Does anyone have experience in dealing with the CA state tax office? (2013)

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DH and I moved to Bay Area in fall, 2011. Early this year we received a letter from the CA tax office stating that we owed them 1k+ For 2011. We found it incorrect because in 2011 we lived in New York for half year and dh only started working in CA from summer. Somehow they managed to expand the six months salary to the whole year according to their calculation and asked for the rest of the money.

So we called the office several time while mailed the correction to them, including our New York tax form. There was no reply by mail but after many unsuccessful calls we were able to get to talk with someone, who examined our case, admitted the mistake and promise to give us a reply soon.

However, the reply never came. Meanwhile, we filed our tax return form for 2013, from which we should get about 1k+. After several weeks, they informed us by mail that we couldn't get the refund because it is used for paying the 2011 tax that we owed! This is just incredibly ridiculous to me because the two amounts are barely equal! It seems that they just grab whatever from people to pay the tax hole. They never investigated the first case or sent more mails to either correct their mistake or ask for the difference. (The amount we "owed " is slightly bigger).

We were trying to call again but could never get through the line. And absolutely no call back when leaving a voice mail. Is there a more efficient way to communicate with them? Thanks in advance!