Austin, TX
August 14, 2023
Melissa is the most disorganized, unprofessional, and inept CPA we've ever used. As of today, we found out she's also a liar.
We hired Melissa to do our 2021 business and personal returns. In short, she delayed over the course of nearly a year and then, when the extended deadline came to fruition, she dropped a massive tax liability bomb on us. Her tax estimate ended up being more than $500,000 more than what we actually owed (as determined by a new CPA). At that point, she "put our file to the side to focus on other clients." She's left us on the hook for substantial penalties and interest for her inability to do her job correctly. And almost had us overpay the IRS by over a half a million dollars.
Unprofessional because she took video calls with our in-house accountant and CFO in a Garfield t-shirt with her kids running in and out of the room. At this point, we were too deep to course correct, but those two employees made it known that they were concerned about her professionalism and abilities as a CPA.
More recently, we filed complaints with the CPA Boards over her behavior (she's registered in UT, SC, and NC). We attempted to obtain her insurance information to file a claim against her for the above gaffes. Her attorney responded and told bold-faced lies about what she did (claiming we didn't get her information on-time/blocked access to certain files). These are patently false and complete lies. We have all of it documented, in detail, via email correspondences. Our new CPAs have also submitted sworn statements to her inability to render professional accounting services.
In short, AVOID MELISSA WESTERGARD. We will make sure this is challenged in court so she can't put others in financial peril.