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The Federal Trade Commission is taking action against tax prep company H&R Block for allegedly wasting consumers\u2019 time and money. The company deceptively marketed its services and made them difficult to downgrade, the FTC claims in an administrative complaint<\/a> issued Friday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cH&R Block designed its online products to present an obstacle course of tedious challenges to consumers, pressuring them into overpaying for its products,\u201d FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection director Samuel Levine said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The administrative complaint is similar to a lawsuit but results in proceedings before the FTC\u2019s in-house administrative law judge. Findings can ultimately be appealed to a federal court.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The agency alleges that H&R Block steered customers to higher-cost online tax filing products, even when they didn\u2019t need the extra forms included in those offerings. Even when customers later realized they bought a more expensive product than they needed, the FTC alleged, \u201cH&R Block presented them with a series of time-consuming challenges when attempting to downgrade after already spending substantial time entering their tax information.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n H&R Block would basically give customers who tried to downgrade the runaround, according to the FTC \u2014 prompting them to call or chat customer support and then deleting all of their tax data so they needed to start over. This creates \u201ca significant disincentive to downgrading,\u201d the FTC wrote in a press release. Meanwhile, H&R Block moves customer data \u201cseamlessly\u201d when they wish to upgrade, the FTC alleges. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The company also deceptively marketed its tax prep services as \u201cfree,\u201d even though many customers aren\u2019t eligible for the free services, according to the FTC.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The company also caught the FTC\u2019s attention last year when the agency warned five tax prep services<\/a> that using consumer data for other purposes, like advertising, could result in civil penalties if they don\u2019t first get consent. That notice came after a Markup<\/em> investigation found that several companies had sent sensitive financial data to Facebook<\/a> through its advertising pixel. A spokesperson for H&R Block said at the time the company \u201cregularly evaluate[s] our practices as part of our ongoing commitment to privacy, and will review the information.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The commission, which is currently made up of Democrats, voted 3-0 to issue the complaint.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n H&R Block\u2019s chief legal officer, Dara Redler, tells The Verge<\/em> in an emailed statement there are \u201cmultiple mechanisms\u201d customers can use to downgrade their products \u201cwhile ensuring the preparation of accurate tax returns.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n