On Mon, 12 Jan 2015 22:11:34 -0500, [email protected] wrote:
> If you are like me, your taxes can get kind of complicated, especially if
> you do any consulting on the side. I have used turbotax for a very long
> time, but I hate corporate sleeze. If you have a complicated tax
> situation, your handy turbotax deluxe may no longer work for you.
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/10/your-money/taxes/users-say-turbotax-deluxe-is-not-as-deluxe-as-previous-versions.html
I posted the following review on Amazon (which is has almost 90%
1-star reviews):
May the seeds of greed bear bitter fruit.
Like numerous other _former_ Turbo Tax users, I find Intuit's greed here to be
disturbing. The company's responses are a mix of disingenuousness (the old
product lineup was confusing), belittling (only 2-4% of users are affected),
greasing the squeaky wheel (we'll give you an upgrade if you call and complain
loudly enough), non-answers (you can still use schedules C, D, and E -- but
then it won't error check your return, and you'll have to paper file), and
general irrelevance (you can call one of our customer service reps who will be
happy to recommend what version you should get). Had the immediate response
been "yes, we see that we messed up really badly; we will give everyone who
bought a copy of Deluxe an upgrade, no questions asked, we'll sell the top of
the line product for the Deluxe price, and we've learned our lesson and will do
right by our customers in the future", this might have blown over. Now? No way.
I have posted a link to this review page to Facebook, where I have quite a few
friends and followers whom I don't want to see be shabbily treated. That will
probably cost Intuit more sales, not just people who will now realize that the
old mainstay Deluxe is not the right product, but also people who might not
have been directly affected but whose sense of honor and propriety is outraged
by such sharp practice. I can't say for certain, but if the company is correct
that only 2-4% of its customers are affected, I expect that the loss of sales
will greatly outweigh the incremental revenue from higher prices. I certainly
hope that that is the case.
And by the way, [Intuit VP] Mr. [Bob] Meighan, if you were concerned about
inconsistencies in your product line, you could have chosen to upgrade the
functionality of your online and mobile products to match those of the desktop
rather than the other way around. And if the bottom line really was the bottom
line (as you have implied with your comment about "duty to shareholders"), you
could have raised the prices by 5-10% across the board with at most mild
grumbling.
--
Robert Krawitz <[email protected]>
*** MIT Engineers Football -- Historic 10-1 2014 NEFC Champions ***
MIT VI-3 1987 - Congrats MIT Engineers 6 straight men's hoops tourney
Member of the League for Programming Freedom -- http://ProgFree.org
Project lead for Gutenprint -- http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net
"Linux doesn't dictate how I work, I dictate how Linux works."
--Eric Crampton
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