Top Shelf Bookkeeping Ltd - Victoria, British Columbia

Geraldine H.

I have contacted this office a few times via email, asking questions in regards to taxes and other related topics. I have always received a pleasant and helpful email reply in return.

I'm only giving 4 instead of 5 Stars because I haven't actually used their tax return service yet, so can't comment on that. But based on my experiences, I was impressed that they helped me and never once asked if I had been a client of theirs to date. A lot of companies don't even bother replying if you have not $$ paid them for something but this company did.😊

Dodi M.

The worse!! Do not use. When you want to discuss your issue they hang up. After being paid of course!

Jon R.

I've had my taxes prepared here for several years, and found the service was good. This year something has changed. The service was unprofessional and the counter person was rude, on several occasions. Had I not requested to view my documents prior to submission an oversight by this company would have cost me thousands. And when I found a mistake, partially my fault, for providing a slightly wrong version of a RRSP receipt/letter, they were not nice about it at all. No "sorry about that" or anything. The manager, perhaps owner, came over after hearing the frustration/argument, and rather than calm it down, he decided to talk over me, laugh about it, and walk away. When I called back to try and speak to him, and work it out sort of, I was told no, you can't speak to him and no, we don't want your business. I asked them if they'd like me to make a public negative review, and they said sure, go ahead. So this is it. You go out of your way to support local business in your neighborhood and wind up frustrated, upset, and wasting precious time.
In addition to this, there was a fairly large dog roaming around the office, and we love dogs, but our 4 year old was frightened, and no one seems to care here. Something has gone wrong with this place.
There's another google review here stating the place stinks like stale cigarettes, and it is accurate. Upon our arrival an employee was smoking outside the building, in plain sight of customers. Very unprofessional.

Josh G.

Topshelf made a big mistake for my annual tax report for 2021. I'm from the other province. I trusted them. Once they completed my tax report, I was told to pay the tax about 2500$ which was unusual to me. For 2021 I had paid 9000$ which was not included into tax report. I told them about their mistake and I received 7k tax refund after the correction. It's was big mistake for the tax office. I would expect from them a free service or at least some discount. They were not professional in response. They were agressive in a way of responding. If I had made a big mistake, I would do something else more than an apology. But they didn't. They were very unprofessional.

Ashley B.

I called TSB because I wanted to understand the rules they had applied to file my taxes before signing off on the details. The person I spoke to on the phone reacted with exasperation and irritation to my questions, and repeatedly interrupted me. Instead of helping me to understand why my income and federal tax credits were reported as such, they offered to forego formally filing my taxes with the CRA and refund the money for their services if I was dissatisfied. However, I actually was not dissatisfied (at least, yet). I simply wanted to understand the rules that apply to me, since I am somewhat a special case (I am a Canadian citizen who is working and living in the US, and I qualify as a resident of the US for tax purposes). I would not recommend this service because the employees are not willing to put the effort in to help their clients understand the tax rules that apply to them. I give one star for poor communication and lack of effort.

Russ G.

Not a pleasant experience. I went there to inquire about CRA billing me an additional 500$ on a revision of last years taxes and received a lecture by a rather rude woman rather than an explanation. I will still go there but refuse to deal with her. We received a letter from the manager asking for our return business for 2019, and the letter claims courteous service. I’m writing this because we referred our son to top shelf and his experience was even worse. He stormed out. I’ll give them one more chance.

Amy S. T.

Great staff! Funny and professional. They have done an excellent job with our taxes for over 15 years. So glad to have found them!

Ben G.

I went there to get my taxes done. The second I stepped into the place it smelt of stale cigarettes. I closed the door behind me. I needed help after all, I thought. I don't know how to do my taxes. I wish they taught that stuff in school.
I waited in line as I heard this woman be short and rude with her client. She treated this guy in front of me disgustingly. He had trouble with English, and you could tell in his body language that he didn't want to be there, he wanted to understand what he needed.
Once this guy left I was greeted immediately with an angry woman, short with her words as her height. Extremely rude and brash, very disrespectful towards clients. I was a repeat customer, but the way this lady treats her source of Income, I opted out of there quick. I wish I got her name honestly. I know of a few people that have had similar experiences with her specifically.