I will caution you that sometimes tax professionals can be very nonresponsive to phone calls.
I am an early riser. I'd rather start the day at my desk at 5 am than end it at 9 pm.
Today, a client called in in the morning before any secretaries got in and asked for our fax number and started to describe the fax she was going to send. While I knew the client, I didn't know the tax situation and the one responsible (in the office) for the return was not in yet. After a few minutes of talking from the retired teacher I finally started to manage the conversation and got her to just send the fax rather than describe it to me.
A couple minutes later the client called to make sure we got the fax. So I get up from my desk, go to the fax, see it and then return to my phone and tell he yes, we got it. NOW she wants me to read off some numbers so that she's sure it came through OK!!!! I grit my teeth, get back up and bring the fax back to my office and read off the numbers to her. She starts to explain the numbers. I manage the conversation by telling her it wouldn't be good to waste her time when another preparer will do the return and I'll have him give her a call if there are any questions. Multiply that by thousands of clients to see what Dave128 is talking about.
The cool thing is, I then went on to continue my work. During the next hour or so I completely forgot about the fax. The secretary(s) get in and do the attaching of the faxes to the file thing they do and, since the fax is in my office rather than where it should be, the fax is not distributed to the proper person in a timely manner. By the time I remember, and get the fax to the proper person, the mail has gone out and there is not enough time to complete the review and compilation process of the paperwork. She won't be getting her return mailed until Monday, where, if she hadn't done her thing it would have been out today.
Somehow, I'm not that sad her return is delayed.