Credit Canada was hands down WORSE in the customer service department.</div>
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<b>Suggestions:</b></h3>
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If you aren't patient enough or confident enough to do the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/segments/tax-credits-deductions-persons-disabilities/disability-tax-credit.html" target="_blank">paperwork yourself</a>, then based on my knowledge and experience I would recommend you use True North Disability Services. If you are going to give up some of your money that is meant to support you to a company to do the work for you, PLEASE pass by Disability Credit Canada and go straight the the cheaper, more effective and communicative<a href="https://tnds.ca/" target="_blank"> True North Disability Services</a>.<br />
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In my personal humble opinion, Disability Credit Canada is there not to help you but instead they are there to take advantage of you and your disability by charging 5% more for lesser quality service.<br />
<b>They could care less about helping you except for that first 14 days. </b><br />
Once they get through the period when you are able to cancel your contract - forget any kind of customer service quality. The upper management is rude, dismissive and condescending.<br />
They only want to get that 25% and in the case of my husband who was approved for 10 back years of an illness that has had him taking daily injections, going through tests, taking crap like prednisone, experiencing things like paralysis etc....that 25% was just under $6,000 as opposed to $4,700 at 20%. <br />
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And $1,300, well, that's a lot of money to pay for such poor service.<br />
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<b>Like I said, BUYER BEWARE</b> - I am turning in a complaint on this company, Disability Credit Canada into the Better Business Bureau and I am going to write the CRA because trying to talk to the company about their lack of promised service is like talking to a closed door in a house that has no one living there.<br />
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It has been our experience that Disability Tax Credit Canada doesn't ADVOCATE for the disabled the way they claim. As a matter of fact, based on our our experience I would say they RIP THE DISABLED OFF.<br />
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<b>They will treat you really nice just long enough to get you through that 14 day cancellation period and then their service becomes NON existent. </b><br />
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<b>THAT WAS OUR EXPERIENCE.</b><br />
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That's what's on my mind today, stay warm and if you are blessed to live somewhere warm where you can still ride, please send me an airplane ticket....<br />
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Belt Drive Betty,<br />
Editor & Rider</div>
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The Toronto Star has a good article about a different company, same kind of scenario:<br />
<a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2011/01/05/agency_charged_woman_10000_for_tax_claim_she_could_have_filed_for_free.html">https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2011/01/05/agency_charged_woman_10000_for_tax_claim_she_could_have_filed_for_free.html</a></div>
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 The Canadian Personal Finances Blog also speaks knowledgabley about these kinds of companies and that it is easier to file on your own than you think: <a href="https://www.canajunfinances.com/2014/03/26/disability-tax-credit-please-do-it-yourself/">https://www.canajunfinances.com/2014/03/26/disability-tax-credit-please-do-it-yourself/</a><br />
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