CEC Financial Group - Belleville, Illinois

Sanchez S.

My experience with CEC CPA was disappointing. I hired Kyle Williams on November 25 to handle my small business's bookkeeping and tax filings because my previous CPA had stopped filing taxes. Kyle reviewed my QuickBooks data and provided a quote: $500 for onboarding/cleanup, $675 for filing, and $375 per month for bookkeeping. I agreed to the quote, and he began the work.

Initially, things seemed to be going well. In December, I received my first invoice, but it lacked dates or descriptions and was for $1,625. I assumed it covered everything for that month, including filing and bookkeeping. However, on January 2, I received a second again no date or description for $375, followed by yet another bill on January 8 for $375.

At this point, I called the office to ask why I was being charged twice in January, considering I had just paid a bookkeeping bill on January 2. The assistant said she would have Kyle call me. When he did, I asked for detailed invoices to understand what I was being billed for. Kyle immediately became aggressive, claiming he had charged me $1,200 for the cleanup. When I questioned this—since he had quoted me $500—he admitted to charging me for October bookkeeping, even though we hadn’t met yet and another CPA had done the work. My books were up to date when we started working together, so I couldn’t understand why he charged for a period before our agreement.

Because I asked for detailed invoices, Kyle got upset and decided to stop doing business with me. He later agreed to refund $1,125 of the $2,375 I had paid him. While I’m glad he’s refunding the overpayment, I think this was an unethical way of doing business.

Val P.

Very good people and service. Been going there for many years.

Rodney M.

They care about you and your needs.

Kyle F.