Good questions! Answers below:

1. A legal threat seems to have gotten them to take action, but the saga is still a bit up in the air, so will provide an update in the future.

2. Most of the previous scams were just lessons learned the hard way until I cut my losses. They were definitely expensive lessons, but sometimes walking away is cheaper than a lengthy lawsuit.

3. If your taxes are standard and it's a decent firm, it might not be a huge cause for concern. I had 5 years of re-doing taxes to allocate unused NOL carryforwards across multiple old entities for what should be a huge tax savings, and it involved both business and personal accounts, so it was a pretty significant job and not one for a novice. Regardless, it never hurts to check references, though for some reason we often feel it's out of line or offensive to bring it up; though it shouldn't be.

Good luck on your tax planning and happy almost New Year! :)